Search
Related Links

 

 

Informative Articles

Disaster Preparedness In A Post 9/11 World
So much has changed in the last several years after 9/11, and yet most businesses are still inadequately prepared for disastrous situations. Not only are they vulnerable from the threat of terrorism, but from security and natural disaster...

Do It Yourself Data Recovery: Freezer Method
There has been a long running myth about putting your hard drive in the freezer when it crashes in order to revive it just long enough to pull your data off of it. We've run this test for fun on many occasions in different scenarios with junk...

How You Can Avoid My Data Recovery Nightmare
Many subjects related to your work might be more fun, more sexy. Who wants to talk about data backups, disaster preparedness and data recovery? I sure didn't. But, a disturbing thought kept popping into my head for days . . . "You better spend...

Scalability Testing: 7 Steps Towards Success
Systems that work well during development, deployed on a small scale, can fail to meet performance goals when the deployment is scaled up to support real levels of use. An apposite example of this comes from a major blue chip company that...

What is data recovery?
Data recovery is the retrieval of inaccessible or contaminated data from media that has been damaged in some way. Data recovery is being increasingly used and is an important process nowadays. There has been a lot of progress in increasing the...

 
How Safe is Your Success? Part 6 of 8

"How Safe is Your Success" is a series of eight articles that address different aspects of a universal problem which is of particular importance to those who do business on-line. Most Internet users are at least aware there are dangers "out there", but few appreciate the real extent of those dangers, the possible (even likely) consequences, or the best, most practical and least expensive means of countering them. This series is intended to at least provide some useful awareness of the situation.

-------------------------

Part 6 - Disaster Recovery

This part is a little longer than the other seven, reflecting the extreme importance of the subject matter.

The term "disaster recovery" means different things to different people. Even confined to events that affect the usability of computers in the conduct of business, a "disaster" can have a wide range of meanings, and "recovery" can vary quite considerably in scope. In this article I am going to restrict the meaning of "disaster" to mean data loss.

Nor will we concern ourselves with how the data may have been lost, other than to reflect briefly on the fact that events that can cause data loss are many and occur frequently. They include fire, flood, earthquake, electrical surge, theft, vandalism, equipment failure, user error, vindictive acts — to name just nine of many possibilities.

Similarly, we'll use only a narrow definition of "recovery", as in "getting back data that was lost". Beyond that, smart entrepreneurs will have at least a rudimentary Disaster Recovery Plan in place. The DRP will include information on where to quickly source replacement computers (perhaps temporary hire) and all the other things that will need to be done to get a business up and running again very quickly after a catastrophic event. Under certain policies insurers may require that a Disaster Recovery Plan be submitted for approval before cover is granted. For information on DRPs, also called Business Continuity Plans, just do a web search — there is a lot of information out there. Thinking about such things now may save your business in the future.

In practice a diverse mix of methods is used to take copies of important data, ranging from doing nothing (a disturbingly large number) to complex, expensive and dedicated network-attached storage devices. Methods in common use include burning to CD, copying to floppy (rare these days due to large file sizes), copying to another PC on a network, storing to ZIP, JAZ or the now obsolete LS-120 drives, detachable USB storage devices, and so on. And of course the venerable Tape Backup Unit (TBU). There are dozens of different tape formats, with the most common probably being the 4 millimeter Digital Audio Tape (DAT). Regardless of tape format or drive type, this method is usually just referred to generically as "tape backup", with only the IT professional concerned with specifications.

But no matter which method or storage media you use, backing up critical data is a pointless exercise if that backup remains in the computer, in the office or even in the building. Considering only the nine types of disaster I mentioned above, at least six of those can also render your backups useless, along with the original data storage, if the backup is not taken completely off-site.

Now before you start to get bored, I'm not going to just repeat the admonition you have probably heard ad nauseum — to take your backups off-site. If you haven't been doing that up to now, then my harping is unlikely to make you change your ways. And even if you have been taking your backup's off-site, how effectively have you been doing it? Will you in fact be taking yesterday's backup with you when you leave today, and leaving today's backup running? Hey … I understand. Who wants to hang around after work every day for an extra hour or more waiting for a backup to run? And that's if you are using some automated method with a large capacity removable media, such as tape.

If you are manually backing up to some other media, say CD or ZIP drive, then you have even more work to do and no guarantee that you will be getting every important file off every computer.

Another thing to consider: Just how certain are you that the data you are copying to a backup media is "good"? When was the last time you performed a test "restore" from your backups to ensure that all was as it should be? I can tell you from long experience how often the average person does a test restore.


Never!

Your main concerns should be:
• Have you got a copy of all the files you should have?
• Have you really got the very latest version of each of
those files?
• Was the data transferred from hard disk to storage media
without error?
• Is the integrity of the storage media 100%? It only
takes a scratch on a CD or a kink in a tape to render
a lot of data unreadable and thus unrecoverable.

Finally, the catch that few people ever think about until too late. Let's say you have an important file that gets updated periodically, a spreadsheet for example. Let's also assume that today someone accidentally deleted some cells or made a significant error in that file that was not caught at the time. The file is saved and you take a backup. This goes on for a few days — edit, save, backup — before the problem is noticed. What now? Of how much use will your backup be? Even if you are making redundant copies, how far back can you go to recover a pre-error copy of the file? For most small businesses the answer will be from zero to a couple of days at most.

OK, I could go on and on with examples of the problems you can face even if you are making backups, but it's time for some answers.

Look, this is the Internet age, right? If it wasn't for the Internet you wouldn't be reading this, so I know you are connected. Further, if you are in business you probably have a broadband connection. The Internet connects you to "the world". Look at it another way: In backup terms, the Internet connects you to off-site servers. With the right accounts and services it connects you to off-site storage. And it's those special services that are available to you that will make all the difference.

In my small office I have two tape backup drives, a couple of USB drives, several CD burners, floppy and LS-120 drives, external hard drives and networked computers. That's a lot more storage options than most small businesses would have. For long-term storage of files that I may never need again, but which I have to keep anyway (e.g. accounting records), I burn to CD. For everything else I backup to "the Internet".

That's right. I've got tape drives and tape backup programs and I never use them.

My backup is scheduled to take place in the evening after I have finished for the day. It is 100% automatic and requires no initiation from me. None at all — no swapping tapes, no inserting CDs, no anything else. It backs up any file that has changed since the last backup. Plus, the backup system keeps the ten most recent versions of every file backed up during the last 90 days.

No capital outlay. No extra hardware. No media to deteriorate and need replacing. No need to "remember" to take some action.

Online backup services are not all that new, but finding one that is extremely reliable, very easy to use, very affordable (even for an individual home user), and requires no term contracts is not at all easy. Here's the service I have been using for over a year now:
http://www.DataSafetyCenter.com

You really have to try this. There's a 15-day Free Trial, after which you are invoiced each month in advance for the coming month, and you can quit at any time. This is the ONLY way for individuals and small businesses to ensure reliable recovery of data with minimum cost, minimum risk and minimum effort.

Oh, and in case you're wondering what happens if the data center itself suffers a catastrophe … each day the data you have stored at the center replicates itself to another data center in a different geographical location.

In under half-an-hour you can put backup problems behind you forever. Or … you can wait for Mr. Murphy to come calling. You already know he only visits at the worst possible time.

If this newsletter has been passed on to you by a friend, please subscribe yourself so you can be sure of receiving the next part in this series, when we will discuss a most important but little understood protective mechanism — the Firewall.

-------------------------


About the Author

Bill Hely is an Australian technologist, consultant and author whose professional focus has been on advising and supporting small business operators in IT and Office Productivity - and rescuing them when they didn't heed his advice the first time around. He is the author of several books on technology for the business person, including the Bible of Internet and PC security "The Hacker's Nightmare" - http://HackersNightmare.com

 

Data Recovery Software and Undelete from R-TT
Disk management software including utilities for data recovery, drive imaging, disk wiping and access control.
www.r-tt.com
 
Data Recovery | Email Data Recovery by Ontrack
Data recovery services, data recovery software, file repair software, and diagnostic software from Ontrack. Software for email recovery, file recovery and ...
www.ontrack.com
 
Data Recovery by DriveSavers | Hard Drive Data Recovery
Worldwide data recovery service for all operating systems and storage media. Authorized by all drive manufacturers.
www.drivesavers.com
 
Hard Drive Data Recovery Software Tools, Disk Recovery Utilities ...
Offers data recovery software,data recovery services for hard drive recovery and data safety software services for your computer. Buy award winning data ...
www.stellarinfo.com
 
Data Recovery by FADV – Hard Drive, RAID, Tape, Database and more ...
Offers data recovery services for all hard drive models. RAID, MS SQL, Exchange, Tapes, Camera and USB media, CD and DVD. Service available 24/7.
www.datarecovery.net
 
Data Recovery Software - File System Utilities
Data recovery software for all Windows file systems. Recover deleted files, corrupted hard drives, and partitions.
www.runtime.org
 
Professional Data Recovery Software from Bitmart. File Recovery ...
Data Recovery Software Restorer2000. Undelete & File Recovery utility for FAT and NTFS file systems. Data Recovery from damaged disks and partitions.
www.bitmart.net
 
Data Recovery Services - ActionFront - Critical Server Data Recovery
ISO certified data recovery services with labs in Atlanta, Santa Clara, Dallas, Chicago, Toronto (also Buffalo and Tokyo Japan)
www.actionfront.com
 
Hard Drive Data Recovery Software: Recover Deleted Files- Recover ...
Data recovery software for recovering files that have been deleted or lost due to the hard drive format, virus infection, unexpected system shutdown or ...
www.recovermyfiles.com
 
Data Recovery Group - Hard Drive Data Recovery Services
Data Recovery is Our Only Business! Data Recovery Group's a complete data recovery service that specializes in recovering data from hard disk drives.
www.datarecoverygroup.com
 
Data Recovery by CBL: Hard Drive Recovery Services
Worldwide Data Recovery Services at CBL. Specializing in data recovery, hard drive recovery, hard disk drive recovery and RAID data recovery.
www.cbltech.com
 
Data Recovery Software, File Repair Utilities, Hard Disk Recovery ...
Hard drive data recovery software to perform data recovery & recover deleted files from Novell, Linux, Unix, Mac, Windows & data recovery services for hard ...
www.nucleustechnologies.com
 
AT&DR: Data Recovery and Liabillity
Associated Technologies offers complete data recovery solutions with services for any type of data storage device, including the following: hard drives, ...
www.datarecovery.com
 
Ontrack UK - Data recovery services & recovery software - hard ...
Ontrack offers data recovery services & software for: hard drive recovery, file recovery, server recovery, email recovery, tape recovery, RAID recovery.
www.ontrack.co.uk
 
Beginners Guides: Hard Drive Data Recovery - PCSTATS.com
Beginners Guides: Hard Drive Data Recovery - PCSTATS.com.
www.pcstats.com
 
File Recovery and Data Recovery Software. Hard Drive recovery utility
Data recovery software for FAT, NTFS, Ext2FS file systems. File recovery after FDISK, MBR destruction, FAT damaged, virus infection. Dynamic disk support.
www.data-recovery-software.net
 
Data recovery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Data recovery is the process of salvaging data from damaged, failed, ... Although there is some confusion as to the term, data recovery can also be the ...
en.wikipedia.org
 
Active@ UNDELETE Data Recovery. Recover Deleted Files. Windows XP ...
Active@ UNDELETE - Data Recovery Software for all Windows File Systems. Recover deleted files from lost, damaged, formatted or reformatted partitions.
www.active-undelete.com
 
New Zealand Data Recovery & Computer Forensics Experts
New Zealand data recovery specialists & computer forensics investigation experts. Recovering lost data for businesses or legal evidence is all we do.
www.datarecovery.co.nz
 
Canada Data Recovery Services: Hard Disk Drive Recovery, Raid Data ...
Provides data recovery solutions for companies experiencing data loss from failed hard drives, raid arrays, and server systems.
www.datarecovery.ca
 
 

 

Content Menu
  • 10 easy steps to speed up your computer without upgrading

  • 10 proven tips to survive a computer crash

  • 7 critical steps to protect your data

  • add value by documenting your business

  • an introduction to tape backup

  • an outsourcers passage to india how to do it part i

  • are you prepared for a hard drive crash

  • asset searching for recovery actions the decision makers critical tool part 2

  • asset searching for recovery actions the decision makers most critical tool part 1

  • a beginner guide to web hosting

  • a customer complaint management system

  • a fresh start for family finances in 2005

  • background of password cracking

  • backing up your stuff part 2 a solution

  • before you take the plunge essential information on data recovery

  • booting problem in pc

  • business continuity and disaster recovery a business not a technology issue

  • business continuity and disaster recovery business impact analysis

  • business continuity and disaster recovery reducing your risk profile

  • business continuity and disaster recovery risk analysis and control

  • business continuity and disaster recovery selecting a business continuity strategy

  • business continuity and disaster recovery the business continuity and disaster recovery plan

  • business continuity testing starts with the risks

  • business needs vs network performance critical challenges facing network managers

  • can raid systems fail

  • career paths for a comptia a certified technician

  • career paths for comptia a certified technician

  • choosing a data recovery company

  • choosing data recovery company

  • common problems why hard disks crash

  • comparing data recovery software

  • compensating for disruptions in the oil and gas industry

  • computer data recovery options

  • computer disposal throwing away your computer money and idenity

  • computer viruses the basics

  • coping with a serious data loss from your computer hard drive

  • corporate information security is our information more secure since september 11th

  • datarecoverynet com enters medical industry

  • data backups are the biggest security threats

  • data backups are the biggest security threats surprised

  • data backups one key to business survival

  • data recovery

  • data recovery 1 on 1

  • data recovery and data loss a costly proposition

  • data recovery and data safety tips

  • data recovery beginners tips

  • data recovery for less

  • data recovery from laptops

  • data recovery made easy

  • data recovery software at your rescue

  • data recovery software comparison

  • data recovery the best method is prevention

  • data recovery the easy way

  • data recovery what not to do

  • data recovery what you need

  • data recovery you can get it back

  • data security are your assets secure

  • dealing with your pending pc disaster a guide for small business

  • did you ever want to completely erase everything on your computer

  • dirty little computer viruses and how to protect yourself

  • disaster planning ­v how important is it to you

  • disaster preparedness in a post 9 11 world

  • disaster recovery more than meets the eye

  • disc and data recovery

  • document management features for 2003

  • does it worth to backup emails from clients like outlook express

  • do it yourself data recovery freezer method

  • do i really need to backup

  • drive solutions inc expands data recovery service

  • easy file recovery basic backup guidelines

  • easy guide to raid recovery

  • eliminating the risk of delivering network ready applications

  • email recovery good software can fix your lost mail trouble

  • esecurity

  • exchange disaster recovery with sanrad v switch planning guide

  • e commerce a no nonsense perspective for new business

  • flash usb drive backup easily conveniently and securely

  • focusstor launches a new data backup recovery software

  • getting more bang for the storage buck

  • get down with ocp evaluating dba job applicants in an ocp world

  • got virus

  • got virus your data is not lost forever

  • great plains accounting support overview for it specialist

  • great plains dos support notes for consultant

  • great site ranking in google the secrets out

  • hackers given access to irs computers

  • hard disk data recovery expert choosing yours

  • hard dive failure what is a head crash

  • hard drive crash avoid making a bad situation worse

  • hard drive crash the essential data recovery report

  • health and medical advice on the internet use it wisely to overcome illness and find more happiness in your life

  • highlights of irs list of 2005 tax scam

  • highlights of irs list of 2005 tax scams

  • how multiple server hosting impacts your websites uptime

  • how multiple server hosting impacts your website s uptime

  • how multiple server hosting impacts your web sites uptime

  • how safe is your success part 5 of 8

  • how safe is your success part 6 of 8

  • how secure are online data backups

  • how to avoid everyday sales mistakes

  • how to backup a pc

  • how to backup windows xp home edition

  • how to backup your computer files

  • how to backup your hard drive

  • how to check the status of your tax refund online

  • how to fight cyberterrorism

  • how to prevent computer security risk and how to keep your small business safe

  • how why gps offers affordable fleet tracking

  • how you can avoid my data recovery nightmare

  • hr managers use computer forensics to investigate employee allegations

  • hurricanes wilma katrina and rita force businesses to rethink computer

  • identity theft and credit reports

  • identity theft recovery the road back

  • identity theft safeguarding cant hurt

  • identity theft the road back

  • improving sql performance

  • index

  • information security for smes

  • insure your information backup software

  • internet network security policies need a radical rethink

  • intranet

  • iscsi vs fc for meeting mission critical requirements

  • its all in the planning disaster recovery

  • it department skills to support microsoft great plains and microsoft crm

  • it in house support microsoft great plains and crm

  • keep a diary of your computer

  • learn how to safely backup your hard drive

  • lightning season how to avoid data loss

  • linux or windows which is it

  • loans for bad debtors discarding debt disorganization to recover financial growth

  • local vs remote data backup the pros and cons

  • mcse 70 290 certification primer

  • microsoft great plains customization recovery upgrade for large corporation

  • microsoft great plains customization upgrade recovery visual studio vb 6 0

  • microsoft r exchange server utilities eseutil isinteg

  • microsoft sql 2000 disaster recovery with sanrad v switch planning guide

  • mr

  • need a copy of your tax return information

  • new generation of financial information systems makes crunching numbers faster and easier

  • new iomega tera series desktop hard drive with 1tb capacity

  • nucleus kernel for fat and ntfs

  • nucleus kernel for fat data recovery software

  • nucleus kernel for fat ntfs data recovery software

  • nucleus kernel for ntfs data recovery softwares

  • online investing and trading discussions at www streetplayer com

  • openly sharing your rfp objectives and information with vendors

  • options for computer data recovery

  • outsourcing it asset retirement

  • outsourcing multiplying it services

  • paragon drive copy 8 0

  • planning for 2002 business recovery use public relations firepower

  • protecting your identity on the internet

  • protect yourself before your hard drive crashes

  • quick system restore with asr backups

  • raid disk recovery

  • ready for a business recovery

  • recognizing a pc with malware

  • recover deleted data easily

  • reduce tco the java database way

  • reinstall windows xp on your computer

  • rotator

  • scalability testing 7 steps towards success

  • scalability testing 7 tips for improvement

  • secure offsite backup services and software online file backup and storage remote online backup

  • secure your data windows data backup computer software

  • small business computer security the basics

  • small business network security 101

  • software that takes care of other software

  • sql administrator skills required to support microsoft great plains

  • syi save your identity

  • teosoft cleanspace 9 software

  • the best data recovery choice for you

  • the day my laptop was stolen almost killed my business

  • the devastation of data loss and what you can do about it

  • the essential data recovery report

  • the google patent reveals the secret to great site ranking

  • the importance of engaging a qualified data recovery expert

  • the importance of proper security for your pc

  • the mystery of the unknown

  • the seven deadly habits of a dba and how to cure them

  • the seven golden rules of data backups

  • the worst case scenario how to protect your data

  • think you have a dead hard drive

  • top 10 ways to protect yourself from computer viruses

  • top 10 ways to protect yourself from online identity theft

  • top 5 backup tools you can pick up for pennies

  • top 7 reasons you should back up your data online

  • top computer problems leading to data recovery

  • trouble shooting hard drive problems part 2

  • using sanrad v switch as the vss hardware provider for windows backups

  • using system restore to save yourself from formatting your hard drive

  • webfarms ii balancing the load

  • welcome to the world of knoppix

  • what could macedonia learn from a tiger the asian tigers and the phenomenon of uninterrupted economic growth

  • what is data recovery

  • what is data recovery a brief introduction

  • why usability is important to you

  • will you recover

  • working from home for yourself or someone else

  • your hard disk failed dont panic

  • your hard disk failed don t panic

  • your hard drive is going to explode why a ups is essential

  • your privacy exposed computer forensics international uncovers secrets about recycled hard drives

  • you can recover deleted data

  • you lost your data dont panic

  • you need to backup