In this Post 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina world in which we live, RPC Rule 1.3 Diligence is beginning to be interpreted as requiring that law firms create a disaster recovery plan.  One of the headaches traditionally associated with such a plan has been over what to do with all the virtual data we all have.  For some, backup tapes have proven problematic as even tapes that were taken off site were lost or destroyed during the hurricane.  Others have hesitated to use remote online data backup providers over confidentiality concerns and perhaps a general level of discomfort with turning over client information to non attorneys.  As a result, too many firms have yet to develop a formal disaster recovery plan.

Fortunately, disaster recovery planning is slowly getting easier as tech solutions continue to evolve.  For example, what if you could have onsite real time protection of your data by relying on disaster proof hardware?  A backup hard drive that is crushproof, waterproof, and fireproof would be the perfect solution and such drives are now available.  A company called ioSafe makes disaster proof internal hard drives and network attached storage devices and this company is focused on the needs of the small and medium size business. Their attention is directed toward us.   

Personally, I think this kind of solution makes a great deal of sense.  When I consider the cost savings, time savings, ease of regulatory and ethical compliance, and the significantly lower headache factor in both protecting and recovering data, the deployment of disaster proof hardware is worth considering if what you currently have in place leaves you less than completely confident that you could fully recover from a fire, earthquake, flood or other disaster in a timely fashion.