1 A.

What surprised me the most was simply the lack of a fully functional and reliable back-up system for any of the organizations mentioned in the articles. I was surprised that for the amount of money invested in computers, software, databases, etc, that there was no mention of any sort of standard protocol or procedure that companies use in order to develop and test a system to be used in the event of a disaster. In fact, most of the organizations in the articles simply rely on their back up systems to function properly, and only made an effort to prevent future system failures after they had experienced a disaster.

1 B. I thought the most costly mistake was made Tidewater Inc, in reaction to the hurricanes along the Gulf Coast in 2009. The lack of a disaster plan resulted in multiple moves of their data center and servers by both SUV and plane, costing the company unnecessary time, money and effort. I think the director IT, David Chaffe, should have began to rethink the back-up system after the first move to from New Orleans to Houston which included a $75,000 spur of the moment equipment purchase. In hindsight, an intelligent decision would have been to move the system away from the coast and out of reach of hurricanes. The secondary move from Houston to Richardson due to another hurricane scare included more transport cost for the Tidewater company. A disaster plan and adequate back-up system in case of dangerous weather conditions (common along the Gulf Coast) could have saved this company a considerable amount of money.

My personal disaster recovery plan is