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Videos

Feb. 26, 2024

Cloud catastrophes: How Codespaces.com disappeared overnight

What happens when a cloud platform loses both primary data AND backups? Code Spaces found out in 2014 when hackers destroyed their business by exploiting gaps in their disaster recovery plan. Join data protection experts W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi as they analyze what went wrong and share key…

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Feb. 19, 2024

How to Write & Maintain a Disaster Recovery Runbook

Join backup wizard W. Curtis Preston and his expert co-host Prasanna Malaiyandi as they condense years of DR wisdom into this practical runbook guide. Learn the 8 essential ingredients that instill confidence when disaster strikes, allowing IT teams to swiftly shift from chaos to control. From inventory checklists to step-by-step…

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Feb. 12, 2024

Running Disaster Recovery In-House or As-A-Service

Should you run your own disaster recovery software and infrastructure, or take advantage of disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS)? Curtis and Prasanna dive into the pros and cons of each approach. They discuss factors like cost, security, customization, staff expertise, regulatory requirements, and more that should guide this critical…

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Feb. 5, 2024

How to keep your disaster recovery site up to date?

Keeping your disaster recovery site synchronized with production is key for minimizing downtime when outages strike. But what's the most efficient way to do it? Join cyber recovery guru W. Curtis Preston & his cohost Prasanna Malaiyandi for a practical guide on cost-effectively maintaining DR sites that align with your…

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Jan. 29, 2024

Where to put your DR Site?

Where will you turn when disaster strikes your data center? Choosing the right disaster recovery site is critical to bouncing back when catastrophe hits. Join Curtis and Prasanna as they outline the nitty-gritty details on 3 solid options for keeping your operations up and running in a crisis: ✅ Roll…

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Jan. 22, 2024

Disaster recovery 101: Part 2 - Laying the groundwork

When outages strike, is your business ready to recover without major revenue and productivity losses? In this video, podcast host W. Curtis Preston and his co-host Prasanna Malaiyandi dive deep into best practices for crafting robust disaster recovery (DR) plans tailored to your environment. Learn what disaster scenarios are most…

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Jan. 15, 2024

The importance of a DR plan (DR series, Part 1)

Get back to basics on the critical elements every business needs in their disaster recovery plan before catastrophe strikes. We detail the key considerations around infrastructure, RTOs/RPOs, documentation, testing, automation, and more required for restoring systems after ransomware, natural disasters, or other data crises. Along with the fundamentals, we share…

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Jan. 9, 2024

Backup Isn't Archive - Avoid Billion-Dollar Legal Failures

Backup restores data to a past point-in-time. Archive retrieves data based on search criteria. Companies archive for legal discovery and compliance. Backup lacks full search, intermediate versions, and metadata needed to properly support lawsuits and regulations. Curt recounts real disasters - from manual email restores costing over $1 million to…

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Jan. 1, 2024

Which computers should you back up?

In this classic rebroadcast of our most popular 2023 episode, Curtis and Prasanna dive back into backup basics, discussing best practices for protecting your traditional data sources like physical servers, virtual machines, desktops, laptops, and mobile devices. They debate the ongoing question of what traditional systems still need backup in…

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Dec. 25, 2023

How to make an incident response plan for ransomware

Ransomware attacks are inevitable - does your business have an incident response plan in place? Infosec expert Melissa Palmer joins the Backup Wrap-up again to outline the essential strategies and steps organizations need to take BEFORE disaster strikes. We discuss ransomware recovery testing methods, coordinating across teams, securing backups, detecting…

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Dec. 18, 2023

When and how to change your backup system

Is your backup system due for an overhaul? Join backup guru W. Curtis Preston and his cohost Prasanna Malaiyandi as they lay out key guidance to help you determine if and when to make a change. In this episode, Curtis digs into crucial questions like: - How do you know…

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Dec. 10, 2023

Cost Savings and Risk Reduction Through Copy Data Management

Join hosts W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi as they provide a primer on copy data management - a holistic approach to cataloging, securing, and reducing all the duplicated production data used for backup, DR, development, etc. Curtis and Prasanna analyze the problems that copy sprawl creates, like increased storage…

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Dec. 4, 2023

The Power of Snapshots Plus Replication

Snapshots allow for rapid recovery, but they're not a backup. Replication copies your data offsite, but doesn't protect from logical failures. What if you could get the best of both worlds? Join backup gurus W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi as they explain how combining snapshots AND replication provides a…

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Nov. 27, 2023

Is backup tape making a comeback?

Think tape backup is dead? Think again! This podcast episode from backup legends W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaviya explores why modern tape technology has experienced a surprising resurgence. Learn how the latest LTO-9 tape drives and 50TB Fujifilm cartridges provide air gap protection that stops ransomware dead in its…

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Nov. 19, 2023

Air Gaps and Data Protection: Lessons from the Past

In this episode, Curtis and Prasanna explore the concept of "air gaps" in data protection, drawing insights from the past era of physical tape backups. They discuss the core principles outlined by the UK National Cyber Security Centre for safeguarding backups, emphasizing the importance of resilience, out-of-band authorization, key management,…

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Nov. 13, 2023

A deep dive into snapshots (and why they're not backups)

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 snapshots are not a reliable form of backup and highlights the risks associated with relying solely on virtual snapshots. The episode also covers a frustrating…

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Nov. 6, 2023

The Backup Wrap-Up: Understanding Continuous Data Protection (CDP)

In this episode of The Backup Wrap-Up, W. Curtis Preston, a.k.a. Mr. Backup, and his guest, Prasanna Malaiyandi, dive into the world of Continuous Data Protection (CDP). They discuss the history of CDP, its advantages and challenges, and whether it can truly deliver a zero RTO and RPO. Join them…

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Nov. 2, 2023

Exploring Different Types of Backups: Replication and More

In this episode, we dive into the world of data restoration and cloud-based backup systems. Our guests discuss the potential future of restores and the challenges associated with creating always-on copies of data. We also explore the rising concern of ransomware and how it is shaping the industry. Join us…

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Oct. 23, 2023

Is it a backup or just a copy?

In this episode of the Backup Wrap-Up podcast, W. Curtis Preston, aka Mr. Backup, and Prasanna Malyandi dive into the world of backups and discuss what truly constitutes a backup. They cover important backup concepts such as multiplexing, incremental backups, block-level incremental backups, and source-side deduplication. With over 30 years…

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Oct. 16, 2023

Why you need to back up the cloud

In this episode of The Backup Wrap-up, W. Curtis Preston discusses the importance of protecting cloud infrastructure with his co-host Prasanna Malaiyandi, including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Software as a Service (SaaS). They dive into the topic of backing up IaaS, PaaS and…

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Oct. 9, 2023

Do you need to back up IOT devices?

In this episode of the Backup Wrap-Up, hosts W. Curtis Preston and Prasanna Malaiyandi explore the topic of data protection in the Internet of Things (IoT) era. They begin by discussing the importance of backing up data from IoT devices and raise questions about the number of devices in an…

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Oct. 5, 2023

The Restore it All podcast has a new name!

We are changing the name of the show!

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Oct. 2, 2023

Hybrid Cloud Storage: Back it up or not?

In this episode of the Backup Wrap-Up, host W. Curtis Preston, also known as Mr. Backup, discusses the topic of backing up data in a hybrid cloud storage system. He starts with a brief overview of backup-related news and then dives into the question of whether or not backing up…

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Sept. 25, 2023

Why it's process, then people, then technology

In this podcast, the host discusses the common misconception in the technology industry that every problem can be solved with new equipment or software. The guest, a cyber expert, emphasizes the importance of focusing on process, people, and then technology. They also talk about their own podcast, which is a…

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