Data disasters will happen. Accepting that reality is the first step in preparing a comprehensive disaster plan. Time is always against an IT team when a disaster strikes, therefore the details of a disaster plan are critical for success.
Here are some suggestions from Ontrack Data Recovery engineers of what not to do when data disasters occur:
- In a disaster recovery, never restore data to the server that has lost the data – always restore to a separate server or location.
- In Microsoft Exchange or SQL failures, never try to repair the original Information Store or database files – work on a copy.
- In a deleted data situation, turn off the machine immediately. Do not shut down Windows – this will prevent the risk of overwritten data.
- Use a volume defragmenter regularly.
- If a drive fails on RAID systems, never replace the failed drive with a drive that was part of a previous RAID system – always zero out the replacement drive before using.
- If a drive is making unusual mechanical noises, turn it off immediately and get assistance.
- Have a valid backup before making hardware or software changes.
- Label the drives with their position in a RAID array.
- Do not run volume repair utilities on suspected bad drives.
- Do not run defragmenter utilities on suspected bad drives.
- In a power loss situation with a RAID array, if the file system looks suspicious, or is unmountable, or the data is inaccessible after power is restored, do not run volume repair utilities.
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