Disaster Planning

Here’s a comment posted last week regarding our blog entry about a problem that occurred with the computer system at the Middlesex South Registry of Deeds:

“I was discussing the registry and computers with a client the other day. I always tell clients they will get their original back, but the copy recorded at the registry is the more important one. I tell them the only time they would need the original was if the registry burned down with all its records. So, we wondered what sort of back-up the registry has now that everything is on computers. What happens if they crash? Is there a backup copy (or several copies) in a drive under a mountain somewhere?”

At this registry, we are always concerned with disaster recovery, especially since we stopped producing printed document record books back in November 2001. Now, our primary method of storage is by electronic images that were created by scanning original documents. These electronic images reside on our computer server which is here at the registry. Everything on that server is duplicated and stored on the state’s Internet server which sits at a distant location. If anything were to happen to this building and its contents, everything stored on our computer system here is duplicated on this other server. Besides that, we copy these electronic images to magnetic tapes which are rotated out of the building on a weekly basis to an offsite storage facility. Finally, all documents are also microfilmed. The microfilm is stored offsite at a secure storage facility that was built to withstand a nuclear attack. So with all of that, we’re confident that at least one copy of our records would survive just about any scenario. Although our records would survive, we’re not exactly certain how long it would take to make them fully accessible to the public once again. That’s why we still spend a great deal of time on disaster planning. This is an important topic, so we’ll probably have more to say about this type of preparedness next week.