Before you travel down that long road of info recovery, there are a few things to keep under consideration. If you are using your computer and a program starts to act funny, you should shut things down immediately. You may also hear some very odd sounds as well, which is the first sign that your hard driving is working overtime. If you shut your computer down immediately at this point, you may prevent data loss from happening. If you do not shut your personal computer down and permit the failing drive to keep on running, it is just a matter of time before it destroys itself – which will at last result in the loss of information.

If this occurs, and you lose your information, you shouldn’t try and fix the hard drive yourself unless you know exactly what to do. At this time, pro information recovery services aren’t merely a luxury – they’re something you’ve got to have. The process for data recovery is time consuming, and requires both tools and a clean work environment. Trying to repair a hard drive on your own is very challenging, and could end up making matters far worse if you don’t know what you are doing.

Even though there are software out there for data recovery, you should not use them unless you know what you are actually doing. With many drive issues being extremely complex, software can do as much damage as good. Although firms may say that their software will sort the problem and, retrieve your information, you must always be careful and simply avoid the employment of do it yourself software.

To be on the safe side with your hard drive and retrieve the data that you lost, you should always turn to a local data recovery service. This way, you’ll know that your hard drive is in good hands and it will be fixed the right way. Professional services can fix nearly any hard drive problem, and recover any type of data. In some cases, your hard drive may be beyond repair, even for professional data recovery specialists. If this happens, you should be prepared to buy a new hard drive – and count your blessings that you thought to back up your data in advance.

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Unless you are a lottery winner or can go to Vegas and return home with a suitcase full of money, you MUST perform a regular data backup.

There are many reasons why you should be backing up your data.  I want to bring up a couple of reasons you may not have considered:

• What is the impact upon your customer relationships?
• What is the “real” cost of a loss?

Soft cost evaluation is the reason to consider the reasons above. Just like any activity in your business from buying paper clips to putting together a marketing campaign, there are soft costs that you must include in the total cost formula.

Nearly everyone who has not had a backup will tell you that soft costs are real and are probably higher than the actual hard costs associated with re-generating the data and doing business again. Unless you want to become am expensive statistic, perform a backup.

If you were not convinced to perform a data backup, you probably are now and that is a good start. By performing regular backups you are on the right track but there is more to the story. Let me explain why.

Data Backup is only half of the story.  You must make sure that AFTER a backup that you can successfully perform a restore. While that may seem obvious, it is truly shocking how few people actually do it.

ALL backup media fails. As I am sure you are aware. Tapes, Tape Drives, Hard Disks, or other means you use to perform your local backup are mechanical. Mechanical devices, even with routine maintenance, fail.

What files should you verify from the restore? In general, all of them.  For most people that is probably not possible given limited time and money.  As a shortcut, if you want to make sure your backup is correctly restored, you should pick files found in a number of directories and drives. The objective is to perform a random test. If you are able to restore, view and copy the files, you can be pretty sure that your backup has been performed properly.

Server backups need to be treated differently. That is especially true if the backup is of your database server. Since the data housed in your database server is quite literally the life blood of your business, you should be willing to spend additional time and resources to verify the backup.

There are many ways to effectively restore and verify a server. The method described here is the simplest we have found that predicts that the backup was successful. To verify a server is more complicated than simply checking a few random files. You should follow, at a minimum, these steps:

• Have a SEPARATE PC available with plenty of disk space
• Restore the backup onto the PC
• Perform a directory comparison with your running server using windiff or a similar tool
• Compare a few of the restored files with your running server to verify the contents

Database backups can be easily verified by restoring the database, verifying the schema by reviewing the table structure of a random collection of tables, and finally performing a few random queries that touch a number of the tables in the restored database.

After restoring and verifying your data, you have left the casino and are no longer gambling with the future of your business. Well done!

Scott Love is a managed services provider in Spokane, Washington that helps to educate business owners about the benefits of adopting a proactive approach to managing their computers.

To find additional information about managed services and other technical topics come and visit our blog.

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That 2nd of darkness felt like a cold, numb, terrifying century.  When the light came back on and my computer commenced booting up all I could do was pray that my final was there and any damage wasn’t .  My last was on my computer, one of the saves anyhow.  The final was still intact on my USB, but 1/2 the other files were corrupted and that port was fried and has not worked since.  The hard drive itself went 2 weeks later , a week after I handed in my project.  I got fortunate, intensely fortunate.  Hopefully if it happens again I’ll be as fortunate.  But always  ‘hoping for the best’ is a very foolish course of action.  That’s’s like never wearing a helmet on a bike and hoping you can never get hurt if you hopefully don’t fall-one search on Youtube proves you will get hurt when you fall off a bike.  Hilariously though, but still I am sure smashing your face on a concrete path hurts. 

Thankfully for those that do enjoy wearing wearing helmets while using our PCs ( or making your computers clumsily wear one ), there are dozens of options to make certain our files will be safe and backed up when the time comes.  Online backup is great to store your files, however it can be prices and you are restrained by the rate of your net and the size of your information.  If you’re happy to spend the scratch, it easy and convenient and always a comfort realizing that what ever you want should be available to you at all times-as long as an internet source in close.  Which naturally it always is, I adore living in THE FUTURE. 

Still, if you have got the art of funny coincidence and karma makes a decision to say Sup? when you’re backing up your data online-your doubly %$+.  And probably awfully short of a cuddle to boot. 
To avoid that rare disaster you can go with the classic methodology of offline data storage, the external disk drive.  Prices start for as little as under twenty bucks and you can purchase one just about anywhere, it’s truthfully one of those invests you will be thankful for. 

Any PC with USB or Firewire capacity will see the external disc drive as a storage device , and allot it a letter to designate it.  Anytime you plug it in, you fundamentally just deal with it like any standard drive.  You drag and drop what you need, it’s super easy to transfer huge files back and forth from work to home, to a friend’s house, or between your desktop and laptop.  It’s particularly useful if you tend to keep large amounts of photos, music, picture, or game files on your computer too.  Just treat your external like your attic, toss everything in there that you don’t really use or need-but your hoarder instinct is too dynamic to just delete them.  This way you get to fulfill your compulsion, your personal computer runs faster, and you all of a sudden have extra space to hoard more data!  Or you can use if for critical stuff like I discussed earlier, so that in an emergency your info will remain safe.  But I understand if that doesn’t slake your need to having floor to ceiling hard drives for your LOLcat addiction .

I work at Geek Choice, a nationwide computer repair company. We can help you with: Linksys Setup, Virus Removal, Spyware Removal, Computer startup problems, Printer not printing, Internet Connection Problems, and much more.

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But not all service providers are created equal and you absolutely want to make sure you choose an ethical, reliable vendor or you’ll get burned with hidden costs, unexpected “gotchas,” or with the horrible discovery that your data wasn’t actually backed up correctly, leaving you high and dry when you need your data most.

Your remote backup provider should meet the following seven criteria:

1. Rock solid, data transfer, and data storage. This is fairly obvious; you want to make sure the company housing your data is actually secure. After all, we are talking about your financial information, client data, and other sensitive information about your company. Never trust your data to anyone that doesn’t have the following security measures in place:

Ask your service provider if they are HIPAA, Sarbanes-Oxley, Gram-Leach-Bliley, and SEC NASD compliant. These are government regulations that dictate how organizations with highly- sensitive data (like banks and doctor’s offices) handle, store, and transfer their data. If you are a medical or financial institution, you are required by law to work only with vendors who meet these stringent requirements. But even if you are NOT an organization that falls under one of these regulations, you still want to choose a provider who is because it’s a good sign that they have high-level security measures in place

2. Ensure the physical location where the data is stored is secure. Ask your service provider if they have an ID system, video surveillance, and some type of card key system to allow only authorized personnel to enter the site.

Your data should be encrypted with SSL protocols to prevent hacking during transfer.

3. Multiple data centers that are geographically dispersed. The best way to avoid loss is to have redundancy in operations and infrastructure. Your remote backup service should house multiple copies of your data in more than a single location. That way, if a terrorist attack or natural disaster destroys one of their locations, they have backups of your backup in a different city where the disaster did not strike.

4. Demand the ability to receive overnight copies of your data on DVD or some other data storage device. Do not rely on a provider that only offers internet recovery.  Choose a backup provider that will provide overnight copies of your data via some physical storage device.

On that same token, ask your service provider if you have the option of having your initial backup performed through hard copy. Again, trying to transfer that amount of data online could take days or weeks. If you have a large amount of data to backup, it would be faster and more convenient to send it to them on DVD.

5. Make sure your data can be restored to a different computer than the one it was from which it was backed up. Amazingly, some backups can only be restored to the same computer they came from. If the original computer was burned in a fire, stolen, or destroyed in a flood, you’re left without a backup.

6. Require daily status reports. All backup services should send you a daily e-mail to verify if your backup actually ran AND to report failures or problems. The more professional providers should also allow you to notify more than one person (like a technician or your IT person) in addition to yourself.

7. Demand help from a qualified technician. Many online backup services are “self-serve.” This allows them to provide a less expensive service to you. BUT if you don’t set your system to back up correctly, the money you will save will be insignificant compared to the losses you’ll suffer. At the very least, ask your service provider to walk you through the steps on the phone or to check your settings to make sure you did the setup properly.

The Single Most Important Thing To Look For When Choosing a Remote Backup Service Provider

While the above checks are important, one of the most critical characteristics of a backup service provider – and one that is often overlooked — is finding a service that will do regular test restores to check your backup and make sure the data is able to be recovered. You do not want to wait until your data has been wiped out to test your backup; yet that is exactly what most people do – and they pay for it dearly. If your data is very sensitive and you cannot afford to lose it, then test restores should be done monthly. If your situation is a little less critical, then quarterly test restores are sufficient. Any number of things can cause your backup to become corrupt. By testing it monthly, you’ll sleep a lot easier at night knowing you have a good, solid copy of your data available in the event of an unforeseen disaster.

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The recession has certainly taken its toll as companies seek to cut costs but the scope for further IT development is constrained even more than this budgetary forecast demonstrates. The vast majority of typical IT budget is spent on maintaining infrastructure and financing the operating cost – typically in the range of 80% of the total IT budget.

This leaves a mere 20% of the total IT spend to buy new equipment, but even this number is not available for “projects” and new initiatives. Included in this slice of total IT budgets is the requirement to buy replacement equipment for that which has failed and cannot be repaired or if it can be repaired, failure requires a new swap-out simply because of the high reliance levels required.

This constraint on IT managers and budget decision makers makes it imperative that they focus on the core issues confronting the networks they manage and also, ensure that capital investment projects deliver very real benefits in financial terms to the organization.

Common core issues focus on the traditional chestnuts:

· Security – data theft is increasingly of concern not only because of the loss of proprietary data but also, the compliance issues which are increasingly ensnaring businesses as regulation mindsets of government agencies kick-in after the recessionary fall-out. The banking and financial sector is particularly hard hit and sensitive In this regard;

· Sarbanes-Oxley – since the introduction of SOX, the need to ensure data can be recovered has taken on far greater significance to companies across all industry sectors. SOX has had a far-reaching impact in terms of the industry sectors it has ensnared but also where companies are doing business. Legislators probably had little inkling that their work would mean billions of dollars of cost for overseas companies doing business with US consumers, and this has helped continue the growth in storage and data retrieval solutions backed by DR fail-safes.

· Outsourcing – increasing complexity of all solutions, both hardware infrastructure and software, combined with short-staffing of IT departments has led to increased demand for the services of VAR’s (Value Added Resellers) but tight control must be exercised.

Overall, it is the partnerships which are forged with VAR’s , especially those that can deliver solutions subject to the tightening budgets of IT managers, which is the greatest hurdle facing both the industry and companies today. VAR’s must be imaginative and specific in delivering solutions for clients and prospects. Solutions must demonstrate significant positive financial benefits with decreased payback periods if they are to stand any realistic chance of being considered by IT managers. IT managers must also continue to chip away at the large operating element of the IT budget if they are to release chunks of the total IT allocation to keep their networks abreast of developments, particularly risk exposure and performance expectations.

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Some things to consider when thinking about your backup and disaster recovery solution(s):

1. What happens if I delete a file?
2. Where is my email stored and is it backed up?
3. What if my computer crashes? Even if my data is saved how long will it take me to rebuild my computer to a functioning state?
4. Is my data all located in the same physical space?
5. Will a catastrophe wipe out my backup solution i.e. {an earthquake,a fire, a flood}?
6. Does my business count on any one system for important functions? How long can my business operate without this system? Does my current backup solution accomodate that expectation?
7. Does someone in our company know how to retrieve information off backups?
8. Are my backups tested so I know they work?
9. Are my backups monitored so I know if they are ever failing?
10. Is the backup data media (i.e. hard drives or tapes) transferred in a secure, controlled manor since it contains all data for my entire business?

This list covers about 1/4 of the questions that you should review when it comes to a practical backup and disaster recovery solution so if you haven’t asked yourself these questions, start today!  If you are overwhelmed, contact a local computer services provider which should be able to assist your company.

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First is the price. Most online backup services are priced about the same, around per month, which you can opt to pay monthly or at the discounted annual fee. But that’s just for the basic service. You can also avail of other additional services like network backup for an added fee. On the other hand, there are also online backup services that come for free, for some companies on a limited trial basis, and for others, for a limited storage capacity. While these offers are not uncommon and are done for promotional purposes, be wary of those backup services that are offered at no cost at all. While they need not cost a lot, the online backup solutions shouldn’t come totally free or you would wonder how the company can give trustworthy service.

Getting immediate access to your files may not really be extremely important to you. For instance, if you are simply looking for a space to store your photos in, you do not always need them at a moment’s notice. Nevertheless, if you are a student or a businessman, you need a service which does not ask you to wait for a day before you can retrieve your files. Different companies provide different levels of access to the files that you store – which is why getting one which perfectly suits your needs is highly important.

And then you also have to think about the actual software that you’d need to install on your computer. Is it user-friendly enough for you? Would you have to deal with a lot of technical stuff that you’re not comfortable with. Most backup software are designed to be as simple and convenient as possible for the user but you’d need to find out which you would be most happy to work with. Remember that online backups are there to make backing up your data easier without having to go through hoops for it. The best online backup services make sure you get that.

Lastly, you need a secure service. Most companies offer encryption of your stored information as it travels between your computer and theirs. However, some companies can offer more than that. You can find companies which scatter your files across their services making it impossible for any outsider to decipher any important information. You may also choose to put a password on your files. All these added services work together to give you the top-level security that you need. But to make sure that a service is right for your needs, just read a few reviews, like the Carbonite review.

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Traditional ways of backing up one’s files have been developed over the years, and for many people, these seemed to work just fine. A widespread backup method used is buying a large stack of floppy disks or more recently CDs, copying your files into them, labeling all disks for organization and for easier retrieval when the need arises, and finally, storing away everything. You somehow manage to successfully make backup copies of your files but it took a lot of time and effort. Plus, with this method, there’s really no guarantee that a few years down the road, you’ll still have files to retrieve. This type of file storage devices are susceptible to damage caused even by the smallest amounts of water, some scratches, or exposure to magnets.

But technology has come a long way when it comes to storage space. Now, you can buy external hard drives which will plug in to almost any computer you can find and work immediately. And all of your data is organized in folders, just like on your home computer’s built-in drive. No more digging through stacks of CDs and floppies. You can also get these drives in sizes that were unheard of until recently. Some drives can hold multiple terabytes of information, more than almost anyone could possibly need. For instance one terabyte drive could store over 200,000 photos at 5 megabytes each.

The thing is though, external hard drives don’t come cheap and while it gives you a convenient way to keep your files safe, not everyone is sold out on using it. Some people think that external drives are good only for those with technical background.

For these types of computer users, a good option for ensuring that your data is safe from all possible causes of data loss would be to avail of online backup services being offered by many companies, one example of which is Carbonite online backup. With this backup method, you don’t need to be a techie because most of these online storage solutions are very user-friendly. And, you get the assurance that your data is being kept away from prying eyes using advanced encryption technology and stored in servers located in a protected area.

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You should start by deciding where you will be backing up the computer data to.Ideally you should really use an external hard drive that has enough disk space to store copies of everything on your current hard drive.In order to find out how large your external device needs to be, on your windows PC click the right mouse button on the hard drive in ‘My Computer’ then you need to select the ‘Properties’ item in the menu.This will tell you the precise size of the current hard drive. 

Once you have purchased a suitably sized external hard disk, you should get some suitable backup software.  You have several options, however Norton Ghost is perfectly suited to the task.

Plug in your USB drive and by following the manufacturers instructions you should load up the backup software.Once it has loaded, you must then create and then run the backup.  This can take some time, depending on the size of the hard drive being copied so be prepared to wait a while.Once all the data has been copied, check the files and folders on your USB drive to make sure that all the essential files have been copies and that you haven’t overlooked anything.

If this seems like a complicated process then do bear in mind there are lots of online data backup companies that you can make the process much easier for you.

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1) Once you have unplugged the cables and peripherals from your old computer you will then be ready to remove the hard drive from the broken computer.Your computer's handbook should show you the correct way to open the case.Many older machines will have a case that requires unscrewing to gain access, whereas some others will have latches that simply have to be 'pushed' open.

2)  Now you have the components exposed you should be especially wary of causing damage via static electricity, as anyone well versed in ict facts will tell you.  In order to 'de-static' yourself touch something metal before you go near your computer.Repeat this step every time you step away from your machine.

3) Next you should locate your hard drive.This task should be simple enough as it should be located at the front of your computer in a slot near the CD drive.  Again, in older computers it may be attached by screws.

4) Disconnect the hard drive power supply unit and data cable by gently pulling them out.Unscrew the hard drive if appropriate and then remove it. 

5) Finally, you should insert the hard drive into the external hard drive enclosure.Plug the USB data cable into an available USB port on the new working machine.Your new computer should then automatically recognise this as an external drive and assign it a letter as appropriate.You should then be able to gain access to the data on your old hard drive.

If you are looking for for more sophisticated data backup solutions then you may want to approach a specialist provider.

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