Backup and recovery for Cleveland shops, practices and offices

Backups, restores and recovery planning

We back up servers, important workstations, machine programs and cloud data in Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace. Copies are stored off-site and protected against tampering, so a ransomware attack cannot wipe out your recovery options along with your files. CNC programs, recipes and machine configurations are easy to overlook, and losing them can stall a line for days, so we include them explicitly.

Restores are tested regularly. We also put together a recovery plan that names who decides what, which systems come back first, and how the business keeps operating during a long outage, whether from a cyberattack, a failed server or a January ice storm that takes out power for days.

The files nobody remembers until they are gone

Ask a shop owner what needs backing up and the answer is usually the ERP and the accounting system. Both matter, but the data that hurts most to lose tends to be scattered: CNC programs on a transfer PC, tool offsets on a controller, inspection templates on a measuring machine, recipes on a batch controller, and spreadsheets on a long-time employee's desktop that quietly run the schedule.

We find those items during onboarding by talking through each department's work with the people who do it. Machine programs and configurations are gathered into a protected share and backed up with everything else. Where a controller can only export to a USB stick, we set a routine and a reminder. A clinic or lab gets the same treatment for instrument settings and local databases outside the main system.

Off-site, immutable and far from the lake

Backups are stored off-site in a region away from Northeast Ohio, so a building fire, a burst pipe during a February deep freeze or a regional power event cannot touch both the originals and the copies. Immutability is enabled for a set period, meaning no account, including a hijacked administrator, can delete or encrypt them. Local copies may also be kept for quick restores of very large files.

Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace data is backed up independently of those platforms. Built-in recycle bins and retention help with recent mistakes, but they do not cover a mailbox deleted months ago or a SharePoint library overwritten by ransomware syncing from a laptop. Our backups keep point-in-time copies so a whole site, one folder or a single email can be restored as it was.

Testing, then writing it down

Restores are tested on a schedule, from single files to full server recoveries, and every test is logged with its results and timing. For manufacturers, we also test loading a backed-up program back onto its controller in coordination with the operator, since a backup that cannot be loaded into the machine is not much use. Clinics test restoring a patient database to a separate system.

The disaster recovery plan is written for the people who will use it. It says which systems return first, who decides, how staff communicate if email is down and where work continues if the building is closed by snow, ice or damage. It also covers what customers are told and when. We revisit it each autumn, before the first serious lake-effect band of the season arrives.