Three copies of your data, on two different media, with one copy off-site or offline — and a restore you have actually tried. Everything else is hope.
What to back up
Tally / accounting data folder; GST and invoice PDFs; customer and supplier lists; product photos and artwork; contracts and licences; the website and its database; WhatsApp Business chats (export); e-mail (if not on a cloud provider).
How often
Accounting data daily (Tally's own backup plus a copy); documents weekly; a full image of the billing PC monthly. Automate it — a backup that depends on someone remembering will lapse.
Where
One copy on the machine, one on a cloud drive with version history (so ransomware-encrypted files can be rolled back), one on an external disk that is unplugged after the backup or on a cloud ‘immutable’ bucket.
The restore test
Once a month, restore one file from each copy to a different folder and open it. Write the date on the checklist. A backup that has never been restored is untested.
Checklist
- ☐List of what to back up written down
- ☐Daily automated backup of accounting data
- ☐Cloud copy with version history
- ☐Offline / immutable third copy
- ☐Restore test done this month (date: ____)
- ☐Backup passwords stored outside the backed-up machine