Whether caused by hardware failure, accidental deletion, cyberattacks, or natural disasters, data loss is a real and constant threat to any business. To safeguard against such risks, IT professionals and cybersecurity experts widely recommend following the 3-2-1 rule of data backup.
Let me begin by explaining how that works and then I’ll explain why Wessex IT go further with our 3-2-1-1-0-0 rule.
What is the 3-2-1 Rule?
The 3-2-1 backup rule is industry standard best practice. It’s a simple and reliable strategy designed to ensure data availability and recovery in case of loss. It breaks down as follows:
3 – copies of your data
This includes the original data (the data in active use) and two additional backup copies. Having multiple copies reduces the risk of losing everything in a single incident.
2 – copies stored on 2 different types of media
Using different storage media—such as an internal hard drive, external hard drive, USB flash drive, or network-attached storage (NAS – helps protect against hardware failure. If one type of storage device fails, the data can still be recovered from another medium.
1 – copy stored off-site
An offsite backup protects against local disasters, such as fire, flood, or theft. This could be a cloud storage service, a remote server, or even a physical drive stored in a different location.
The Benefits of the 3-2-1 Rule
- Protection Against Hardware Failure
No storage medium is infallible. Hard drives can crash, SSDs can fail, and USB drives can become corrupted. By storing data on multiple devices, the risk that a single hardware failure will cause total data loss is greatly mitigated.
- Defence Against Cyber Threats
Ransomware attacks and other forms of malware can encrypt or destroy files. If your only backup is connected to your system, it could be compromised too. An offsite or cloud-based copy serves as a clean, unaffected version that can be restored if the local system is attacked.
- Disaster Recovery
Natural disasters—such as fires, floods, or earthquakes—can destroy physical equipment. Keeping a backup copy offsite ensures that your data can survive even if your home or office doesn’t.
- Human Error Mitigation
People accidentally delete files or overwrite important information. Having multiple backup versions allows you to recover earlier copies and restore lost data.
The Wessex IT 3-2-1-1-0-0 Approach
Optionally (there are additional fees), Wessex IT can add 3 additional elements.
1 – immutable object storage for off-site backups
This means creating copies of your data that are fixed, unchangeable, and cannot be deleted or altered, even by administrators, for a set period. These off-site backups are stored using a “write once, read many” (WORM) system, protecting them from ransomware, malicious insiders, and accidental deletion. This ensures you always have a clean, reliable copy of your data for recovery purposes.
0 – backup data integrity checks
Imagine this scenario: your automated backup processes appear to be running smoothly and so, when disaster happens, you confidently begin the recovery process – only to find, the data is either corrupt or key parts are missing. This is what happened to Pixar during the making of Toy Story 2, when a single human error deleted approximately 90% of the digital files. Complete disaster was only averted because one of the animators had a personal copy on her home computer.
0 – DR (Disaster Recovery) simulation
We can schedule DR tests one or more times per year for agreed parts or your entire infrastructure.
Don’t wait for disaster to strike, contact us to discuss how we can protect your data (and your business) using 3-2-1 or 3-2-1-1-0-0.