Hard drive data recovery can be a difficult topic for many new computer users. No one wants to believe that their data is lost, and most people have no idea how to get it back. Fortunately, there are data recovery services available that can help you with the overwhelming task of recovering your lost data. This article is intended to help you learn more about hard drive data recovery and how you can learn more.
A hard drive is a "non-volatile" storage space designed to hold data. The data is stored on a magnetic surface which is called a hard disk platter. There are many reasons why data can be lost from the hard drive, including the mechanics of the hard drive itself, and external problems. Most hard drives today have several moving parts which need to be carefully synchronized in order to maintain a constant spin rate, called RPM, inside your computer.
Modern hard drives have "SMART" technology, which stands for "self-monitoring, analysis, and reporting technology." All that means is that the computer will diagnose itself and be able to solve the majority of its problems, also that it corrects the motors and fans when needed, and lets you deal with using the computer instead of trying to maintain it.
In order to understand hard drive data recovery, it is essential to understand how data is lost from a hard drive. Let's define data loss as an unforeseen loss of data or information previously stored on your hard drive. Murphy's Law demonstrates only when it's too late that we should have been backing up our hard drive better. The best way to recover data is to never lose it in the first place, but that is a topic for a different article.
Data can be lost during a power failure, because there is unsaved data in the memory which is not yet been saved to the hard drive. Data can also be lost through a disk failure which can happen for a number of reasons, usually mechanical such as a crash in the hard drive machinery itself. Software can also crash on your computer, especially if you are using Microsoft products, and could lead to a loss of data on your hard drive. Viruses or other malicious software can corrupt your data and is one of the biggest reasons for data loss. Fortunately, today's technology provides a pretty good track record on recovering data from your hard drive.
The best thing to do is to look in your phone book or on the Internet for a local hard drive data recovery specialist. These are people who have been trained or have experience in recovering lost data and can be your best friends-especially in an emergency situation. There are many who specialize in hard drive data recovery and are happy to help you with your data recovery problems. The price they charge is normally a small price to pay if the alternative is losing your data forever.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
The Most Simplest Way To Unhide A Hidden Partition
After my first article on the hidden partition I realized that the solution that I brought was rather difficult for the newbies, I thus sought and tried out various solutions and programs until I find this terrible little software, I named PARTEDIT32.
This small freeware software will allow you to make visible your partition in some clicks of mouse and on the fly under Windows XP.
Just unzip and launch Partedit32 the user interface opens, simple but effective if you have more than one hard disk, choose the hard disk where your hidden partition is in the Hard Disk menu, then look in your partitions table at the column TYPE , Partedit32 has a list of the various types of partition, you can reach it by clicking the button SET TYPE.
In this example with a Acer laptop the name of the partition is pqservice and its type is 12, changes it by type 07, and save.
Now you just have to restart your computer, enter into "my computer" you have done it, now you can see the hidden partition pqservice. If you do not see the hidden partition repeat the operation but disable before the D2D recovery software into the bios menu. To open the bios hit the F2 key during the boot (note this is for Phoenix Bios check your user manual for other bios). Go to the main menu set the D2D recovery to disable, save the change restart and you have done it.
This small freeware software will allow you to make visible your partition in some clicks of mouse and on the fly under Windows XP.
Just unzip and launch Partedit32 the user interface opens, simple but effective if you have more than one hard disk, choose the hard disk where your hidden partition is in the Hard Disk menu, then look in your partitions table at the column TYPE , Partedit32 has a list of the various types of partition, you can reach it by clicking the button SET TYPE.
In this example with a Acer laptop the name of the partition is pqservice and its type is 12, changes it by type 07, and save.
Now you just have to restart your computer, enter into "my computer" you have done it, now you can see the hidden partition pqservice. If you do not see the hidden partition repeat the operation but disable before the D2D recovery software into the bios menu. To open the bios hit the F2 key during the boot (note this is for Phoenix Bios check your user manual for other bios). Go to the main menu set the D2D recovery to disable, save the change restart and you have done it.
Data & Tape Storage & Disaster Recovery – What you need to consider (SME organisations)
Data & Tape Storage & Disaster Recovery – What you need to consider (SME organisations)
You may be in a situation where you know your data is not being backed up correctly – or at all. You know it needs to be looked into………….but you just can’t ‘find the time’ to speak to the other team members about it.
Data is the second most irreplaceable and valuable asset after ‘people’. In the event of a disaster, insurance money can only pay compensation and replace tangible assets; it cannot replace people or your unique data.
So where do you start? Well every business has their own requirements and generally will look to their IT support company for advice on their specific needs. In my experience, IT companies (particularly for SMEs) just rather organise blue cable, servers, peripheries and maintenance plans – than ensure a decent Disaster Recover (DR) plan is in place. And if they recommend a DR plan, it will be based on their biases on the subject.
Here is what to consider and investigate when developing a data backup plan.
First – How much data are you generating each day? That is how many Gigabytes? Second. How many days/hours of data can you afford to lose? Third. If there is a major systems failure – how much downtime can you afford?
How much daily needs to be backed up daily? You should only need to do an incremental backup of the NEW data for the day. When to do a FULL backup? ……………. Usually weekly. Also you may require Archive backups……………often monthly.
Once you know the quantity of data to backup daily & weekly, you can then decide on the method.
You need to consider how much data needs to be stored on Disc (eg NAS) for rapid access in case of a systems failure; and how much data can be stored on Tape (LTO, DLT). Tape is cheaper to run but takes longer to backup and access. The simplest method is to buy a Tape drive unit that can backup about 200 – 400 GB of data. The costs vary ($1000 - $2000) for the unit and the individual tapes cost about $50 - $60 each (you often need about 20 tapes). If your data is close to a Terabyte (TB), you are now looking into more money to set up ($5000 - $10000). On the other hand, you can store a lot of your daily data on Disc Storage (NAS etc..) however the hardware can be very expensive to purchase and very expensive to operate. You need to keep the units running constantly - even if you just want to have access to a simple word file – the whole unit needs to keep running. A lot of electricity for disc, whereas tape just sits on the shelf.
Some experts will say tape is vulnerable to damage and corruption. The solution is the make multiple tape backups and then store in a cool, safe place. Tape actually can last years without damage.
Many companies offer off-site tape storage. This allows you to store tapes in a library/cataloguing system that can be viewed online. They are kept in a secure vault with idea climate conditions for tape longevity. You are also able to instruct the storage company how often they visit your office to exchange your backup tapes on an agreed tape rotation plan.
You just have to know what data you need to store for rapid access (Disc storage) or archive or not so urgent (Tape) and balance your expenditure and operating costs accordingly. Also remember to factor in the amount of data increase you are experiencing in your organisation (thanks to emails and larger file sizes – there is at least a 50% increase in all extant data per annum!!!)
What about the Internet?
Yes some people have backup software that allows their data to be de-duplicated and compressed so as to fit in the available bandwidth. Some IT people actually backup onto the available space in the their Website Database. Web hosters often offer a certain amount of data to be stored in the back end of the web site itself - for a monthly fee. Just check to see the extra costs associated with data transfer. Also in the event of a systems failure (where communication lines can go down – thus internet and WAN) how are you going to retrieve the data?
IT people are also known for taking home older servers – placing them in their garage and backing up data over the internet to their second hand PCs. Is this a reliable solution considering sick days, holidays, burglary and internet integrity?
Some companies will host your data in a similar way to Web hosters? Just ensure that they are in fact a suitable option when you factor in costs, reliability, bandwidth, data restoration time and DR.
Other simple solutions
There is more software being developed that will compress and simplify your data so that you are only backing up a smaller parcel of data.
This is definitely worth investigating, however I would recommend that you start changing policy internally with regard to backup solutions. Remember that a large source of your problem is that company employees often make several copies of the one file, do not delete there ‘Sent files’ and do not archive or manage their emails. This is where you can save a lot of memory – and thus know for sure the REAL amount of data that needs to be stored.
You may be in a situation where you know your data is not being backed up correctly – or at all. You know it needs to be looked into………….but you just can’t ‘find the time’ to speak to the other team members about it.
Data is the second most irreplaceable and valuable asset after ‘people’. In the event of a disaster, insurance money can only pay compensation and replace tangible assets; it cannot replace people or your unique data.
So where do you start? Well every business has their own requirements and generally will look to their IT support company for advice on their specific needs. In my experience, IT companies (particularly for SMEs) just rather organise blue cable, servers, peripheries and maintenance plans – than ensure a decent Disaster Recover (DR) plan is in place. And if they recommend a DR plan, it will be based on their biases on the subject.
Here is what to consider and investigate when developing a data backup plan.
First – How much data are you generating each day? That is how many Gigabytes? Second. How many days/hours of data can you afford to lose? Third. If there is a major systems failure – how much downtime can you afford?
How much daily needs to be backed up daily? You should only need to do an incremental backup of the NEW data for the day. When to do a FULL backup? ……………. Usually weekly. Also you may require Archive backups……………often monthly.
Once you know the quantity of data to backup daily & weekly, you can then decide on the method.
You need to consider how much data needs to be stored on Disc (eg NAS) for rapid access in case of a systems failure; and how much data can be stored on Tape (LTO, DLT). Tape is cheaper to run but takes longer to backup and access. The simplest method is to buy a Tape drive unit that can backup about 200 – 400 GB of data. The costs vary ($1000 - $2000) for the unit and the individual tapes cost about $50 - $60 each (you often need about 20 tapes). If your data is close to a Terabyte (TB), you are now looking into more money to set up ($5000 - $10000). On the other hand, you can store a lot of your daily data on Disc Storage (NAS etc..) however the hardware can be very expensive to purchase and very expensive to operate. You need to keep the units running constantly - even if you just want to have access to a simple word file – the whole unit needs to keep running. A lot of electricity for disc, whereas tape just sits on the shelf.
Some experts will say tape is vulnerable to damage and corruption. The solution is the make multiple tape backups and then store in a cool, safe place. Tape actually can last years without damage.
Many companies offer off-site tape storage. This allows you to store tapes in a library/cataloguing system that can be viewed online. They are kept in a secure vault with idea climate conditions for tape longevity. You are also able to instruct the storage company how often they visit your office to exchange your backup tapes on an agreed tape rotation plan.
You just have to know what data you need to store for rapid access (Disc storage) or archive or not so urgent (Tape) and balance your expenditure and operating costs accordingly. Also remember to factor in the amount of data increase you are experiencing in your organisation (thanks to emails and larger file sizes – there is at least a 50% increase in all extant data per annum!!!)
What about the Internet?
Yes some people have backup software that allows their data to be de-duplicated and compressed so as to fit in the available bandwidth. Some IT people actually backup onto the available space in the their Website Database. Web hosters often offer a certain amount of data to be stored in the back end of the web site itself - for a monthly fee. Just check to see the extra costs associated with data transfer. Also in the event of a systems failure (where communication lines can go down – thus internet and WAN) how are you going to retrieve the data?
IT people are also known for taking home older servers – placing them in their garage and backing up data over the internet to their second hand PCs. Is this a reliable solution considering sick days, holidays, burglary and internet integrity?
Some companies will host your data in a similar way to Web hosters? Just ensure that they are in fact a suitable option when you factor in costs, reliability, bandwidth, data restoration time and DR.
Other simple solutions
There is more software being developed that will compress and simplify your data so that you are only backing up a smaller parcel of data.
This is definitely worth investigating, however I would recommend that you start changing policy internally with regard to backup solutions. Remember that a large source of your problem is that company employees often make several copies of the one file, do not delete there ‘Sent files’ and do not archive or manage their emails. This is where you can save a lot of memory – and thus know for sure the REAL amount of data that needs to be stored.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
