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.

Effective data flow management involves a number of technical processes, and selecting suitable software and hardware tools to perform these tasks is a major feature of data flow management. Other requirements for managing data flow are a well-trained staff and executive team who recognize the importance of data quality and integrity.

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.

Health data management services are available either as a complete outsourcing solution of data analytics services or as onetime assistance. These services comprise the preparation and cleansing of data, analysis and reporting of results, decision making support and assistance in implementing solutions.

The 3M health data management system is a PC-based system which has innovative data collection and reporting modules. The Healthengage is a health data management service, which supports data management from a variety of different devices.

How To Prevent Data Loss Situations

One fine morning when you open your computer system and try to open an important file and the message appears ‘the particular file cannot be opened’. Now do you have the idea why the file is no longer accessible, it could be a virus attack, media corruption, file deletion or anything of that sort.

Files and folders might get corrupt or damaged due to severe virus attacks, corruption of the storage media, unexpected system shutdown, bad sectors in the disk and display of error messages are the possible reasons which lead a file to get damaged or corrupt.

You can prevent such situations by taking simple and easy to follow measures:

Perform regular Backups: Backup your data on regular basis. These backups can be created with some backup software or on some external media like – CDRW, DVD, and Tape.

Placement of your computer system: Keep your computer system in safe, dry and dust free area to prevent physical damage to the computers.

Update Virus Definitions: Viruses can attack at any point of time, so regularly update your anti-virus software. Virus attacks can result into severe data loss.

Protect your system from Power Surges: Huge power surges can destroy your computer equipment but on the contrary low level of power release can erase data on the hard drives. Always ensure that your computer system receives uninterrupted power supply, so that data can be backed up at the time of outage.

Protection from Static Electricity: The computer system should be protected from the Static Electricity which erases data or damage the equipments. The available storage media’s are becoming more vulnerable to Extraneous Static Discharge (ESD)

Use of built-in features: Now days, many of the installation and diagnostic programs provide “Undo” disks that can restore the computer system to its original configurations in case if something goes wrong.

Simple mistakes can lead to sever data loss situations. After all being human-beings we have the right to commit mistakes but the ultimate solution to this problem is – Perform backups and save your business and data.

RAID - Use Of Multiple Hard Drives For High Storage And Reliability

Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) was introduced to increase the level of storage, redundancy and augmented performance in enterprises and server markets, but now have become much common with an end user over the past 5 years.

In simple terms, RAID can be defined as a combination of number of low cost hard drives linked together to form a single large capacity storage device with improved performance, high storage capacity and reliability of data storage. Use of RAID storage technology came into significance in late 1980s and has marked its presence as the in-demand data storage medium for corporates, professionals, manufacturing units and individual users for their need of high capacity data storage device.

Generally three forms of RAID are used for desktop computer systems – RAID 0, RAID 1 and RAID 5.

RAID 0 is the lowest level of RAID. This level fails to provide any level of redundancy for the data stored in array. If any of the drive fails, all the data is damaged.

RAID 1 provides simple form of redundancy for data with the help of mirroring process. This RAID level has two individual drives with same capacity. One is the active drive and the second is secondary drive termed as mirror. When data is written to the active drive, it automatically gets copied to the mirror drive.

RAID 5 is the most powerful and effective level of RAID used on desktop computer system. It requires hardware controller card to manage the array but in some desktop operating system it can be done through software. A minimum of three drives are required to build RAID 5 array with similar drives for best performance.

Other levels of RAID levels are RAID 0+1, RAID 10 or 1+0, software and hardware RAIDs which are used for the storage of data.

Advantages of RAID:

Redundancy:

Redundancy becomes the most important feature while developing the RAID server environment. Redundancy is required in means of performing backup of data in situations of drive failure in the array.

Capacity:

By combining multiple small drives into a large array, capacity to store large amount of data increases. The data storage capability of the operating system increases as the RAID server is installed thus providing you the freedom to store any amount of data which gets restricted while using the limited size drives.

Enhanced Performance:

Improved performance can be found in specific versions of RAID and this performance depends upon the number of drives used in the array and the controller. Different RAIDs when implemented provide superior performance in their own way and up to different levels, but all improve in some way or the other.

Lower Cost:

When RAIDs were introduced, the cost of implementing them became a key issue. The invention of RAID was to provide greater storage capacity as compared to use individual high storage capacity device. Difference in the cost of high and low capacity drives can be analyzed with a good example where three drives of small size cost less than an individual high capacity drive which provides more capacity.

Data Security:

The data which is stored on array is completely secured as RAID provides complete security and competence to protect the data. This security is followed even if the complete hard disk fails without any data loss or performing the restoration process of the backed up data. All RAID levels provide same degree of data security.

Improved Accessibility:

Accessibility refers to availability of data. RAID provides its users to recover data from hardware faults without any problems.

Disadvantages of RAID:

RAIDs do give an assured security to the computer systems but this security cannot be relied upon for long time. If your PC gets attacked by virus, or files and folders are deleted or your PC hits the floor or is affected by the fire – water damage leads to such situations where you don’t have any other option other than opting for RAID data recovery services. There have been many cases when more than one drive has failed causing an expensive RAID data recovery. Like such cases, anything is possible and constant backups should be maintained to avoid data loss situations even if you are using any reliable storage medium.

Conclusion:

It is agreed that RAID provides PC users with a number of benefits depending upon the version implemented. High storage capacity, security, accessibility, performance are the key features which attract users to opt for RAID. The advantage of one RAID level over the other cannot be measured as for some applications RAID 5 is better than RAID 0 and for some RAID 0 would be superior to RAID 5.

Corrupt Word File Recovery

There are as many ways to recover the lost data as there are the reasons to lose it. If there are 10 ways to loose data then there are 12 methods to recover back the lost/deleted data. Generally, a word file gets corrupt due to unexpected system shutdown, power outage, software crashes, file corruption, virus attacks and due to many other endless reasons.

The in-built recovery facility in MS Word helps you to recover the minor corrupted files.

MS Word allows you to create a backup copy of your work every time you save the file, which can be easily accessed in case if the .doc file gets corrupt or damaged.

For example, if you are working on a ‘Support.doc’ in MS Word and you have enabled the backup option, Word will automatically create a backup copy called ‘Backup copy of support.doc’. So if in case your document file gets corrupt you can use this backup copy.

To turn on the backup option in MS Word, perform the following steps:

1. Launch MS Word.
2. Click Tools > Options and click the Save tab.
3. Select the Always Create Backup Copy check box.

The AutoRecover feature in Office XP constantly saves data of the file you are working on and helps in undue circumstances of unexpected system shutdown, power failure, software crash where the document automatically gets closed. The next time you launch the application, Word restores the last saved data and presents the recovered file. The “Document Recovery Window” gets open on left side of the document screen with the list of recovered files. Double click the appropriate file or right click and select Save to save it.

Zip File Recovery

Ever tried to send a folder or file with big file size and disk occupying space through email. Many a times your email account cannot send the file and displays error messages. Why does this happens?

This mainly happens when the size of the file which you are mailing is large or your internet connection speed is slow or your ISP is not able to transfer your request. But this can be solved by using the WinZip software – a compression utility to reduce the file and disk storage size of a file.

WinZip software is used to compress a file into an archive so that it occupies less disk storage space. Files and folders with heavy file size can be compressed with WinZip compression utility which will reduce the storage space on the disk.

For example, the size of a folder on disk comes to be 276 KB but when the same folder is compressed with the WinZip utility, its occupying disk space becomes 160 KB. A straight away reduction of 116 KBs. Now this folder can be transferred easily through email and will take less time to get transferred to other storage medium.

Corportaes, students, accountants, designers and many other professionals use WinZip software to send important data thus reduce file size, which then can be easily transferred from one place to another. But at times these zipped files may get corrupt in the electronic transit or by virus attacks, software malfunction, or the storage media where the zip files are stored might get corrupt; any situation can lead to file corruption and make you face data loss situations.

At this time of data loss situations, zip repair software proves helpful to recover the lost data. The deleted, corrupt, damaged and inaccessible data can be recovered with the help of zip file recovery software.

Winrar is another useful compression utility used for reducing file and disk storage space similar to WinZip. Thus the reality cannot be ignored that WinZip and Winrar compression utilities have made their mark in daily file transfer usage and are helping users to transfer their data.

How to choose which data recovery company to use

Faced with every computer owner’s worst nightmare? Dealing with the reality of lost data? Frantic, because you just discovered that your most recent back up failed?

If you have experienced some type of physical damage to your hard drive, optical drive or other external media storage device there is a high likelihood that you are going to need the help of a professional data recovery service center. The question you are probably asking right now is how exactly you should go about selecting the right data recovery center. Well, I am here to tell you that are some very specific things that you need to look out for. Unfortunately, not every company operates with the same appreciation for customer satisfaction and loyalty. Therefore, you really need to protect your interests by doing a careful investigation before allowing anyone to touch your damaged storage media device or hard drive,

So, what are these things that you need to investigate?

First, it is a good idea to do an internet search on data recovery providers in order to compare the claims made by the available providers. You should then look at the providers who offer the service you need and determine what price they will charge for recovery services.

But, don’t make a decision based upon their website claims. You will need to pick up the phone and contact each of the companies that you are considering. If you cannot find a phone number, then it’s a pretty good indication that this is not a company with which you should be working.

When you get a representative on the phone, ask them about their success rate and whether they are willing to guarantee their service. If a company promises you a 100% success rate, there is a good chance that they are not being entirely honest.

If you are satisfied with the success rate, ask questions about the price structure that the company uses and the type of equipment that they use for recovery purposes.

A good company with an excellent success rate and better than market pricing for their entirely guaranteed data recovery service is 800Tech.com. If you check out their service listing through their website, and call to speak with one of their certified technicians, you are going to find out that not only are the 800Tech prices competitive but they also don’t charge you until they can produce your lost data.

Data loss is stressful enough. You certainly don’t deserve to have the same disappointment from the company that you hire to recover your lost data. If you do your homework before selecting a company to help with your data recovery, you will not be caught paying more than necessary for your data recovery.

Data Recovery in Clean Room Labs

When you are evaluating possible companies for your data recovery needs, one of the most critical questions that can ask them is what type of clean room they have and if it meets Class-100 criteria. Class-10 is optimal, however Class-100 is the industry accepted standard.

So, what exactly is a clean room? Well, for one thing it is an environmentally controlled area which maintains a constant temperature and has a very strictly controlled level of humidity. The room will be lit from an external source, and there will be a very powerful ventilation system installed in order to remove any possible contaminants from the air.

There are three criteria that every clean room must exhibit in order to be considered acceptable:

1. No outside contaminants can be allowed into the controlled space.
2. None of the machines located in the clean room can result in the creation of contaminants.
3. If contaminants are found in the clean room, they must be immediately removed.

In order to keep the clean room free of contaminants, those who go into the space must wear protective clothing that prevents contamination.

Why is this it so important to maintain a clean room for data recovery work? Well, quite simply it is necessary to avoid the potential of introducing additional contamination to an already damaged media storage device or hard drive. This is particularly true for a device that has been damaged in a fire or flood.

This is because a damaged hard drive that is exposed to airborne contaminants can be rendered useless should the contaminants get onto the platters inside of the drive. If this happens, it will be nearly impossible for the drive head to work correctly and important data can be lost forever as a result.

If you are in need of data recovery services, you should definitely ask the companies that you are considering about their clean room technology. Ask how often their clean room is inspected and know that it should be inspected annually, at least. If a company is not willing to disclose the details of their clean room technology, you might want to consider working with one who does.

800 Tech is a leading data recovery provider, with a Class-100 inspected clean room that utilizes industry-leading technology in order to constantly monitor the quality of the clean room. All of the certified engineers and technicians are trained in clean room practices and wear appropriate clean room gear before ever coming into contact with your data storage device.

Don’t take chances with your data. You need to ensure the safety practices of anyone who will come in contact with your exposed data; otherwise you may end up losing any chance of recovering your lost data.

Now that you have an idea of what goes into maintaining a clean room, you probably have a better understanding of why data recovery is so costly for consumers. The price is definitely worth getting access to your lost data, and the better the technology the higher the chance that you will once again have access to your much needed data.

Dbas Find Simplified Solution For Data Recovery - database administrators - Product Announcement

BMC Software, Inc., Houston, a provider of enterprise management, has introduced an advanced backup and recovery solution for Oracle(R) that provides database administrators (DBAs) with a simplified solution for addressing one of the most complex and potentially damaging issues, recovery of data. PATROL(R) Recovery for Oracle assures business availability by providing surety to companies that the data that is critical to their business will be recoverable, with minimal loss, in the event of a disaster through an easy-to-use centralized management tool.

PATROL Recovery for Oracle version 2.0 expands upon the functions of previous versions with new features that allow companies to maximize resources while increasing availability of their critical data. The new back up and recovery features include:
-- Centralized management of heterogeneous databases across the enterprises, allowing customers for the - first time - to manage databases other than Oracle, all from a single console;

-- The elimination of management boundaries through remote management of backup and recovery tasks;

-- Greater flexibility and the elimination of guess work by allowing DBAs to perform the smallest, most efficient recovery through precise point-in-time recovery analysis; and

-- The enabling of quick and efficient transaction recovery of bad transactions through log analysis. "With responsibilities for 70+ Oracle databases, we have a strong need for a single solution that will allow us to simplify our complex management environment," said Mike Harris, senior Oracle DBA of Volvo IT North America. "Our team of four Oracle DBAs, with a range of experience from beginner to knowledgeable with BMC's PATROL Recovery for Oracle, were able to install and configure backups for all servers within a matter of two weeks. The simple drag and click process used in BMC's management solution simplified what had been a rather time consuming task for us in the past. Since then we have seen several times how straightforward and clear database recovery can be. The easy three-step process: configure it, do the setup, and let it run on its own, has not only saved us time and money in setting up backups and recoveries, but frees up the entire team's time, allowing us to focus on more critical business issues."

PATROL Recovery for Oracle provides the ability to develop intelligent backup and recovery strategies tailored for a company's specific business and application needs. It is the only product available today that can offer customers such a high-level of functionality across a multitude of platforms, including Oracle, DB2, Microsoft SQL-Server and Exchange, all through a single management console. Further, by insulating the DBA from becoming experts in every platform supported, PATROL Recovery for Oracle enables companies to better maximize their resource management.

"Disasters happen, it is unavoidable. How a company handles them and to what level they let them affect their business is a different story," said Chris Gahagan, vice president and general manager of the Recovery and Storage Management Division of BMC Software. "BMC Software understands that user and application errors happen and systems do go down, that is the unfortunate nature of business. Backup and recovery solutions are as critical to effectively managing a business as understanding that not all applications and databases can be managed the same across a company. The ability to tailor PATROL Recovery to meet a company's individual application and business needs is required by our customers to assure their business availability."

PATROL Recovery for Oracle enables users to perform rapid recovery from a wide range of user or application errors, database outages and physical failures by right-sizing their recovery. It initiates the smallest, most efficient recovery possible to keep a business up and running. PATROL Recovery for Oracle provides assurance of recovery through automation, consistency, guidance and dry-run functionality to eliminate errors and minimize the recovery time.

Management of geologic risk, uncertainty defines accurate horizontal well placement: addressing geological challenges prior to horizontal well executi

More than 40% of horizontal wells encounter major unexpected structural geologic/stratigraphic changes during drilling that result in wells being sidetracked or serious consideration given to this option. As the hole angle increases and measured depth of bed thickness becomes more distorted, correlation between predicted and actual geologies proportionately increases in difficulty.

Therefore, real-time correlation must be systematically planned in advance, and must identify key marker beds and decision points. Failure to recognize individual parameters within the reservoir of interest, such as stratigraphy, rock type, reservoir geometry and structure, fluid content, and formation petrophysical properties, can result in costly mistakes.
As witnessed during planning and executing horizontal drilling programs in the Hawiyah and Haradh fields of Saudi Arabia, the industry's ability to drill horizontal and high-angle boreholes has improved with the aid of proper geological planning, execution and evaluation. Advances in wireline technology adapted to the drilling environment, in combination with present measurement-while-drilling (MWD) techniques, can allow conventional logging-while drilling (LWD) tools to provide the necessary information and insight for steering boreholes geologically, and for petrophysical evaluation.
The task of assembling relevant information about the geology, as mapped, and then planning a trajectory is not a given. Understanding a reservoir's heterogeneous character and the directional relationship of reservoir permeability is required, as is the ability to adjust the well trajectory while drilling, using resistivity, gamma ray, density and porosity logs. Well planning involves delineating the targets on the basis of seismic maps, top structure maps, offset well logs, geographic target selection, and 3D modeling and visualization, to arrive at a plan of continuous well trajectory to penetrate the target reservoir zone.

Unfortunately, geologic maps are not always correct, as a result of errors in seismic processing and interpretation. Uncertainties in determining target depth and lateral position are combined with an inability to predict small-scale features, such as minor and sub-seismic faults. Therefore, real-time interpretation of all incoming data is just as important as the data, itself. Geological constraints/problems, such as offset well mis-ties, faulting, stratigraphic variations and pinch-outs, pose significant risks during drilling.

The following concerns affect accurate well placement:

* Borehole position uncertainty related to directional survey accuracy.

* Geological uncertainty (structural dip and stratigraphic), such as lateral facies variation.

* Directional control while drilling.

* Unanticipated buildup rates and doglegs found while drilling.

* Limitations of LWD tools and methods.

* Ambiguities inherent in interpreting propagation resistivity logs in horizontal wells.

Proper management of geological risk and uncertainty leads to fewer pilots being drilled with less cost.

DIVERSE RESERVOIRS, SOLUTIONS

The Haradh and Hawiyah wells are located in a geologic trend known as the Khuff. Khuff C sediments were deposited on a shelf of very low relief, where a series of repeated short-lived changes in sea level occurred, which were accompanied by exposure to meteoric fluids and dolomitization by hypersaline fluids. This produced facies variations over large areas. Khuff C carbonates are defined at the base by the underlying regional Khuff D anhydrite and at the top by extensive Khuff C anhydrite, Fig. 1. Four high-frequency sequences make up the Khuff C carbonate interval. The four sequences have been further subdivided into 12 reservoir layers (C1-12) from top to bottom.

Four Basic Backup Steps

"I have this cool backup tape drive in my new computer and a couple of tapes so I am all set!" That is true, you now have a level of protection that a lot of people do not have but are you going to do it right? Change the tapes regularly, replace them when their life runs out, clean the tape drive and store them offsite?

First, having more than one tape is a good thing but you will need more than the standard four or five. I would suggest slowly adding to the stack at about 5 per week until you have around 35. The reason is simple. Tapes were not meant to be used and reused infinitely.

Which bring me to my second reason. Tapes also wear out and break. They are not indestructible and they should be cared for much like a volatile piece of hardware. After all, it is your data on the tape so keep it safe. They also stretch over time so if you replace your tape drive after three years and you never replaced your tapes; then you might have a problem.

This one catches a lot of people. Clean the tape drive at least once per week. Even though the tapes and the drive itself is new; dust and dirt can get inside the unit. It never fails, when you absolutely need a backup to be made then that is when it will fail because of a dirty head.

Store the tapes offsite. If this is your home computer then think of a place where you can store it routinely. Preferably, at work or a friends house but definitely not on top of the computer.

One last piece of advice. Test your backups. This one act can save you countless problems. It is better to find out that the backup did not work after you made the backup than it is to discover the failure when you need the backup for recovery.

How Data Recovery is Performed on Failed RAID 5 Arrays

RAID 5 arrays are used for many applications because they are for the most part cost-effective and provide a level of fault tolerance not provided by some other levels of RAID. As with any RAID level, RAID 5 can experience many different types of problems. This article will provide a brief discussion of some of the problems causing RAID 5 failure and how data recovery can work to solve these problems.

Problems That Can Cause RAID 5 Failure

Bad Sectors

A RAID 5 can fail due to bad sectors on any of the disks in the array. This can force the array to go offline.

Corrupt Data

A RAID 5 can suffer from corrupt data due to many reasons including viruses, user error, overwriting files, and scratches on the surface of the disk platters.

Degraded RAID 5

A RAID 5 becomes degraded when there is a loss of one of the member disks. This causes a huge decrease in performance and also removes the fault tolerance of the RAID 5. Operating a degraded RAID 5 is dangerous because the loss of a second disk will cause the entire array to be lost.

Deleted Files

Many times a user will accidentally delete important data in a RAID 5 array. Other times, it is done intentionally by disgruntled employees. In most situations, deleted files can be recovered.

Missing Partitions

In many cases, the partition table can become corrupt or missing causing an entire partition to disappear or become unusable. This makes data recovery necessary. Attempting recovery with software will increase the risk of permanent data loss.

RAID 5 Controller Failure

A Hardware RAID 5 array uses a controller which contains all of the logic and handles the operations of the array. For many reasons, the array can experience a controller failure. This can cause the array to not boot. It could also cause the logical volume to disappear.

RAID 5 Disk Failure/RAID 5 Drive Failure

A RAID 5 is a set of three or more disk drives. Any of these drives can experience failure. A RAID 5 is configured with the ability to withstand the failure of only one disk at a time. In most cases, the RAID can be recovered in a data recovery lab using parity data written to the disks by the array. Even if more than one disk has failed, data recovery is still possible in a recovery lab.

RAID 5 Firmware Failure

Firmware problems can occur in the RAID controller or the member disk drives.

RAID 5 Rebuild Failure

For various reasons, a RAID 5 array can experience a rebuild failure. This may keep member disks offline and render the array unusable.

Server Crash

Many times, the host server experiences problems and can crash. This of course makes the array unaccessible. A data recovery lab can recover the data from the member disks.

How to Ensure RAID 5 Data Recovery is Successful

If you have experienced a RAID 5 failure, it is important that you do not take matters into your own hands. This can cause the parity data to be overwritten. Parity data, which is written to the member disks, is in many cases vital to ensure a successful recovery. The very first thing you should do is power off the RAID server immediately to ensure that no additional writes are performed. Any events describing what may have happened to cause the problem should be noted. If the member disk drives are removed from the server, they should be labeled in the correct order they were removed. The disk order is very important if time is of the essence. This is also important if you have a large number of member disks.

Data Recovery Software – Are they Useful?

Have you ever heard the word data recovery? If YES, then you might be aware about the data loss situations. But if you say NO then you are one of the lucky person who have not experienced the situations of data loss, hard drive crashes which demand data recovery.

What is Data Loss?

Data Loss is a situation where you lose the data stored on your hard drive or it becomes inaccessible. This data could be the important business files, music, personal collection of pictures, emails, videos or anything. Now why this happens? This situation generally occurs when the hard drive fails or crashes, files get corrupt or damaged, there are virus attacks on your computer system, hard drive corrupts due to water-fire damages, poor usage of the hard drive, ad ware – spy ware attacks etc. Because of these reasons you might lose access to your data or it can get corrupt. But the relief is that this inaccessible data ca be recovered back. It’s possible almost in 95%of the cases. Data Recovery Software are the best means to recover the lost, deleted, inaccessible, corrupt, damaged data from the hard drive, files and folders and other storage media.

What is Data Recovery Software?

By Data Recovery Software I mean to say, software which can recover back the lost data by scanning your hard drive. Similar in the way as you see other software which have different functions and working. For instance, anti-virus software will stop, remove and protect your computer system from virus attacks, and any password recovery software will help you to restore the lost / forgotten passwords of your email id which were stored in your PC.

According to Surveys,

"Viruses: Survey finds PCs infected at a rate of more than 10% each month" -- (ICSA Labs, 2002)

"35% of all PCs sold to businesses are laptops and 1 in 5 of these laptops will suffer hardware failure in the first 3 years" -- Gartner analyst Brian Gammage, The Changing Spectrum of Mobile PC Usage, October 30, 2002

"Data Recovery is possible in 85% of all data loss cases" --Dan Pelosi, Data Recovery 911, December 2002

Thus it can be concluded that data recovery has its own importance when people loose their important data. Data recovery software is useful for file repair, file recovery, database recovery, backup recovery, email data recovery and forensic data recovery.

How to use Data Recovery Software?market is flooded with many data recovery software range. There are renowned companies and small manufacturers too which perform data recovery at small scale. But data recovery is not an easy task to perform. It requires determination, expertise, appropriate recovery tools, Class 100 Clean rooms, biometric environment and of course a data recovery technician who can perform the data recovery – thus resulting into data recovery services.

Data Recovery Software is developed to minimize the possibilities of data recovery services thus enabling the end user to himself perform data recovery on his PC. The do-it yourself data recovery software available in the market completely scan your damaged hard drive and retrieves the lost data. When you finalize the data recovery software, always look for the software support provided by the data recovery company on their website:

• You can view the Animated Working Demos – how the software works, provided by the company. These working demos are the best option to know and view the GUI and functions of the software.

• You can also look for any software user’s guide made available by the company on their website. The manual has the step by step procedure to perform data recovery. Follow these steps and evaluate the software.

• When you download the software, view help manual accompanied with the software. It guides you with step by step recovery procedure.

Generally, demo version of the data recovery software are available for FREE downloads. It’s free because the companies want you to test the recovery possibilities of your data and then only purchase the software. The demo versions are not enabled with saving feature for the recovered data. You can download the demo version and run it on your computer system.

Word of Caution: The point which should be noted here is that you should not run the data recovery software on the corrupt drive. As this might overwrite the original data which then gets deleted. Always perform data recovery on the copy of corrupt data and a good device.

Install demo version of the data recovery software and analyze its working, features and the amount of data which the software can recover. If the software displays the lost, deleted data then the software surely can get back your data to you and you can also purchase it. When you run the demo version always ensure;

• How much time does the software take to recover data?
• Is the software able to recover the deleted files also?
• Can it recover attachments?
• Can it recover data damaged due to virus attacks?
• Is the software provider data recovery company recognized in the market?
• What is the recovery percentage of the software?
• Is the software purchase amount refunded, if the software is unable to recover data?
• View the clients of the company, if possible contact them and gather feedback about the company.
• Read client testimonials of the company
• Consult with the support staff of the company and ask queries related to your data loss situation? Like, according to them which would be the appropriate data recovery software for your case of data corruption? As this would help in purchasing the right software.
• Compare 2-3 data recovery companies with their recovery percentage, client satisfaction percentage, data recovery techniques, range of data recovery software provided by the company.

After performing all these checks you can purchase the software and recover your data.

Please Note: While you are performing check on data recovery companies, always try to find out real data recovery figures of the company, as many companies add false figures to their websites and in the end are able to empty your pockets.

Conclusion:

It can be concluded that data recovery software are boon for such individuals and companies who lose their data due to accidental deletions, virus attacks, unexpected system shutdowns, hard drive failures, system crashes and other undefined reasons. The data recovery software is definitely useful in the hour of need and data recovery services prove themselves when the software is unable to get back data. You can also give a try to data recovery services when there is a severe damage caused to your device.

Virus Attacks: Can You Save Your Data?

With the high tech professionals increasing day by day, chances of virus attacks have also increased. Viruses come unannounced and uninvited, stay there as an unwanted guest and cause harm to your precious data and files. Sometimes in the cases of severe virus attacks, complete data from the hard disk gets erased, hard drives get overwritten and even the physical drive media gets corrupt.

25% of the data loss is caused by virus attacks excluding the human errors and software malfunctions. Fortunately we have some preventive measures through which data loss situations caused by virus attacks can be avoided:

Good Anti-virus Software: As your first defense, you should always install good anti-virus software to safeguard data. At the time of installation, always ensure that the program provides automatic updates, so that whenever there is a virus attack, automatic updates can counteract them. Make sure that the installed anti-virus program scans all the incoming and outgoing emails as this is the easiest passage for viruses to enter your computer system.

Never Open Doubtful Attachments: Email attachments which seem doubtful to you should be deleted immediately as these may be the viruses which get activated by mere clicking on the attachment. Be careful with the suspicious file extension types as these files are nothing but virus files.

Regularly Install System Updates: All the viruses are targeted towards the popular windows operating system. As the system vulnerabilities are announced, the virus writers start creating virus to takeover the weaknesses and attack those system owners who are not upgraded with the available updates.

Always Perform Backups: And the most important way to protect your data is regular backup process. Always create backups of your important data on an external media. Backups created on regular basis help in situations when an anti-virus program may fail to protect your important data.

Conclusion:

In the end when everything fails, the performed backup of your data will prove beneficial to recover the damaged, corrupt data from virus attacks and other corruption mediums. The data recovery software also proves beneficial in the case of virus attacks.

Understanding, Diagnosing, Recovering and Preventing Data Loss

Data loss is a serious issue, which most businesses and individuals will encounter at some point in their digital lives. It can cripple businesses, ruin careers and generally cause a great deal of unnecessary stress. This article will attempt to generalize a strategy for dealing with such scenarios.

Understanding Data Loss:

Generally data loss can result from any of the following:

Hardware and system failure, human error, software corruptions, power disruptions, computer viruses, Natural disasters and intentional human malicious damage. Almost all of these situations can be avoided, or at least the risk of them occurring be reduced.

The good news is that in most cases some if not all the data is recoverable. Think of it this way, when data loss occurs the information appears to be "lost" to the computer. This requires guidance from either data recovery software or a data recovery specialist to help "find" the data again.

Diagnosing Data Loss:

It is essential to write down the steps, which led to the data loss event. This is the simplest and most crucial action anyone can take when experiencing data loss. It is interesting to note that it is often the immediate actions taken after the data loss event, which determines the ability for the information to be recovered. So no matter how embarrassing the circumstances are note everything down!

But how will you know when data loss is going to strike? Common symptoms are a sluggishly running system, constant freezing or hanging, unusual noises (clicking or grinding sounds) coming from the hard drive or system and unusual error messages relating to software and/or drives being used.

Recovering Data Loss:

Essentially there are two methods to recovering data- via data recovery software or via a data recovery specialist. In general it is always best to first consult a data recovery specialist, however this is dependent on the value of the data which has been threatened,

Data recovery software essentially analyzes, repairs and recovers corrupted and/or lost data and assists in re-linking the information, which has caused the data to become lost. Free evaluation versions are freely available on the web and are often a good way to test the capability of a product, if you are satisfied with the job performed by the product you can purchase it and recover your data thereafter.

Professional Data recovery specialist will analyse and repair your system in a Class 100 clean room equipped with all essential technologies to ensure a stringent and controlled environment resulting in the greatest chance of full data recovery.

Preventing Data Loss:

Computer viruses are often the immediate cause of a data loss event. It is quintessential to have a trusted virus scanner and firewall operational on your system. A common misnomer is that if one does not view inappropriate sites one will not come across any problems. This is false; if your computer has a connection to the Internet there is a threat.

Backup your work! This is the simplest and tried and tested measure to ensure you never lose your data. Generally it is best to have a dedicated backup hard drive in which an exact copy of your system and data can be stored. Further to this it is also recommended that highly valued data be backed up to CD or DVD. The reason is that hard drives can fail, and it is rare to have problems with a physical medium such as CD or DVD. Finally it is important to have a form of off-site backup for in the event of a natural disaster. An easy way is to simply have another backup hard drive or DVD’s stored at home.

Conclusion:

Data loss is a frightening concept and a real threat to businesses and individuals who rely on their computer systems for success. The risks however can be managed through developing a detailed strategy to deal with each possibility and mishap along the way.

Current Internet Network Security Policies Are Nonsense!

Internet network security policies are flawed in strategy and implementation.

Gary suggests that the use of external consultants for the entire internet network security policy framework is not a great idea since the external consultants will find it difficult to grasp the intricacies and business drivers for the network security decisions.

Also, in terms of implementation, the internet network security policy should be disseminated to each and every employee of the company through seminars , handouts and quizzes rather than an innocuous email that no one reads.

The network security policy should capture the latest trends in the network security industry rather than playing catch up. One of the network security aspects that Internet network security policy makers should be worried about now is access to corporate data through a Blackberry or a mobile phone.

New ways of accessing internet cause internet security policy nightmares for CIOs. For example, most companies allow employees to access the corporate intranet mails thru Blackberrys. Also, some companies allow VPN access to the entire corporate intranet. All this is usually actually in violation of the existing corporate internet security policy which has to be rewritten.

In conclusion, internet network security policy implementors should focus on internal buy in among employees and proper dissemination to the entire IT work force,including contractors.This will ensure that the internet network security policy doesnt end up as a useless binder in your boss's cabin!

Stacks Of Data, And Nowhere To Store Them?

Ever tried looking for a particular paper in a stack of hundreds of papers two minutes before a meeting that might change your career?

A database would allow you to store your data and then retrieve it at anytime, just by entering a particular piece of information that identifies the data you require.

While I was complaining to my friend about how I was not only late for that meeting but also could not get the information that I needed, because I could not find the paper. He mentioned the words database, server and backup.

A technology that is composed of three main parts: a relational database management system, network manager and an HTTP server, would be an ideal solution to my problem. The relational database has the following features:

• It stores both, the files and the information about the files (meta-information) including timestamps.

• All data versions of all the files with their dates are stored in the database and ensure that every file is available safely, for recovery. Thus, enabling it to act as a version and revision storage facility.

• It allows the user to find files by name or a given date. Simply by setting the date or entering the file name to obtain a table of all files backed up, matching the selection.

• Any file in the tables of the database can be viewed and/or downloaded (restored).

• Viewing and retrieving individual files, is simply done by writing the name of the backed up file. If the file has been modified several times, all the versions will be accessible, with their dates.

• Access to the database is possible with browsers from any computer connected to the LAN.

• Over 150 file formats (mime types) can be stored and viewed in the database.

I was very intrigued by what he was saying and decided to try the new technology. And guess what?! Not only am I always five minutes early to every meeting, but I also got promoted to a higher position, my boss said it is because I am always prepared in advanced and that shows self discipline.

How To Fix Your Computer Freezing

We have all been there: sitting at the computer, and typing up a report, or letter to someone. When all of a sudden, nothing! Mouse won’t move, keyboard won’t type, and yelling at the computer does not help either. And, oh yeah, you forgot to save this file when you started. So all of this hard work is gone, erased, and must be redone. This is very frustrating. This one small tip will show you how to fix your computer freezing.

The cause of the freezing, or locking up, of your computer, is due to some either corrupted or missing files. And more specifically, missing or corrupted registry files. These are the files which tell everything on your how it is suppose to work. Basically, they are configuration files. And if these files get corrupted, or messed up, it can wreck havoc.

Sometimes the registry files end up missing. This can happen when you uninstall software from your computer. The software being uninstalled may remove registry files also associated with another program. There should be a message asking you whether or not you want to delete the files as they are associated with another program. Your best bet is to say NO to this and leave the files. If the files end up missing, then the program which needs them will stall, hang, or freeze the next time it tries to run. But there is a simple way to fix this.

By just running registry scan software on your computer, you can find these problems and fix them right away. It will let you know which files are bad, and will fix them to its original state. And it is this simple step which will show you how to fix your computer freezing.

My Office Computer Crashed! How The Mirror Copy Saved My Data?

In our world today, technology is taking over. Whether in our professional or personal life, computers make our life much easier. Unfortunately, they also have the ability to erase our work in a split second, without allowing us to retrieve it.

The fact is that computers crash; when and how much damage will this cause is the problem. The solution involves setting up local or off-site backups. Mirroring provides such a robust solution to this problem.

Small and medium enterprises usually have a Local Area Network (LAN) which connects all of the computers in the company together. The mirror is a computer disk on the LAN where the backup takes place.

The mirror is organized by a folder containing the backup of every computer, each in a separate sub-folder. In the mirror disk, files are saved in their original form, uncompressed. They can therefore be accessed at any time, without preparation.

In case of a defective computer, users can immediately connect to the mirror and use the copy of their data.

With the mirror image, the data of a defective PC is already backed up and can be used instantly. By connecting to the mirror, users can continue working while their replacement computer is being installed.

Due to the fact that the mirror images of the backed up data are stored in their original form, uncompressed the data is accessible without delay from the LAN.

This technology will help the company minimize its idle time and data loss due to computer failures, thus ensuring business continuity.

Secure Data Backup And Instant File Recovery

Just how recoverable are your computer files?

There are many times when the PC seems to ‘have it in for you’. I have even known servers with really nasty streaks – how is this for an example:

I was running an IT training course in a secure establishment. The day before, I set everything up with a technician, had it checked and locked the room.

The next day the network would not work and when it did all the files for the course were missing. It took us a day to put everything back together and then do a tape backup - all for a two day course.

The next two days were perfect, but that was a training course, Imagine if that had been your small business computer or home machine and you were off to see a client.

What are the options to secure Data

It is estimated that 80% of small business could go out of business if their PC's fail so we have all learned to back up our work and know that tomorrow everything will be OK... YOU DO BACK UP DON’T YOU????

When you need to restore data

What happens if the file you need for your presentation has GONE. No, I mean it - GONE! It may have been deleted and then the Recycle Bin emptied. It may have been too big for the recycle bin and so your back-up was not there.

Well you do what I have done, you go into the meeting or training session with no notes or no presentation and you 'busk it'. It looks bad and it is bad. If you are in a large corporation and this is an important presentation, the technicians will beaver away on your PC or server area trying to get the files back in a usable form. They will probably succeed but it can take days if they are trying to recover from a tape backup. Luckily many have software that will do the job.

If you are a sole trader or a small company - welcome to the world of terror.

If your file does get deleted and has not been backed-up what can you do?

Having been working via the Internet as a small business owner for nearly 20 years I have kept up with all the products for backing-up, saving and those that can search, find and retrieve lost files.

The only problem is that with some programmes you have to actually have the programme on your PC when you need it.

What should you do to prepare for the worst?

For small business owners, File recovery and data safety come down to the following:

1 Backup weekly to removable storage such as CD, DVD, ZIP or an Internet data backup provider. If you store the data on your own media remove the backup media from the premises – say from office to home. At least in that way file recovery can be achieved if something happens to the main office.

2 Backup important daily work onto another machine if you have one, or CD/DVD.

3 If you lose today’s work - there is only one solution and that is search the net, find an instant file recovery product, download it and find that file. Better still, have the software ready loaded. I have used quite a few data recovery programs and find that Instant File Recovery gives a good result when needed. It is also cost effective.

Firewall As Security Wall For Computer Protection

Firewalls are security programs for computers that work same as that of physical firewalls protecting them from external hazards things. If an organization is using a network based environment then there is more chance of getting harm then a stand alone computer. So it is strictly recommended that there should be some security measures that will allow only the permitted things to get in and push unwanted stuff outwards. Even if the home computers uses internet surfing then intruders can easily make home in your computer files. To avoid such harms and security problems, firewall concept is eve loved. This phenomenon works as just like of barrier to keep damaging forces away. Firewall works just near to the router program scanning out each packet coming to the destination whether it has to forward or not. Usually firewall programs are placed in the separate systems to avoid taking direct request at private network connections. A lot of firewall products are available in the market that are providing some interesting and useful features like

-Record keeping facility

-Generating reports on regular intervals

-Alarming facility on any attack

-GUI based system

Working of Firewall:

Firewall works on three principles which data is permitted to come in and which not. -Sorting out Packets

Data on the network is sent in the form packets from one computer to the other computer. So firewall is aiming at packets first, it starts filtering them and then send to the demanding computer and cast off all other packets.

-Proxy

Some proxy settings are done on the network computers by firewall programs. All the information coming from the internet resource is first checked by firewall then transmitted to the requested system.

-Assessment of Packets Content

Not whole of the content is checked by firewall programs but certain keywords are matched to the defined database information in the firewall. If keyword match found they packets are allowed inside the network otherwise they are discarded.

Security - Data Recovered

The world’s population put a lot of faith in their computers. This is as true for online businesses as for personal computing. But what happens when your computer crashes?

Data Recovery

The benefits of data that is backed up by one or more sources are incredible. However there are many businesses that do not backup their business data in a meaningful way.

Should the computer suffer a major meltdown you may not be able to recover the data on your hard drive.

The use of a zip drive is a quick way to backup data in a compressed environment. If your data is not extremely large you can always save it on a CD-ROM, re-writable disk or jump drive. This information should be stored in a location other than your business in the event of either a break in or fire. If your system does fail you will have a very recent update of your data that can be reimported when the system regains function.

Inevitable Recovery

Make sure to have phone numbers for technical support in a central location along with the software product, manuals and registration numbers you have for your computer. The reason this is important is in the event of computer failure you will need both assistance as well as a means of importing software for a quick recover.

An Electric Onslaught

Surge protectors are an inexpensive investment in the security of your computer. If an electrical surge is allowed to access your computer it is likely to cause significant issues with your hard drive. A surge protector works to prevent any problems with variations in power distribution.

Who are you Again?

Registering your software may not seem like the best use of your time. Many individuals fail to register their software product for fear they will be deluged with email offers. While this can happen, the truth is by registering your software products you will be alerted to any problems, fixes and upgrades that may be available. If you don’t register the product the company does not know to contact you regarding these issues.

The Other Side of Security

While most people think about computer security as the work of espionage and subterfuge this article is meant to show the practical side of making sure your computer works as efficiently as possible, but when it fails you now have some tools to help you recover much faster.

Is Remote, Online Data Storage Really Necessary?

The need for reliable, authentic data backup is real -- but the "why" of choices made is often hopelessly obscured for business owners by endless truckloads of technical jargon understood only by the geeks.

Most business owners today would wind up in "rubber rooms" in a hurry were it not for their Information Technology (IT) people. How many CEOs out there actually speak or understand "Techie" or the reasons why they need what IT says they need?

No one's challenging the importance or value of a good IT Department in today's business world - but top management really should understand at least the basic reasons IT makes the choices and decisions it makes. So, in plain English, here's why online, offsite data storage should be given serious thought.

Consider how crippling (and painful) would it be if your business suddenly lost all its files. Customer data ... customer orders ... your own business data.... Just imagining what it would be like is enough to send most business owners into a panic - and rightfully so. Yet many (if not most) businesses put their commercial lives at risk online every single day -- and aren't even aware of doing so.

In a business sense, if in no other, ignorance most definitely is not bliss. With the explosion of commerce on the internet, competition is fiercer than it has been ever before in history. In today's business climate, it's absolutely essential that your online business operate without fail day and night, every day of the year -- because if error messages or downed servers or other glitches greet potential customers when they access your site, your many competitors are just a simple mouse-click away, ready and eager to snatch them out of your hands.

Your every day, online dealings with customers are conducted with the help of databases on your own servers, on your own premises, supplying relevant customer and business information. Any significant or recurring glitch in this service instantaneously translates to poor customer relations, loss of business and a sullied business reputation. Any way you look at it, loss or corruption of customer data is going to cost your business time and money - whether it's in lost or inaccurate sales or in server downtime to find and fix the errors.

Remote, offsite backup essentially functions in the same way regular tape backups do - but with one major - and important - difference. Instead of sending backups to a tape or to another drive attached to your on-site server, data is sent to another computer safely off-site. No one has to remember to do it, either; it's automatically done, each and every day.

Even if you already utilize a tape backup system, incorporating a remote backup system as well makes sound business sense. Critical files (such as customer contacts, billing data, client databases, etc.) can be kept on the remote backup system. Your tape system then can be used to create a full backup of the system just once a month or so. Doing this, your on-site tapes will last longer - and the drive will require less maintenance - while the remote backup gives you quick and easy retrieval of critical files and databases as needed.

With online backup, smooth functioning of online transactions supplying crucial customer and business information is assured. A good remote online backup service keeps your data safe and secure in remote locations and allows you to access, update, and recover important files and documents without your business suffering downtime or lost customers.

Online Data Storage Keeps Data Safe In An Emergency

A sudden, emergency situation can disrupt normal business transactions like nothing else - and that's especially true if much of ones business is conducted online and the emergency requires leaving computers and stored data behind. With an online data storage system that's one less thing to worry about as the situation unfolds, because the data is stored online and is always available to the business owner.

A month or so ago, on one day there were over 200 wildfires raging simultaneously in the state of Florida. Many of them were in uninhabited, remote areas - but at least a few were creeping close enough to a business associate's offices over on the western side of the peninsula that government officials issued an area evacuation advisory.

My first concern, of course, was for the physical safety of my friend and others in the area. But once that was ascertained, knowing that a good 85 to 90% of his sales are conducted online, I voiced concern about his business, should the proximity of the fires prevent him from entering his offices for any length of time.

To my surprise, he almost chuckled at my concern!

"I've got a million serious 'what ifs' to worry about right now," he said, "but thankfully, daily sales transactions and customer service aren't on the list."

The reason why, he explained, is that several months ago he had stopped using on-site, tape backups of customer and other business data and had switched to an online date storage and retrieval service.

In practical terms, what this meant for my associate was that a huge chunk of his small business was now fully protected from fires ... floods ... earthquakes ... from any kind of natural disaster that might threaten his extensive and valuable database and online sales. No matter what might happen to his physical plant, the business of accurately and reliably receiving, acknowledging and fulfilling customer orders would continue without a glitch.

Similarly, his extensive records of client history and information, along with all his other company data, are likewise protected by the same online data storage system.

That's because instead of sending backups to a tape attached to an on-site server, data is sent to another computer safely off-site and are always accessible via a key code known only to the business owner. No one has to remember to do the backup, either; it's automatically done, each and every day.

No human errors. No dropped or corrupted data. Nothing physical to lose or have damaged. No "all eggs in one basket" panic should something unexpected and uncontrollable occur.

It's hard to imagine anything safer and more secure than that -- come what may in the arena of natural disasters with the potential to dismantle or destroy a business.

Online Data Storage Trumps Disaster Insurance

All responsible businesses today protect themselves from financial disasters via insurance policies structured to recoup loss of revenue should the unexpected occur. But an insurance policy can’t restore lost customer and other business data, and that’s often the most expensive loss of all.

A couple of years ago, when a business acquaintance first told me about his company’s decision to switch from media-based data storage (tapes, CDs, zip drives) to utilizing the services of an online data backup company, the first thing that came to mind was a nightmare that had occurred in my business back in the mid- to late 80s. “Disaster” was definitely the word for it – and our protection against the fallout from it was practically non-existent.

Sometime after the end of business on a Friday, some pipes burst in the suite of offices right above ours. Throughout the weekend, untold gallons of water crashed through the ceiling unrestrained and uncontrolled, so that by Monday morning it looked as if a tidal wave had washed us. Unexpected, to say the least, on the 14th floor of a building in the middle of town.

As is the case with most executives it was my habit to be the early bird to the office, and the sight that greeted me when I unlocked the door is forever burned into my brain. Our carpet was soaked through with three to four inches of water. Our furniture was all but floating through our suites – and even the pieces that remained stationary were soaked through and ruined. All the phone lines were shorted out. And I didn’t dare flip any light switches….

Worst of all, though, was what I saw when I went to inspect our small, fledgling IT area. Absolutely everything in the room was thoroughly drenched and dripping water, from our server to the file cabinets housing tape backups to the PCs on the desks. We had, just several months prior, begun the arduous task of moving our client and other business data from hard copies onto an electronic storage system – and I can still hear the one word that echoed in my head as I surveyed the damage: Gone.

Our insurance policy covered the financial losses – but nothing could reimburse us for or replace the staggering amount of vital data lost to the flood. Because this was in the 80s and IT departments were just beginning to be considered in small businesses, the learning curve was steep and expensive when anything out of the ordinary happened. Online data storage services didn’t even exist in those days. Our entire repository of crucial data had been on those tapes and on that server – and we lost almost all of it.

The first lesson my company learned from our flood was that we needed physical, off-site storage for our organizational and customer data. That’s how we handled backup and storage for many years following that event – but while that was a great deal safer than storing our data on-site, there was nothing to guarantee our storage site wouldn’t ever experience such an unexpected disaster, as well.

I never once fully stopped worrying about it – until I learned about online data storage and backup services. Today, my company utilizes both an on-site tape backup and the services of a remote, online backup system. Our in-house tapes are mostly used for monthly backups (thus saving wear and tear on the tapes and maintenance on the hardware) and we use an online data and storage service for daily data backups. We’re fully covered, now – and our data is as safe as it possibly can be.

The Click of Death - Hard Drive Failure

When a hard disk drive starts to click, it's a sign of impending doom. It can happen at the most inconvenient times. During a save operation, while opening a file, or when you start the computer. It happens, for the most part, without warning and unless you are sensitive to the noises that emanate from your computer it will take you by surprise. In the majority of cases it means the drive has failed completely and that click might as well be the sound of a lock engaging. Your data is now locked in the dungeon of failed hardware. Permanently encased in a dead hard drive.

On the semi-bright side, a click from a hard drive can sometimes be a warning. Taken to heart and should it occur while the OS is still up, you might still have a chance to backup your data. Miss the opportunity and you might just kiss your data goodbye. Once it happens, a data recovery service can usually recover data from the Click of Death. This type of hard drive failure is usually beyond the capabilities of a typical end-user to recover.

Platter Damage
When the recording surface(s) become damaged due to physical contact of the head bearing with the platters, drives can make this dreadful noise. The noise is indicative of the heads repeatedly attempting to read damaged areas of the media (a.k.a. retries). Physical media damage on a hard drive is akin to a pothole in a roadway without the possibility of repair. The more tires that pass through the pothole the larger the hole becomes. If platter damage has occurred the drive will only get worse with attempts to run commercial data recovery software. Eventually becoming completely unrecoverable even by the most capable data recovery shop.

PCB Damage
It's possible the electronic components of the drive have failed or circuits have fried on the PCB. While it's not the most likely cause, replacing the PCB can fix the problem. It should be noted that replacing a PCB on a hard drive is not a simple as it sounds. Locating a PCB that is an exact match can often be difficult, yet is required to successfully swamp the boards.