Never underestimate the massive threat that routine thunderstorms present to your practice. While tornados and floods are typically viewed as the most destructive, routine thunderstorms have the potential to be just as detrimental.
Powerful Thunderstorms
Routine thunderstorms can threaten your practice data if your office is not properly configured. Power surges, or a brief wave of overvoltage to electronic equipment, easily damages and destroys office equipment within seconds. This can be serious when a workstation is impacted, but absolutely devastating if a server experiences a large surge. A significant power surge to a server will likely damage the hard drive, and threaten all data housed on the machine. For practices with an old or nonexistent backup, this instantaneous surge jeopardizes the integrity of all your patient data, software, and network. Since the damage is done internally to the hard drive, the damage will unlikely go unnoticed until the next time the machine is used.
Prevent Disaster Damage
While we can’t predict the weather, adequate data backup can ensure data safety and mitigate losses and damage. First, we recommend an automatic nightly encrypted backup to ensure there is never a lapse in your data should it need to be restored. If using an on-site backup device (like a hard drive), rotate backup devices daily and store the ones that are not in use in a safe, locked, and disaster-protected location. Secondly, protect all of your machines by plugging them into surge protector outlet strips! Resist the temptation to plug computer hardware directly into the wall, as they have no protection from surges whatsoever. Lastly, utilize an offsite data backup ensures patient records, files, and schedules are never lost, regardless of the weather-related disaster. Talk with your dental IT partner to confirm and implement a disaster prevention and recovery plan that aligns with your practice needs.
Contact us to learn more about our encrypted data backup service, or to discuss your disaster prevention options.
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