Data Recovery - No Need If You Have A Proper Backup

Back up is a bread and butter question, put simply if you don?t back up you could end up out of business. Yet many people choose to ignore it, despite understanding the risk of losing everything, because it?s easy to do so.

Even a good backup policy is no good if it is forgotten or not properly carried out.

Yet no-one forgets to lock the office door or close the windows. When you?re working with any kind of technology things do go wrong, break down and important data can get lost, which is why online backup offers a realistic alternative.

When looking at online backup most businesses would see extra costs. That?s undeniable but there is a much higher cost to data loss. What?s more, they argue, traditional backup options are just as good and at a more manageable cost. Agreed but there are associated risks; tapes can wear out, CDs/DVDs may not store the data properly or get corrupted. Most importantly someone has to remember to do them and verify that they have worked.

This is the attraction of online backup; things don?t get lost or forgotten.

What is it?

Online backup is a facility where you can store your most important data files on a secure server, offsite. Many vendors will also provide mirror copies so that there is always a backup to the backup.

The main idea of online backup is that is used it to store important data so that if there is a disaster that data can be easily recovered.

Online backup is charged at a monthly rate ? based on how much you store. Data storage space, depending on the vendor, is either compressed or uncompressed. Because spreadsheets and other documents can compress substantially this allows you to store more data online for the cost of that space.

How does it work?

With online backup it?s usually done with the use of vendor-supplied software. Online backup software and providers build extra safeguards into their systems. Once an online backup account is set up the account is encrypted using a key created by the user. This is fundamental to the system. Lose or forget this key and no-one can recover the files. After that it?s just a matter of choosing what files to store and determining a schedule that suits you best.

Why use it?

Online backup does not fail and is not subject to human frailties. Every piece of data sent for storage is verified before it is stored. This means comparing what has been received with what has been sent. It also means that there is no corrupt data in the backup. Backup vendors typically make two copies of the data as it is being backed up, with the same checks, so that there is a backup of the backup.

What about security?

Data storage centres have a lot of anonymous data. That anonymous data is encrypted. They have no idea who you are personally. They can identify that a particular account exists on a particular server but apart from that no-one can access the data except the user. This is why the key is so important. The key that only you know allows you to backup and recover the data. All vendors are also subject to Data Protection laws. Data that is not backed up on your server is more at risk.

Online backup works well and is used by many businesses. It can provide a cost-effective secure backup solution.

Be safe back up!

This article is based on a blog entry by Ken O?Brien on the Spear IT website (http://www.spearitlouth.ie). Ken O?Brien is the owner of Spear IT, a computer services company based in Drogheda, Ireland, which offers a range of managed services including online backup, with compressed data storage.

 

Essential Tips For Backups, Data Safety - Avoiding Data Recovery

Backup, backup, backups!

If there's one thing I've learned in 20 years and 12,000 data recoveries, it's that everybody doesn't back up their data sometimes. Computers may be dumb, but they know when you don't have your data backed up - because THAT's when they break. Don't let your computer fool you - back up new data daily.

It's important that you keep two alternating backups, and an additional spare piece of media. This means to have one disk (or tape, or thumb drive) labeled "EVEN" (for even-numbered days, one labeled "ODD" and one spare. Eventually, something will go wrong with a backup. For example, if an error occurs on an "EVEN" day, and you put in your "ODD" backup, you may ruin both. Instead, put in the spare. If there is a problem, you've saved your extra backup (from the day before yesterday) and have not wasted all your hard work. If there is no problem, and it was only a temporary glitch, then put your spare back on the shelf, reformat the "EVEN", and carry on with your backup.

What's the best thing to make a backup on?

There are a lot of ways to back up your data. Most new computers come with CD-R, or CD-RW drives. Most PCs still come with floppy disk drives (and you can get one for a Mac). There are Zip drives, tape drives, USB "thumb" drives, and more. My current favorites are External FireWire or USB 2 drives, and CD-R for full backups, and USB thumb drives for smaller amounts of data.

There are quite a few external drives on the market today and if you have a computer that's less than three years old, you probably have the ports for hooking these up. They usually come with backup software as well. As of this writing, the drives are mostly under $200. Once installed, it's a good idea to leave these drives off except when backing up. That way, a power spike or other environmental event that may destroy data on your hard disk will be unlikely to damage the external hard disk.

For CD-RW drives, I recommend using CD-R media only, as it's too easy to overwrite a previous backup using a CD-RW disk. This is a good form of backup for large amounts of data (they hold more than 650 MB), and each disk is inexpensive. But it leaves you with a lot of plastic disks sitting around. That's why I typically use them only for large backups. Heat, bending, and scratching are the enemies of CD disks. Incidentally, while it's hard to do CD-ROM recovery, it is possible to recover CDs that are damaged.

Zip drives come in sizes from 100 MB to 750 MB and cost from $60 to $200, while additional disks cost around $10 each. These are sensitive to dust, shock, too much heat, and big magnets. Remember to alternate backups with Zip disks as a damaged Zip drive can damage a Zip disk. Zip disk recovery is possible, but tends to be less successful than recovering other media.

Floppy diskettes don't hold very much (1.4 MB), but cost a few cents, and are easy to carry around. Almost all PCs have them, and quite a few Macs do. Floppies are sensitive to heat, magnetic fields, dust, bending and other rough handling.

Tape drives should only be used for very large amounts of data. They are relatively expensive and slow. They're great on large networks for after-hours backups, but they're easily damaged. Tape recovery is difficult and expensive.

I am an unabashed fan of USB thumb drives! These are actually memory sticks with a USB plug on the end that act like portable hard disks. They are sturdy - I accidentally let one go through the wash in my shirt pocket. After it dried out, it still had my data on it (don't try this at home)! While we've been successful performing USB data recovery, in this case, it wasn't even necessary! They come in sizes from 64 MB to more than 2 GB. They can be shared and used on PCs and Macs without reformatting. You can buy one at a local computer or electronics store for $35-$150.

What's the alternative to backing up your data? Well, as every drive eventually fails, it's pricey data recovery or data loss, which can be devastating

Be safe. Back up your data.

Steve Burgess is the president of data recovery worldwide. As a founder of the data recover industry in 1984, Mr. Burgess has trained leading recovery companies and performed recovery work on more than 15,000 hard drives and other media. Burgess also writes and is a highly regarded computer forensics expert.

http://www.burgessforensics.com
http://www.datarecoveryworldwide.com
866-902-DRWW (3799), 805-902-8100

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 / Laptop Repair