Backup and Recovery for Smaller Organisations--How to Build an Effective Data Backup Strategy

There are many factors which will potentially determine your best data backup strategy. Regardless of your companies size the thought process should be the same. The main factors to take into account are the amount of data being backed up, how quickly you need to backup and more importantly, how quickly you need to restore and the final factor will be the best data medium for you.

Put yourself in the shoes of Mr Unlucky, arriving at work to find, for what ever reason, all your data has been lost. All your customer database, accounts, stock levels and emails have been lost! How could you possibly recover from this and how long could your company stay in business? It is an agreed fact; if you do not backup your data and your data is lost a high percentage of businesses will cease to trade thereafter. Facts also show that those companies who do somehow initially continue to stay alive, 90% fail within two years. Believe me; you do not need to have a major catastrophe to wipe critical information. A disk failure, equipment failure or sudden loss of electricity can do it. Human error is a big factor and can potentially lead to lost servers or accidental deletion of data or major disasters such as, fires to floods and explosions (Bunsfield Oil Refinery), please do not forget malicious actions from crackers, viruses and loss of service attacks.

Another point we all agree on is not if you could lose data, it's when you will lose data. Although hardware infrastructure, software and peripheral network equipment easily can be replaced, the most valued asset, your data, cannot.

We have seen a growing number of government legislations, laws and regulations regarding data storage and privacy. All of which you are now accountable for. Much of this new law has been created because of identity theft as well as the unintentional or intentional posting of such sensitive data on the Internet. Like it or not, it's your responsibility to keep pace with all such laws, I cannot do into the legal aspect as it is a mine field and there are different laws for different types of Developing an Effective.

Data Backup Strategy

Now is the time to create a secure and manageable backup strategy. There is no point doing this after a disaster has struck, it is very minimize data loss and business losses whilst increasing business continuity. Your backup plan should be simple as possible, very specific whilst easy as possible to follow and must include all steps, starting with your initial requirements. You should include what data is critical and prioritize accordingly. How often you backup should not depend on the size or the nature of your company but you should base your solution around the following questions:-

1) Are you backing up a single server or many?

2) Are all your computers and servers located in a single office or do you have remote sites spread around the county?

3) Does your data change by only a few MB per week or by GBรขโ�ฌโ�ขs per day?

4) Is all of your data stored in a single server, or is your data spread around many servers?

5) Is your data simple file data which can be restored easily, or is it spread over various databases running on different operating systems?

6) Are you a 24 x 7 or 9 x 5 operation?

When you have answered the above, you are in a position to prepare a data backup and data recovery assessment which will addresses the following details:

1) What data needs protection? How much is active? How much is old and should be archived or how much data is duplicated or useless?

2) Most important question, what is your recovery window. In other words, how long can you survive without your data?

3) How much money will you lose for each day of downtime?

4) Is your proposed backup media reliable? Please bear in mind that backing up files does not mean you are able to restore your original data. For example, many companies have sought to recover data from backup tapes only to discover the tapes are corrupt or failed to record, and data is lost.

5) How flexible do you need you backup to be, is your data growing rapidly, does your data change a lot day by day?

Time Retention, how long do you need to save your data?
Many industries have to adhere to various laws which regulate or stipulate how long you must archive certain data. Other industries, including medical and legal, have their own data retention regulations mandated. Remember it is your companies responsibility to keep up to and adhere to these regulations and you must understand the legal consequences if you do not comply. As you can imagine consequences can be harsh which may include fines, sanctions or even orders to shut down your business. Such legal requirements are addressed by specific backup solutions.

What Is Your Backup Window?
How much time can you allocate to creating backups? Please take into account your schedule, should your backup take place hourly, daily, weekly or monthly? Remember, the more frequently you back up data, the less data you will lose and you can recover an closer to the exact copy of what you need. The greater the frequency of backup means greater hardware and software and management costs.

Costs
Costs should never be overlooked when creating your backup strategy. Your initial costs include hardware, software and, the backup media itself, donรขโ�ฌโ�ขt expect much change from ร�ยฃ4,000, but don't forget the cost of managing your backup, over a 3 year period management will cost more than the actual data backup hardware and software put together.

Building a Data Protection Strategy
All data protection strategies contain three parts: the backup element, archive element and the recovery element. Let us start looking the backup element of the strategy. When building a backup plan you must view several factors, starting with management. Who will control and manage your backup procedure? Will it be a single administrator, you, or do have an IT team with set roles for managing and maintaining backups on a regular basis? Even if your backup solution is automated someone must be still be responsible for checking and maintaining your system. Without this clear system, your data backup will quickly become unusable.

Everything you have read details how an effective backup plan is carried out, as you can imagine this can be an expensive and time consuming task. To find out how your data backup solution can be achieved easily and affordably, please visit www.perfectbackup.co.uk

Password Recovery

Passwords are used to prevent unauthorized access to a computer system, individual files, and/or folders stored on the hard drive. People normally use different passwords for different purposes and very often forget their passwords. This may restrict them from accessing important data stored in files and folders.

Password recovery tools allow computer users to recover their lost or forgotten passwords with the help of easy to use password recovery software. Password recovery software is designed for legal use and is not meant for unethical use, such as recovering passwords for e-mail accounts, bank accounts, and registered user logins of other people.

Password recovery software can be used to recover passwords of different types of file formats and applications. Possible recoveries include Pocket Excel passwords, PowerPoint passwords, project passwords, schedule passwords, VBA passwords, Word passwords, Windows passwords, and Zip passwords.

Password recovery software uses different types of recovery methods, such as trying all the combinations of alphabets and numbers from zero to nine. This usually takes a lot of time and in many cases does not even recover the password as people often use symbols combined with letters and numbers. Another method used is known as ?dictionary attacks? in which all the words listed in a dictionary are used as passwords. These can also be combined with numbers and symbols to increase the chances of password recovery. Apart from these, other types of recovery software is also available that disables the password protection tool of files and folders and makes them accessible without entering the password.

Password recovery tools have their own drawbacks, as they can be used to gain unauthorized access to another user?s files and folders. Computer users can avoid these risks if they use ten to fifteen character passwords containing letters, digits, and symbols arranged in a sequence that is easy to remember.

Recovery provides detailed information on Data Recovery, Recovery, Data Recovery Services, Hard Drive Data Recoveries and more. Recovery is affiliated with LAN Server Racks.

Disaster Recovery: Failure to Plan is a Plan to Fail

Todayรขโ�ฌโ�ขs organisation is increasingly dependent on its IT infrastructure and communications network. Remote offices, customers and business partners are all reliant on their ability to access your core systems, Intranet or Extranet รขโ�ฌโ�� often 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Disaster recovery of your systems is therefore fundamental to your organisational risk strategy. In assessing your risk, you need to consider:

• How would you recover your key business data in the event of a major equipment failure or outage caused by a service provider failing to deliver?
• What would be the financial consequences of a temporary shut-down of your data centre location รขโ�ฌโ�� due to site contamination, industrial action or an extended telecommunications or power outage?
• Worse still, if your computer systems were destroyed in a major disaster such as a fire or flood, would your business even survive?

According to industry analysts, the top three business risks from failure to implement an effective disaster recovery plan are decreased employee productivity, customer dissatisfaction and the loss of current and future revenues. Letรขโ�ฌโ�ขs consider the ramifications of each.

Employee Productivity

If your premises are uninhabitable, where will you relocate your staff? If you operate an inbound contact centre รขโ�ฌโ�� or even a rotary phone system รขโ�ฌโ�� can you afford for it to be down for more than a few hours? Should your central computer systems become unavailable, it affects not just your head office staff, but all users of those systems across your network. For each hour of downtime, you must multiply by the number of employees unable to complete their work.

When รขโ�ฌโ�� if รขโ�ฌโ�� your systems are eventually restored, those same staff will have a backlog of processing to catch up with, which may cost you overtime, and will certainly generate frustration and workplace stress.

As well as costing time to recover, some data may be lost forever, causing ongoing reductions in employee productivity. A single server outage at WorkCover NSW in April 2006 cost the organisation nine working days to recover 98% of the lost data, with the remainder having to be retrieved on an ongoing case-by-case basis. Computerworld Australia reported an IDC analyst as being blunt about the glitch: "It shouldnรขโ�ฌโ�ขt have happened. At least 50% of organisationsรขโ�ฌโ�ข data is not adequately protected [and] in the event of a major disaster you may not get it back. Iรขโ�ฌโ�ขm sorry for them, but every organisation should have systems robust enough to withstand a failure. Itรขโ�ฌโ�ขs a wake-up call for everyone."

Customer Dissatisfaction

If you are unable to maintain customer service levels because your systems are down for an extended period, the best you can hope for is loyal but dissatisfied customers. But most likely, they will seek another, more reliable supplier.

Consumers will seek an alternate supplier whose systems are available. If your customers are other businesses, they will need to have confidence รขโ�ฌโ�� for their own survival รขโ�ฌโ�� that you have an effective disaster recovery plan in place. In fact, depending on their level of dependence on you, they may require to see it before they agree to do business with you.

Lost Revenue

If your computer systems are unavailable for a considerable period of time รขโ�ฌโ�� or your disaster recovery plan doesnรขโ�ฌโ�ขt cover every base รขโ�ฌโ�� loss of revenue is bound to occur. Current revenue will be lost while you are unable to take and fulfil orders, or complete production schedules. Future revenues will be lost as your staff struggle to make up the backlog, and your customers desert you for a supplier with more dependable operations.

Failure to ensure disaster recovery of your computer systems has such serious ramifications that, according to Gartner, "two out of five enterprises that experience a disaster go out of business within five years" (Disaster Recovery Plans and Systems are Essential, September 2001).

Disaster Recovery: Planning for the Worst

Just as there are many types of organisations, there is รขโ�ฌโ�� unfortunately รขโ�ฌโ�� a Pandoraรขโ�ฌโ�ขs Box of potential disasters. Like your business, your disaster recovery plan will be unique, and will be based on a balance of cost and risk. Gartner again: "There is no รขโ�ฌห�one size fits allรขโ�ฌโ�ข when it comes to developing business continuity management strategies and plans. Using someone else's requirements, which might turn out to be based on limitations or regulations that your company doesn't have, could spell disaster of another type." (Gartner, March 2005)

You may choose to completely replicate your data centre at an independent location, or opt for a cost-effective multi-subscriber disaster recovery service รขโ�ฌโ�� or even choose a hybrid solution such as live data/shared equipment.

Whatever your decision, your business recovery plan must be up-to-date, regularly tested and comply with your corporate risk strategy, corporate governance and regulatory requirements. Most important, you need the assistance of an expert รขโ�ฌโ�� a specialist disaster recovery services provider who mitigates risk on your behalf, and offers the economies of scale, responsiveness and high level of services and facilities your organisation will need should disaster strike.

In future articles in this series, weรขโ�ฌโ�ขll review the attributes of the ideal disaster recovery services provider, and consider how youรขโ�ฌโ�ขd fare in a disaster scenario affecting your entire street, city block or suburb.

Clint Seagrave is Engineering Director of www.interactive.com.au/Interactive Pty Ltd, one of Australiaรขโ�ฌโ�ขs leading providers of IT services. Established in 1988, and with a team of over 150 service staff รขโ�ฌโ�� supported by a network of thousands of highly trained support staff รขโ�ฌโ�� Interactive is the chosen supplier for critical hardware maintenance and disaster recovery services by 900+ corporations. Entirely focussed on systems availability, Interactive is 100% Australian-owned. www.interactive.com.au/ www.interactive.com.au

Why Bother With Data Backups?

Computers have become a daily need for most people. We use computers for all types of things including entertainment, work, and corresponding with others. Most of the files on our computers are important and we don't want to risk losing them since that would be a loss of money and time. The best way that you can prevent file loss is by doing backups.

Don't believe that backups are just for large companies, computer experts, or a job that you'll do when you have time for it. Backups are necessary for anyone who has a computer. One day your computer will fail, even if it has been running fine for many years. You'll eventually get a virus or your computer will fail from age.

There are two things that will occur on the day your computer fails: (1) you'll lose great amounts of music, passwords, financial and personal information, pictures, and software, or (2) you'll be able to replace or repair your computer and restore all your information from the backups that you've make on a regular basis. The first option will be a disaster while the second choice is just mildly annoying.

There are many ways that you can lose data on your computer. This includes the failure of computer hardware or damage from floods or fires. Your computer hard drive can potentially be damaged by surges of power that come from lightning. Or you may lose data if your child hits keys randomly on the keyboard. As well, a virus can erase your hard drive or infect your computer system.

The only way that you can get your data back is to have it available to be restored.

What to Backup?

For most users it won't be necessary that every file on their computer is backed up since this would require a lot of storage space. At the very least PC users should do a backup of their personal files and software that they can't replace. This includes such information as legal documents, financial records in spread sheets, and any work that they have in progress.

Backup don't need to be complicated.

The easiest and fastest way to do a backup is to use software that is included with the operating system. Windows has a backup program that is free to use. At the same time you can get similar backup programs for Linux, Mac, and other operating systems. This type of software is very simple to use and all you have to do is choose which files you want to back up. Some programs even have a scheduler so that your computer will do backups at certain times.

For a small cost you can buy backup software that will back up only those files which have been changed after a last backup or a particular date. As well, you can copy new files every day to a backup folder where they will then be backed up by the program. You can use your computer's "Search" option to identify which files are newer than a certain date. When the list has been completed they are copied to the backup folder. This allows you to run the software program for that folder only.

Data, such as your email, can be a bit more difficult to backup. You can configure some email clients so that they keep a copy of the email that you have sent and received onto the mail server. If this isn't an option you might be able to export your email messages to a folder which can be backed up later.

You can do backups for any type of media that is removable, such as removable hard drives, keychain devices (which plug into a USB port on your computer), or writable DVDs/CDs. In some cases you can even still use a floppy disc because some documents will take up very little space. All you have to do is use about seven discs and rotate them every week.

Doing a daily backup is just one more thing that you'll need to do in your already busy schedule. However, the day that you lose that one file you really need and can't get back you'll find that you're a lot busier.

Paul Wilcox writes about virus protection, internet security and other related topics for the Internet Security Squad website. Sign up for my free newsletter and receive my special report "How To Lock Your Computer Down - Internet Security in 2006" at http://www.internetsecuritysquad.com/freereport

Local Vs Remote Data Backup - The Pros And Cons

Backing up your data should be an essential part of your daily routine. Unfortunately for many businesses this simply isn't the case. The only time data backup crosses their mind is when they have a hard disk crash or a serious spyware or virus infection. Unfortunately by this stage it's already too late to do anything about it - the data is gone and you're then looking at several hundred, if not several thousand, dollars to have the data rescued and restored.

The concept is simple - choose a data backup plan and stick to it.

The burning question on most IT managers minds is should the data be stored locally or remotely? To be fair this is the pivot point of all data backup plans. There are pros and cons to each method.

Local Data Backup

Most companies rely on either DVD, external hard disk or tape drive data backup solutions locally. These provide fast, cost effective storage for most small companies and are also very easy for even the IT novice to operate. In the case of any data being lost it's simply a matter of restoring the data from a previous backup point and the user can then continue working.

The data, however, is only as safe as the building it's in. What happens in the case of fire, burglary, flooding or storm damage? That's right you just lost all your data backups in the blink of an eye.

Remote Data Backup

As an emerging industry remote data backup has really taken off. Most commonly remote file backup services allow you to log into a remote drive and via a web based interface upload all your critical files. 5GB of storage space is the entry point for most of the remote data backup services and this is provided at a low cost. Knowing that your data is being stored in a secure facility that's deliberately protected against harm allows you much greater peace of mind.

The weak point here however is the data transfer speed. Unless you're operating a high speed LAN in your company then remote backup can be a complete waste of time as you're tied to the maximum upstream speed of your network - which can be surprisingly slow depending on your IT infrastructure. Add in the issue of firewalls blocking uploads on certain ports and it can quickly become a real IT headache.

So how do achieve a Win-Win scenario? Blended backup! Look at utilizing both of these forms of backup. In an ideal world you'd store a local copy of your data and then upload an exact copy of that data to the remote file backup server. If money is an issue then store your bulk data locally but copy your mission critical data to the remote backup service. That way in the worst of disasters you'll still have the data you need to actually function as a business. That's not to say that bulk data such as archived email is not important but that old data could be recovered in time by a data recovery specialist whereas you mission critical data needs to be available at a moments notice.

This article was written by Niall Roche and provided courtesy of BackupAdvice.com If you want to know more about computer backups this site is full of useful information.

Computer Back Up And The Cyber 911 Threats Considered

Authorities are worried about International Terrorists and the prospect of another type of attack; a Cyber Attack. In fact many government agencies are working very hard to protect their computer systems from the Sum of All Computer Fears; a Cyber 911 style attack and if not from the hands of sneaky bad guys then perhaps from an Act of Mother Nature or a; Cyber Katrina scenario, which could be just as bad indeed.

Many government CIOs say that they are prepared and backed up, but still worry about the day when something catastrophic happens and they say it is not so much as if, but when. Yes I see your point on the Back-up systems; I have been studying that too, mostly on the Hurricane FEMA side of things.

But what happens when the government is shut down or an entire City, County, State or Federal Government Center is rendered useless for two-hours, half a day, a week or even a month until things are back to normal? Well, not good and indeed in studying the "Cyber 9-11" GAO reports and the government operations stuff one cannot really blame everyone for being concerned. Luckily our government is being much more methodical than during the Y2K practice drill and that is smart thinking for sure. Please consider all this in 2006.

By Lance Winslow

Document Data Entry Scanning

Managing records or documents is a key task in every business. It involves identifying, classifying, storing, circulating and disposing of documents among others. Each of these activities involves multifarious, minor tasks that are often time consuming and costly. This is not such a problem these days though because computers and other technologies are available to make managing of documents easier, less expensive and more convenient.

Generally, transferring of data into a machine-readable form (so that they can be stored electronically) is referred to as data entry. The most familiar way of doing it is by typing. Today, data entry includes other methods such as scanning documents and speech recognition.

The first computer program used to track stored documents and other records is the Document Management System (DMS). Today however, document Management is being used to differentiate imaging from records management focused on capturing images and managing of records, respectively.

Document imaging is the latest technologies used today in order to capture, store and manage documents that are scanned. Scanning documents prove to be more beneficial, as it reduces time spent for the collection of data, and it reduces the size of data files as well. Compared to the scanned images, the electronic documents stored using earlier technology or computer program are prone to changes that require tracking and security authorization.

Transforming the data into document imaging is called data conversion. For an average-sized company, it can be done simply with the use of a scanning machine. A typical scanner can manage to scan twenty-page document in a minute, but a high-speed scanner can do the job faster.

For larger companies with a considerably high volume of documents that need to be stored, document imaging company can be the best solution. These companies provide fast and affordable data conversion services.

Document Scanning provides detailed information on Document Scanning, Document Scanning Software, Document Scanning Services, Document Data Entry Scanning and more. Document Scanning is affiliated with Document Management System Software.

Best Practices for Computer Forensics in the Field

Introduction

Computer forensic examiners are responsible for technical acuity, knowledge of the law, and objectivity in the course of investigations. Success is principled upon verifiable and repeatable reported results that represent direct evidence of suspected wrong-doing or potential exoneration. This article establishes a series of best practices for the computer forensics practitioner, representing the best evidence for defensible solutions in the field. Best practices themselves are intended to capture those processes that have repeatedly shown to be successful in their use. This is not a cookbook. Best practices are meant to be reviewed and applied based on the specific needs of the organization, the case and the case setting.

Job Knowledge

An examiner can only be so informed when they walk into a field setting. In many cases, the client or the clientรขโ�ฌโ�ขs representative will provide some information about how many systems are in question, their specifications, and their current state. And just as often, they are critically wrong. This is especially true when it comes to hard drive sizes, cracking laptop computers, password hacking and device interfaces. A seizure that brings the equipment back to the lab should always be the first line of defense, providing maximum flexibility. If you must perform onsite, create a comprehensive working list of information to be collected before you hit the field. The list should be comprised of small steps with a checkbox for each step. The examiner should be completely informed of their next step and not have to "think on their feet."

Overestimate

Overestimate effort by at least a factor of two the amount of time you will require to complete the job. This includes accessing the device, initiating the forensic acquisition with the proper write-blocking strategy, filling out the appropriate paperwork and chain of custody documentation, copying the acquired files to another device and restoring the hardware to its initial state. Keep in mind that you may require shop manuals to direct you in taking apart small devices to access the drive, creating more difficulty in accomplishing the acquisition and hardware restoration. Live by Murphyรขโ�ฌโ�ขs Law. Something will always challenge you and take more time than anticipated -- even if you have done it many times.

Inventory Equipment
Most examiners have enough of a variety of equipment that they can perform forensically sound acquisitions in several ways. Decide ahead of time how you would like to ideally carry out your site acquisition. All of us will see equipment go bad or some other incompatibility become a show-stopper at the most critical time. Consider carrying two write blockers and an extra mass storage drive, wiped and ready. Between jobs, make sure to verify your equipment with a hashing exercise. Double-Check and inventory all of your kit using a checklist before taking off.

Flexible Acquisition

Instead of trying to make "best guesses" about the exact size of the client hard drive, use mass storage devices and if space is an issue, an acquisition format that will compress your data. After collecting the data, copy the data to another location. Many examiners limit themselves to traditional acquisitions where the machine is cracked, the drive removed, placed behind a write-blocker and acquired. There are also other methods for acquisition made available by the Linux operating system. Linux, booted from a CD drive, allows the examiner to make a raw copy without compromising the hard drive. Be familiar enough with the process to understand how to collect hash values and other logs. Live Acquisition is also discussed in this document. Leave the imaged drive with the attorney or the client and take the copy back to your lab for analysis.

Pull the Plug

Heated discussion occurs about what one should do when they encounter a running machine. Two clear choices exist; pulling the plug or performing a clean shutdown (assuming you can log in). Most examiners pull the plug, and this is the best way to avoid allowing any sort of malevolent process from running that may delete and wipe data or some other similar pitfall. It also allows the examiner access to create a snapshot of the swap files and other system information as it was last running. It should be noted that pulling the plug can also damage some of the files running on the system, making them unavailable to examination or user access. Businesses sometimes prefer a clean shutdown and should be given the choice after being explained the impact. It is critical to document how the machine was brought down because it will be absolutely essential knowledge for analysis.

Live Acquisitions

Another option is to perform a live acquisition. Some define "live" as a running machine as it is found, or for this purpose, the machine itself will be running during the acquisition through some means. One method is to boot into a customized Linux environment that includes enough support to grab an image of the hard drive (often among other forensic capabilities), but the kernel is modified to never touch the host computer. Special versions also exist that allow the examiner to leverage the Windowรขโ�ฌโ�ขs autorun feature to perform Incident Response. These require an advanced knowledge of both Linux and experience with computer forensics. This kind of acquisition is ideal when for time or complexity reasons, disassembling the machine is not a reasonable option.

The Fundamentals

An amazingly brazen oversight that examinerรขโ�ฌโ�ขs often make is neglecting to boot the device once the hard disk is out of it. Checking the BIOS is absolutely critical to the ability to perform a fully-validated analysis. The time and date reported in the BIOS must be reported, especially when time zones are an issue. A rich variety of other information is available depending on what manufacturer wrote the BIOS software. Remember that drive manufacturers may also hide certain areas of the disk (Hardware Protected Areas) and your acquisition tool must be able to make a full bitstream copy that takes that into account. Another key for the examiner to understand is how the hashing mechanism works: Some hash algorithms may be preferable to others not necessarily for their technological soundness, but for how they may be perceived in a courtroom situation.

Store Securely

Acquired images should be stored in a protected, non-static environment. Examiners should have access to a locked safe in a locked office. Drives should be stored in antistatic bags and protected by the use of non-static packing materials or the original shipping material. Each drive should be tagged with the client name, attorneyรขโ�ฌโ�ขs office and evidence number. Some examiners copy drive labels on the copy machine, if they have access to one during the acquisition and this should be stored with the case paperwork. At the end of the day, each drive should link up with a chain of custody document, a job, and an evidence number.

Establish a Policy

Many clients and attorneys will push for an immediate acquisition of the computer and then sit on the evidence for months. Make clear with the attorney how long you are willing to maintain the evidence at your lab and charge a storage fee for critical or largescale jobs. You may be storing critical evidence to a crime or civil action and while from a marketing perspective it may seem like a good idea to keep a copy of the drive, it may be better from the perspective of the case to return all copies to the attorney or client with the appropriate chain of custody documentation.

Conclusion

Computer examiners have many choices about how they will carry out an onsite acquisition. At the same time, the onsite acquisition is the most volatile environment for the examiner. Tools may fail, time constraints can be severe, observers may add pressure, and suspects may be present. Examiners need to take seriously the maintenance of their tools and development of ongoing knowledge to learn the best techniques for every situation. Utilizing the best practices herein, the examiner should be prepared for almost any situation they may face and have the ability to set reasonable goals and expectations for the effort in question.

Carol L. Stimmel is a Certified Computer Examiner (CCE), co-author of The Manager Pool, and former Vice-President, Consulting of Gartner. She has worked in technology for over 15 years and has been involved in engineering, security, knowledge management, and the establishment of successful entrepreneurial ventures.

CITSF provides certified consulting services to the attorney marketplace in the area of computer forensics and e-discovery.

Visit CITSF on the web at http://www.citsf.com She may be reached at 303-819-2068 or carol.stimmel@gmail.com.

Tips for Data Recovery of RAID 5 Drives

RAID technology is the use of multiple disks to emulate the performance of one disk. This is usually done to increase the safety and redundancy of data, the speed of read/write performance, or a mixture of both. It has great use in the management of corporate data.

Data is integral to todayรขโ�ฌโ�ขs businesses. Information is said to be power and right fully so, especially when you consider the nature of the economy of the modern world in this age we call the Information Age.

This has led to the explosion of the integration of Information Technology into most businesses. Most businesses employ some sort of Information System which stores sensitive information vital to a broad spectrum of operations.

These systems may be reliable, especially as technology increases the amount and accuracy of information stored in various media and systems. However, the probability that these systems will crash or that data will be lost cannot be ignored.

Most data crashes occur when some physical or logical error is introduced into a system. Hard disks, CD-ROMs, Tape Drives and other storage media can and will fail eventually. This could be caused by a host reasons รขโ�ฌโ�� power outages, physical damage to media, head crashes, motor problems and the like.

Whatever the reason, you will need a means to restore all this data. This is especially true if for some reason the deleted, destroyed or corrupted data contains information that is not backed up or existing in any other location anyway.

A special consideration when planning for backup strategies is the type of storage you choose to employ. If you are using a RAID set up for your data access and recording, you will have to keep in mind a few extra tips on top of your general knowledge data management.

1. Regular Maintenance รขโ�ฌโ�� While RAID components are usually reliable, it is recommended that regular back ups are performed at set intervals. There is always the chance that such systems will have logical and continuity problems. For this, you may want to employ special software to maintain the integrity of your RAID configuration.

2. Know Your Problem รขโ�ฌโ�� It may take a little training to know the difference, but many of the RAID problems can be solved by using readily available RAID data recovery tools. If in the event that such software does not work, then you may consider the services of a professional data recovery expert.

These experts are highly-trained and employ equipment not readily available to most people to recover badly damaged disks, and hopeless media.

3. If Possible, Use Software RAID instead of Hardware RAID รขโ�ฌโ�� while software RAID is a viable alternative to hardware RAID. Software RAID has a few practical setbacks.

Software RAID is not as fault tolerant as hardware RAID. It may not be an error magnet, but it still is a lot less reliable in comparison to hardware RAID

Also software raid takes up valuable system resources and needs to boot up before it can be used. This is not saying that software RAID should be avoided like the flu; it is jus that there are really good reasons to use hardware RAID instead

4. Invest in Maintenance รขโ�ฌโ�� While using precious hours backing up and maintaining your RAID can prove to be taxing, and by all means unnecessary, you only have to look at a professional data recovery bill to realize that it was all worth it.

If you found those tips useful more information on Data Recovery can be found at "Data Recovery without heartach."

Computer Data Recovery Options

Losing files on your computer can be a frightening experience if the files are of importance to you personally or professionally. Computer data recovery techniques include the most simple of operations, like simply retrieving an accidentally deleted file, to very complex file retrieval procedures that only professionals should attempt to do.

If you are trying to proceed with your hard disk recovery solution on your own, first start with the most obvious answer. Look in your recycle bin to see if the file has been placed there. If it is, you can choose the "restore" option, and your system will automatically put the file back on your computer where it was stored originally. Of course, if every retrieval was this simple, there would be no need for computer professionals who specialize in data recovery, so chances are you'll need to try a different technique to find your lost data.

If you've deleted a file on your computer, and you've emptied your recycle bin, don't despair. When a file is deleted on a computer, it's not erased immediately from the system. What actually happens is the computer marks the deleted file as "deleted", and it is no longer in view to users within your computer's files. The file remains on the hard drive until new data is saved over it, similar to recording songs on cassette tapes. So, in order for computer data recovery to happen on files that have been deleted, you'll need to attempt to recover them before new data has been written over the file.

The best thing you can do to increase your chances of success is to immediately stop using the computer until you've retrieved the deleted file. The more you use your computer, the more information will be saved and the more likely the information could be saved over the file you are hoping to get back!

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Brad Triggs provides more information on
Data Recovery at his website:
Data-Recovery-Central.com - Computer Data Recovery
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Data Loss and Preventative Measures to Avoid It

Data Loss can be devastating. It could instantly take a small or medium size business from "Open for Business" to "Out of Business" in an instant. On a personal level, it can wipe away weeks, months and even years of critical data where there is no means of accessing or recreating the valuable information.

However, there are preventative measures that can be taken to ensure that you do not fall victim to the unfortunate circumstance of loss of data. As a data recovery lab, we know. We just took a direct hit from hurricane Wilma. Hurricane Wilma was "Not our First Rodeo", and more than likely, will not be our last.

We are also seeing an increase of drives on a local level that have been affected by this natural disaster, just as we did after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Hearing stories on a daily basis of data loss, I thought it to be only fair to share some of our preparations of how we (as a Data Recovery Lab) survived as a business, and had basically no loss of business continuity. Fortunately, the only loss we did have was the actual day that the hurricane hit and we all watched the devastating destruction from our homes.

Here are a few of the procedures that we as a data recovery lab, put into place, yet once *again* this year, prior to landfall of Hurricane Wilma.

รขโ�ฌยข We are fanatical about backing up. Keep in mind that our business is based upon hard drive failures. If you can imagine it, e.g. Fires, Floods, Mechanical Failure, User Error, we have heard it. The thought of a category 3 hurricane barreling towards us, was not a pleasant one.

รขโ�ฌยข Ensure that you have "Backups of your Backups." Always keep a current backup offsite for absolute worst case scenarios.

รขโ�ฌยข Prior to vacating the premises, Make Backups of Critical Data, Verify that all electronics are plugged into UPSsรขโ�ฌโ�ข (as they should be) power down and unplug from A.C. if possible. (Including Telephone and Modem Lines.)

รขโ�ฌยข If possible, elevate all electronics and electronics equipment off of the ground. Even with Flood Insurance, Insurance providers will draw the line between "Wind driven Rain", and "Rising Water".

รขโ�ฌยข Last but certainly not least, remain calm and approach any Computer Failure/Data Loss with a rational and sensible approach. A majority of hard drive failures, and data loss resulting from them can be successfully overcome, if proper measures are taken. There are numerous previously published articles that outline what NOT to do when faced with this type of potential crisis. Consult a professional data recovery lab to see what options are available for you, before it is too late.

With a Natural Disaster such as a category 3 hurricane approaching, there are exterior preparations as well. (Hurricane Shutters, Non-Perishable Foods, Water, for at least 3-4 days, Ice, Flashlights, Batteries, and Battery operated Radio or TV for News Alerts.) Anyone who lives in a hurricane prone area should already know these basics.

Hopefully, by taking these tips to heart (and mind), your business and/or place of business will not be "Gone with Wind!"

Brian Cain Eco Data Recovery 4115 Burns Rd. Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410 1-800-339-3412 561-691-0019 http://www.EcoDataRecovery.com

brian@EcoDataRecovery.com

Insure Your Information

There are so many ways to lose precious data stored on your hard disk - power loss or power surge, overheating, electrostatic discharge, virus attack, software failure, etc. Are you still thinking your data is safe? Don't! Backup! Backup early, backup frequently.

WinBackup 2.0 Standard
Awarded Best Backup Software by Computer Shopper and termed "exceptionally simple to use" by PC World, WinBackup 2.0 Standard is now the obvious choice for home and small office users. Being one of the most efficient and reliable backup solutions available WinBackup 2.0 Standard will help you save both time and money.

WinBackup 2.0 Standard, the fastest backup and recovery software on the market, allows you to secure all your valuable data within minutes. Featuring a Windows-familiar and intuitive graphical user interface, WinBackup 2.0 Standard makes it extremely easy to set up and run regular backups in your existing environment. With shortcuts to over a 100 of the most popular applications, WinBackup 2.0 Standard makes it possible to easily and quickly backup emails, address books, bookmarks, digital images, financial documents and other records at the click of a button. Home and small office users can rely completely on WinBackup 2.0 Standard for full data consistency and integrity without compromising superior performance.



CompuApps Renaissance 2006 SE
Renaissance is a simple yet powerful Backup application that provides user the peace of mind by its ease of use, comfort and security, with optional verification. Renaissance enables selection of data with a quick and easy to use wizards. Comprehensive scheduling options allow the user to do backups at idle time, thus making the backup a painless and interference free process.

Protects servers, business-critical applications, desktops, and notebooks
Easy to set up and manage
Fast, reliable, secure backups
Smart restores with unparalleled accuracy
Backup to hard disks and removable disks
Simplifies media management

Major Functions
Dual Backup & Protection
Zero-Touch Backup
Value Pick
Find Files





Acronis True Image
The complete disk imaging, system disk backup, and bare metal restore for workstations and home PCs

Acronis True Image allows to create an exact disk backup image for complete system backup and disk cloning providing the most comprehensive data protection.

The disk backup file contains the exact copy of a hard disk, including all the computer data, operating system, and programs.

After a system crash you can restore the entire system or simply replace lost files and folders from your disk backup.

Based on the exclusive Acronis Drive Snapshot disk imaging technology, Acronis True Image allows to create an online system disk backup without reboot to keep the system productive. The product provides the fastest bare metal restore dramatically reducing a downtime and your IT costs.

For the complete server disk imaging, system disk backup, and bare metal restore see Acronis True Image Server

Key features:

• Online system disk backup and instant bare metal system restore
  
• Restore individual files and folders
  
• Integrated compression and password protection
  
• Disk imaging and disk cloning
  
• Incremental disk backup and disk backup image verification
  
• Acronis Secure Zone and Acronis Startup Recovery Manager

For More Information:

WinBackup 2.0 Standard: http://www.lightsparkle.com/product_page.php?product_id=12

CompuApps Renaissance 2006 SE: http://www.lightsparkle.com/product_page.php?product_id=593

Acronis True Image: http://www.lightsparkle.com/product_page.php?product_id=87

Joe Light values his data and backups frequently, because he knows the cost for recovering lost data. He shares his experience with backup software at http://www.lightsparkle.com.

Novell Data Recovery - Recovery of Segmented Volumes

Problem Description

Segmented volumes refer to volumes which have had their size increased by taking disk space from another area. This space is usually taken from another disk, resulting in the Volume existing in รขโ�ฌห�segmentsรขโ�ฌโ�ข across different disks, and hence the name segmented volumes. Segmented volumes add flexibility and are particularly useful in cases of important volumes needing additional disk space.

Segmented volumes, however, have data stretched across more than one disk and data recovery software needs additional capabilities to scan multiple disks at a time. This is where the problem lies and a separate data recovery module has to be incorporated into the software to ensure complete recovery.

Technical Aspect of the Problem

Segmenting refers to manipulating a Volume so as to increase its size. This redistribution of disk space creates a Volume which may occupy space spanned across more than one disk. This Volume is called a Segmented Volume since it exists in รขโ�ฌห�segmentsรขโ�ฌโ�ข across one or more disks. A Volume may be spanned across as many as 32 disks. For Example: Say, a disk consists of 2 volumes, one of which is almost full up and needs additional space. Netware has a feature using which disk space, usually from a separate disk, can be added to an existing volume.

Regular data recovery software usually scans one disk at a time, but segmented volumes may be spanned across multiple disks, which is what creates the difficulty in the recovery of segmented volumes. Phoenix Novellรขโ�ฌโ�ขs advanced software engine can recover data from segmented volumes.

Technical Aspect of the Solution

Phoenix Novell is a Windows based application and can only be installed on a Windows based hard disk. Therefore, the failed Novell based disk needs to be attached as a secondary to a Windows based disk with Phoenix installed in it. After the damaged disk is attached, Phoenix needs to be run from the working disk.

The software scans the selected volume of the damaged secondary disk to search for lost or missing partitions and displays the list. The software has a special algorithm to determine whether the contents of a volume are spanned across multiple disks. If a segmented volume is detected, the entire volume (across multiple disks) is scanned and the result displayed in an easy to understand tree structure. Any number of files may then be recovered.

Working of Phoenix Novell

The damaged server disk needs to be connected as a secondary to a working Windows based disk with Phoenix Novell installed in it. The software is then run to start the recovery process.

Clicking รขโ�ฌห�Select Netware Partitionรขโ�ฌโ�ข will display a list of hard disks with their respective volumes. Select the damaged volume on the server disk to start the scan process. The software then scans the selected volume (traveling across multiple disks if need be) and displays the entire list of found data.

Any number of files can be selected for recovery, and clicking รขโ�ฌห�Recover Selectedรขโ�ฌโ�ข will restore the selected files. Alternatively, clicking รขโ�ฌห�Recover Deletedรขโ�ฌโ�ข will recover all the files listed in the displayed list of files. If the recovery is not satisfactory or if some of the files are recovered improperly, clicking Tools -> Change Linking Mode -> Contiguous Mode will change the linking mode to Contiguous which is a much more comprehensive scan

Buy award winning hard drive data recovery software and utilities or try the demos free.Stellar offers a complete solution of file recovery software and lost data restoration programs for Windows (Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, 2003, XP),Apple Macintosh, Novell, Linux, Unix operating system and FAT, NTFS,NTFS5,HFS, HFS+, NWFS, EXT2 and EXT3 file systems. Offers data recovery software,data recovery services for hard drive recovery and data safety software services for your computer. Buy award winning data recovery utilities, data eraser and safety software in India, United States, United Kingdom Datenrettung Software |Recupero Dati

European Data Recovery Companies Are Between Their Rich Rhymes And Poor Substance

Often European forensic & data recovery specialists, use cheap sales tricks with claims that they have acquired/developed machines capable of reading the hdd platters inside damaged SATA RAID servers and conventional hard disk platters without changing the heads. Unfortunately this rhetoric is being repeated by few reputed companies. Little did they know, the US Pentagon has had since 9/11 a live advert on their website seeking clarifications on such "machines or technologies".

Only a month ago the US Pentagon have decided to cancel the ad as there was not a single reply for 5 years!!

Meanwhile, true advanced technological advancements are being accomplished by the newly established hardware industry in India and the Far-East, namely China. The technology is extremely intricate with the requirement for molecular technologies in addition to advanced materialogy science.

As an example - magnetic disk/platters is a circular aluminum disk, similar in shape to a normal cd or dvd, with surface coated with chrome oxide based coating with the sole exception of the read/write arm-head parking zone. In fact, high precision of disk surfaces and the heads causes them to "stick" to each other because of molecular attraction forces. To prevent that effect, manufacturers often use special laser serrations in the zone of contact between the heads and the platters.

The disks demonstrate specific magnetic properties owing to their coating of chrome oxide base (magnetically active substance) or cobalt layer applied using vacuum deposition. Such coating is characterized by robust hardness and greater wear resistance.

While, sales myths are circulating among data recovery sales representatives in the USA & Western Europe, advanced data recovery technologies have predominantly been emerging from the Far-East, the former Eastern Block countries & India.

Meanwhile, the new hardware industry developed in mainland China is expected to boom even further. This is due to the announcement that the investment in the hardware manufacturing industry will be tripled.

D Snagov Technician at UniRecovery Laboratory - http://www.unirecovery.co.uk

Backup Your Laptop Data

If I were to quote you the statistics about lost information as it pertains to laptops, you would be amazed. But stop and ask yourself, do you backup your laptop information? For many of us, the answer is no.

What happens if the laptop is stolen, or the hard drive crashes? We are reduced to sniffling piles of incoherent suits and ties for a few hours. Itรขโ�ฌโ�ขs only at this point, that many of us realize just how important our laptops are in our business life.

So, what about backup of laptop data? Do you suppose, as a business person, we should begin to look at another safety measure for protection of our data? I would think itรขโ�ฌโ�ขs about time, and the service is available, if we choose not to perform this task ourselves.

During 2003, over 500,000 laptops were stolen, of those stolen laptops, the vast majority was never recovered, and less than a thousand of those were backed up. Those are unbelievable numbers, yet they are the reality in the use of laptops. We just havenรขโ�ฌโ�ขt noticed how reliant weรขโ�ฌโ�ขre becoming on our laptops.

Today, backup of laptop data through online services, remote data backup, and offsite storage can provide us with the safety and assurance we need in determining that our data has been successfully backed up and is secure and safe on a storage media.

The lag in taking care of backup of laptop data has often been due to the fact that laptops are designed for on the go use. The laptop is not often found with a typical data storage media close at hand, or even available.

That is about to change, thanks to the services of online data backup. Now, even the busiest business person, should be able to schedule a backup time, set the clock for an early wakeup, and be ready to roll, right along with his laptop!

Learn how to keep your important data from getting toasted at Data Backup.