As a business owner operating in 2021, data is one of your biggest assets. Not only does it help you keep track of your progress, but it also helps you analyze and strategize effectively for better decisions. However, your business can be severely compromised if hackers gain unauthorized access to your database.
As such, you must ensure that your storage components are safe and secure to protect your data. You also need to make sure that you save your data in durable storage devices to avoid unnecessary data loss. Here are five simple ways you can secure your storage components and make them last longer.
1. Use a Power Surge Protector
The electricity supply is not guaranteed to always be stable. Power irregularities may damage your electronic devices, including critical storage components. To prevent this from happening, you should use a quality surge protector. This helps to cushion the effect of an overly high voltage on your devices by diverting the extra electricity into the outlet’s grounding wire. This is a great way to ensure you don’t accidentally wipe your data.
2. Don’t Operate on Full Capacity
When a storage device, such as an SSD, reaches capacity, it can experience performance challenges, particularly in writing speed. When there is free space, it is easier for the driver to write to an empty cell. When a hard drive fills up, the SSD must figure out which blocks are half-filled, move the data to a cache, and then write it back to the hard drive.
Understanding SSD endurance is important to make sure you do not stretch its limit. To achieve a balance between performance and space consumption, set up 10% to 15% of your hard disk for free space. A solid-state drive will speed up anything that requires disk access, but it will slow down over time if you do not maintain them properly.
3. Don’t Leave Your Storage Devices on Your Electronics
Data loss sometimes occurs when you leave a storage device on your computer, gaming console, or television for an extended period. As flimsy as this may sound, it is critical information. Detach your storage device from your electronic device as soon as you are done using them. This will help secure your storage component and mitigate the risk of data loss.
4. Store Devices at Room Temperature
Do not keep your storage devices in extremely cold or hot environments. In extremely hot weather, the electronic elements in the drive can melt, leading to the physical degradation of the device. Make sure the storage room has enough air supply and proper ventilation to prevent moisture or heat from harming your electronics.
5. Run Check Disk (CHKDSK) Scan
Lastly, run a check disk scan on your hard drive periodically to detect errors and fix them. This is necessary because HDD errors can decrease HDD life and lead to data loss.
Modern technologies such as SSDs can process data at the ultra-fast speeds required for today’s intensive computation. It is important to keep such applications safe, as the information they hold could be the single most crucial element to running a company.
