Use RAID Disk Arrays to Safeguard Your Data Now!

Disk failure, and resultant data loss, is almost as ubiquitous as death and taxes. In some cases, victims of data loss might even prefer death over the consequences of data loss! Fortunately for us, computer geeks don't take data loss lightly and have developed a number of techniques and systems in order to counter it. Of course, the best way to counter data loss is redundant and frequent backups, and the RAID disk storage system is an excellent example of this principle in action.

RAID storage systems? Please explain!

RAID, no not the insecticide, is an abbreviation for Redundant Array of Independent Disks, and the main idea behind RAID technology was to develop a reliable and relatively cheap redundant disk storage system. Even though the RAID disk is comprised out of numerous storage disks, the computer system recognises the RAID storage system as a single drive, and facilitates reading from and writing to the RAID disk array as it would a single storage device. RAID disks use different techniques to distribute data over their RAID disk drives. Depending on the use of the RAID disk, technicians have their pick of parity, mirroring or striping techniques to determine where and how the data will be stored on the hard disks in the redundant array.

Different RAID types

RAID 0 systems distribute data across several RAID hard disks, and are fast, but are vulnerable to data loss since they don't apply parity or mirroring for redundant data backup.

RAID 1 systems mirror the contents of the disk resulting in arrays of disks that store identical data.

RAID 2 systems allow very fast data transfer and the disks are striped and synchronised in very small stripes. Hamming codes error correction guard against data corruption across multiple parity disks.

RAID 3 systems provide byte level striping as well as various types of parity. These systems are fast and the performance is unchanged even if one of the drives fails.

RAID 4 systems are identical to RAID 3 systems, but does block level striping instead of byte level striping. Each disk within the system operates independently; the type of parity results in speeds much lower than seen in RAID 3 systems.

RAID 5 systems combine three or more disks in such a way as to protect against data loss of any one of the disks. The storage capacity of the RAID disk array is therefore reduced by one disk. These drives are tolerant towards disk drive failure, and will continue to operate if one of the hard drives within the array breaks down.

What happens when RAID components fail?

The beauty of the RAID disk system is that localised drive failure and resultant data loss is generally not a train wreck, since the system can use redundant backups of data on functioning disks within the array. The faulty components will, however, have to be replaced as soon as possible, since subsequent disk failure just might result in data loss. Depending on the type of RAID disk storage, the faulty drive can be replaced without powering down the whole system. This practice is referred to as hot-swapping and is very convenient for systems that need to run without interruptions. However, some RAID disks are fussier, and require the system to power down before the faulty drive can be replaced.

Who uses RAID anyway?

Up until a few years ago RAID disk storage systems were pretty much limited to high-end servers and workstations like network-attached servers, web servers, file system servers and application servers. This was primarily due to the cost of the controller and the accompanying hard drives. Fortunately that's no longer the case since most modern motherboards provide one or more onboard RAID controllers capable of supporting RAID disk storage systems.

RAID disk recovery

Data loss is a real concern for server computers and when their RAID components fail, they generally rely on data recovery experts to perform RAID disk recovery, which involves replacing the faulty disks and recovering the data from the faulty disks. With more motherboards supporting RAID storage, it is not surprising that private computer owners also turn to professional data recovery when components within their RAID disk arrays fail. This is owing to the complexity involved in rescuing data from malfunctioning RAID components. It is ill advised to try and recover your data from a RAID disk storage system by yourself, unless you are a certified data recovery specialist. Seriously, rather rely on the experts in this regard and take your sick RAID disks to the professionals.

How to Back Up Files to an External Hard Drive

If you own a computer and you have personal data on it, then you need to be backing up. There are many ways to backup your PC, however in this article I'm going to talk about just one of those ways - Backing up your files with an external hard drive.

Let's cover the requirements:

- Windows 2000, XP, Vista or Windows 7.
- Administrative access to your PC (don't worry, you probably already have this).
- You know what you want to backup. These would be items like pictures, music, documents, desktop items and favorites.
- You have at least 1 free usb 2.0 port on your PC.
- You have an external drive complete with ac adaptor (if your drive requires it) and usb 2.0 cable.
- You have saved all open files and closed any open applications (like word or excel).

There are two basic ways to backup data to a hard drive: manual and automatic. I'm going to be discussing the manual backup process of personal files. Let's get started.

1. Turn on your PC and login.
2. Connect your drive to your PC with the supplied USB 2.0 cable. If your drive requires external power from and AC adaptor then plugin that in to.
3. The external hard drive will automatically be installed, mounted and given a drive letter.
4. Let's take a look at the drive. On Windows XP open "My Computer". On Windows Vista open "Computer". You should now see your external hard drive as an additional drive. Typical drive letters would be E:\, F:\, G:\, H:\ or K:\
5. Now that we've established that the drive is loaded in Windows we can begin copying data to it.
6. Backing up a file to an external hard drive is an easy process. Open your external drive, select the files and folders that you want to backup and drag them to the external hard drive. The files will now be copied to the external hard drive essentially backing them up.
7. Most of your critical data is located in about 3-6 folders:
   • for Windows 2000 and XP: C:\Documents and Settings\"your user name"\. Backup the folders listed below. Remember, in order to backup the folders listed below all you need to do is drag the folders to your external hard drive and wait for them to be copied:
     • My Documents
     • Desktop
     • Favorites
   • for Windows Vista: C:\Users\"your user name"\ Backup the folders listed below:
     • Documents
     • Pictures
     • Desktop
     • Music
     • Videos
     • Favorites
     • Depending on the amount of data that you have your backup could take hours or even days to finish.

For most people, backing up personal data is just one of those things that they'll never do until they've been burned by a hard drive failure. You don't have to be one of them, backup those files before it's too late!

Hard Drive Recovery | The Drama of Data Recovery

Data loss is often a tragic and traumatic experience for most computer users. It is often due to hard drive failure, accidental formatting, electronic malfunctioning or a product of "natural calamities". This seems to be not much of a problem when there are viable data back-ups that the user creates. However, the problem comes when we tarry on making our back-up files, which is not a rare practice by the way. Yet even for those who prepare back-up files still fail to check on the viability of their back-ups.

In fact, even top-rated organizations are victims of data loss, because it simply happen all the time without choosing its target.

One minute, your files are all there. The next minute they're gone.

Whether yours is a novel that you have been working on for some time now, or some business data that means a lot to your career, it will still be like a great tragedy that will befall you. Now, when all your data are loss, are they truly gone forever? Can't something be done about them?

Off course there is...data recovery!

Data recovery is a huge business, which help computer users recover their data losses, even from a burned out hard drive!

Once a hard drive is sent to a data recovery company, it will be subjected to a diagnosis that will help determine the drive's condition and the status of the data loss. This process of evaluation will allow data recovery engineers to identify the problems and the necessary courses to take.

Logical failures, a type of failure that results from file-system corruption will take some time to rebuild. This is mainly because the solution to the failure would have to be a rebuilding process. However, there are cases that the whole drive would not need a total reconstruction. These occur when the media is not totally wrecked.

If however the failure roots from a physical problem, that may be more of a challenge. The data recovery engineer will have to scan the media and scan the binary code. This then will be rebuilt and transferred to a new hard drive. But users often elect the use of VCD' and CD's.

The process of evaluation typically consumes one day. However, depending on the data recovery company, the actual data recovery process may take some 3 to 5 days. If you want immediate results (like when data recovery is a matter of life and death), there are agencies offering rush works during weekends. But off course with tag prices that are higher than usual.

Data recovery on its premium service commands great prices. Sadly the motto here seem to be- "you get what you paid for". It must be understood that data recovery process is a very intricate one, which requires factors that come with expensive tags. This is probably due to the truth that when something becomes complicated, it already owns the license to obligate consumers to pay higher for the services.

You don't only pay for the services itself but also for the skill of the data recovery engineer. The better the skill, the higher the price. In data recovery industry, one surety to retrieve lost data is to hire talented engineers who can perform at the highest level of standard. However, even that would not suffice. In fact, no one can actually guarantee you of the desired outcome. Experienced data recovery engineers can only provide you with tentative solutions, however so long as data recovery is on its process, there is no assurance that lost data can be recovered in the manner that you so desired.

In here, your only refuge is to seek for a very experienced engineer to accomplish the job and hope with cross fingers that he may produce a job well done.

Hard Drive Recovery | Essence of backing your Hard Drive on daily basis

No matter who you are, proper data back up is required. Whether you work at home, work for a huge conglomeration, or work for a tiny store, having current data back up files can keep your business from failing during a hard drive crash.

Businesses are not the only things that would suffer. Can you imagine life without your email addresses? What about if you lost your tax files that were stored online? Even personal computers should have back up files.

Think about the items that are stored on computers: bank records, personal journals, tax information, family histories, family photographs, customer accounts, email address books, mailing addresses, and more. Without these items, many people would cease to function. We are an electronic generation. We communicate via the email. We balance our checkbooks online. We chat with family online. In essence, we need our computers. If they fail, we feel panicky and stressed without them. Recovery can come faster if a recent back up exists.

In past history, floppy discs were the main source for backing up our computer files. They still work wonderfully, but some computers have moved on. If you have a floppy disk drive, you will find that back up is a piece of cake. The files were stored on the disk. In times of hard drive failure, all of your important information could be uploaded from the floppy disk in a snap.

CD ROMs are the new format for system back ups. Newer CD RW disks allow you to write and rewrite information to the disk. CD ROM disks are inexpensive and can store ample amounts of information.

If you feel like spending a little more money, purchase a tape back up system. Your information is backed up onto a tape that can then be stored for decades without issue. The information is quick to load back into the player in case troubles do arise.

Backing up your hard drive is a time consuming event. It is also a necessary one, however. Experts recommending backing up your files every week, this is excellent advice. Do so by copying all of your important files straight to a CD in your CD ROM drive. The files then burn to your CD and you are protected in case of a hard drive failure.

Go to your documents folder and then highlight and copy all of your important files to the disk. Your computer does the majority of the work. All you have to do is click a few buttons and wait. It is the waiting that takes tremendous time.

Business or personal, there is no reason you should avoid backing up your computer. In case of a hard drive failure, you will definitely benefit from having a current back up of all your pertinent information.

Hard Drive Recovery | How Much Does a Data Loss Disaster Cost?

Data emergency recovery is troubling enough to have to deal with the financial realities as well. Losing huge portions of important information can cause anyone to lose a few nights sleep and a lot of precious time. When it hits a large company, the expenses can skyrocket, because data is a key requirement for just keeping things operational. Phones need to be answered, goods need to be shipped, payments have to be processed, and bills need to be paid.

But what happens if the data that those key activities require suddenly disappears? Yes, it can be expensive, especially for the 1 in 500 company data centers that deal with data loss each year. Unfortunately, over 70% of these companies are ultimately forced to close within three years as a direct result. That's tough business.

So how much does a data emergency recovery loss cost? If you are trying to ascertain just the actual dollars of loss, and not the emotional and other intangible costs, it's fairly easy. Multiply the total down-time by hourly rates, determine much was paid for late payment interest, and calculate how many sales were lost. Hopefully, for your individual situation, this number is low.

For those who have a short interruption, anything less than 3 days, this cost will be minimal. (for most companies) However, if it goes on for a week or longer, there may be a need for a more in depth analysis. It also may spell disaster of the worst kind. Consider this: a company that has a computer outage of longer than 10 days, has a 50% chance of going out of business within five years. That's a sad reality. It also reiterates the need for total prevention and security when it comes to company data.

Businesses in the U.S. lose close to $12 billion per year due to data loss issues. 78% of these failures result from hardware or system problems, 11% are due to human error. Sometimes, it's the software corruption that becomes the issue, but this only accounts for 7% of all cases.

Other key statistics:

* On average, 46% of U.S. businesses indicate each hour of downtime cost them up to $50k, 28% say each hour cost between $51K and $250K, 18% say each hour would cost between $251K and $1 million, 8% indicate the cost to their company is more than $1million per hour.

* The average company spends between $100,000 and $1,000,000 per year for data disasters.

* Computer viruses are happening more frequently, are more expensive, and are doing more damage overall than in the past.

Most people who are faced with a data emergency recovery loss situation feel the pressure. They understand that if they can't get the data back, they may be out of a job. This is when it gets to be an emotional situation. The internal drama of a data loss can affect everyone throughout the company. Employees may feel hostility towards their IT department and IT may put in place new rules and regulations that are hard to deal with.

Those that are relying in information from those departments that lost it can become frustrated. Overall morale can deteriorate. Access to credit or capital may be cut off by financial organizations because they may feel that the business is failing to protect its data.

Hard Drive Recovery | Is Your Computer Data Safe?

All companies of today make great use of the technology available to them and rely on their data. Most businesses however, don't have the budget to invest in network storage or large servers, which is what the bigger companies use to transfer information and create a backup of the information they rely on to carry out their operations.

Smaller businesses have a limited budget. When most encounter a disaster they never seem to recover, normally going out of business. Past disasters such as 9/11 or the dreaded hurricane have showed the importance of backups and disaster planning. Companies that thought things out and protected their data survived these disasters, while those that didn't went out of business.

There are several ways that you can protect your data and keep it safe. One of the most popular and easiest ways to protect your data is with a server. Servers are great for both large and small businesses, and protection the data for your business. They can tend to get expensive though, with the most popular server, Microsoft, starting out around $3,000.

Unlike other options, servers provide you with a safe and secure system to store all of your corporate data. You can set the permission of your files to prevent any unauthorized access, to keep your files safe. When using servers, most of the loss comes from either accidental deletion or employees that are upset with corporate management and decide to get into the server and erase files.

When using a server, your data will be stored in one central location, and not spread around over different computers in your network. Servers are very user friendly, and keep your files neat and tidy - in one location. This way you don't have to go looking all over the place for your data, you can look in the server and find everything you need.

Another way to keep your data safe is with CDs, DVDs, and even external hard drives. If you are using any of these methods, you should always do a backup of your information at the end of every day. With disasters being completely unpredictable, backing things up every day will ensure that you are protected if something should occur.

If you are backing things up to CD or DVD media, you should always put the discs in a safe and secure location, preferably a fireproof safe. This way, if the office should catch on fire, you'll have your backup discs protected. You should always add your new backups to the safe at the end of every working day, so you'll have them tomorrow if you need them.

You can also store your data and information offsite as well. This is a highly recommended option, as you pay a flat monthly fee and a company stores your information. Most have secure vaults and servers for your data, which ensures protection from unauthorized accidents or hazards. You don't need to worry about your data when using these services, as they will do the protection for you.

No matter which method you use for protecting your information, you should always make sure that you have a plan. Corporate data is very important and essential to success, which is why you should look into immediately if you don't have a plan already. If you know your data is safe and protected from hazards and unauthorized access - you'll have the peace of mind in knowing that your data will be there each and every time you need it.

DATA RECOVERY | Counteracting Data Loss

With several companies and businesses relying on computers for storing their reports, files, and information sheets, protecting systems is no longer enough to emerge at the top of the industry. Data recovery is the latest in counteracting loss of data whether its due to bad weather, hardware failure, malicious intent, or human failure.

Before, much confusion and inconsistencies in information about data loss made data loss and data recovery the most misunderstood concept in the computer industry. Because of this, many users and experts often consider lost data as permanently damaged with no way of retrieving it. But now, with the advent of new facts on data recovery and loss, computer whiz and experts are now focusing more on restoring data into the systems as a new way of overcoming data loss or corruption.

The discovery of the concept of file retrieval led to several data recovery experts offering their online services. The services offered by these experts range from hard drive recovery, software or program retrieval, mailbox file retrieval, and more. Data recovery services are practically endless with numerous experts coming up with more and more ways of recovering important files and programs that are lost.

So what exactly is data recovery?

Data recovery, according to the word sleuths and recovery experts, is the process of salvaging of deleted or inaccessible data stored on damaged media like magnetic disks and computer hard drives, optical devices, and tape cartridges. A large number of file retrieval software and data recovery service is designed to help users retrieve their files at the event of a computer crash or viral infection.

How does data recovery work?

The first step of the process of data recovery service usually involves evaluation where the initial analysis of the extent of the data lost is determined. After the prognosis, the data recovery experts and technicians would then proceed in cloning or copying the media and queuing it into their systems. The actual file retrieval process occurs when the technicians secure and extract the data from the copy of the damaged media.

Hardware and Software Teams

A damaged media has the data locked within it and it is the job of highly experienced hardware and software engineers to unlock it. These two teams of experts work very closely together throughout the project, combining all their experiences in their respective fields to solve the problem quickly and surely.

For safety measures, hardware engineers access as much of the disk as they can to produce the copy which they then share with the software specialists. The bulk of the file retrieval process lies on the software team as they are the ones who do the actual extraction using complicated software programs designed especially for recovery work. The ensuing data are then filed and written onto a new, undamaged media.

Data recovery has become an essential part of the computer industry. Many companies offering data recovery service invest heavily on research and development to ensure efficiency in the whole spectrum of data recovery.