Thursday, August 9, 2007

How To Survive the Blue Screen of Death

The Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) is a blank screen displayed when your computer has encountered a critical error. Most often, the basic solution is to reboot your computer. In this case you should expect to lose all the data changes or entries you have made since your last save preceding the error message. In the worse case scenario, the reboot process will not work, and may require a complete re-install of your operating system, possible hardware replacements, and total loss of stored data.

The trick to taming this wild beast is twofold. First, you can prevent BSOD by conducting some basic housekeeping; and second, you can minimize the impact of BSOD by preparing yourself ahead of time. As the adage states, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” In the interest of preventing the BSOD, I suggest you conduct frequent disk cleaning and system checks. Here are a few things you should make routine:

1. Delete unused files and uninstall obsolete programs
2. Defrag your disks regularly
3. Perform a Disk Cleanup of your hard drive
4. Use Internet Options under Tools to delete cached files, cookies, and temp files

In my experience the BSOD only occurs at the worst possible moment. You have just spent two hours updating data or writing a critical presentation, when “poof,” it’s all gone. At times like this you’ll be wishing you had hit the save button more often. Worse, the BSOD may lead to a critical error that prevents rebooting—suggesting a total loss of your database and an expensive recovery process. There are numerous products and software packages that can reduce the chances of incurring a BSOD, and in the event the unthinkable does happen, may help mitigate the impact of the disaster. Here are the key areas to cover in your efforts to prepare for the BSOD scenario:

1. Reduce the risk of a corrupt Registry failure by performing regular Registry cleaning and editing. Be careful though, if you don’t know what you’re doing here, attempting to edit your Registry can be catastrophic. 2. Create a Boot Disk and have one handy for every computer in your home or office. 3. Use a CD-Rom powered operating system that runs secondary to your hard drive as a way to mirror your existing system. 4. Use RAM testing software to perform memory tests. 5. Use Data Recovery software and offline backup storage. 6. Conduct spin tests of your hard drive to monitor its health and isolate bad sectors.

We’ve all heard of creating backups, but the shocking truth is, we just don’t do them often enough. Get yourself on a schedule to perform data backups, and stick with it.

So far I have focused on the software aspect of BSOD. In my experience, however, the bulk of BSODs occur due to hardware problems—namely, hard drives, power supplies, and RAM issues. I suggest you replace hard drives with bad sectors, do frequent system checks of your RAM, and replace power supplies that can’t keep up with the power demands. As a last resort, you may want to re-install your operating system.

You can tame the BSOD beast and minimize its impact on your database by following the few simple rules I’ve discussed above. For links to some popular websites that offer Registry cleaning and free software, visit the website mentioned in my bio below.

How To Survive A System Crash

A system crash occurs suddenly is a nightmare for many. A system crash can happen due to a corrupt operating system or with an old hard disk. It can destroy important personal data beyond recovery. If you take proper precautions, you can survive the system crash easily. Following are some of the important steps you can take to survive a system crash.

* Save your data files to a drive other than the drive where you have installed your operating system. If you have your operating system in C drive, choose another drive say D drive to save your personal files. This is very important, as the C drive may be required to be formatted after a serious system crash. If your personal files are in the C drive, then there is a chance for those files getting deleted. If you have any database backup scheduled, you can take these backups to another drive other than C drive. Installation of software packages can be done in C drive.

* Use an external hard disk or drive to copy your very important files or database backup at regular intervals. This will help you even if all the drives are affected during a serious system crash. The investment you make on an external device to store the data is worth. Update this external drive periodically, may be once in a week or month.

* If you have your important data in C drive during the system crash, there is a chance for recovering it if your hard disk only partially affected. Attach the hard disk to another system as a secondary hard disk and you can copy the contents of this drive to another drive.

Getting Back You Lost Data

Chances are, if you are reading this article, you have either lost some important data, or someone has lost the Data for you. If this lost information is critical to the success of a current job or business, or perhaps there is sentimental value place on the lost data, consider using the expert services of a data recovery company. From damaged hardware or crashed software, lost computer files to memory cards, most data recovery companies can assist in the retrieval of your lost data.

There are many data recovery companies to choose from, be sure that you investigate the experience and services supplied by your chosen data recovery expert. The internet can be a great source of information regarding various data recovery specialists, visit their web sites to find information on their facilities, services and experience in the industry. Check web sites of data recovery companies to read testimonials of past clients. Most people use data recovery services to save money and time, some lost data can be important to the success of a particular business, therefore data recovery services can be the answer you are looking for.

Most professional data recovery companies will make the process very easy for their clients, if you have lost some data, stop what you are doing and call in the professionals to arrange pick-up of the memory storage facility or damaged hardware/software. Your chosen data recovery company will guide you through the process of data retrieval or take care of the project themselves. Ensure that the data recovery company you choose can offer many services to suit most technology and the skilled staff to ensure your lost files are retrieved.

Data Recovery specialists can usually fix any data loss situation. Data recovery experts are equipped with the software and technical know-how to retrieve most lost data. There are many factors which can contribute to data loss – from accidental deletions to technical failure such as a crashed hard drive. Find a data recovery firm which specializes in your particular area of problem. Choose a data recovery company which can do the best job with the skilled staff and technical resources to face any data recovery issue.

So, if you have some technical problem and think you may have lost some important data, call the experts in to retrieve lost data, save yourself time and money by using Data Recovery services. Modern technology, though high-tech and advanced, can still be unreliable, this is when you will need the services of a data recovery professional.

Types of Backups

Backups are created to avoid situations of losing precious data. Backups can be created on daily basis, weekly basis, or monthly basis. Backups prove useful at the time of data loss, data inaccessibility, software malfunctions, drive corruptions etc. Before we know the types of backups an individual can perform, the basic backing up process should be clear. Windows offer built-in backup facility which proves easy for the backup creations.

The Windows Backup utility provides various types of backups. One should carefully choose the backup type according to his / her needs. There are different combinations of backups available; Normal, Copy, Incremental, Differential, and Daily.

Normal Backups

A normal backup is the first step to any backup plan. When the Normal backup option is selected; all the selected files and folders are backed up and the archive attribute of all files are cleared. Normal backups are the most time consuming process but prove more efficient at the time of restoration than other backup types.

Copy Backups

A copy backup option is not considered as a planned schedule backup, all the selected files and folders are backed up. Archive attributes of the files are not cleared while this option is selected.

Incremental Backups

Incremental backups are the fastest backup process. An incremental backup backs up the files and folders which were last created or modified or changed since last normal or incremental backup.An incremental backup backs up files that are created or changed since the last normal or incremental backup. After the backup is performed the archive attributes of the files are cleared. Restoration of data from an incremental backup requires the last normal backup and all the following incremental backups. These backups need to be restored in the same manner as they were created.

Note: If any media in the incremental backup set is damaged or data becomes corrupt, the data backed up after corruption cannot be restored.

Differential Backups

Differential backups backs up those files which were created or changed since the last normal backup. Archive attributes of the files does not get cleared after taking the backup with the differential backup method. The restoration process of files from differential backup is more efficient than an incremental backup.

Daily Backups

All the selected files and folders which have been changed during a day are backed up with Daily Backups option. The data is backed up by using the modified date of the files and the archive attributes are also does not get cleared with this option.

Normal backup is easy, fast and effective backup process which can be performed every night. But at times the created backup files can also get corrupt, damaged, deleted or become inaccessible. In this case, MS backup recovery software can help to recover the lost backup files. The bkf repair software offered by various data recovery companies proves effective and result-oriented bkf file repair software.

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.

Data Recovery

Recovering lost data is expensive. Regardless of whether you will attempt to recovery your data yourself, or send your hard drive out for recovery, the cost is quite prohibitive. The only way to guarantee that you will never require such a service is to continually make backup copies of your files and to store them securely. Even this is not really a guarantee, but it will provide you with the security of knowing that if you computer should crash or experience major hardware failures, your data can be recreated.

Data recovery is the process where lost data is recovered from broken, damaged or inaccessible media storage or hard drives. Data recovery can also be used to explain the process of restoring lost or deleted files on a hard drive.

There are many different data recovery software packages available to consumers who prefer to attempt restore data themselves. However, in most situations when a hard drive needs to be recovered, the only option is to send it to a service provider who is skilled at data restoration.

Here are some of the applications that you might want to try if attempting recovery on your own:

1. File Recovery for Windows by Active @ Data Recovery Services
2. File Recover™ 6.1 for Windows by PC Tools Software
3. GetDataBack by Runtime Software
4. Recover My Files by GetData
5. R-Undelete by R-tools Technology Inc.
6. Undelete 5 by Diskeeper Corporation
7. WinUndelete™ by WinRecovery Software

These software packages range in price and level of effectiveness.

Here are some useful things that you should know, courtesy of http://www.800tech.com:

1) Back up As mentioned above, you should back up your data routinely. Having a back up copy of your data is one of the best defenses against lost data and the need for recovery in the first place.
2) Hard disk noise
Anytime you hear a churning or clicking noise inside of your computer it means trouble. You should seek assistance as soon as possible from an authorized repair center.
3) Do not attempt the Recovery If you face any problem of data loss, do not attempt to recover data yourself unless you are an expert. Attempting the data recovery your self from the hard disk may further complicate the problems.

If you are in need of data recovery services, you should always work with a recovery center that guarantees their process. You should never be charged for unsuccessful data recovery, and you should be permitted to see your data before you are charged for the service. You should also be given an accurate quote for the total recovery cost before work begins.

A certified quality recovery service provider like 800Tech.com can help you with the process of recovering lost or damaged data at the best price and within the shortest amount of time in the industry.

You should never pay for unsuccessful recovery efforts, and also be sure that the company with whom you work guarantees the viability of your data in a contract prior to beginning work. Access to filenames is great, but what you need is content.

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.

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