Hard Drive Recovery Tools

A hard drive failure is an event dreaded by all computer users. Within seconds, data collected and processed over several months and years may be lost. With computers being utilized in more and more avenues, data recovery has almost become a norm.

A hard drive may crash due to several reasons. These are classified into two main categories, logical and physical. The logical failures refer to faults in the file system, software or a virus attack. Physical crashes are due to voltage fluctuations, strong magnetic fields around the computer or a heavy impact.

Today, using state-of-the-art technologies, it is possible to recover almost 80% of the lost data. Hard drive recovery is best performed by experts and firms dealing with such work, as it is a tedious process. A combination of both software and hardware are required to perform the recovery task effectively.

A working computer, preinstalled with all the necessary software, is a must for any recovery process. The damaged hard drive can be tested on this machine to determine the actual fault. In case of logical failure, several disk utility tools are available. These softwares scan the hard drive for any errors or bad sectors that might have been created due to faulty software. Anti-virus programs are also commonly used to detect the presence of a malicious virus attack. Platforms such as Windows, Macintosh and Linux have their own individual disk utilities and so almost all systems can be successfully recovered. File systems such as NTFS, ext3 and xfs reduce the risk of logical damage.

Hard Drive Recovery Utilities

A hard drive is one of the most important parts of any computer. The drive physically stores data on magnetic disks. Since the hard drive has constantly moving parts, it is susceptible to wear and tear. This causes hard drive failures, which result in loss of important data.

Hard drive failure can be attributed to power fluctuations and physical damage or to internal file systems and software problems. The former is known as physical damage, while the latter is called logical failure. Both these cases can be resolved to recover the stored data. While the user can rectify logical problems at home, physical malfunctions almost always require expert help.

There are several software utilities available to help in hard drive recovery. Logical hard drive recovery can be of various different types. The basic problems include bad file sectors resulting from pirated software or due to virus attacks. Hard drive recovery softwares also prove beneficial for recovering lost files or folders due to accidental formats, partition losses, emptying the recycle bin and general software malfunctions.

Hard drive recovery utilities first scan the hard drive to detect the nature of the problem. Once the problem is analyzed, the software can be configured to take the necessary action. Some of the powerful softwares can even be used to extract data from compressed and inaccessible drives. Backup of the recovered data is taken onto a desired medium such as an external hard drive or CD/DVD media. Hard drive recovery is possible because the data continues to exist on the hard disk even after it is deleted. Unless data is overwritten in the same sector, the data will continue to exist even if the operating system does not show it.

Data Flow Management

Data flow management in businesses is a process of combining data from diverse data channels, improving the quality of the data and providing accessibility to the data. Contact centers and call centers figure topmost among businesses where there is a large inflow of data which requires streamlining and organizing. In any business environment, customers, products and other pertinent details comprise important data which decide the future of the business. Organizing and managing this data flow is highly significant.

Data flow management involves a series of steps. First diverse data regarding customers, products etc., is collected and converted into an understandable format by target applications. Data flow management software can be employed to identify the data patterns and re-arrange them in a logical order. The next step is data integration which involves incorporating and integrating the business rules and applying them across diverse data sources.

Next come the processes of checking the integrated data and replacing incorrect data with the correct data. The software can recode misspellings, identify ?throw away? phrases, handle special characters and match the customer and product data phonetically. In a contact center environment, the data is distributed to the contact center agents after the 3 initial steps. Effective data distribution helps the agents to complete customer data, enabling them to obtain ?the right information at the right time? to satisfy the customer. This is true in any business environment where managing data flow is crucial to running the business systematically.

Health Data Management

Effective health data management is necessary to have current information on every aspect of health care activities. Health data management is required in hospitals, clinics and other health institutions. These institutions have to manage and store large amounts of data, set up systems that can access and retrieve needed data quickly, and have the capability to analyze that medical data to find new ways to help ailing patients.

Health data management systems are the perfect solution for managing health data. These software systems enable to streamline patient data management by putting together data from patients, medical devices and other data sources to provide significant and timely information. Many of these advanced systems allow flexibility in design and application. Efficient health data management ensures immediate access to data so that in an emergency situation, you will be able to interpret the data quickly and easily. Data accuracy is also ensured. Moreover, health information can be entered any time from any location. Advantages of these new technology devices are automated data collection, error-free tracking and analysis of device-generated clinical data measurements. Patient information is easily recorded and transmitted and you are kept up-to-date on all relevant details.

Health data management can be entrusted to companies that provide data management and analytic services to large employers, coalitions, insurers and other payers and risk-bearing provider groups with the help of their team of highly skilled consultants and analysts. They capture and translate healthcare datasets from virtually any IT system and integrate these transaction records into useable databases to help sound decision making.

Oil and Gas Data Management

Effective oil and gas data management facilitates desktop access to numerous up-to-date databases, including those related to surface and subsurface land, wells, pressure, production, pipelines, core, reserves, seismic and logs. The capturing, storing and accessing of valuable data regarding oil and gas is made easy by oil and gas data management tools. In the competitive and challenging field of oil and gas market, rigorous data management and analysis tools are very essential.

Oil and gas data management tools are designed for use by geologists, engineers, geophysicists, technologists, land personnel, managers, accounting staff, financial investors and other oil and gas professionals. One of the key requirements for oil and gas data management is to have a well defined management strategy. The management techniques involve storing data, information and knowledge such as prospect evaluations, reservoir and earth studies etc. The required data can at any time be accessed by a user by typing in a key word or phrase. Storing data and accessing it has become much easier, compared to the earlier printed format.

Oil and gas companies employ modern sophisticated tools to optimize data management ? project consulting is one of the tools. These companies seek the help of outsourced firms for project management and also in optimizing organizational effectiveness, drilling, reservoir productivity, geophysical and geological technologies, and information technology. Prominent companies rely heavily on service companies and other vendors to develop and maintain advanced technologies for easy managing of data.

Password Recovery

Passwords are used to prevent unauthorized access to a computer system, individual files, and/or folders stored on the hard drive. People normally use different passwords for different purposes and very often forget their passwords. This may restrict them from accessing important data stored in files and folders.

Password recovery tools allow computer users to recover their lost or forgotten passwords with the help of easy to use password recovery software. Password recovery software is designed for legal use and is not meant for unethical use, such as recovering passwords for e-mail accounts, bank accounts, and registered user logins of other people.

Password recovery software can be used to recover passwords of different types of file formats and applications. Possible recoveries include Pocket Excel passwords, PowerPoint passwords, project passwords, schedule passwords, VBA passwords, Word passwords, Windows passwords, and Zip passwords.

Password recovery software uses different types of recovery methods, such as trying all the combinations of alphabets and numbers from zero to nine. This usually takes a lot of time and in many cases does not even recover the password as people often use symbols combined with letters and numbers. Another method used is known as ?dictionary attacks? in which all the words listed in a dictionary are used as passwords. These can also be combined with numbers and symbols to increase the chances of password recovery. Apart from these, other types of recovery software is also available that disables the password protection tool of files and folders and makes them accessible without entering the password.

DVD Recovery

DVD disks are often used as backup for storing electronic data in the form of text documents, Excel sheets, and PowerPoint presentations. It is also used to store music files, digital pictures, movies, and home videos. Data stored on a DVD disk is considered safe but may get corrupted due to a number of factors, such as extreme heat, moisture, dust particles, and magnetism.

Data stored on corrupted DVD disks can be recovered with the help of DVD recovery software that is easy to install and use. These software programs have advanced error-handling capabilities and several retry mechanisms that help in retrieving data from severely damaged DVD disks. Recovery software is also available in the form of freeware that can be used to retrieve data from corrupted DVD disks.

After installing the software or freeware, users just need to insert the corrupted DVD and press the RECOVER button. The software takes just a few seconds to display all the files or folders stored on the DVD and prompt the user to select a drive for transferring the retrieved data. The software is compatible with all versions of the Windows operating system but does not rely on Windows to interpret data and can work independently. The software can also interpret DVD image files such as *.ISO (Nero, BlindRead, Creator), *.BIN (CDRWin), *.DAO (Duplicator), *.TAO (Duplicator), *.PXI (PlexTools), and others.

Emergency Data Recovery

Emergency data recovery is the process of retrieving deleted and inaccessible data from the hard drive of a PC or laptop. A hard drive may crash at any time due to logical or physical failures, which include software problems, computer viruses, and mechanical or electrical malfunctioning.

Emergency data recovery is possible because when a file is deleted, the operating system merely deletes the address or path of the file and treats the occupied space as free space. The file remains there until it is overwritten with new data. FAT (file allocation table) and MFT (master file table) contain details of all the files on the hard drive even after they are deleted by the operating system. Data recovery software looks into these tables and recovers the lost files.

It is important to follow standard emergency recovery guidelines to avoid further damage to the hard drive and other components. The first step is to shut down the computer, remove the hard drive and send it to a data recovery firm. There it is evaluated for cost and time of recovery and the client is informed of such within 24 hours. Upon approval of the client, the hard drive is cloned by making a sector-by-sector copy of the original drive. Lost or deleted data is then recovered using data recovery systems and software.

Disk Recovery Software

Disk recovery is the process of retrieving deleted or lost files. Files that are deleted using the 'shift-delete' function bypass the recycle bin and are erased from the operating system's memory. Files may also be lost due to power blackouts, computer viruses, and through unwanted, careless deleting or formatting.

Deleted or lost files can be recovered by using disk recovery software or freeware. It uses an FAT (file allocation table) and a MFT (master file table) to recover lost or deleted files from the hard disk. When a ?delete? command is executed, the operating system merely deletes the path of the file and registers the space occupied by the file as free space. The path is not removed from FAT and MFT and can be accessed using recovery software.

Freeware is generally used to recover recently deleted files. For recovering important and critical files, special recovery software can be purchased from data recovery firms. In cases where the hard disk is severely damaged due to water or other elements, it is removed from the hard drive bay and sent to a professional data recovery firm. These firms use special software and processes to make a sector-by-sector mirror copy of the damaged hard disk. Deleted files are recovered and sent back to the client.

Damaged Hard Drive Recovery

A hard drive failure is an unexpected event. A buzzing or ticking sound might be the only indication before all the ongoing work is lost in a matter of seconds. Since so much data is stored on the hard drives, data recovery procedures become a must in case of disk failure.

A hard drive may get damaged either internally or externally. Internal damage maybe caused by corrupt software, bad file structure or virus attacks. This is known as logical failure. When a component of the hard drive is damaged due to power fluctuations or heavy impact, it is known as physical failure. Both these cases can be rectified to recover the data on the hard drive.

The nature of the problem should be analyzed. The user can run disk utilities such as ?Scandisk? to determine if there are any problems with the hard drive. Such utilities scan the complete disk area for bad and lost sectors. Some utilities determine if there is any physical damage to the disk. Damaged data can usually be rectified by these normal utilities. The data in bad sectors can be copied to another location. If the basic disk utilities do not work, the user can go in for the high-end data recovery softwares available in the market. This software can recover almost all types of data losses.

Hard Drive Recovery Equipment

Today the world revolves around the computer. From homes and offices to schools, airports and hospitals, computers have become an integral and indispensable part of our daily lives.

One of the foremost uses of computers is data storage. Data stored on the computer resides on a physical memory disk known as the hard drive that is a layer of magnetic disks. As people become increasingly dependant on computers, the risk of data loss also surfaces.

Hard drive crashes are a common occurrence. They are classified into two categories -- logical and physical. While the logical aspect deals with failure of the file system and software, the physical aspect is related to some sort of electrical or shock damage to the disk. However, modern technology allows us to recover up to 80% of the lost data, thereby allaying some of the fear related to hard drive recovery.

Hard drive recovery, whether physical or logical, is a complex process and requires expert help in most cases. Special equipment and tools are necessary to carry out this process successfully. A functional computer with the necessary software is the primary equipment required for any hard drive recovery process. Data backup devices such as CD recorders, external hard drives and CD and DVD media are also used while recovering data from a damaged hard drive.

Hard Drive Recovery Tools

A hard drive failure is an event dreaded by all computer users. Within seconds, data collected and processed over several months and years may be lost. With computers being utilized in more and more avenues, data recovery has almost become a norm.

A hard drive may crash due to several reasons. These are classified into two main categories, logical and physical. The logical failures refer to faults in the file system, software or a virus attack. Physical crashes are due to voltage fluctuations, strong magnetic fields around the computer or a heavy impact.

Today, using state-of-the-art technologies, it is possible to recover almost 80% of the lost data. Hard drive recovery is best performed by experts and firms dealing with such work, as it is a tedious process. A combination of both software and hardware are required to perform the recovery task effectively.

A working computer, preinstalled with all the necessary software, is a must for any recovery process. The damaged hard drive can be tested on this machine to determine the actual fault. In case of logical failure, several disk utility tools are available. These softwares scan the hard drive for any errors or bad sectors that might have been created due to faulty software. Anti-virus programs are also commonly used to detect the presence of a malicious virus attack. Platforms such as Windows, Macintosh and Linux have their own individual disk utilities and so almost all systems can be successfully recovered. File systems such as NTFS, ext3 and xfs reduce the risk of logical damage.

A Simple And Crazy Way To Recover Your Data

Here was a real life situation I was in. I worked as a IT support staff and one day a laptop that crashed was handed to me. After some diagnostics, I found bad sectors on the hard disk and a lot of clunging sounds whenever I turned on the laptop. Unfortunately, the user have some crucial data on the hard disk and need to have it in 24 hours.

The BIOS wasn’t able to detect the hard disk. So I did some searching on the internet and found a real crazy way to recover the data. So, I decided to put it to the test since I have tried other ways to recover the data without success. I remove the hard disk from the laptop and put in the refrigerator!

Now it’s important you do not put the hard disk in the refrigerator for too long. I put it in for about 30 minutes and then quickly attached the hard disk to an external hard disk casing and connected it to another computer via the USB port.

Surprisingly, it worked, the hard disk was detected and I copied the crucial data that the user needed to the computer as fast as I could.

I have done this a couple of times since then and it does worked. However, I found it will only work for a brief period of time. Usually, you will have a period of about 15 to 20 minutes so you need to copy as fast as possible to your computer once the hard disk is working.

Somehow cooling the temperature of the hard disk helps a lot. Here’s another tip that I found. You can try tilting the hard disk sideways or at an angle about 60 degrees downwards. I found that by doing this, I can prolong the period by another 10 minutes or so.

However I like to caution you that only try this method when all other methods of recovering the data fails. There is a chance the hard disk is permanently damaged if it is in the refrigerator for too long.

Data Recovery And Hard Disk Information Retrieval - A Complete Review

Recently my hard drive crashed, hey I don’t mean that windows decided to be bitchy and make me reinstall it – Anyways it’s really been a long time since I’ve been idiot enough to run Microsoft programs, thanks very much!

Well I mean that my hard drive, spinning away quietly at speedy away irreverently, which all of a sudden emits a scratchy, screeching sound that can only be described as sickening, and immediately wiping out vast swathes of data like some primordial plague lord reaper scorching the continent of Europe with the bubonic. Sure this was one hellish experience, but nothing compared to the misery which began once I hired a hard disk data recovery service.

As a techie patiently enlighten me over the phone, a hard disk data recovery is not always a simple or a clear-cut affair. In order to complete a successful hard disk data recovery, it can either be a simple matter or an intricate one, and either expensive, or rather unreasonably expensive, depending on the severity of the problem.

At times the only problem is that something is not working with the loading mechanism of the hard drive. In fact there more than a dozen of programs and macros which have to load to enable the computer to boot successfully, and if any one of these becomes cross-linked, or has any error at all with one of it's files, it can potentially cause a crash and necessitate a hard disk data recovery. Fortunately, this is the easy kind - it is even possible to for one to perform the hard disk data recovery with a little know-how and an extra hard drive. Simply slave boot the hard drive to another one, and extract the data off of it – and you are ready to go as easy as pie!

Virus Liability Endorsement

Businesses are relying more and more on computers, storing vital data in them and thereby becoming vulnerable trying to protect the data from being destroyed or lost forever. There are horror stories of companies closing due to critical, irreplaceable data loss due to various reasons. All businesses that store critical data in computers or servers such as, company records, financial information, those that have a web site and use e-mails etc. need to have proper virus liability endorsement to be included in their professional liability policy. It should provide coverage for loss of data, replacement costs for hardware and software damaged by a computer virus or other malicious software; it also covers claims arising from damage as a result of hacking or unauthorized access to the system.

Reasons for Loss of Data:

# Virus attacks, such as Trojans, worms, malicious software instigated by an employee or outsider.

# Due to hacking.

# Employee error- unintentional and intentional

# Power, telecommunication failure

# Theft or misplacement of data

# Fire and other natural calamities that may cause data to be destroyed.

Businesses are under constant threat of data being misused and destroyed intentionally or accidentally by employees and intentionally by hackers. It is better for businesses to go for a good virus liability endorsement that will offer them a degree of protection to cover their losses and get back to business.

When businesses consider the effect of lawsuits arising from misuse of stored data, or unintentional, breach of confidential information in websites or e-mails, they will realize the need to take proper counter action to safeguard them. Several insurance policies offer coverage against data loss and the liability risks of using, storing and transmitting data. The policy also covers data recovery, restoration, re-creation and replacement costs as well as costs of any lawsuits. The carrier that offers virus liability endorsement also provides access to data restoration experts to get back in business as fast as possible. The premium is based on the extent of the coverage as well as the size of the company. It also covers data loss of an insured website hosted by a third party.

Small Businesses - Importance Of Backup Systems

Importance of backup systems for small businesses is in no way less, as compared to big companies. Small businesses also rely heavily on the computers for the data management. There are several examples of small businesses that lost all their valuable data because of computer failure and never returned to the scene again. 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina are some of the events of the recent past. These events have made people aware about the backup of data. Moreover, because of these events people now prefer to keep a backup of important data at the place that is out side the office.

How important backup systems are?

Importance of backup systems can be easily understood because computers are electronic items. Electronic items are prone to failures. Most threatening kind of failure is data loss or corruption of data. Once you lose or corrupt your data, you have no other option then restoring it from the backup taken before data corruption or deletion. Ignoring the importance of backup system may cause permanent loss of important data. In case you do not have the backup of data, you will have to start from the scratch creating affected files. However, this too is not easy, as it would require either a hard copy or something similar to create all files again. In addition, your employees will have to devote a great amount of time also.

On the contrary, those small businesses, which understand the importance of backup systems, take regular backup of important data files on hard drives. Restoring the data from hard drives is very fast and does not require much effort.

No matter how sound technology your computer has, no one can guarantee that it would never fail. Failure of computer systems is inevitable and it is a matter of time only when you would require restoring from a backup. So, the crux of the matter lies in taking regular backups, so whenever you need you can restore the data.

Backing Up (Part 2) - External Hard Drives

This is the backup method I recommend for most people in most situations:

Back up to an external hard drive, using specialized backup software.

That’s pretty straightforward. Let’s define almost every word in that sentence.

A hard drive is like a stack of phonograph records, except the grooves are magnetic instead of vinyl. Data is written in or read from the grooves by the equivalent of a needle that floats just above the surface of each record, or platter. The hard drive is a stack of these little platters sealed in a tiny enclosure.

If the drive resides inside your computer’s case, it is called an internal hard drive. If the drive lives outside the computer case and connects to the computer with wires, it is called an external drive.

Generally, hard drives have enough room to hold all the data in your computer.

New Virus & Spyware Removal by Hardware

The next step in protecting your computer from virus and spyware attack has just been released.

Detection, quarantining and cleaning of the latest virus & spyware threats is already a number one priority. But what happens when a virus or spyware attack gets through your best detection software configuration.

Every day, new malicious programmes are launched onto the net. Most are detected by the specialised detection algorithms included as part of your virus checker. Does this mean you don’t need a virus definition file for that exact virus before its detected? Well yes and no.

Yes? for the majority of malicious programmes released.

No? for the few unique or next generation malicious programmes that infect millions of computers before the necessary updates are released to inoculate your pc.

Well hopefully, and I really mean it, it will be detected and removed without any loss to you, but you are relying on your protection software to cleanly remove the malicious program.

When the worst happens and your pc is infected by a major virus or deeply imbedded spyware programme you can loose everything on it. Even if you have a perfect backup system you will be looking at many hours if not days formatting, loading and configuring your pc to get it back to its original state. Just think of the amount of time we have all spent setting up our computers to suit our needs.

Data Backup – Which is the Better Way?

Before we investigate which data backup method is a best fit for your business, we need to evaluate why and what you expect from your backup solution.

Obviously, we backup our data so we can continue trading after a disaster, but what type of disaster are you protecting yourself from and how quickly does your system need to be back online? Please think about this before you think of the usual stock answer, “I am protecting myself from all disasters and I want to be back online as soon as possible” easy to do if you have £500,000 budget and many man hours to devote to the task of backup. You need to be realistic about your backup and restore plan. Are you planning to recover from a hardware failure, total server failure, fire flood or any malicious event? Remember, the rule, the bigger the disaster you plan for, the bigger budget you will need.

Let’s look at the business backup options;

Tape Backup -

Is a solution which has been around for many years, recent technology means backup and restore is becoming faster and faster. The main benefit of tape based backup is the speed in which you can restore, tape solutions are now capable of moving data at rates of up to 80MB per second. The down side is the initial cost, a high end tape backup device will cost from £4,000 and can work their way up to hundreds of thousands. The software to control the backup starts at around £500 per device to be backed up and can escalate to £3000 per device. Cost of media, £30 per tape and usually you will need a minimum of 10 tapes.

Cost aside, the human intervention requirement can be a drain on resource, for example someone will need to ensure a tape is fitted into the backup device and removed offsite after the backup has taken place. Usually most company’s leave the tape inside the server overnight, leaving your backup exposed to the same threats as your server.

How Do I Create A Comprehensive Data Retention Plan

Clients ask me that question everyday. I wish there was a one-size fits all answer. Unfortunately, data retention policies are not that simple. They are directly dependent upon the specific data and applications. Add in the complications of regulatory requirements, and data retention becomes a problem, which needs a custom solution.

Businesses must ask the following questions: What data should be kept and for how long? What are the best ways to evaluate what data is important to keep? How do you identify and categorize data that is mission critical, business critical and operationally important?

Answers will of course vary by business. One thing is certain: human input will form a data protection policy, not computer software and hardware. Data protection is a team project. IT executives, accounting and operational personnel must work together to develop the right plan. That lends integrity to the entire data retention process.

Most businesses fall short in their data retention policies and procedures. A recent survey by Cohasset Associates Inc. indicated that 76 percent of the respondents believed that improvements are necessary to their data-retention management program.

According to the survey, many businesses do not plan enough to create a quality data protection policy.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act Has Forced Many Companies To Review Email Retention Policies.

Four years have passed since President Bush signed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and most analysts agree the law is working as larger companies are finally getting their accounting books in order.

The act was formulated to strengthen accounting oversight and corporate accountability. It did this by increasing accounting and auditor regulations, enhancing disclosure requirements, creating new federal laws and increasing penalties under existing federal laws.

An important aspect of the act focuses on the details of data security, retention and protection. So the question is, how does the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation impact email retention policies?

Surveys indicate that 93 percent of all business documents are created electronically and that has forced most corporations to address their retention policies. Businesses, small or large, can no longer consider email retention a non-priority.

Companies must develop a classification of data for off-site storage, such as an online storage service that encrypts and protect the data.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act includes three provisions that deal with electronic documents, such as those communicated through emails. They include document alteration or destruction, mandatory document retention and obstruction of justice.

* In terms of document alteration or destruction, the Sarbanes-Oxley law states that people who knowingly alter, destroy, mutilate, falsify or conceal any document (electronic or paper) with the intent to impede proceedings involving federal agencies may be fined or imprisoned up to 20 years, or both. How does this impact email retention policies? If a company has an email retention policy in place, it must include a security plan. Only certain individuals should be given clearance to access the archived emails. A report with that person's name and purpose should be produced every time a certain email is accessed, and documentation of change to the existing document should be noted.

Backup Data For Your Computer In Simple English

Along the way, more and more data are stored into your computer hard disk. (The hard disk is the place where all your computer data are stored.) A lot of them are valuable to you. You do not want to lost them. So, it make sense to make extra copy of them and stored it into a different location (not on the same hard disk). This is backup of your data.

There are several methods of backup.

One, is to make an exact copy of your computer hard disk. Like a mirror image of the hard disk. This way, when the computer crushes or the hard disk just refuses to work properly. You can take the extra exact copy of the backup and copied it into a new or formatted hard disk. Now, you can continue using the computer from the time that you last made the backup. This method saves a lot of time by not having to reinstall all the software and running the software updates again. You do not need to create or copy all your data files again. However, this type of backup take a longer process to complete. Example, you have already used 50GB of your hard disk space. To make a 50GB of backup, you need another 50GB of hard disk or 11 DVD disks or 72 CD disks. Almost all backup are done by compressing your existing data and stored into another storage media (DVD, CD, another hard disk etc.). So, you may not need to many instead, but you get the idea. It takes a longer time to compress and store all your 50 GB of data.

Another type of backup requires you to one full backup (the method above). After a full backup is done, the next time, it will only backup the changes that you have made from the time that the last backup and now. Only the first backup takes a longer time, whereas the subsequence backup takes a shorter period of time. Time are saved on the subsequence backup. However, you may require a lot of storage media. The subsequence backup stores all the existing new and updated data. So, your backup media will store both old data, from previous backup and new data from the new backup. To save storage media used, you still need to do a full backup, maybe after every 10 subsequence backup. Example, on your 11 backup, after 1 full backup and 10 subsequence backup, its time to do a full backup again. You need to use a new storage media during this backup process, after the backup is successful. You can recycle and used the old storage media for your subsequence backup again.

Choosing The Best File Recovery Solution

All file recovery solutions are not created equally. But, choosing one specific software or service company can be overwhelming from the sheer numbers available. For starters, why do some file recovery software cost as low as $29.99, while others range as much as $400? Before addressing these details, and how to choose the best file recovery solution for your situation, let's make sure your files have the best chance to be recovered.

Safety First...

If you are reading this article on the computer you are trying to recover files from, do the following steps immediately (Your computer is always running in the background, and could be overwriting the data you are trying to recover):
1. Close any important documents that are open.
2. Print this article to follow off-line.
3. Unplug your computer (Do not turn off your computer, unplug it now.).
Note: Unplugging the computer stops the computer from running all together. Turning off or shutting down your computer might make the computer go through a process that could overwrite data - your files.

What not to do...

1. Do not run the system recovery disk from the computer manufacturer. This software is designed to get your computer running again with no regard to your data. In other words, it is not designed as a file recovery solution. Just ask the manufacturer if there is a possibility that you could lose data. Yes, is always the answer.

2. Do not install file recovery software on the computer you are trying to recover files from, for this could overwrite the files you are trying to recover. You must have a secondary storage device (i.e. hard disk drive, USB device, etc.) to install the program and to recover the files.

Note to Advanced Users: Even if you are trying to recover a particular partition, and already have a separate partition to install the file recovery software on, do not do it. Since there is possible corruption within the file system at this point, you run the risk of overwritting the partition and files you are trying to recover during the installation process. Better safe than sorry. Install the program on a secondary drive.

File Recovery Software...

Which file recovery software you choose depends on what has happened:
1. Have you accidentally delete a file that you want back?
2. Have you lost a file, or found it damaged upon opening it?
3. When starting your computer, has it failed to boot to the desktop,
invoking a blue or black screen, or an error message (write that message down)?

Accidentally deleted files can usually be recovered by File Undelete software, which lucky for you is the cheapest solution at about $30 USD. If you cannot locate a file after running the program, the file system (where the files lie) may have been altered, deleted, or damaged. This means, File Undelete software cannot work, and you should use a "complete" file recovery product.

Lost or damaged files require a "complete" file recovery software, which usually costs about $100 USD. (Professional grade recovery software which include multiple recovery functions costs as much as $400). If you cannot locate a file after running the program, or if your computer failed to boot to the desktop, you may need File Recovery Services.

Data Recovery Company; When Is It Right To Hire One?

It is no wonder that people go after a data recovery company for recovering the data they have lost. There are some important issues that you should look for in such a company when you ask them to recover the lost data for you. Some of the points that you should be aware of are dealt with in this article.

What You Should Look For In a Data Recovery Company

Ask for a free diagnostic evaluation of your computer to find out if there is something that they can do to help. These companies should give you a guarantee to get your data back. If they couldn't do this then you should not be charged. Because many of your files can be very personal, the data recovery company should be confidential. They should be able to recover all media, file systems and OS. A good data recovery service company should also have multiple full service recovery labs to help you.

Additional Benefits you should expect from a company that recovers data

Before you pay for the service rendered you have to get a list of recoveries that are made from your system. Believe it or not, but In North America, there is only one ISO certified data recovery company. If you need one of these data recovery companies, then you need to make sure you make sure that this company can do it. Your satisfaction is utmost important.

There should be sophisticated research and development programs with such company, as well as warranty authorized. They should be factory authorized with DLT, SDLT, JAZ and ZIP.

Data Recovery Companies Can Save a lot of your valuable time

You might be having a very busy schedule in your business that you don't have time for spending on data recovery. In such cases the data recovery companies come to your rescue. They take the load off your shoulders and ensure you of your data back. Such companies should be authorized and sophisticated to handle such issues. You can pay such companies only if you see some progress in recovery.

Data Disaster Recovery - Is It Really Necessary?

When people think of disasters, they mainly think of flooding or earthquakes. In the world of computer experts or people who makes their living using information technology, a disaster can be quite different and yet can have the same paralyzing effects. Like an aftershock to a major earthquake, losing one's data suddenly and without warning can leave many a computer technicians as well as users shocked and in awe. Never panic though, because disaster data recovery is a possibility and all that was once lost might be found with a high degree of reliability and an even higher percentage of probable retrieval.

Fire and flooding damage to a home can result in a complete mess. Most people might feel "ruined" because of the extreme equipment casualty that can be done to a home. Once it is established that there is no harm to any of the humans or pets in a building or office building, the healing of the equipment through disaster data recovery is ready to begin. A team of reliable computer technicians or experts is called in to begin work on your computer equipment or any other piece of equipment that was damaged by the fire.

Data backup and recovery is always precious. Many of the techniques the team of experts will use on the equipment are the same as the techniques used to rescue lost data from other machines under more normal circumstances, for example retrieving lost files from a damaged hard drive through a fire is much the same as simple finding lost files from a hard drive with a virus or other sort of infirmity. The important thing to keep in mind is that nobody gets hurt in the process of disaster data recovery.

A Simple And Crazy Way To Recover Your Data

Here was a real life situation I was in. I worked as a IT support staff and one day a laptop that crashed was handed to me. After some diagnostics, I found bad sectors on the hard disk and a lot of clunging sounds whenever I turned on the laptop. Unfortunately, the user have some crucial data on the hard disk and need to have it in 24 hours.

The BIOS wasn’t able to detect the hard disk. So I did some searching on the internet and found a real crazy way to recover the data. So, I decided to put it to the test since I have tried other ways to recover the data without success. I remove the hard disk from the laptop and put in the refrigerator!

Now it’s important you do not put the hard disk in the refrigerator for too long. I put it in for about 30 minutes and then quickly attached the hard disk to an external hard disk casing and connected it to another computer via the USB port.

Surprisingly, it worked, the hard disk was detected and I copied the crucial data that the user needed to the computer as fast as I could.

I have done this a couple of times since then and it does worked. However, I found it will only work for a brief period of time. Usually, you will have a period of about 15 to 20 minutes so you need to copy as fast as possible to your computer once the hard disk is working.

USAF looks beyond backup to data recovery

The Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence, with headquarters at Brooks City-Base, Texas, is a field operating agency of the Air Force Civil Engineer. The center provides Air Force leaders with the comprehensive expertise they need to protect, preserve, restore, develop and sustain our nation's environmental and installation resources. The agency employs 315 authorized civilians and 46 military members. In addition to its in-house staff, AFCEE has many of the nation's most respected and capable contractors as its partners. The center's multibillion dollar contracting capacity covers the entire spectrum of environmental and construction management services. AFCEE provides a complete range of professional and technical services, including IT, in environmental and installation planning and engineering and military housing construction and privatization.

AFCEE also operates remote facilities in Atlanta, Dallas and San Francisco. With the responsibility for protecting data at the central facility and remote sites it would be logical that AFCEE's search for a better backup option than traditional tape-based backup would conclude with a disk-to-disk configuration that would allow administrators at the main data center in Texas to also manage backup of the three remote facilities.

Overcoming recovery barriers: rapid and reliable system and data recovery

You can't gamble when it comes to protecting corporate data. Security measures have been implemented to protect against intruders and to perform regular backups to let you recover from system failures, virus attacks, or natural disasters. But if you're relying solely on tape backup for disaster recovery, no doubt you've already wondered if you really have the means to get your systems and data back on line before a disaster inflicts serious damage to your business viability. Can you really afford to take disaster recovery risks with your corporate data?

"Data is one of two irreplaceable corporate assets, second only to loss of life," writes Dennis Wenk in an article in the Disaster Recovery Journal (Winter 2004, "Is 'Good Enough' Storage Good Enough for Compliance?"). While comparing data loss to loss of life might seem outrageous, the article goes on to state, "Research has shown that 50 percent of companies that lose critical systems for more than 10 days never recover, 43 percent of companies experiencing a disaster never reopen, and 29 percent of the remaining close within two years. That's the death of a corporation."

Even if you somehow manage to beat the odds and survive with a suspect disaster recovery plan, you might not be so lucky at escaping the consequences of regulatory non-compliance. Recent government regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act require organizations to have the necessary internal controls in place to protect against risk events. Failure to implement acceptable internal controls can leave businesses and their senior executives liable for up to $5 million in fines, 20 years in prison, or both. In short, best-effort measures don't cut it anymore. Whether you're concerned about the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, HIPAA, or other government or industry regulations, unreliable disaster recovery practices can add up to significant non-compliance penalties in today's corporate environment.

Road to data recovery - Buzz

One of the loneliest sounds you'll ever hear is the sputtering of a hard drive on its last legs or the silence of a computer failing to start up. We all know we should back up our data, but we don't always do it like we should--and sometimes even backup systems fail. Unexpected disasters like flooding, fire or physical damage to a dropped laptop can also take their toll.

Depending on the severity of the damage, you can attempt to recover data on your own, or you can go to a professional. Software programs like Symantec's Norton SystemWorks (www.symantec.com) include data recovery tools that can handle small data losses resulting from crashes. One important item to look for when shopping is an "undo" feature. In some cases, a recovery utility can make matters worse and may have to be undone.

In the case of physical damage or scraping or grinding sounds, don't mess around; go to the pros. Two leading companies in this area are DriveSavers Data Recovery (www.drivesavers.com) and Ontrack DataRecovery Services (www.ontrack.com). Fortunately, the success rates are high. DriveSavers, for example, boasts a 90 percent success rate. Be prepared, because these services aren't cheap, and prices will vary with the severity of the damage and how fast a turnaround time you need. If necessary, they can even get your data back to you within 24 hours

Data Backup – Which is the Better Way?

Before we investigate which data backup method is a best fit for your business, we need to evaluate why and what you expect from your backup solution.

Obviously, we backup our data so we can continue trading after a disaster, but what type of disaster are you protecting yourself from and how quickly does your system need to be back online? Please think about this before you think of the usual stock answer, “I am protecting myself from all disasters and I want to be back online as soon as possible” easy to do if you have £500,000 budget and many man hours to devote to the task of backup. You need to be realistic about your backup and restore plan. Are you planning to recover from a hardware failure, total server failure, fire flood or any malicious event? Remember, the rule, the bigger the disaster you plan for, the bigger budget you will need.

Let’s look at the business backup options;

Tape Backup -

Is a solution which has been around for many years, recent technology means backup and restore is becoming faster and faster. The main benefit of tape based backup is the speed in which you can restore, tape solutions are now capable of moving data at rates of up to 80MB per second. The down side is the initial cost, a high end tape backup device will cost from £4,000 and can work their way up to hundreds of thousands. The software to control the backup starts at around £500 per device to be backed up and can escalate to £3000 per device. Cost of media, £30 per tape and usually you will need a minimum of 10 tapes.

Cost aside, the human intervention requirement can be a drain on resource, for example someone will need to ensure a tape is fitted into the backup device and removed offsite after the backup has taken place. Usually most company’s leave the tape inside the server overnight, leaving your backup exposed to the same threats as your server.

Disk to Disk Transfer –

Easily the fastest way to backup and restore and is suitable for high quantities of data which can be transferred between two servers at up to 320MB per second. The speed of this form of backup is usually only slowed down by the network connecting them together. There are two downsides behind this solution, firstly the cost; you will need a second server and this server will need to grow at the same time as your live server. Secondly it is impossible to remove the server to a secure remote or offsite location, again leaving your backup exposed to the same threat as your live server.

Offsite or Online Backup -

By far the cheapest method of backup, however until recently your backup and restore process can usually operate only as fast as your internet connection, usually 2MB per second. This form of backup has usually only been suitable for smaller companies with smaller quantities of data. Times have changed, some offsite backup solutions now offer high performance disk to disk backup functionality whilst still securely backing up your data to an offsite location, you might say this offers the best of both worlds, very fast restore using disk to disk functionality but still copying your data offsite ensuring you will always be able to restore regardless of disaster.

One final benefit is zero human intervention; once you have setup you backup schedule the whole process is automated from there on in.

How To Recover Documents, Files, And Photos

We have all lost items while working on the computer by accidentally deleting them or someone lost them for you. This can be very frustrating, as some files are very important to our livelihood. Or maybe just important because they are personal. If you have looked everywhere, even the Recycle Bin, the following are hints and ideas to help you. It would be helpful to try them.

Let's start with lost files, which may still be on the disk. Don't give up hope. It is important to try all of you options. Use a tool such as File Recover or Uneraser to retrieve it. It is easy to use. Here are several ideas to get that file back intact. With a broken up disk and lost items from a file, the recovery software will quite likely not know what to do. The more simple the file, the better chance of recovery. For the most difficult recovery jobs, Partition Recovery is what we have found to be the best. Better yet is a real human to help you out, a data recovery specialist. These angels are trained at putting back together the pieces of files. If your data were valuable, it would be worth it to enlist their aid. It will cost a little more, but you will be glad you called for their help.

Now let's talk a little bit about recovering photos that you just can't find. You will need to know what you are looking for and how it is saved. Is it saved in JPEG maybe? You need to find out. Here again you will need recovery software that is compatible with your file. For digital images you can use Flash Recovery however you cannot use this for those burned on you CD.

To recover Microsoft Office documents a great system to try is DOC Regenerator. You can try this free of charge. That way you can determine if the recovery works for you. before you spend the money on it. To repair a damaged Office document we recommend Advanced Word Repair or Advanced Excel Repair.

Because emails are not saved as individual files, these ideas do not work for them. Emails can only be recovered by normal file recovery ways if the entire file has been lost or deleted. A lost email may have been moved to a special folder if you have set this up. This folder allows you to recover anything lost. Emails can be recovered using unique email recovery software. Once again you need to acquire an email recovery system specialized for you software. Outlook Express Repair if very good and anyone can figure it out. If you have Microsoft Outlook files you will need to get Advanced Outlook Repair which cost more. But it is worth it.

Here you have been given different options to help you out. Most of all seek help if you need it.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act Has Forced Many Companies To Review Email Retention Policies.

Four years have passed since President Bush signed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and most analysts agree the law is working as larger companies are finally getting their accounting books in order.

The act was formulated to strengthen accounting oversight and corporate accountability. It did this by increasing accounting and auditor regulations, enhancing disclosure requirements, creating new federal laws and increasing penalties under existing federal laws.

An important aspect of the act focuses on the details of data security, retention and protection. So the question is, how does the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation impact email retention policies?

Surveys indicate that 93 percent of all business documents are created electronically and that has forced most corporations to address their retention policies. Businesses, small or large, can no longer consider email retention a non-priority.

Companies must develop a classification of data for off-site storage, such as an online storage service that encrypts and protect the data.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act includes three provisions that deal with electronic documents, such as those communicated through emails. They include document alteration or destruction, mandatory document retention and obstruction of justice.

* In terms of document alteration or destruction, the Sarbanes-Oxley law states that people who knowingly alter, destroy, mutilate, falsify or conceal any document (electronic or paper) with the intent to impede proceedings involving federal agencies may be fined or imprisoned up to 20 years, or both. How does this impact email retention policies? If a company has an email retention policy in place, it must include a security plan. Only certain individuals should be given clearance to access the archived emails. A report with that person's name and purpose should be produced every time a certain email is accessed, and documentation of change to the existing document should be noted.

* The Sarbanes-Oxley provision of mandatory document retention forces businesses to keep records readily for review for a period of up to five years. The penalty for knowingly and willfully violating this provision imposes fines and a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, or both. How does this impact email retention policies? A business must generate a data-retention policy with archive history periods included. According to Sarbanes-Oxley, the time period for such retention should be at least five years. The emails should be classified by dates (months and years) to make it less complicated for auditors to access such information. If the emails are disorganized, the auditors may have to dig deeper and they might find improprieties.

* The obstruction of justice segment is similar to the document alteration provision under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, but it includes a statute that prohibits tampering with witnesses. The legislation states that acting or attempting to alter or destroy a record or other object "with the intent to impair the object's integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding" can be punishable with fines, imprisonment for up to 20 years, or both. How does this impact email retention policies? Again, any company that has a data retention policy must enforce a security plan such that data can be accessed by only the proper personnel. An online data backup service with strong encryption and user tracking helps eliminate the chance of human intervention with whatever email data has been stored. With certain managed backup services, online backups are performed automatically, so data is protected without manual intervention. Data moves through an existing network connection, using state-of-the-art data security including AES encryption to a secure remote data center.

Clearly, the document-retention regulations implemented by the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation sends a signal to businesses that they must institute a policy regarding their data and documents, including those transmitted through email. Businesses must realize that they can be held liable for retained and deleted electronic documents. The policies these businesses put in place should include an inventory of all the electronic hardware and software that can store emails (including cell phones and laptops), all locations and storage formats of archived emails, and all the methods that email documents can be transferred into and out of the company. The next step should include classification of such emails, and then a secure off-site online backup storage plan.

The days of simply keeping emails in a folder at each workstation are part of the past thanks to businesses that have put forth a solid data retention plan. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has served as an effective means to help push the creation of such plans.

Data Disaster Recovery - Is It Really Necessary?

When people think of disasters, they mainly think of flooding or earthquakes. In the world of computer experts or people who makes their living using information technology, a disaster can be quite different and yet can have the same paralyzing effects. Like an aftershock to a major earthquake, losing one's data suddenly and without warning can leave many a computer technicians as well as users shocked and in awe. Never panic though, because disaster data recovery is a possibility and all that was once lost might be found with a high degree of reliability and an even higher percentage of probable retrieval.

Fire and flooding damage to a home can result in a complete mess. Most people might feel "ruined" because of the extreme equipment casualty that can be done to a home. Once it is established that there is no harm to any of the humans or pets in a building or office building, the healing of the equipment through disaster data recovery is ready to begin. A team of reliable computer technicians or experts is called in to begin work on your computer equipment or any other piece of equipment that was damaged by the fire.

Data backup and recovery is always precious. Many of the techniques the team of experts will use on the equipment are the same as the techniques used to rescue lost data from other machines under more normal circumstances, for example retrieving lost files from a damaged hard drive through a fire is much the same as simple finding lost files from a hard drive with a virus or other sort of infirmity. The important thing to keep in mind is that nobody gets hurt in the process of disaster data recovery.

Dangers from earthquake and fire

In more than one case, companies or individuals that lose important data to a fire or earthquake face a time of uncertainty that is unrivaled in the world of business conflicts and personal negativity. The pits of despair are now too familiar a home for those that have lost crucial pieces of data or information because of a strong type of calamity. Disaster data recovery can not only serve to restore the data to its original form but it can also restore relationships between them and, perhaps more profoundly, the human heart.

Data recovery experts are specialized in multiple areas of recovering data including, but not limited to: fire recovery, water damage recovery, and miscellaneous crash recovery that may have occurred with an act involving a sledgehammer and a frustrated information technology worker on his last day of work when the coffee was cold and the air conditioning was broken. Disaster data recovery will always have a place in the annals of office and/or personal lives and this author cannot be more grateful.

How To Recover Documents, Files, And Photos

We have all lost items while working on the computer by accidentally deleting them or someone lost them for you. This can be very frustrating, as some files are very important to our livelihood. Or maybe just important because they are personal. If you have looked everywhere, even the Recycle Bin, the following are hints and ideas to help you. It would be helpful to try them.

Let's start with lost files, which may still be on the disk. Don't give up hope. It is important to try all of you options. Use a tool such as File Recover or Uneraser to retrieve it. It is easy to use. Here are several ideas to get that file back intact. With a broken up disk and lost items from a file, the recovery software will quite likely not know what to do. The more simple the file, the better chance of recovery. For the most difficult recovery jobs, Partition Recovery is what we have found to be the best. Better yet is a real human to help you out, a data recovery specialist. These angels are trained at putting back together the pieces of files. If your data were valuable, it would be worth it to enlist their aid. It will cost a little more, but you will be glad you called for their help.

Now let's talk a little bit about recovering photos that you just can't find. You will need to know what you are looking for and how it is saved. Is it saved in JPEG maybe? You need to find out. Here again you will need recovery software that is compatible with your file. For digital images you can use Flash Recovery however you cannot use this for those burned on you CD.

To recover Microsoft Office documents a great system to try is DOC Regenerator. You can try this free of charge. That way you can determine if the recovery works for you. before you spend the money on it. To repair a damaged Office document we recommend Advanced Word Repair or Advanced Excel Repair.

Because emails are not saved as individual files, these ideas do not work for them. Emails can only be recovered by normal file recovery ways if the entire file has been lost or deleted. A lost email may have been moved to a special folder if you have set this up. This folder allows you to recover anything lost. Emails can be recovered using unique email recovery software. Once again you need to acquire an email recovery system specialized for you software. Outlook Express Repair if very good and anyone can figure it out. If you have Microsoft Outlook files you will need to get Advanced Outlook Repair which cost more. But it is worth it.

How To Recover Data Lost From Viruses, Power Surges, And More

Many of us work on computers these days. The work we do is important and it is always at risk. The many risks could include viruses, power surges, thunderstorms, natural disasters, human mistakes, and hackers. These things are real and we don't think they will ever happen to us. Our computer work every day and we never expect anything to go wrong. But then one day it happens! Lightening strikes and the power goes out just as you are finishing something you just can't live without and can't redo! It is a hard lesson learned too late. But not too late to do better the next time.

You should back up your files just to be sure you don't lose anything. If the hard drive does fail, a data recovery system id a great option to keep in mind. If your program begins to do weird things, shut the computer down right away to avoid losing anything.

Your hard drive may be destroyed in time if you continue. It is better to be safe than sorry. If you do lose data, try not to repair the hard drive yourself unless you are an expert at it. Instead enlist the aid of a professional data recovery service. You could just ruin things if you try to do it yourself. All of your data could be lost and that wouldn't be worth it. Recovering data takes time, special tools and a clean place.

If you try to do this yourself you could just make it all worse. With the software available, you may think that you can just do it yourself. That would be very risky. You may do more damage than good. Just think of the cost of replacing your whole hard drive. Your best bet would be to contact a data recovery service. You can rest assured that your computer will be well taken care of. If the company does ruin your computer, they would be obliged to replace it. However, this rarely happens. They are very skilled and can recover whatever data you have lost. What happens if there is just nothing to be done about your hard drive? Should this occur you might just have to buy a new hard drive.