Posts Tagged Data Recovery
Backup – Lifeline For Your Computer Information
Posted by 0845 Telephone Numbers in General on July 28th, 2009
Backups don’t just protect against data loss because of hardware breakdown, natural disaster, power outage, or some other catastrophe. No, they also give protection against human errors. Corporations make backup to external drives and to computer tape backup drives among other backup methods in order to protect the business from accidental data loss that could create havocs for the business. In some cases, the protections of backups are not for organizations but for home users. These are private computer users who have not done regular backups and collected tons of personal pictures the loss of which would be irrecoverable.
Imagine you are a PC technician with a mobile PC service business and you get a call from one of these home users where it says that Windows is corrupt and will refuse to start up. Of course there will be no backup but you ask anyways. Suppose for a moment! The user, since he was able to get a DOS prompt, tried a help program called FDISK. He figured out that the name meant “Fix disk” and he delete it from one of the disk partitions. This is a case when a utility to recover data deleted partitions is handy to have.
Disk partitions should be worked on to those who are experts on them and how unforgiving it can be if the utilities for them are used wrong. The best thing is to have a partition utility product such as Norton Ghost that will make a partition backup of the basic configuration and system software and then a different utility such as Novastor Backup to do incremental and full backups of user files. There are cases when a simpler partition tool for partition recovery can be used to restore disk partitions back without serious data loss.
Because the disk drive refuses to start up, that in itself doesn’t always mean that the system disk can’t be made to work. It some cases it could be that just a a small number of sectors on the hard drive contains bad blocks and that this location is is blocking Windows from booting up because booting errors are reported by the system. If a partition becomes deleted by accident, then the data in that partition still remains. Only the partition table has to be modified.
EASEUS Partition Manager is one product that can recover deleted partitions. Another product is File Scavenger. File Scavenger also claims that it can recover from formatting a partition. And there are other tools but the goal you are trying to achieve is to get the PC to be restored to situation so you can move off the data and then do a clean partition. After trying using a partition recovery software utility, the hope is that Windows is able to boot up. In the event that it doesn’t work as planned, you like to be able to get a DOS prompt to show up so that you can identify the files that then are need to be moved to another place.
If you have the fortune to be able to see the DOS prompt command and see the files that is stored in the user’s “My Documents” folder, then you should be able to hook up to an external backup drive (the simplest solution is to use a USB external hard drive) and to start moving the files off to this drive. From here, the disk drive should be reformatted, Windows reloaded, and the moved files can be recovered. This of course is a cumbersome process but your client should by satisfied to get the family photo album return in its original state.
Data Recovery For The Unitiated
Posted by 0845 Telephone Numbers in General on July 17th, 2009
You have probably had to endure at some stage of your life the subtle foreign babble that many people tend to speak that are involved in technical employment and the data recovery industry is no different
Most of the time that you are exposed to what appears to be plain gibberish is when you actually need help and the last thing you want to do is to suddenly have a huge learning curve to simply understand what is being said to you.
Not picking on any camp in particular as most technical sectors have there own techno babble, but lets look at terms often used by data recovery services companies.
Data recovery jobs tend to fall into two distinct camps called logical and physical. The term physical is used to describe hard drive and media failures that can be classed as a mechanical failure of some sort but occasionally there is a crossover between the two.
Physical problems are as the term describes physical issues with either your drive or your storage media, and these are also often referred to as mechanical failures. Mechanical failures are often subject to hard drive repair which should be carried out in a special antistatic and dust free environment called a clean room (always check to see if the data recovery company has one).
Just as with any mechanical device if you keep on using it further damage can occur for example inside a hard drive is a reading/ writing arm (called read/write heads). If this comes into contact with the internal spinning drive (head crash) it creates debris which then causes further crashes and in extreme cases this cycle continues until the platter is destroyed beyond repair.
The term logical failure is generally used to describe a file level problem some of which may simply be due to human error for example accidently deleting a file or even perhaps formatting a drive accidently (or perhaps intentionally by a disgruntled employee). Where malicious data loss has occurred this is often referred to computer forensics expert to trace the culprit.
Physical problems such as hard drive or media degradation can cause file level problems as well especially in the warmer months of the year when computers are prone to overheating. Drive degradation is when the platters magnetic surface as the phrase says “degrades” making it difficult to either store further data or read existing data on the disk. Data can still be rescued though by recovery professionals.
Other logical failures if you want to learn more include for example lost files and folder, virus attacks causing damage to system files making it impossible to access data, destroyed file tables, corrupted files, bad MFT records possibly caused by boot sector viruses, partition errors, and the operating system not being able to access the drive in order for you to actually use the computer.
You can find more useful information about these and other data recovery issues at the data recovery companies website.
Data Recovery Software Tips For Novices – What To Avoid
Posted by 0845 Telephone Numbers in General on July 9th, 2009
Don’t Panic! You’ve been busy working on that deadline project for weeks and you suddenly find that you have accidently deleted a major document that is essential and full of days or weeks of research results, what do you do? Some people will try data recovery software to start with but this can harm your data surprisingly enough.
There are some important rules to adhere to when using data recovery software for recovering lost files:
Firstly and a big mistake many people make is not to install the software on the same computer you have been using, why? If you have deleted the file when you install any further software or save anything back to the disk, as the operating system will use what it considers free space to load the program you could end up overwriting the document or part of the document you are trying to recover.
Secondly, has your drive been making any strange sounds recently, if the answer is yes your hard drive may be failing so a recovery company would be better suited to recover your data to be on the safe side.
Next, try to use trial software, all good data recovery applications offer a free trial version that allows you to determine if your files are recoverable before you make a purchase. You may not be able to see the content of the files but the presence of the file name should indicate whether it is recoverable or not.
Assuming your drive is exhibiting no signs of failure and having used the software you have managed to find the file (intact) and it is recoverable you’ll now need to save the data somewhere. Under no circumstances save it back to the same drive as you may end up saving the data on back to the same area that the data is being recovered from resulting in a corrupted file.
Often data recovery software will allocate the space on the hard drive before recovering the file, once the space has been allocated the data may already be partially over-written.
Of course before embarking on a DIY data recovery project ascertain the value of your data because if the data loss would be job threatening, costly to your business or simply un-replaceable then don’t take the risk.
The cost of data recovery is nowhere near (or shouldn’t be ) the cost it used to be due to advances in technology and often you will find that once you deduct the cost of any software purchase and deduct the time to learn what you are trying to do the extra cost of having your data recovered by a professional is not too bad at all.
And finally don’t forget to vet your data recovery provider if you go this route, do they have a certified clean room themselves if they need to open the drive for any reason, or would they need to outsource this aspect of the job elsewhere?
If they do not have the facilities for hard drive repair and there is any sign of mechanical failure then a main data recovery solutions company will be your best option.
Do Hard Disk Drives Last Forever?
Posted by 0845 Telephone Numbers in General on June 26th, 2009
It is very easy to forget how long we can all spend working on an important university or business document or PowerPoint presentation, if you were to add it all up it could amount to days and on occasions weeks but what do you do when you suddenly find the file has simply vanished from your computer.
You check your deleted files with no luck and do a full search on your computer but the file or folder has simply vanished. In all probability the file is still on your hard disk but for some reason cannot be found which may be the first signs of a degraded drive.
It would be nice to think that your hard drive will remain reliable for ever until the day you renew your computer but like most things mechanical drive failures do occur it would seem far more often than you would expect especially given the manufacturers mean time between failure specifications that come with a new hard drive or can be found on the manufacturers website.
Unfortunately life isn’t always that straight forward!
So the big question is when is the best time to renew my hard drive so it does not suffer from any failures?
This is one of those wide open questions that will have experts arguing until the cows come home because there are a wide variety of factors that come into play.
The actual usage of the hard disk will play a large part in your decision for example a hard drive used in a low use machine may last 5 years or longer as the drive is not being used very much at all or only stores a relatively small amount of data.
Pretty much the same could be said for a mid usage machine as well for example a pc used for office work or accounts perhaps. So you may never experience drive degradation or drive failure.
But for power users it is an entirely different story. Extreme gamers and users of high end commercial applications will be driving their systems very hard indeed and the amount of data that is shifted into swap files or written back to the disk is huge so its only reasonable to expect disk life to be shorter and the chances of drive failure or disk degradation to be far higher.
High end computer users using high end applications will often have a much shorter expected life of their system, and desktop refresh tends to be around 3 years or so to avoid disk failure and to keep them at the cutting edge of computing productivity which is important for a business.
For business critical applications extended use sees a ramp up of hard disk degradation and also an increase in mechanical drive failures.
During challenging economic times, business computer refresh programs are often put of to protect working capital which on the face of it can be seen as a sound business decision but there can be a large bite to this policy if an essential drive or server fails with a resultant loss of business critical data.
Computer support and repair companies advising businesses that are intending to stretch there refresh policies would be advised to ensure they have adequate desktop or online data backup protocols in place to be on the safe side.
Other factors affecting hard disk lifespan are the environment the computer is running in and basic system maintenance for example a poorly maintained Pc can become literally clogged with dust and get very hot. Heat is a major factor of drive failure as is hard disk fragmentation, so proper system maintenance is conducive to reliable disk performance.
Your lost file should be easily recoverable but you do need to bear in mind that any further information written to your hard drive can over write the file you are trying to save. This often happens with data recovery software so if diy recovery is your choice be warned.
Your local data recovery provider will be able to help with all your hard drive recovery and file recovery
needs and will do there utmost to ensure the original data integrity is maintained.
Factors To Consider When Looking At Data Loss Risk Reduction
Posted by 0845 Telephone Numbers in General on June 15th, 2009
Data loss emergencies can hit any business without any prior indication of a potential problem. Sometimes data loss issues can be nothing more than a business hiccup and not to much data is lost, or the lost data can quickly be reworked to get the situation back to normal. Conversely though large data loss scenarios can have an devastating effect on a business and the more employees they have or the more reliant they are on their IT infrastructure, then the bigger the problem.
A typical example of a large data problem would be perhaps a failed disk or raid array on a Microsoft exchange server. E-mail is becoming the life blood of many organisations and without it effective client and supplier communications can quite literally cease.
The effect of a data loss will affect companies in different degrees so a larger corporation may suffer from a great cost due to the loss but a smaller company may struggle to survive the effects or may simply not have the cash flow in place to cope with a potentially very expensive recovery.
With the ever increasing reliance on IT most business owners will have started to become reasonably educated about the need for a disaster recovery plan for their business, and plans may have already been put in place but this does not make the system infallible as if the plan has note yet been tested, or has not been implemented which often happens if a business waits for suitable window if a server needs upgrading for example, then the company will still be open to risk.
The net effect of a data loss emergency can simply cost thousands and for large corporations tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands. The actual cost will course depend on the type of business involved and costs can be both tangible or intangible for example: the cost of lost sales can be easily measured by comparing a previous days trading.
This can be a useful yard stick to justify the return of investment in a business continuity plan so for example if a business was clearing only 2k in sales per hour then a days downtime could result in a gross loss of 16k in sales alone.
Cost of lost sales is only one of the aspects that can be measured but other costs need to be taken into consideration as well many of which can be swept under the table if not factored. These could include the actual cost of employing a data recovery company in the first place or even punitive fines for missing contractual deadlines depending on what industry your business is in.
As well as measurable costs a company also need to factor intangibles into any return on investment or risk reduction calculation. Typical factors here could include activities such as re-population of customer CRM systems, additional management costs and business costs of running temporary as opposed to automated IT systems etc.
Another critical factor that should never be overlooked in the event of a data emergency is the restoration of the data. In many cases data can be irrevocably lost due to bungled attempts at recovery by inexperienced IT technicians.
Also if you are employing the services of one of the data recovery companies you need to check their potential methodology and ensure they will not work on the actual donor disks as it is crucial to keep the main data source intact at all times.
Specialist disaster recovery and raid recovery experts will use state of the art equipment is to recover lost data from raid servers, laptops and other storage media or network attached storage devices, and to make sure you data is safe just in case a data loss strikes again they should also supply remote server backup solutions for small and corporate businesses to ensure business continuity.
For USB data recovery help visit the data recovery Manchester website.
DIY Data Recovery – Is It Really A Viable Option?
Posted by 0845 Telephone Numbers in General on May 19th, 2009
When money is tight often we are all tempted to do those little repairs that we would other wise get professional help to do and data recovery is no exception. Quite often data recovery are presented with hard drives that have been opened in an unsafe environment and also drive that have sustained further data loss through incorrect use of DIY recovery software.
In most cases this software will be a hard drive recovery programme for a hard disk drive that has suffered from some form of logical table corruption and will not assist with
- Mechanically failed devices
- Degraded hard Disk Drives
- Devices with electronic failures
This software will of course not be able to help and if the drive is degraded or suffering from a mechanical failure attempting to run this software will in most cases cause further damage to hard disk drives, potentially making the disk unrecoverable.
Downloadable recovery software often seems like a good buy and can be quite reasonably priced but unfortunately it will not be able to help with as many hard disk problems and that is an important point to note. If you get it wrong you could lose your files forever!
There are of course a lot of IT experts around of course and you may even have some in your own business, but do they really know what they are doing when it comes to the serious issue of data recovery? You would think that your onsite IT support would be data aware bit this is quite often simply not the case.
In a typical case a drive was initially presented for diagnosis and duly diagnosed with a blown PCB – the drive seemed completely dead and would not spin at all. As an additional test a new PCB was placed on the board so that the response of the heads could be tested. The result of this test was that the heads appeared to have been “blown” by a power surge through the drive.
Upon further discussion, with the client, it transpired that the IT dept had decided to remove the HDD from the laptop and as it was an IDE device mount it as an external storage device by using an IDE connector. Unfortunately they plugged the HDD to the connector “upside down” meaning that crucially the drive received a huge power spike through it when the connector was hooked up to a PC.
It appears that the lack of care taken by the IT dept has caused the drive far more problems that what was probably a simple case of “bad sectors” on a hard disk drive. The cost of a simple bad sectors recovery has now become a full HDD rebuild with the search now on for suitable parts – causing delay and additional costs to the School concerned.
Naturally the client is somewhat annoyed that his data, whilst probably still recoverable, is likely to cost much more and take longer in the recovery process.
Sadly this is not an isolated case and data recovery companies the world over will have a whol;e collection of stories where simple recoveries were turned into data disasters by the DIY and have a go brigade
So the moral of this is that whilst many people will look for a quick and cheap fix for their hard drive recovery problems, they really are best leaving it to the experts.
USB Comes Of Age
Posted by 0845 Telephone Numbers in General on May 17th, 2009
Many of us slightly older folk will still remember the humble floppy disk which was the computing industries first real mobile storage media for the mainstream user and when first introduced was an ideal way of transferring data across computers, as long as you did not mind formatting the disk or re-writing it a number of times because of corruption on the first few attempts.
Also the USB 1.0 format was relatively new back in the day, devices that took advantage of the technology were relatively thin on the ground so if you were really lucky you did not have to get involved with larger files that often required spanning across many disks which was even more fraught with frustrastion.
But as computing power grew at a fast pace the size of files seemed to grow exponentially and the floppy drive was simply not up to the job meaning many people were left having to burn very expensive CD’s as burning technology came into play in the nick of time.
USB was making rapid gains fortunately and manufacturers were coming up with many new uses for this very user friendly (operating system permitting) plug and play capability, and the pen drive was borne not a moment to soon in my opinion. Mobile data transfer capacity rocketed upwards from a humble 2mb and it did not seem too long until the capacity of USB pen drives surpassed that of the CD.
The computer repair and IT industries where some of the first serious adopters of pen drives primarily due to the fact that system tools could be easily carried on a flash drive and with the larger capacities reduced the need to carry around a number of CD disks used for diagnostics or computer maintenance utilities.
Increased capacities then drove the need for higher data transfer speeds and it was not long before USB 2.0 and then Hi-speed USB appeared and filled the need for speed
The emergence of USB 2.0 and hi speed USB was a bit of a debacle for many consumers however as many USB pen drives and PCI cards were sold at the time claiming to be USB 2.0 but it was not made clear that the devices still only had the transfer speeds of 12mbps as opposed to 480 mbps.The problem was so widespread that many countries trading standards bodies were involved due to consumer lobbying for clearer packaging.
The USB interface and standard is now nicely matured and USB interfaces are common across a range of consumer devices from phones to cameras and even video players although it was and still is to a degree questionable as to whether USB or Firewire would win the day as the dominant data transfer protocol.
The USB pen drive has really risen to the challenge to take advantage of the USB interface and storage capacities are enormous and far beyond most peoples requirements, What were almost in the beginning icons of your technical prowess have now become a mainstream device and sales are said to exceed 150 million units per year just for pen drives alone. The USB interface is also said to be present in over 6 billion consumers devices and this number is growing at over 30% per annum.
Increases in drive capacities has raised a number of issues across many industry sectors including the data recovery industry, which has had to evolve new USB memory recovery techniques for recovering data from these flash based devices.
It is so easy to transfer and store data on these devices that many users are really taking them for granted and not saving their data elsewhere, which is all well and good until your drive breaks or gets damaged, or perhaps the memory controller fails.
Some Data recovery companies have of course stepped up the mark and the USB drive recovery industry is now alive and well.
Another issue these devices have highlighted is the need for security as sensitive data (business or personal) can be quickly and easily stolen from the source. Technology has answered the problem and secure pen drives are now available and manufacturing giant Fujitsu has continued its innovation in security with the invention of a smart USB drives which even have the ability to auto erase data on a USB memory device.
As it seems with all technology every development brings us even greater speed and the new USB 3.0 standard is no exception promising data transfer speed 10x greater than current specs which will give us transfer speeds around 5Gbps.
This very fast transfer speed may of course signal the end of the older firewire standard which has been falling behind more recently.
USB 3.0 standards have been ratified and the first devices are expected to be available towards the end of the year and it will also be interesting to see if Windows 7 ready boost feature will be able to increase the operating systems performance far greater than is apparent in Windows Vista.
When Did You Last Test Your Company Data Backup?
Posted by 0845 Telephone Numbers in General on May 7th, 2009
Imagine the effect on your business. The IT system fails and everything is lost. Every single document on your network has seemingly gone up in a proverbial puff of smoke and the company is left with nothing – no records of orders, contracts, invoices, vital contacts, staff details, and payroll. Even the emails have simply vanished.
Your IT infrastructure forms the very core of most businesses I this day and age and this does not only apply to multi-national corporations but even the local home office user as well. And if you have not taken sufficient steps to cope with potential data losses then the reality is you could be putting the existence of your business at peril.
Any IT solution should not be restricted to the basics like computer support , but should also take into account business continuity planning.
Danger lurks around many corners ranging from mechanical and electronic failures, human error, to the more sinister employee sabotage and data theft. Even more unpredictable disasters can occur. Many businesses are still reeling from the devastating floods of 2007 – the type of Act of God that can hit any unprotected business.
In recent years companies with foresight have invested in tape back-up systems, where all important data has been copied to tape, usually each night. But even some of those have fallen victim to theft, loss or tape failure. Fortunately technology has moved on and companies wishing to ensure the best possible protection have taken advantage of IT specialists offering the ultimate solution – offsite data back-up to remote, highly secure servers.
This then leads to the need for far more expensive data recovery or raid data recovery as a method of hopefully retrieving vital data.
Many companies are now investing in remote data backup models as part of their business continuity strategy as these have a number of significant advantages.
For example, despite being stored remotely, data can be restored in the workplace extremely easily by logging into the servers. Data is digitally encrypted so that it can be accessed by no one other than the company to whom it belongs. “It is also a very cost effective method compared to tape systems which are less reliable and constantly need replacing.”
If you have not yet implemented a disaster recovery plan for your business then you should put this high on your business agenda. Could your business survive if it were to lose all the client records on your CRM system or financial data from your accounts package. Don’t forget the cost is not purely the loss of data but also the lost business that may ensue as well as the time and resource to get things back on track.
And of course on a final note, once you have implemented a business continuity plan make sure you test it to make sure the plan is robust in a real environment.
For more help and advice visit the data recovery Manchester website.
How To Handle A Data Loss Nightmare.
Posted by 0845 Telephone Numbers in Data Recovery on April 14th, 2009
We would all like to think that we are immune to a system failure and that our trusty computers will just keep on going without a hint of a problem. Sadly regardless of whether you’re are a home or business user, systems are prone to boot up failures and these often result in unexpected data loss of varying degrees.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and if you have ever experienced a data loss in the past you will at least have at the very least a modicum of experience to guide you. But that said there are many signs of impending system failure so what symptoms should you be on your guard against?
Your computer appears to be starting normally but fails to present the log in window: Typically this can be put down to a number of different causes that could be either hardware or software centric. What this means is that it may be a mechanical problem such as a hard drive failing, or could be one of your drivers failing or a corrupt system file. Starting in safe mode may help but not always.
Operating System becomes slow: When it comes to a Microsoft Windows operating environment it is not unusual, over time for the OS to become cluttered with background processes that slowly grind the system to a near halt. In such cases it may be deemed that a full reinstallation of the OS is required in order that it reach a more useable state.
Virus or Malware infection: Computer viruses and other Malware applications, if not properly handled from the start, will inevitably lead to situations whereby a full reinstall is the only option to truly remove all trace of the malicious software from the system.
So we come back to how we handle a problem when it arises. How do we prevent data loss when we inevitably have to reinstall our current operating system or upgrade to a new one?
The Key, wherever possible, and where there is no hard disk drive fault requiring professional data recovery services is simple: Backup! Sounds simple enough if the drive is working fine, but not enough people do it.
External hard drives can be purchased in most computer shops now days and a quick search online for online backup will also give you a number of remote back up options.
So what options do you have to get your important or vital data back? If things seem really bad and saving the data is crucial, don’t take any risks and contact a data recovery specialist. They will have a whole host of solutions available to save your data and whilst it cannot be guaranteed, they do stand the best chance of success.
You can find more great advice on data recovery and in particular for businesses raid data recovery here.
Is Your Data Secure? Top Tips For Choosing The Right Data Recovery Companies
Posted by 0845 Telephone Numbers in General on April 9th, 2009
No matter if you have taken all the required precautions, when a server or a hard drive fails you can guarantee that the search for a company to sort out the problem will be the foremost thing on most peoples minds, but how do you choose the best comapny to do the job for you?
Choosing the right data recovery company is vital to ensure your data has the maximum chance of being successfully restored.
The company that gets your vote should have dedicated Data recovery staff that are professionally trained for the required task
Unfortunately some companies only undertake recovery tasks on an irregular basis and do not have either the skill set or necessary tools to carry out a full recovery of your data.
A true data recovery lab will be able to successfully recover data from Servers, Laptop’s, Desktop’s, CD/DVD’s and all other types of storage media, not simply just from a failed hard drive
They should have both the leading technology and skilled technicians to identify and solve the most challenging recovery situations presented to them.
If they are leaders in data solutions they should also be able to offer a full gamut of data recovery services including full server and raid recovery capabilities. If the company are an industry leader they will also offer a call out service as this is often a key requirement for server and raid data recovery.
Most professional data recovery will have proper labs facilities not just a back office with a bench. The data recovery lab is often the heart and sole of the operation.
In the event of your drive needing to be stripped down you need to know who is actually handling your data and is it secure? Having to send your drive to another country for assessment should not be a requirement in this day and age.
In summary your data has a huge value both on a personal and business basis so don’t rush in and make sure you ask the right questions to give you the best chance of getting your data back.