Repair the hard disk drive, Image the drive to a new drive or a disk image file, Logical recovery of files, partition, MBR and filesystem structures, Repair damaged files that were retrieved, usually, there are four phases when it comes to successful data recovery, though that can vary depending on the type of data corruption…
DataRecovery.net, a subdivision of the ACE Data Group, LLC announced that they have entered into a partnership with Acer America. The partnership allows all Acer support agents to recommend Data Recovery Services for any media recovery needs their customers may have. This includes drives that are under warranty or out of warranty. It adds a…
The cost of a data loss event is directly related to the value of the data and the length of time that it is needed, but unavailable. Consider:
Software and Hardware
Environment
The following sections describe types of data recovery and supported formats and manufacturers. RAID data recovery, digital photo recovery, and VMWare workstation data loss are covered in separate articles under “Related Links.”
Laptop Data Recovery
As they are often carried about and exposed to different environmental factors such as heat, water and dust, laptop and notebook computers are far more likely to experience data loss than their office desktop counterparts. Their portability makes these sophisticated and essential in-the-field devices prime candidates for data loss.
Mechanical and electrical failure, software corruption and human error all play a role in data loss. Here are some of the most often noted data loss symptoms and data accessibility problems:
Laptop Disk Drives Supported
You may not know this, but the hard disk drive embedded in your laptop is not necessarily by the same manufacturer as the laptop. Seagate Recovery Services recovers data from all notebook and laptop brands, models and interfaces – that is, from all types of hard disk drives from all manufacturers including Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba, Fujitsu, Hitachi and Samsung.
Database Recovery
Mission-critical data is often stored in SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, Exchange Server, Access and other databases that are maintained on networked fileservers. Relational and object-oriented database management technologies are fundamental to modern IT systems, often underpinning the lifeblood applications run by the entire corporation.
Individual media in database servers suffer from the same failure points as disk drives in personal computers and workstations. Experienced system administrators and database administrators know that a relational or object-oriented database environment is fragile unless supported by a comprehensive and well-tested backup plan.
Unfortunately, it is all too common for devices to become corrupt beyond the scope of routine recovery methods:
Seagate Recovery Services specializes in making inaccessible data accessible again, recovering data from the most complex database configurations.
Database Types Supported
SRS can also make inaccessible data accessible again for all xbase products such as dBase, FoxPro Productivity Applications Microsoft Office (including all versions of Word, Excel and Powerpoint Mail Server and Client Applications), Microsoft Exchange and Outlook Applications, and email systems conforming to the UNIX mbox format, such as Eudora and Netscape.
Server Data Recovery
Fileservers, application servers, mail servers, web servers, NAS devices and custom-built servers form the backbone of corporations’ business records storage systems. Windows servers–the most popular operating systems for servers today–along with Apple OSX, Solaris, HPUX, IAX, and Linux servers, form a significant portion of servers in businesses.
Naturally, the individual media in servers suffer from the same failure points as do drives in personal computers and workstations. However, the increased complexity of many server operating systems results in additional data loss situations:
Because servers are often utilized for mission-critical operations, customers need to get their data back quickly and securely. SRS services includes options for on-site data recovery, critical 24/7 options, as well as remote data recovery and special options.
Operating Systems and Platforms Supported
SRS technicians are trained on platform-specific configurations, enabling us to recover data from server hardware spanning the most popular brands, such as IBM, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Sun and others, including:
Tape Data Recovery
Server and personal-computer tape backup systems utilizing mm DAT, Travan, Exabyte 8mm, LTO and the various QIC formats are popular and necessary to safeguard your data. However, when these tapes fail, the situation is normally catastrophic, as these tapes were often the only remaining repository of the data. Quite often customers may no longer posses original tape hardware or software to restore from legacy environments.
Fire, smoke, water and even dropping the tape cartridge may damage the media, resulting in data loss. Internal mechanism failure and exposure to extreme temperatures, as well as logical read/write errors on a tape’s file may also result in data loss. Due to the nature of the tape solution, they are designed to withstand time to store archives. Some media if stored incorrectly or stored longer than the life span of the media may degrade causing data loss.
Here are some typical causes of tape failure:
Formats and Manufacturers Supported
Popular backup software–such as EMC, Networker, CA BrightStore (ArcServe) plus the UNIX tar and cpio utilities (and many more)–all use different internal formats. SRS programmers are expertly trained to understand and extract data any type of tape media, regardless of format. SRS recovers data from these tape media formats and manufacturers, among others:
Tape Backup and File Formats
For more information, please go to Seagate Recovery Services
“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
Dark archive
A data archive that cannot be accessed by any user. Access to the data is either limited to a set of few individuals or completely restricted to all. The purpose of a dark archive is to function as a repository for information that can be used as a failsafe during disaster recovery.
Data at rest
All data in storage excluding any data that frequently traverses the network or that resides in temporary memory. Data at rest includes, but is not limited to, archived data; data which is not accessed or changed frequently; files stored on hard drives; USB thumb drives; files stored on backup tape and disks; and files stored offsite or on a storage area network (SAN).
Data at rest protection
Security protection measures such as password protection, data encryption, or a combination of both that protect data at rest from hackers and other malicious threats. The measures prevent this data from being accessed, modified, or stolen.
Database
A system intended to organize, store, and retrieve large amounts of data easily. It consists of an organized collection of data for one or more uses, typically in digital form.
Data center
A facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. It generally includes redundant or backup power supplies, redundant data communications connections, environmental controls (for example, air conditioning or fire suppression), and security devices.
Data center tiers
A four-tier system that provides a simple and effective means for identifying different data center site infrastructure design topologies. The Uptime Institute’s tiered classification system is an industry standard approach to site infrastructure functionality that addresses common benchmarking standard needs. The four tiers, as classified by The Uptime Institute, include the following:
Data cleansing
Also referred to as data scrubbing, the act of detecting and removing and/or correcting a database’s dirty data (data that is incorrect, out-of-date, redundant, incomplete, or formatted incorrectly). The goal of data cleansing is not just to clean up the data in a database, but also to bring consistency to different sets of data that have been merged from separate databases. Sophisticated software applications are available to clean a database’s data using algorithms, rules, and look-up tables. This task was once done manually and was therefore still subject to human error.
Data deduplication
The elimination of redundant data. In the deduplication process, duplicate data is deleted, leaving only one copy of the data to be stored. However, indexing of all data is still retained should that data ever be required. Deduplication reduces the required storage capacity since only the unique data is stored.
Data dictionary
In database management systems, a file that defines the basic organization of a database. A data dictionary contains a list of all files in the database, the number of records in each file, and the names and types of each field. Most database management systems keep the data dictionary hidden from users to prevent them from accidentally destroying its contents. Data dictionaries do not contain any actual data from the database, only book keeping information for managing it. Without a data dictionary, however, a database management system cannot access data from the database.
Data infrastructure hygiene
Practices that promote or preserve the shape of an entire data infrastructure (for example, network, servers, databases, storage, and software). These practices include any activity that reduces the stress of information growth on the data infrastructure and enables the efficient access, movement, and protection of data while reducing overall infrastructure and maintenance costs. Such practices include active archiving of relational databases, e-mail archiving, and document archiving.
Data mirroring
The act of copying data from one location to a storage device in real time. Because the data is copied in real time, the information stored from the original location is always an exact copy of the data from the production device. Data mirroring is useful in the speedy recovery of critical data after a disaster. Data mirroring can be implemented locally or offsite at a completely different location.
Data protection
Assurance that data is not corrupted, is accessible for authorized purposes only, and is in compliance with applicable requirements.
Data recovery
The salvaging of data stored on damaged media, such as magnetic disks and tapes. Many software products help recover data damaged by a disk crash or virus. In addition, many companies specialize in data recovery. Although not all data is recoverable, data recovery specialists can often restore a surprisingly high percentage of the data on damaged media.
Data retention policy
The policy of persistent data and records management for meeting legal and business data archival requirements. A data retention policy weighs legal and privacy concerns against economics and need to know concerns to determine retention time, archival rules, data formats, and the permissible means of storage, access, and encryption.
Data space transfer protocol
Data space transfer protocol (DSTP) is a protocol used to index and categorize data using an XML -based catalogue. Data, no matter how it is stored, has corresponding XML files which contain UCK (universal correlation key) tags that act as identification keys. Data is retrieved when a user connects to DSTP servers with a DSTP client and asks for specific information. Data is found and retrieved based on the labels contained in the UCK tags.
Data vaulting
The process of sending data from its primary source, where it can be protected from hardware failures, theft, and other threats. Several companies now provide web backup services that compress, encrypt, and periodically transmit a customer’s data to a remote vault. In most cases the vaults will feature auxiliary power supplies, powerful computers, and manned security.
DDP
Delta Backup
The backup of all data files that have been modified since the last incremental backup or archival backup. Also known as differential incremental backup.
DeltaPro
Patented EVault technology that performs delta backup and compresses the data before sending it over the wire.
Digital asset management
Digital asset management (DAM) is a system that creates a centralized repository for digital files that allows the content to be archived, searched, and retrieved. The digital content is stored in databases called asset repositories. Metadata—such as photo captions, article key words, advertiser names, contact names, file names, or low-resolution thumbnail images—is stored in separate databases called media catalogs and points to the original items. Digital asset management also is known as enterprise digital asset management, media asset management, or digital asset warehousing.
Digital footprint
The trail, traces, or "footprints" that people leave online. A digital footprint includes information transmitted online, such as forum registration, e-mails and attachments, uploaded videos or digital images, and any other form of transmission of information. All of this activity leaves traces of personal information about yourself that is available to others online.
Direct access file system
Direct access file system (DAFS) is a file-access sharing protocol that uses memory-to-memory interconnect architectures, such as VI and InfiniBand. DAFS is designed for storage area networks (SANs) to provide bulk data transfer directly between the application buffers of two machines without having to packetize the data. With DAFS, an application can transfer data to and from application buffers without using the operating system, which frees up the processor and operating system for other processes and allows files to be accessed by servers using several different operating systems.
Direct-attached storage
Direct-attached storage (DAS) is non-networked storage in which the hardware is connected to an individual server. Although more than one server can be present, storage for each server is managed separately and cannot be shared.
Disaster recovery
The process, policies, and procedures related to preparing for the recovery or continuation of a business-critical technology infrastructure after a natural or human-induced disaster. Disaster recovery is a subset of business continuity. While business continuity involves planning for keeping all aspects of a business functioning in the midst of disruptive events, disaster recovery focuses on the IT or technology systems that support business functions.
Disaster recovery plan
A plan for business continuity in the event of a disaster that destroys part or all of a business’s resources, including IT equipment, data records, and the physical space of an organization. The goal of a disaster recovery plan is to resume normal computing capabilities in as little time as possible. A typical disaster recovery plan has several stages:
Disk array
A linked group of one or more physical independent hard disk drives generally used to replace larger, single disk drive systems. The most common disk arrays are in daisy chain configuration or implement RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) technology. A disk array may contain several disk drive trays and is structured to improve speed and increase protection against loss of data. Disk arrays organize their data storage into Logical Units (LUs), which appear as linear block paces to their clients. Disk arrays are an integral part of high-performance storage systems.
Disk-to-disk
Disk-to-disk (D2D) is a type of data storage backup in which the data is copied from one disk (typically a hard disk) to another disk (such as another hard disk or other disk storage medium). In a D2D system, the disk that the data is being copied from typically is referred to as the primary disk and the disk that the data is copied to typically is called the secondary or backup disk.
Disk-to-disk-to-tape
Disk-to-disk-to-tape (D2D2T) is a type of data storage backup in which data is first backed up on a disk system, but then is spooled to a tape or an optical storage system. A D2D2T backup system can help eliminate data loss issues due to tape drive or tape failure. In a D2D2T system, a copy of the data is kept onsite for faster retrieval and tape copies are kept offsite for disaster recovery purposes. D2D2T devices may be appliances, virtual tape, or disk libraries.
Disk-to-tape
Disk-to-tape (D2T) is a type of data storage backup in which the data is copied from a disk (typically a hard disk) to a magnetic tape. D2T systems are used widely in enterprises that require the safe storage of vital information in the case of disaster recovery.
If you’ve been reading HD Doctor for some time now you would have come across an article or two on how important backing up your data regularly is and how to do it. I have once played with backing up important data on my computer before and I had to pay dearly for it, I have now learned my lessons and I’ll be talking about that in this post.
It is also very important for you to realize that you shouldn’t just depend on backing up your files on a DVD or an external hard disk, because even though these are great options a place more secure for you to backup your files is the internet and this article will be talking about how to make use of the internet to backup your files.
The Importance of Online Backup
Before I go into how to back up your data online I’ll first be explaining some of the major reasons why you need to consider backing up your files online below.
It is Secure: The number one reason why I prefer to be backing up my files online compared to backing it up on external devices is because it is secure. You can easily worry about your CD being infected by a virus or about anything going wrong with your hard disk but with online backup you don’t have to worry about any external drive corrupting – it is the most secure form of backup system I have seen.
It is Free: The next great thing about online backup is that it is free. There are various online backup services and most of them give you gigabytes of disk space which is enough to store your basic and most important files. If you need more space you can easily go for a premium package. This isn’t the case with online backup also because you don’t have to buy anything. Just set up the right software on your computer and you’re ready to go.
It is Reliable: Online backup systems can be trusted and relied upon in hard times. You don’t have to worry about disks getting lost or files suddenly getting erased. The only thing you need is a strong password you can easily remember and you’re good to go.
It is Flexible: The major thing I love the most about online backup systems is the flexibility it has. There are thousands of backup service providers fighting for your attention and you can easily choose your favorite and the one you think is best for you.
Top Online Backup Services
Once you’ve made up your mind to start backing up your files online there are a few services that can help you get started. Two of my favorite and most used services are listed below:
1. Dropbox: I personally use dropbox and I trust and recommend it. All you need to do is create a free account and you will be allotted a 2.5GB disk space for you to store anything and you can easily earn more space by referring others. You only need to install the dropbox software that will create a folder on your computer. You can easily copy any file you want to backup to your dropbox online account to this folder and it will be transferred there instantly.
2. Mozy Backup: Mozy backup is also another great option and even though it isn’t as popular and sophisticated as dropbox it is also a great option. All you need to do is create an account and install the mozy client – with this you can easily backup your files anytime and also schedule it to backup anytime you want.
This guest post is written by Paul who helps you choose the best Comcast cable internet
Computers can, without a doubt, be complicated beasts; one minute they are doing exactly what you want them to do, and the next they are suddenly going off and doing their own thing. And before you know it, your computer crashes, leaving you with missing files, an increased heart rate and a bad temper. But before you’re ready to throw your computer out the window in anger, let’s take a few deep breathes and talk about what actually happens when a file accidentally deleted and explore possible ways of getting that information back again.
For starters, when you unintentionally delete a file and begin to have a panic attack once the file has disappeared, you can rest assured that your file is not lost forever (phew!). The file will not be immediately visible in the directory or folder that you (or the computer) thought you stored it in. Instead, the file gets re-named so that the path it was using can be overwritten and can then be found in a hidden index file. The good news is, it can be completely recovered from this file if needed. In fact, all data continues to be stored on your computer until it is completely overwritten. And just to clear something up, by overwritten, I do not mean different information. It takes a random mix of binary code (0 and 1) to completely obliterate a data or file’s information. This is why hard drives should be absolutely and completely destroyed to an unrecognizable pulp or at least be overwritten by using a program that exists to overwrite data. Do not just recycle your computer or sell it to someone else without getting rid of your data properly first, or you could come to regret it later. This is especially important if you have sensitive information or media on the computer!
So now that we have established that data recovery is possible, how is it done? Well, there are a number of cleverly devised free and paid versions of data recovery programs available, depending on what your data recovering needs are. For example, you may have just accidentally deleted a file. Recovering this is relatively simple when compared to trying to recover data from a damaged or corrupted file. Not only can you retrieve the data but you can also use the software to recover other types of deleted information such as emails or email attachments.
Some paid data recovery programs have a “no recovery – no fee” guarantee. This may seem like a pretty high guarantee to offer, but if self-recovery or the free programs aren’t giving you the results you need, the paid programs might be better route to take. Furthermore, the free programs may have a smaller range of capabilities; how/why your data was lost in to begin with will likely determine how it can be recovered. No matter how you lost your data and how hopeless you think the situation may be in returning that data to your computer, fear not. There are data recovery experts available to help you no matter how severe your data loss may (seem to) be!
Read the following tips on how to diagnose your hard drive crash and determine which recovery options are available to you. Differing causes of drive failure require differing solutions.
To find out if your drive is suffering from a physical crash or software problems, look at the lights on your hard drive. If there’s no light activity at all, or if you don’t hear or feel the disk spin inside or hear strange buzzing or different sounds than normal inside the casing, your disk crash is, in all probability, due to physical problems.
Option I: Hard Drive Boots
If you are still able to boot up your system, try booting from your recovery disk.
Many PC packages come with a disk recovery system. If you are able to boot from your recovery disk, click the START button on Windows and go on command line mode. Try running chkdisk or defrag to see if this fixes your hard drive. Oftentimes, formatting problems and disk fragmentation leads to drive crashes/corrupted disks.
After you have defragged your problematic drive, run your antivirus program and see if it cleans out any viruses. In many situations, viruses can corrupt your operating system or key drivers leading to system crashes. See if this takes care of the problem.
If your data is located in undamaged folders, copy them onto a CD or USB drive and make a list of all your applications. Make sure you know where to download your applications or where you stored the original copy.
If you cannot find your data, or it was stored in a corrupted location, don’t panic! To recover your data, try one of the many data recovery softwares available on the Internet today. These software packages help you restore your disk partitions, folder structure, or even recreate folders so you can find and recover your data.
If you cannot recover your data with data recovery software, skip to options III. Make sure to exhaust all your options before you go and seek professional help since professional data recovery assistance can come with a hefty price tag.
Once you have your data and your applications ready for reinstallation, “wipe” your disk and reinstall your OS. Make sure that your OS is patched with all its current updates.
Option II: Hard drive doesn’t boot but the drive still has blinking lights.
In this situation, plug in a spare working hard drive into a USB port or on a vacant controller slot on your motherboard. In the case of inserting a new master drive into your desktop PC’s chassis, make sure you rearrange the controller jumper on the main board so that it recognizes the new master / slave settings of your hard drives. Upon boot up, get into the boot settings of your computer and set up the new drive as the MASTER and the non-booting drive as the SLAVE.
Once you’ve booted, run your recovery disk and run chckdisk/fdisk and defrag on your slave disk. Follow the rest of the steps and options outlined in Option I above.
Option III: Hard drive is physically damaged!
If your drive has physically crashed, you may still be able to recover your data, even if physical damage has occurred.
Physical hard drive damage usually involves problems with the disk motor or the disk reading head is physically misaligned and fails to work. Sadly, physical damage often means that some of your data might be permanently lost. Just because your hard drive has suffered physical damage, don’t automatically assume that the only solution left is to go seek professional help. Try the tips below first before seeking professional data recovery.
Can you still boot but your PC is really slow? If this is the case, install and use data recovery software to isolate your data and load it onto a storage device like a USB stick. Once you have archived your data and make an inventory of your installed applications, take out the drive and replace it with a new drive.
Does your hard drive make a weird noise? Strange noises are indicative of hardware problems. However, if your drive still works regardless of the noise, install and use data recovery software to find and move your data before you replace your drive.
If none of the options above don’t apply, it is time to seek professional data recovery assistance. Professional data recovery services are not cheap. The cost goes up based on the amount of data you want recovered. Since this situation involves the outlay of substantial amounts of money, here’re some tips to help you select the right data recovery company.
Tips for finding the right data recovery companies:
In closing, a hard drive crash, as traumatic as it can be, is not a death sentence. Make sure you are aware of your do it yourself and professional data recovery options. Keep the options above so you can save time and money. One final note: always remember to back your data up either yourself or by using a data backup software. Do it early. Do it often. Just Do It!
Hard disk failures are so common that data recovery is a multi-billion dollar industry. If you need to recover deleted photos, have a hard drive repair, or retrieve data for a business, a data recovery service can help to deal with the panic of losing files and information.
If you select the data recovery services offered by the service providers named below, they will not void the warranty associated with the disk drive you purchased from a Seagate, Western Digital and Samsung resellers or distributors.
Hard Drive Data Recovery Service Provides will not void the warranty:
Seagate Data Recovery Services are a pay-per-use service and not covered by a hard drive’s warranty.
If your drive is still under warranty and you intend to pursue data recovery, you must do the data recovery before exchanging the drive. Once a drive has been returned for warranty exchange, any data on the drive is forfeited and lost.
Western Digital will not void the warranty associated with the disk drive you purchased from a Western Digital reseller or distributor.
Western Digital Data Recovery Services
For your reference, below is a list of data recovery service providers that can open your Samsung HDD product and (if connected through the link below) provide a seal or proof of data recovery that will not void your Samsung HDD limited warranty.
Samsung Data Recovery Services
Note: To retain the warranty status of your drive, you should ensure that the service provider you select provides you with written verification, on its company letterhead, that it has performed data recovery or other services on your hard drive.
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With the popularization of computer and the rapid development of network technology, data recovery industry are being got more and more attention. Many data recovery companies stand out from the fierce competition. Technique propaganda becomes their key to win the market!
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