What is 3-2-1 backup?

If you’re looking into backup and recovery solutions you’re probably going to hear the phrase “3-2-1 backup” come up a lot. You’ll hear it from most IT consultants and IT pros as well as many backup vendors, who will speak about their products in terms of 3-2-1 compliance.

The 3-2-1 rule is a best practice for backup and recovery. It means that when you build out your backup and recovery strategy you should:

1. Keep at least three copies of your data
That includes the original copy and at least two backups.

2. Keep the backed-up data on two different storage types
The chances of having two failures of the same storage type are much better than for two completely different types of storage. Therefore, if you have data stored on an internal hard drive, make sure you have a secondary storage type, such as external or removable storage, or the cloud.

3. Keep at least one copy of the data offsite
Even if you have two copies on two separate storage types but both are stored onsite, a local disaster could wipe out both of them. Keep a third copy in an offsite location, like the cloud.

The 3-2-1 backup rule is a best practice because it ensures that you’ll have a copy of your data no matter what happens. Multiple copies prevent you from losing the only copy of your data. Multiple locations ensure that there is no single point of failure and that your data is safe from disasters such as fires and floods.

We recommend whenever speaking to a backup vendor to make sure that you ask them how their backup solution fits with 3-2-1 compliance.

Ready to get started with a 3-2-1- compliant solution? Sign up for a free, no risk 30 day trial of Carbonite Server Advanced and start protecting your data today.