Keep your data secure

February 2011  | Dental Products Report

product watch: Technology Evangelist

Keep your data safe

How ioSafe offers confidence for data backup.

by Dr. John Flucke

Fireproof: Protect your data from loss up to 1550°F for ½ an hour.

We do a lot of things to safeguard the business of our practices. Alarm systems, insurance and backing up our data just to name a few. And let’s face it, your data is the lifeblood of your practice. Ask anybody who has had a serious data loss and they will tell you the effects can be catastrophic. I personally know of an office that suffered a huge data loss (through a very complicated and unfortunate set of circumstances) and lost all accounts receivable and their schedule. Does that make your pulse quicken just a bit? It certainly does mine.

To prevent these types of data related catastrophes, we all should be doing regular backups. When I’m speaking at meetings on the chartless office, I often find that backing up is one of the things people really want to learn about. We all know we need to be backing up and I’m glad to say the whole backup strategy has become less of an issue over the years as more and more of you are using reliable and predictable backup strategies.

However, wouldn’t you like to have one more affordable link in your backup chain? I’m talking about one that would make it possible to “set it and forget it” other than to verify it. If that’s something you’re interested in, then let me introduce you to ioSafe (iosafe.com).
Designed to be left alone ioSafe is a company that makes and sells backup drives that are pretty much impervious to outside factors. These are devices that are actually designed and built to be left in your office! How can this be? Let me explain.

ioSafe devices are built to withstand pretty much anything that can be thrown at them. The company actually advertises them as, “an aircraft black box for your data.” To that end, ioSafe devices are:
Fireproof: Protecting your data from loss up to 1550°F for a ½ hour.

Waterproof: Protects data from loss up to 10ft for 72 hours
These are not your typical hard drives. You can bake these things or drop them in a pool and your data is still safe. Here’s how it works. The hard drives are encased in very heavy and durable cases. They contain a hard drive that is encased in a material called “DataCast endothermic fire insulation” that protects it from heat. The insulation forms a chemical bond with water and when it reaches a temperature above 160 °F, the material releases water vapor ,which keeps that hard drive cool during even extreme heating.

The waterproof action is done by Hydrosafe water barrier technology. Basically it doesn’t allow water (even salt water) in, while still allowing heat to escape during normal operation.
Add to this the fact that the devices are heavy and can be bolted down or chained to something substantial, and you have a backup solution that can survive almost anything. During hurricane Katrina, some doctors lost both their offices and their homes meaning that even offsite data was lost. Using an ioSafe device could greatly decrease the odds of that happening.

Getting your data back
Now what happens if you should suffer the worst case scenario and need to get your data back? ioSafe offers a data recovery service that can be purchased in one-, three-, or five-year plans that will retrieve your data, no questions asked, for any loss. That means you can send the device in to the company and they will get your data back for you.

Now this doesn’t mean you should stop taking other backups offsite with you at the end of the day. As I’ve said many times, the idea of a backup is to have at least one more than you will ever need. That means that ioSafe is another link in the backup chain, but not the entire chain.

I’ve been using ioSafe devices for almost a year now to keep my data safe. I’ve been very pleased with the performance and recommend them highly.

My advice would be to incorporate an ioSafe device into your office and have your IT professional configure it to perform an automatic backup at regular intervals. By doing this, you have one more way of ensuring the security of your data should a true disaster occur.

Also, by the time you read this, the company’s latest device, the ioSafe Rugged Portable, will be available. This portable hard drive will offer thesame protection of its big brothers and so much more. Using these drives as part of your offsite backup plan will help ensure your data will survive no matter what misfortune it may go through.

For information on ordering, visit iosafe.com and if you’d like to see some examples of just how much these devices will take, go to youtube and search “ioSafe.” Some of the videos are just flat out amazing!

About the author
John Flucke, DDS, is Technology Editor for Dental Products Report and dentistry’s “Technology Evangelist.” He practices in Lee’s Summit, Mo., and has followed his passions for both dentistry and technology to become a respected speaker and clinical tester of the latest in dental technology, with a focus on things that provide better care and better experiences for patients. He blogs about technology and life at blog denticle.com.