An average company spends thousands of dollars every year for desktop-oriented disasters. For a small and mid-sized business, a disaster recovery plan is not just a good idea, it’s a necessity.
However, whatever a company’s size, the risk of disaster is actual, with latest virus and worm attacks launched frequently, intimidating data and network security at every turn. The pressure to protect information and business systems is not only economic but comes with the full force of the law.
Today, preparing Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) for your company is quite simple increasing the probability of retrieval. Below shared are 7 effective and easy disaster recovery tips that could help you.
Document
Make sure the whole recovery procedure to get you up and working is documented and entails locations of system recovery as well as other crucial disks. Be sure that the staff are familiar with these.
Perform the DRP on quarterly cycle or more
His sharpens your disaster recovery team abilities and also make known to the new employees with all the procedures, and ensures the disaster recovery program is updated by revealing any matters with new equipment or software.
Save the system passwords elsewhere
You can save the system passwords in a minimum of two independent safe place; only one of which is the same building as your IT equipment. For trust and safety reasons, no less than two staff must have access to these.
Establish a computerized program to inform decisive staff of disaster
You need to set up an automated program to inform your crucial staff of disaster by text message. The staff is needed to be fully trained in order to carry out basic disaster recovery/back-up tasks without supervision. If not, you can perform it through an arrangement by outsourcing the services.
Install an uninterruptable power supply
Always invest in the best, longest-life, most uninterruptible power supply you can. Once you have that, you can get an additional electric battery back-up for the cache to go with it
Have extra hot hard disk drives already within the system
Prepare to have extra hot disks drives already within the system, or otherwise physically available in a similar area as the storage program.
Rehearsal
You need to rehearse the data recovery plan to ensure you really will be able to recover your data if disaster strikes.
Other DRP tips that shouldn’t be overlooked are security to hinder random theft, sabotage and staff malice. Tape archive strategy can also be helpful; tapes used on daily basis should be upgraded every 6 to 9 months to prevent deterioration, since backups are insignificant if they cannot be saved.
With so many options available for hard drive recovery services, it’s no wonder many people get overwhelmed when trying to pick the best company to take their drive to. Some people try to recover lost data on their own, only to end up causing more damage than they started with. The number one way to recover any lost information is by taking your hard drive to a good data recovery company.
Avoid Getting Scammed
There are many professional hard drive recovery services that do amazing jobs but there are also some companies that overcharge you or outsource the work to someone unqualified to do it, which could lead to more damage to your hard drive. The best way to avoid being scammed by a bad data recovery company is by knowing what you should be looking for in a good recovery company.
What All Recovery Services Have in Common
There may not be a 100% foolproof method to avoiding bad data recovery companies but here are some things that all the best data recovery services have in common.
- Exceptional Customer Service. A good data recovery service offers customer support while recovering your data and long after the job has been finished. Some even offer 24-hour customer support and send their technicians to you instead of you having to take your computer to them.
- A great following. The easiest way to tell how good a recovery company is, is by looking at what other people are saying about it. The best data recovery services have tons of reviews praising the services they provide.
- In-house professionals. Never go to a recovery service that outsources their services. You will not be able to determine if they are certified to be handling your hard drive and that your information is secure while it is being recovered.
- Any data recovery company you choose should have a certified Class 100 clean room. This will make sure that no additional damage is done to your hard drive by eliminating any dust particles that could get into your drive.
Data recovery isn’t cheap and you should never expect to have a good job done if you are only interested in spending the lowest amount you can. If you go to a recovery company just because they have lower rates than their competition you run the risk of having more damage being done to your hard drive. Even potentially never being able to recover your data. If your data is important enough for you to really need to get it back, then choose the best data recovery service possible and you will be able to relax knowing your hard drive is in good hands.
In earlier days, we used to have a limited number of file systems. The data, to be used, were also less in number. As the knowledge increased with time, the quest for digging deeper was also enhanced. Working out more data became the preference. For this, a more stable file system was needed. Hence, the UNIX file system came into the picture. The UNIX file system and operating systems provide a better environment for the data functioning and storage.
But what if the UNIX file becomes corrupted? The data saved in the system may be lost or damaged. Well, no issues. The UNIX data recovery helps you get your lost data. Here we see how we can recover the data and information from a damaged UNIX file system. Before that let us have some background knowledge on the UNIX system.
UNIX files system:
The operating systems are always on the process of development. Mainframe computers were in heavy demand. But eventually the security of data faced a question. Everyone could access the system whether one has the authority or not. Then UNIX emerged as a strong alternative enhancing the security of records.
A lot of things improved when the UNIX file system was being introduced. The data was stored in a hierarchical manner. This made the access to the files password protected. Thus, only authenticated users could reach and open the files. Moreover, the reading and writing operations involved efficient performance. The efficiency was marked by storage of data in blocks allocated thus making a good use of the memory space.
Sometimes the data saved in the UNIX file system can invite trouble if corrupted applications are used. In that case, the UNIX data recovery helps you to get through.
UNIX data file recovery:
There are a number of series of specialized tools to be followed for the recovery of data from a UNIX file system. The stages, which are put into action during the recovery process, are:
- Verification of partition and volume
- Logical scan of the file system which includes investigation of the error and repair of the damaged file
- Report the volume
Download the software available for data recovery and install it. The correct software can help you find out your deleted files. It would be easy to look for those files before they get overwritten by some other data. So make sure that your system is not busy with any other activity. This would facilitate you to pull up your recovery process easily and quickly. Follow the above three steps as instructed in the downloaded software to get a series of possible files scanned. Choose your lost file from the preview of listed ones and save the recovered items into a safe directory until the damaged file is repaired.
Hence, it is clear that the improved version of file storage requires a better edition of data recovery if lost. Following correct steps at a subsequent order in proper time can give back your data safe and secure. And make sure to keep your data away from the damaged directory until you repair it.
For more work, you have to work out on more data. However, the information and data collected is never ending. You need one or more data every other minute. Hence, you have to save each of them for the present and future use. In the techno-world, we call the allocation of data in the storage media. The storage media are the devices that store any amount of data depending on space allocated. The devices such as the thumb drives, camera storage media or the hard drives, may be external or internal store the user information and all other useful applications.
Sometimes when you log in to your system you get a message like “inaccessible storage media”. This usually occurs when you download a file and try to open it. What does this mean and why does this happen? This clearly indicates that the hard drive, to which the downloaded file was stored, has become damaged and hence your data is lost or deleted. Well, it is a serious issue.
And why exactly this happens?
The inaccessible storage media can be the result of any one of the actions:
- The files and folders can be lost if the hard drive gets an unexpected formatting.
- You may have deleted the data out of the blue.
- There may be a virus attack due to access of unauthorized applications leaving you behind corrupt and damaged files.
- A bad sector might have generated in the system followed by the message displaying inaccessible storage media.
A big problem
Well, indeed you must give a blow at it. To avoid such issue, you have to take certain steps such as:
- Install your computer system with total security anti-virus packages. These packages possess the potential to kill maximum viruses and keep your system safe and protected.
- Try to keep your system away from corrupted files. Whenever you use an external source for data transfer make sure, you scan the device properly.
- Never get your system to shut down improperly or forcefully.
- Always have a backup for your valuable data.
In spite of this, if the inaccessible storage media persists then you will have to give a total format to your drive. This may result in loss of data. But if you have a backup then you need not have to worry about it. Formatting of the drive acts as a restart option and gives you a new and improved file system and operating system. Once formatted, you can copy the required files and data from the backup and restore them in the original folder. Now you will be able to access them.
Taking small preventive measures can release you from big issues. To get a message like this is quite common. But you can make it uncommon and avoid the same if you are alert from the beginning. Take proper care of your system and keep it updated with antivirus software. Believe it, you never want to see such a message on your computer screen while at work.
When it comes to saving your data, you can very well store it in various storage media. Every user information and files can be stored in the internal or the external hard drives. But data is prone to damage that can be the result of virus attack or system crash. To restore your data, you may run any file recovery software. However, one thing must be noted that any file recovery software is not able to recover all your lost files. Most of your data will not restore.
File recovery software is made to run so that it would scan and bring back the lost data. Any data lost due to some damage becomes a part of the hidden file. You are not able to reach the data; hence you conclude that the data is being lost forever. But this is not the case. Only you are unable to access it. Most of the quantity of the lost data cannot be recovered by the file recovery software.
Why it cannot be done?
- When the data is lost or damaged you give the first preference to download the recovery software. Once you download it, you get it installed. The installing process usually takes several minutes. Your system remains at a standstill when it is subjected to damage. However, the operating system functions the read and write operations inside the drive. During the installing period, the process of launching is done at one end, and the operating system does its task at the other end. While the recovery software is launched the operating system writes on the memory space created by the deleted data. Hence, space is consumed by garbage value.
- Thus, when you put the system under scan to bring out the lost data, only the part of the files which can be restored in the left out memory is recovered. The other portion of the data fails to give a response.
- If you lose a big amount of data, say almost all, then probably you would choose to scan the entire system to search the whole disk. This again becomes a tedious process for the recovery software, if not installed properly. The software needs to be updated from time to time which adds to another activity on the system other than the task of the operating system. For the up gradation to be done the scanning process becomes slower and hence the operating system continues to occupy space created by the deleted or damaged data. Therefore, the portion of the data, which is not bothered at all regarding memory space, is recovered while leaving the rest.
Moreover, all file recovery software does not give a damn to every system. If your system is not compatible with the software then, most of the data fail to be restored. When the scanning process is done under incompatible software then, it seems that you are forcing the action. And hence a small portion of data becomes accessible parting out a major portion.
In recent days, everyone uses a computer. Be it a school student or a working professional, everyone is dependent on computers. There is a tremendous growth of technology in every sector. This improvement in the technology leads us in saving all important data in a digital format. Each and every day’s work is converted and stored in the computer as a digital format. In this case, need for backup and recovery option has been increased for protection of data.
Why do you need to protect your data?
It’s simple! You need to use the data for future references and hence there is a need to protect every data that is being saved in the computer. Data is precious, and it is the effort of your hard work. When you start entering values in your computer, you do not maintain an extra copy of it, so data protection becomes very important. You need to take a backup of all the work you do so that when your system crashes, you can ensure that the data does not lose.
Protecting data through backup
It doesn’t matter if you are a home user or if the computer is being used for work related purpose. In all the cases, information saved on the computer is important. If you are running a small scale company and if you tend to lose the data, it causes a huge damage to the business. The same is applicable to large-scale industries too. When data gets lost, the company faces a great difficulty to bring back all the data. It is mandatory to take a backup of the data on a periodic basis, for avoiding data loss. Using backup software is the best choice to take a copy of all your saved work. Depending on the priority of the data and the capacity of the data, you can choose to take a backup every day or periodically or as and when required.
Backup needs to be followed by Recovery
Is the backup enough to protect your data? No! Just taking a backup of the data will not serve the purpose. You need to use recovery software that can help you to bring back the data that has been saved during the backup process. Backup software just helps you to save the data and recovery software helps in retrieving the data that is being backed up. This combination of backup and recovery helps in the computer data protection.
Have good knowledge of backup and recovery for a successful data protection
As a computer user, you need to know the uses of backup and recovery software so that you can use them effectively in order to avoid bad situations. Most of the software’s are user-friendly, and their operations and uses can be learnt easily. If the technology is being used in the right way, lost information can be retrieved with ease.
Keep all these things in mind so that at the time of need you can easily retrieve your important data without any hassle.
