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NASA chooses 3U servers and RAID data storage for SOFIA project

8 Jan. 2012. High-altitude atmospheric researchers at the NASA(National Aeronautics and Space Administration ) Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., needed data recorders and embedded computing servers for the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) project. They found their solution from One Stop Systems Inc. in Escondido, Calif.

One Stop Systems has delivered several of its MDA-T5 data recorders and 3U servers to NASA Dryden for the SOFIA astronomy project. The rugged MIL-STD disk array is a RAID storage system with dual removable drive packs and dual SBB 2.0-compliant high-speed controllers, each with two Fibre Channel 8-gigabit-per-second inputs.

The MDA-T5 moves data over the Fibre Channel connection to the 3U server at transfers speeds faster than 700 megabytes per second, company officials say. The dual six-disk removable drive packs in the MDA-T5 help users remove the data quickly from the aircraft and transfer it to ground systems while maintaining the RAID configuration for each drive pack.
SOFIA is a joint program by NASA and the German Aerospace Center to complement the Hubble, Spitzer, Herschel, and James Webb space telescopes and major Earth-based telescopes. SOFIA has a German-built 100-inch far-infrared telescope weighing 20 tons mounted in the rear fuselage of a modified Boeing 747SP jumbo jet.

For more information contact One Stop Systems online at www.onestopsystems.com, or NASA Dryden Flight Research Center at www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/home.

2012-01-092026-05-16

Articles

Rise in Global Disasters Means Rise in Data Backup Solutions

On November 18, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report, Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters, claiming that scientists are “virtually certain” the world will have more extreme heat spells. By 2050, heat waves could be in the range of 5 degrees hotter, and 9 degrees by 2100. This increase in global temperatures means that heavy rainfall will occur more often, and tropical cyclones will become more severe.

“By the end of this century, intense, heavy rainstorms that now typically happen only once every 20 years are likely to occur about twice a decade”, the report stated.

So far, the predictions made in the report seem to be accurate: The last few years have seen a heightened level of natural disasters, prompting thousands of businesses around the world to reassess their continuity and disaster recovery plans. With more and more sensitive data being stored electronically, these companies have begun to take online data backup services seriously in a bid to reduce downtime and avoid extensive loss in revenue.

Last month, Thailand experienced its worst flooding in seven years. Bangkok – the center of commerce and trade in the country – was completely inundated, and hundreds of businesses lost a considerable amount of revenue as a result. Most businesses in Thailand had been slow to adopt cloud computing and backup data centers as part of a contingency plan, but in the wake of these historic floods, companies are taking their data backup seriously.

Monsinee Keeratikrainon, manager of global research firm Frost & Sullivan, said demand in cloud computing services was set to expand more quickly because of natural disasters like the flooding in Thailand.

“The cloud will likely get more attention from companies as they prepare business continuity plans for any future crisis,” she said.

So far, backup centers in Thailand have received a lot of attention: Demand for offsite data storage centers in Thailand rose by nearly 300% during the floods, mainly from manufacturers who needed to transfer their data to a safe location.

“The cloud market in Thailand is expected to grow by 50% to 1.5 billion baht (USD $47,800,000) next year,” Keeratikrainon said. This growth has the potential to prompt an investment of at least 500 million baht (USD $15,000,000) in expanding online data centers to accommodate demand.

But the growth of the cloud market isn’t confined to Thailand. As natural disasters increase worldwide, the demand for backup data centers is increasing with it. The United States has recently experienced one of its worst years in natural disasters. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the US experienced over $55 billion in damages from natural disasters in 2011, the worst in US history. This has prompted US businesses to embrace data backup and disaster recovery systems. IT companies that provide support and strategy services for small and medium-sized businesses have experienced significant growth, citing the rise in natural disasters as one cause. ProviDyn, one such company, has increased revenue by 75% in the past year, and recently expanded their staff by 25 percent.

“At its basic level, controlling data is about controlling risk, which means being prepared in the event of disaster so that you can restore your business without losing its most important asset – information,” said Blaine Rigler, general manager of US-based Iron Mountain Data Backup and Recovery. “The amount of information that needs to be protected is growing at an incredible pace, creating new data challenges every day.”

And no other industry feels these challenges more than the healthcare industry. Natural disasters can cause a healthcare facility more than financial loss; it can potentially affect the lives of its patients if their personal charts or prescriptions are lost. Having their data stored remotely is crucial to restoring the facility’s operating conditions. Last May, a tornado leveled St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Joplin, Mo., completely wiping out their Electronic Health Records (EHR). But, because their medical records were all stored in a remote data center, they were able to reduce the devastation of the tornado and quickly return to providing for their patients.

“Within seven days, we had the EHR system up and running again, having retrieved the data from a mobile medical unit,” said Michael McCreary, chief of technology services for Sisters of Mercy Health Systems, the organization in charge of St. John’s rebuilding efforts.

“We were lucky to have a paperless system that could be restored fairly quickly,” McCreary continued. “Some of the hospital’s old paper records got blown 70 miles away.”

2012-01-062026-05-16

Articles

Data Storage Corporation Partners With inFORM Decisions

Cloud storage firm Data Storage Corporation announced on Thursday that it has formed a partnership with document automation solutions provider inFORM Decisions to offer a one-stop-shop for automating document processes and protecting the data, applications and systems to ensure business continuity.

This partnership comes a month after Data Storage Corp signed a $20 million equity line agreement with investment firm Southridge Partners.

According to the press release, inFORM Decisions provides solutions specifically for IBM i Power System/iSeries environments.

“With document automation solutions specifically designed for the IBM i environments, inFORM is a logical partner for Data Storage Corp., As inFORM focuses on helping organizations more efficiently manage their electronic documents, we can help protect the IBM infrastructure to ensure that data is protected, recoverable and available during any potential system downtime – planned or unplanned.” Peter Briggs, executive VP at DSC said in a statement.

inFORM Decisions specializes in electronic document automation and management, and accounts payable solutions for IBM System i, AS/400, iSeries and IBM Power Systems, according to the press release.

“Our solutions enable organizations to reduce costs, increase productivity and save trees by automating document processes and eliminating dependency on printing paper, Partnering with Data Storage Corp. makes sense, as we can now mutually offer our clients not only state-of-the-art document management solutions, but also provide Data Storage solutions to safeguard their document and report data on the IBM i system.” Alex Rodriguez, business development manager at inFORM Decisions said in a statement.

About inFORM Decisions inFORM Decisions specializes in electronic Document Automation and Management, and Accounts Payable solutions for IBM System i, AS/400, iSeries and IBM Power Systems. inFORM’s acclaimed iDocs Suite make it easy to design, distribute and print laser forms and MICR checks directly from IBM i output; intelligently burst, sort, format and distribute reports; and provide easy, 24-7 Web access to all electronic documents, saving thousands of dollars plus obsolete paper document management, inventory and mailing costs. iDocs works with any IBM i-based ERP/accounting solution with no additional coding. IFD was one of the first IBM Business Partners to implement a comprehensive e-document distribution system powered by intelligent routing capabilities for fax, email, archive-retrieval and laser forms. The company’s products are organized into two product families, compatible with more than 30 popular brands of application software. An IBM Business Partner since 1998, inFORM’s worldwide headquarters are located in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. To learn more, visit www.informdecisions.com or call 949.709.5838.

About Data Storage Corp. Data Storage Corporation was incorporated in the state of Delaware on August 21, 2001. DSC is the resulting company of a merger between Emergent LLC , a broadband service company and Data Storage Corporation. Following the merger, DSC quickly became a leading edge service bureau of offsite backup, offering and providing disaster recovery solutions. Over the years DSC has emerged into a one-stop shop for all your disaster recovery, business continuity and information technology integration needs. Working with Strategic partners such as Microsoft, Cisco, Dell and many others, DSC can provide the solutions your business requires.

2012-01-062026-05-16

Articles

Data Loss Risk Will Grow in 2012

“70% of businesses that suffer a major data loss are out of business within 18 months” – DTI

Data recovery and security need to become priorities but there are still significant risks that are largely being ignored.

Writing for Forbes, Kevin West, chief executive officer of Klogix, suggested that data loss is reaching levels so high and costing companies so much that it could start to impact the economy.

While he cites the US as an example, the importance of intellectual property protection and adequate security training are the same for businesses around the world.

Untrustworthy offshore outsourcers, malicious cyber attacks from organisations and governments, a lack of training and the rise of Bring Your Own Policies at work will all make the risk of data loss grow in 2012.

Causes of Data Loss: Hardware Failure,Human Errors,Virus Attack,Software Malfunction, Natural Disaster and Power Crisis…

“There is little formal training offered in the subject of cyber security. As a result we rely on self-taught hackers to fill these jobs, people who choose to use their talents to do good work with corporations, but could just as easily turn to cyber crime,” Mr West added, warning that without investment in training, the issue could get worse.

This view was echoed by Mark Dampster Centre for Cyber Security who warned that the cost of data loss is “vast”.

Is your data asset getting out of sight? Kroll Ontrack has a complete data management solution to ensure your data availability from production to archiving.

Posted by Edward Clark on ontrackdatarecovery.co.uk

2012-01-052026-05-16

Articles

Hitachi Looks to Deliver Big Storage in a Small Package

The new G-Drive and G-Raid storage products from Hitachi bring data center-scale storage to mobile and small-business users.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies announced that it has added two new hard drives to its G-Technology series of storage devices. The new drives come in 1TB and 4TB sizes and are incorporated into the G-Technology G-Drive and G-Raid solutions.

The new drives bring impressive amounts of storage space to what are considered mobile or small-business storage devices. The 1TB Travelstar 5K1000 (for G-DRIVE Mobile) and the 4TB Deskstar 7K4000 (for G-DRIVE and G-RAID) have been both designed primarily for Apple Macintosh environments and should prove ideal for those working with large video or image files, as well as supporting backup and archival functions. The G-RAID and G-DRIVE solutions are formatted for Mac OS X systems right out of the box and are Time Machine-ready.

“Whether you’re looking for a RAID solution, desktop solution or portable hard drive, G-Technology continues to deliver the most trusted external storage solutions available,” Mike Williams, vice president and general manager of Hitachi GST Branded Business, said in a statement.

“Our G-RAID and G-DRIVE solutions have been the cornerstone in many gear bags and post-production houses as content creators need big, fast and reliable storage,” Williams said. “Our new solutions with Hitachi Travelstar and Deskstar hard drives are a welcome addition to our family as they give our customers more tools with higher capacities to use in their digital environments.”

Although Fujitsu positions the drives for Apple Macintosh systems, the units also support Microsoft Windows environments. A simple initialization is all that is required to prepare the drives for use with Windows devices. The drives are 7,200-rpm units and are housed in an all-aluminum enclosure for cool operation.

Hitachi GST will ship its Travelstar 5K1000 and Deskstar 7K4000 drives to OEMs, distributors and channel partners in Q1 2012.

The G-RAID is available with 8TB capacity (4TB RAID 1) for $900, while the G-Drive comes in four capacities, ranging from 1TB to 4TB, with prices ranging from $200 to $450. Meanwhile, the G-Drive mobile USB, which Hitachi ships configured for use with a USB port, comes in 750GB and 1TB capacities and is priced at $150 and $200, respectively.

2012-01-052026-05-16

Articles

EaseUS releases new Todo Backup 4.0 for exchange 2010

Todo Backup 4.0 can backup GPT disk, exchange 2010 with a brand-new interface.

Data recovery, partition manager and backup utilities provider EaseUS Software has released EaseUS Todo Backup 4.0. Exchange 2010 backup is available in this version.

The new release of EaseUS Todo Backup Central Management Console enables user to deploy backup plans to multiple clients.

EaseUS Todo Backup 4.0 is built upon EaseUS data protection technology and it can backup GPT disk and exchange 2010 with a brand-new interface.

With previous functions like one-click system backup, differential backup and backup to tape, EaseUS Todo Backup aims to achieve a comprehensive backup and recovery process, and assure that all critical information is well protected.

In addition, EaseUS Todo Backup Central Management Console helps IT administrators remotely deploy backup plans for multiple installations of widely distributed EaseUS Todo Backup clients in a LAN, saving time and cost.

EaseUS CEO Liu said EaseUS began to research central management in 2011 and it will perfect it in 2012.

“EaseUS will make your life easier in the coming year 2012. Happy New Year!” said Liu.

2012-01-032026-05-16

Articles

EnCase Computer Forensics Training for Beginners

Guidance Software is recognized globally as a world leader in Digital Forensics, Cyber Security, and E-Discovery solutions. Their services include incident response, computer forensics, litigation support, and experts with hands-on experience in digital investigation. Each year they train over 6,000 corporate, law enforcement, and government professionals in digital forensics, e-discovery, security, and incident response.

This hands-on forensics training course involves practical exercises and real-life simulations in the use of EnCase® Forensic version 7 (EnCase v7). The class provides participants with an understanding of the proper handling of digital evidence from the initial seizure of the computer/media to acquisition, including the use of FastBloc® SE and LinEn. Instruction then progresses to the analysis of the data. It concludes with archiving and validating the data. Delivery method: Group-Live. NASBA defined level: basic.

Students attending this forensics training course will learn:

The EnCase v7 computer forensic methodology
What constitutes digital evidence and how computers work
Basic structures of the FAT and NT file systems
How to create a case and how to preview and acquire media
How to conduct raw and index searches
How to analyze file signatures and view files
How to conduct hash analysis and import hash sets
How to prepare reports, using templates provided with EnCase v7
How to restore evidence
How to archive files and data created through the analysis process
The proper techniques for handling and preserving evidence

Level: Introductory
Prerequlslte: Basic computer skills. Advance preparation for this course is not required.
Tuition: $2,495.00 USD per student.

Note: This training course is intended for IT security professionals, litigation support and forensic investigators Participants may have minimal computer skills and may be new to the field of computer forensics.

Details: http://www.guidancesoftware.com/computer-forensics-training-encase1.htm

2011-12-282026-05-16

Articles

Computer Forensics Needed to Pin Down GMA

The Aquino administration’s drive against corruption may need computer forensics to support the allegations against the Arroyo administration, a multinational risk consultancy said.

In a report dated Dec. 22, the Pacific Strategies and Assessments (PSA) said those involved in crimes like poll sabotage and plunder are secretive and are careful about avoiding a paper trail.

“Computer forensics might hold the key to finding the needed evidence,” said PSA managing director Scott Harrison.

“With the expanding use of computers and digital media in everyday transactions, evidence of criminal activities left in computers and other digital equipment clearly enhances court evidentiary procedures,” he added.

PSA though disclosed in the report that it is one of the companies practicing information technology (IT) forensics in the country. The company also has offices in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok, Sydney and Milwaukee.

PSA said money laundering and convoluted business structures created to hide wrongdoing “increasingly require digital investigative techniques to prove a criminal case.”

“The majority of corruption cases in the Philippines are often hampered because much of the presented evidence is hearsay accusations of one or more people against others. Consequently languishing corruption cases are often dismissed or shelved due to a lack of concrete evidence,” Harrison said.

PSA said not one member of the Arroyos or their alleged co-conspirators in poll cheating and corruption have been convicted by the courts since President Aquino assumed office in 2010.

“The lack of investigative resources in the Philippines judicial system may prove to be a bigger impediment to President Aquino’s efforts to weed out corruption than the administration’s frustration with the Supreme Court,” the report read.

PSA said IT forensic specialists can create a mirror image of data inside a computer system and recover deleted, encrypted, or damaged files.

PSA claimed the recovery and analysis of hard disk drives, mobile phones and portable digital storage devices believed to be involved in crime are “critical digital evidence” that can boost one’s legal position in court.

2011-12-262026-05-16

Articles

10 Trends in Cloud Data for 2012

When 2010 came to a close, the introduction of new private and hybrid cloud systems was on everybody’s trending-up list. Now, as 2011 plays out, we are able to observe that individuals forecasts were generally correct it had been indeed annually of cloud adoption. 1000’s of recent clouds were architected, built and used throughout the final 12 several weeks, plus they came online in most size marketplaces. Where is trending headed for the following 12 several weeks? The majority of the IT business prognosticators have been in agreement on a minumum of one factor: The bend for cloud-based IT buying will continue “up and right.Inch You will find a lot of cost, deployment and monitoring benefits involved for companies to disregard this. With this particular like a backdrop, eWEEK presents here a couple of forecasts for 2012 within the cloud infrastructure space. Our resource is TwinStrata Boss and co-founder Nicos Vekiarides. TwinStrata offers the CloudArray storage-area network (SAN) which comes either like a cloud service or on the commodity server and may be blocked in to a data center. CloudArray finds data stores wherever they’re and combines them.

Existing Storage Remains Used
For many companies, the idea of moving almost all their data towards the cloud isn’t achievable. However, continuously growing data storage is fueling an excuse for more capacity. Believe to deal with this need compared to cloud storage? The advantages are use of a safe and secure, unlimited pool of storage capacity that never requires upgrade/alternative and reduces capital expense.

Private Clouds Growing in Large Businesses
Businesses searching to leverage the financial systems, efficiencies and scale that cloud companies have accomplished are implementing cloud models in-house for example OpenStack for compute and storage conditions. These private clouds offer scale, agility and cost/performance typically unmatched by traditional infrastructure solutions and, simultaneously, can reside in the company’s firewall.

Disaster Recovery to Cloud Becomes a possible option
Typically, firms that need disaster recovery and business continuity have always needed to depend on devoted duplicated infrastructure in an off-site place to have the ability to get over physical disaster. What this means is having to pay capital expenses for frequently-idle hardware, before the disaster strikes. A DR cloud service means not needing to purchase this infrastructure, except when it’s needed. Trade-off? While zero-down time disaster recovery is going to be unlikely, search for service-level contracts (SLAs) that provide recovery-time objectives (RTOs) within hrs.

DR In the Cloud Can Become essential
What goes on to any or all your computer data that resides within the cloud trapped with a software like a service (SaaS) application within the situation of the disaster? The fact is, most companies will have a tragedy recovery strategy, but how will you create an additional degree of protection that’s beneath your control? Search for a brand new variety of solutions that backup SaaS data either in your area in order to another provider.

Simpler On-Boarding of Programs towards the Cloud
Certain business application could be moved entirely towards the cloud, saving the administration and upkeep of their hardware/software platforms on-site. Companies are searching for tools to create this migration viable, specially the IT-strapped organizations that may help the most. Search for new robust toolsets that may migrate programs to a range of cloud companies.

Nonrelational Databases for Large Data Workloads
NoSQL databases, for example Apache CouchDB, enable great scalability to meet the requirements of terabytes and petabytes of information for countless customers. Large data workloads will pressure a lot of companies to think about these options to traditional databases, and cloud deployment models will simplify the rollout. Search for suppliers supplying supported NoSQL solutions.

Solid-Condition Disk Storage Tiers within the Cloud
Moving greater-performance programs within the cloud does not always guarantee that they’ll get the amount of performance they require using their data storage. By providing high-performance tiers of storage which are SSD-based (mainly NAND expensive), cloud companies will have the ability to address the requirements for foreseeable and faster application response occasions.

Data Reduction Will get Better
With data storage still commanding a per-GB operating expense within the cloud, deduplication and compression technologies have grown to be rather ubiqitous in assisting minimize costs. Although some may argue the capability optimisation game has performed out, there’s still the task of capacity optimisation on the more global scale to lessen aggregate capacity usage across multiple tenants. Furthermore, there remains challenging for wealthy media content, which doesn’t fare particularly well with present day technologies. Search for the development of new data reduction IT that addresses both needs.

More Utilisation of the Cloud for Statistics
Statistics need a scalable compute and storage atmosphere that may be very costly to construct from devoted hardware (i.e., Oracle’s $a million Exalogic database machine). Statistics software may also be an extremely costly area of the proposition. Much like hardware remaining idle for disaster recovery reasons, statistics for a lot of companies might be a periodic exercise that only runs in a nutshell bursts and might not be suited or viable for devoted conditions. Statistics conditions within the cloud turn the periodic expense right into a “pay-per-use” bill, meeting business goals in a cheaper cost point.

‘Cloud-Envy’ Gets To Be More Commonplace
Although companies will adopt clouds in 2012, others can always wait and ponder well past 2012. In most cases, the realization from the financial aspects and efficiencies from the cloud is apparent, although the strategy might be different. In reaction, a few of the laggards could find ideas and applications proven cloud methods that improve IT efficiency on-premise or, regrettably, some may be taken in by cloud-washing by buying traditional IT infrastructure having a cloud title inside a feeble make an effort to satisfy their “cloud-envy.”

2011-12-242026-05-16

Articles

Format a FAT32 Partition Larger Than 32GB on a Samsung External Drive

How to format a Samsung external drive with a FAT32 partition larger than 32 GB using Samsung Format Utility?

The Samsung Format Utility is a program specifically designed for Samsung external drives.
It can format the drive using either the NTFS or FAT32 file system.

Download: Samsung Format Utility

Step 1: Download and launch the Samsung Format Utility;
Step 2: Select Samsung External Hard Drive for Device and the desired drive for Drive To format and FAT 32 for the File System;
Step 3: Input a Volume Label and click the Start button;

Note: Using the Samsung Format Utility will erase all data on the external drive. Ensure you have backed up all data from the external drive before running this utility.

2011-12-232026-05-16