DEV Community: Lili Griffin

Data Loss Prevention: Effective Ways You Should Follow

Lili Griffin — Mon, 19 Nov 2018 03:09:30 +0000

Backup and recovery are the procedure of coming up and storing copies of data, which can be helpful in protecting organizations should data loss occur. To some, this is usually coined as operational recovery ‒ the recovery from a backup which involves restoring the data that’s lost to its original location.

Typically, a proper backup copy is kept in an alternate medium or system. It's to ensure that the primary data is protected from data loss in the main hardware or software failure.

Why Having Backups and Restore Points Important?

At one point or another, everyone stores essential data on a specific device, whether its company files, consumer databases, critical medical records, and family photos from a recent vacation. Important files and data should be backed up in one form or another.

It’s especially true for companies and organizations where data loss can have profound consequences when it comes to production and services.

A company's data can be one of its most valuable assets, and it's crucial to think about practical ways on how to protect it. Just like when business owners get insurance to protect their assets, having a back-up can also serve as one's "insurance" should data loss accident occur.

Storing a copy of a data in a separate medium will protect it from corruption and data loss. It might be as simple as saving it in a USB stick or an external drive, to as something more substantial such as tape drive, cloud storage, or disk storage system.

Cloud Backup

Over the last couple of years, storing data on the cloud has become more and more common, and increasingly affordable. One big advantage of having a cloud backup is that it can recover even the past versions of a file. For instance, is a file is accidentally deleted, or overwritten it with the wrong data, all one has to do is browse through the file history, and recover the earlier version.

Moreover, it's easier to access, anytime anywhere. A lot of people are guilty of forgetting their presentation or data at home. However, with cloud technology, as long as there is a stable internet connection, these files are readily available.

Copies of these files can also be kept, off-site. Meaning, these files are backed up on a server. In the case of fires, floods, hurricanes, and other natural disasters and emergencies, it can secure an organization's most important data. With a simple click, all the files are immediately restored. These files are backed up automatically as long as there is an internet connection.

External Hard Drive Back Up

Individuals and companies who download, upload, and store vast amounts of data know that a built-in drive is insufficient, and an external hard drive is needed as support. It provides that much-needed storage space, an extra room to transfer other files, to unload data on the computer and boost its performance. It serves as storage for older records, as well as a backup to all the data.

Aside from that, external hard drives are handy. They're easily detached, and carried around, without requiring too much space. If one has a large number of files and wants to copy it from one computer to another, then an external hard drive is a secure way to copy and store them to another computer.

Use Restore Points

Windows 10 includes a System Restore wherein it's easier to revert to system changes without the risk of losing files. It usually works by detecting changes in the system (registry, applications, drivers, settings.) If the device experiences some of these issues, such as a result of misconfiguration, a restore point is used to undo some changes, and potentially fix some problems.

Consult an Expert In Case of Data Loss

There are some cases though, that an organization's vital data is lost, and cannot be recovered. A recovery software might help, but at this point, it's crucial to seek out the help of an expert.
Complicated data recovery needs a lot of expertise, and it's best to leave it with the professionals who will safely recover all the crucial information and data that was lost. While it’s true, that may cost more, with some downtime on the organization's hard drive, but if the data that was lost is valuable enough, then seeking the help of a professional in PC recovery is one of the most viable options out there.

In Summary

Data serves as one of the most powerful tools in an organization. It gives the company key insights about its products, customers, services, employees, and competitors. Since it's collected from different sources, it has the power to make or break a business.

That's why at the event of data loss, a company must know how to mitigate these risks by having a reliable data recovery policy in place.

Freeware You Could Use To Recover Data From a Corrupted Hard Drive

Lili Griffin — Mon, 29 Oct 2018 03:03:13 +0000

The hard drive is considered the most important part of your computer. Since it holds all of your data, you must take good care of it or all of your files could disappear. However, like most devices, it eventually breaks down due to wear and tear. Its useful time is even shortened if it’s damaged internally or externally. It was reported that around 60% of hard drive failures can be attributed to mechanical failure and misuse which include:

Physical damage to the computer itself.
Increased heat due to clogging in the air intake filter and other problems with the filter.
Sudden power failure in between an operation.

If you come across a corrupted hard drive, here are some tools you can check out to recover your files.

PC Inspector File Recovery 4

PC Inspector File Recovery is a free hard drive data recovery software. You should definitely give this software a try before you pay for a recovery software. Upon firing up the software, you are presented with 3 options: Recover Deleted Files, Find Lost Data, and Find Lost Drive. The first option enables you to recover permanently deleted files from your drive. The second option lets you restore files lost in a system crash; it might take a while to restore, depending on the size of your drive. Lastly, the third option is for when the drive doesn’t appear in My Computer; the software will try to gain access to the drive and to its data.

Here are some of the main features of the software:

Works despite an erased boot sector or FAT
Automatically finds partitions even if the boot sector or FAT is erased
User-friendly GUI, similar to that of Windows Explorer
Recovers files with original time and date stamp
Works even if the header entry is not available
Supports a variety of formats, including those from compressing and archiving programs.

Since the software is free, you have nothing to lose if ever you decide to try it out.

Easeus Data Recovery Wizard Free

Another recovery software with a friendly and accessible interface is Easeus Data Recovery Wizard Free. Upon opening the program, you just have to choose which drive you want to be scanned to recover your data and simply click Scan. If you know what exact folder a file went missing from, you can select that folder to be scanned to hasten the process.

Some of the key features of Easeus Data Recovery Wizard include:

Recover permanently deleted files
Restores files after accidental formatting and reinstallation of Windows, - partitioning errors, hard drive crash, etc
Faster scanning of lost files by skipping bad sectors automatically
Supports a variety of file types and Windows OS

This software is free for the first 500MB of data you restore but it can be increased to up to 2GB within the program. However, after that, you are required to upgrade to the paid version if you wish to continue using Easeus Data Recovery Wizard. Although it’s not enough for a complete hard drive recovery, it should do if you want to recover your most important files.

Pandora Hard Drive Data Recovery Tool

If you need to find and recover deleted files from NTFS and FAT-formatted drives, Pandora Hard Drive Data Recovery could be the tool for you. It scans your drive and creates an index of existing and deleted files and folder after which you can choose which files are to be recovered and where you want them to recover to.

The key features of Pandora Hard Drive Data Recovery are as follows:

Recovers archived, encrypted, hidden and compressed files
Restores alternate data streams
Recovers files to the local hard drive, network drive or flash drive
Recovers Review File Properties and Drive Properties
Supports a variety of file types
Compatible with Windows.

It is considered to be one of the strongest recovery tools for damaged hard drives but unfortunately, this software is not free for long-term use. It has a free trial version that can recover up to 500MB of data but any further than that, you have to purchase the full version. However, the price you pay is still less than the cost of consulting and repairing from an s tech specialist.

Ask a Professional if You’re Unsure

If you’ve tried several recovery tools and you still haven’t successfully recovered your data, you might need to raise the white flag and come to a specialist. It is not advisable to try and repair things by yourself since you may just end up causing more damage than when you started. Since professionals actually know what they’re doing, they’re equipped to assess the situation, diagnose your drive for a successful data recovery.

It going to be a little heavy on the wallet but it’s a small price to pay to have all your important files lost and in comparison to purchasing a new hard drive.