Episodes

Disaster lurks around every corner - ransomware, natural disasters, human errors. Are you thinking about all the data and systems at risk. Is your organization prepared? In this episode, Curtis and Prasanna pull back the curtain on the disaster recovery decision - to build or to buy? They unpack the tradeoffs around cost, complexity, control, and even cybersecurity. Whether you're an anxious IT leader losing sleep over business continuity or just disaster recovery curious, you won't want to m...

Creating an effective DR strategy means understanding the critical differences between hot, warm, and cold recovery sites. Join backup guru W. Curtis Preston and his cohost Prasanna Malaiyandi for the latest Backup Wrap-Up as they outline real-world strategies to match your RTO, RPO, and budget. You’ll learn the unique benefits and challenges of using both primary for hot sites, and backup replication to cost-effectively create warm recovery sites. They also tackle the complexities of cloud D...

When disaster strikes, you better have a solid plan for where you’ll recover your operations. Join me, W. Curtis Preston, and Prasanna Malaiyandi, as we explore the nitty-gritty details of your three main options for a disaster recovery site. We’ll dig into the pros, cons, risks, and costs associated with rolling your own DR site, hiring a third-party service, or leveraging the public cloud. Each path has its twists and turns. How do you keep a secondary site in sync? What if a regional disas...

Staying resilient in the face of disaster is crucial for any organization today. In this episode, we dive deep into crafting robust disaster recovery plans that help you outmaneuver outages. We discuss critical groundwork like taking inventory across environments and analyzing risk to determine what to prioritize recovering when the worst happens. Whether it's ransomware, natural disasters, or other threats taking systems down, smart preparation makes all the difference. Key highlights inc...

Are your backups collecting virtual dust rather than readying you for the next unavoidable disaster? Get back to basics on crafting an ironclad disaster recovery plan. We outline the essential infrastructure, applications, staffing, and execution steps often glossed over by the check-the-box enterprise crowd. Going beyond mere data recovery, we detail considerations around standing up replacement infrastructure, understanding system interdependencies, and restoring functionality faster with i...

In this episode, Curtis and Prasanna do a deep dive on the differences between data backup and data archiving. They thoroughly explain that while backup focuses on restoring systems and files to a prior point in time, archiving is all about being able to search and retrieve specific information for legal or regulatory purposes. Key reasons you'll want to tune in: Learn exactly why companies archive data and how regulatory compliance and legal eDiscovery requests require specialized archiv...

We’re going back to basics in 2024! Our hosts revisit their smash hit episode from last year all about protecting those traditional data sources like physical servers, VMs, laptops, desktops, and mobile devices. From on-prem to mobile, should it all get backed up? How and why? Tune in as Curtis and Prasanna rehash their spirited debate over backup best practices across your infrastructure and walk through real-world examples of what can go wrong. It’s chock full of fundamental wisdom for data pr...

This timely episode features an in-depth discussion between cybersecurity expert Melissa Palmer (@vmiss) and hosts W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi on the crucial role preparation and planning play in effectively responding to and recovering from the inevitable ransomware attack. They stress that flying by the seat of your pants without an incident response plan when ransomware hits leads to chaotic, inefficient efforts and substantially higher costs. Melissa outlines pragmatic steps o...

Changing your organization's backup system is no easy task - it requires careful evaluation of requirements, risks, and capabilities. Many admins get stuck with backup environments they've outgrown or that lag on modern demands. On this episode, backup guru W. Curtis Preston and his cohost Prasanna Malaiyandi lend their expertise to help you determine if and when migrating your backup solution makes sense. You'll learn: Key indicators that your current system is no longer fitting your nee...

After diving into the details of the recent Okta breach enabled by password manager vulnerabilities, Curtis and Prasanna tackle the growing issue of copy data sprawl. They define copy data management – the practice of tracking and governing all duplicated production data for backup, DR, development, analytics etc. What problems result from copy proliferation? How feasible is a single consolidated platform? What regulatory and cost implications exist? Tune in as our hosts break down best practice...

Tired of backup windows and 24-hour recovery point objectives? Then it's time to learn about how snapshots and replication work together to create near-continuous data protection, or near-CDP. In this episode, backup experts W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi dive into leveraging snapshots for instant point-in-time recovery and replication for an offsite copy. By combining these technologies, you can achieve recovery point objectives measured in minutes rather than hours or days. Li...

Ransomware attacks and data breaches dominate the headlines, but is your data protection strategy truly secure? This must-listen episode dives deep on an unsung hero of cyber resilience - tape. Tape may have been written off by some as a legacy technology, yet it offers unparalleled air gap protection that no hacker can penetrate. Top experts from Fujifilm and IBM (sponsors of this episode) reveal the major advances that make modern tape more scalable, reliable, and cost-effective than ever b...

What does "air gap" really mean when it comes to backups? Curtis takes us back to the early days of offsite tape backups with Iron Mountain to explore the principles behind physical air gaps. We learn about barcode tracking, unmarked vans, and multi-factor delete authorization. How do modern "virtual air gaps" in the cloud compare? Are backup vendors misusing important security terms? Join us as we separate marketing hype from real backup protection and learn timeless lessons around alerting, ac...

In this episode of The Backup Wrap-Up, host W. Curtis Preston discusses the importance of understanding the difference between snapshots and backups. He emphasizes that storage snapshots should not be considered as true backups. The episode also covers the recent 1Password and Okta hack, highlighting the frustration of such incidents, especially for those who advocate for password managers and cloud technologies. Tune in to learn more about the risks and implications of relying solely on snapsho...

In this episode of the Backup Wrap-Up, W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi discuss Continuous Data Protection (CDP) and its potential as the next great thing in disaster recovery. They explore the concept of meeting an RTO and RPO of zero and question why CDP isn't used for all backups in DR. Tune in to learn more about CDP and its role in backup and disaster recovery. Article mentioned in the story: https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/10/ransomware_attacks_register_record_speeds

In this episode, W. Curtis Preston, aka Mr. Backup, and Prasanna Malaiyandi discuss the fundamental technology of replication in data protection systems. They explore what replication is, how it differs from other methods, and why it's not used for everything. They also delve into the differences between synchronous and asynchronous replication and why it matters. The hosts also share news of a backup company called Alcion, which recently raised funding with support from Veeam, a backup company ...

In this episode of the Backup Wrap-Up, host W. Curtis Preston discusses the importance of distinguishing between a copy and a backup to ensure the protection of valuable data. He also explores key backup concepts such as multiplexing, incremental backups, block-level incremental backups, and source-side deduplication. The episode kicks off with a discussion on the recent MGM hack, highlighting the significant impact it had on the hotel chain and the potential for personal information leaks. Tune...

In this episode of the Backup Wrap-up, we continue our Backup to Basics series by discussing the importance of protecting cloud infrastructure, including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). We then dive into the differences between these various cloud services and highlight the need to back up various components of each. We also discuss a recent incident where a Danish hosting company lost a significant amount of customer data due t...

In this episode of the Backup Wrap-Up, host W. Curtis Preston and co-host Prasanna Malaiyandi explore the topic of data protection in the Internet of Things (IoT) era. With the increasing number of IoT devices in our homes and organizations, it is crucial to understand how to back up and secure the data generated by these devices. They discuss the importance of knowing which devices create important data and where that data is being stored. They also discuss IBM's release of a 150 terabyte ta...

In this episode of the Backup Wrap-Up, host W. Curtis Preston, also known as Mr. Backup, and his co-host Prasanna Malaiyandi, discuss the importance (or not) of backing up data in hybrid cloud storage systems, with a possibly surprising answer. The episode begins with backup-related news, followed by a deep dive into a single area or lesson that can help protect against ransomware. The news segment includes a story about Toyota, where multiple manufacturing plants shut down during their producti...

This is a very short episode to explain our name change and a few other minor changes to the format. The show you know and love is getting better! (Prasanna and I aren't going anywhere.)

In this episode of the Restore It All podcast, W. Curtis Preston, a.k.a. Mr. Backup, and Prasanna Malaiyandi are joined by Chris Groot and Stefan Voss from N-Able, a company specializing in backup, data protection and security systems. Nable focuses on serving the needs of managed service providers to deliver excellent service to small and medium-sized businesses. They discuss the importance of catering to the "Fortune 5 million," which includes businesses with 20 to 2000 employees, highlighting...

In this episode of Backup Central's Restore It All podcast, the host welcomes cyber expert Rick Mishka to discuss the three aspects of IT: process, people, and technology. They explore the misconception that a new piece of gear or software is always the solution to every problem, particularly in preventing data exfiltration. Rick also shares insights into his short-form podcast, Cyber Pros, where he covers cybersecurity topics in just nine minutes. Tune in to gain valuable perspectives on backup...

In this episode of Restore it All, our hosts Curtis and Prasanna delve deep into the recent significant developments in the world of data backups, with a special spotlight on Microsoft 365's about-face on native user backups. They dissect Microsoft's sudden realization of its potential revenue streams and the ramifications of its new direction. The duo also discusses the intricacies of Microsoft's new backup APIs, sharing insights into the former approaches and the strategic changes aimed at ...