Document Management: Data Recovery
Document Management: Data Recovery
Importance of Data Recovery Management
Data residing on computers can be lost due to virus attacks, deliberate destruction by outsiders (or insiders) and data corruption. Such losses could affect your business in several ways:
You could find it impossible to make informed business decisions in the absence of relevant data
You could face penalties and legal actions for not complying with government regulations, such as maintaining employee data, filing statutory returns and so on
You might be unable to pursue claims against your debtors or defend claims by your creditors
The costs and problems of recreating the original data might even drive you out of business
Data loss could thus lead to extremely serious and costly results. You protect yourself against this danger through a good data recovery management system.
A sound data recovery management system would ensure that:
Chances of data loss are minimized, and
Lost data are quickly recovered in a usable manner.
We look at data recovery management issues in this article.
Conventional Data Recovery Procedures
Backing up the data, in the hope that it could be restored if the original data is lost, was the traditional practice. Data was backed up on to magnetic tapes that were stored safely at another location. It was assumed that this would protect data even in the case of a fire or natural disaster as it could be restored any time.
Tape was the preferred medium of backup because it was less costly compared to disks.
However, there are a number of problems with this strategy:
Both backup and restoration of data were extremely slow with tape compared to disk
Considerable time would typically be involved in locating the relevant tape, bringing it to the office from its safe store and restoring the data to the main system. The consequent disruption of operations could be intolerably serious.
Even if the data on tape was not corrupted, the restored data might prove unusable owing to several factors, including a change in the operating environment
It was soon found that simple backups could not ensure timely and reliable recovery of data when needed. Full mirroring of critical data and applications on redundant servers and such other practices began to be adopted.
Costs of disk storage have also come down significantly to make disk backup affordable. However, unless you have a carefully worked out policy for data recovery, you could still be incurring unnecessary costs and yet might not be able to restore data when needed.
Elements of Good Data Recovery Management
A sound data recovery management policy would have the following elements as a minimum:
It would be a carefully worked out policy and not just an ad hoc exercise
It would assess the value of different kinds of data arising in the business. Not all data have the same importance. Some are critical data. Others are just history
It would consider the costs and times involved in different alternatives and assess these against the criticality and timely recovery of each type of data
It would include a clear document and data retention policy. Keeping unnecessary data and documents means wasting space, equipment and money
In addition to policy, the aspect of implementation would also be carefully developed.
The technology to be adopted for backup on a continuing and automatic basis
The practices to be adopted for such needs as recreating the data as from any point of time and under the original environment
Procedures for regular testing of backups to ensure that they are still recoverable and usable
Procedures for recovering data to make them available in time to meet operating needs. This might differ from one kind of data to another
A continuing review of changing needs, and actual data loss and recovery events, to identify changing requirements and take timely actions
Focus Is on Data Recovery
Traditionally, the emphasis was on backup. Backing up is only a means to an end. The end is the ability to recover the data if the original is destroyed. It is on this end that a good data recovery management system turns its focus.
Backed up data might not be recoverable in a usable form later. So your attention should be on ensuring that satisfactory recovery would be possible when needed. This needs attention to several factors.
It is this focus that is reflected in the policy and procedures we discussed above.
Changing Environments Could Affect Needed Actions
One key element of data recovery management is attending to the environment. This means two things.
One, it involves recreating the environment under which the original data was created. The data might not be usable otherwise.
Two, it means adapting the data recovery management itself to new developments. Existing policies and procedures might be less than optimal under new conditions.
It is thus necessary to tailor your data recovery management to suit the changing environment as it affects your organization. This is the significance of the continuing review of the policies and procedures we had mentioned earlier.
Get A Good Document Management System
Don t let your data face the kind of risk indicated at the beginning. Every day, new kinds of viruses are appearing and hackers on the Internet are improving their ability to crack the toughest of security measures.
A good document management system could be your best bet in such a context. Such a system would include several of the data recovery management tasks. Most systems would typically include continuing data protection features and some might even provide data recovery facilities.
Get a good document management system.
Dustin Baker of Ademero, Inc. invites you to learn more by visiting his <a href="http://www.ademero.com">Document Management Software</a> site. Browse the Ademero resource section which includes the largest collection of posts from real users reviewing ALL of the most popular DMS systems available, free and commercial. <br/> Sign up for a live demo of Ademero's <a href="http://www.ademero.com/index.php?page=products§ion=demorequest">Document Management System</a> now!
New Quick data erasure for the US fighter jets
When a US spy plane collided in the air with a Chinese fighter jet in the Chinese aerospace and had to crash land on a Chinese island. The Chinese were said to have copied every inch of the aircraft and managed to access the data stored on the hard disk that contained highlu classified reconnaissance data. The US has since been investing in research on methods by which computer hard drives are ersed quickly. US Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology working with L-3 Communications Corp. have developed a technique for quickly erasing hard-disk drives.
Erasing a hard drive usually takes hours using special procedures that repeatedly scramble information on a disk drive. Still, given unlimited resources and time, special magnetic snooping techniques can often recover at least some of the original information.
The researchers sought a method that not only securely erased information but also performed the erasure during emergency situations where minutes, not hours, were available.
The researchers concluded that permanent magnets are the best solution. Other methods, including burning disks with heat-generating thermite, crushing drives in presses, chemically destroying the media or frying them with microwaves all proved susceptible to sensitive, patient, recovery efforts.
Permanent magnets for erasing magnetic media have been available since the dawn of disk drives, but the team found that commercial systems were either magnetically too weak, too large and heavy or could not meet air-safety standards. Instead, the team crafted a new generation of super-powerful magnets to penetrate hard disk enclosures to quickly erase magnetic media. Special high-strength magnets as powerful as those in medical imaging equipment proved sufficient for permanently erasing all information on a disk drive in a single pass.
To create a magnetic field strong enough to penetrate the metal housing around a disk drive and erase the magnetic media inside, the researchers designed a neodymium iron-boron magnet with special pole pieces made of esoteric cobalt alloys. A motorized mechanism pushed disk drives past the magnets; a back up twist-knob allows operators to manually pull drives through the magnetic field.
The 125-pound prototype is being streamlined into a deployable version that is light enough for aircraft, operates independently of aircraft electrical systems, produces no noxious gases or flames and includes fail-safe procedures to prevent inadvertent erasures. The team verified that it was impossible to recover information from disk drives erased with the permanent magnets. They used a magnetic force microscope to map even the smallest magnetic domains on the surface of an erased disk drive to ensure that the patterns found there were completely random.
UniRecovery Laboratory: http://www.unirecovery.co.uk
http://www.unirecovery.co.uk
Backup Software
You won’t have to worry about losing valuable data again if you find the best backup software for your home or office. Whether your main concern is to keep a copy of all your documents or to encode sensitive information, you can find the best backup software that contains the best of both of these features and more. Backup software may not always be cheap, but it is an essential investment for preserving and protecting valuable information.
If security is your main concern, there is backup software that has five different encryption alogrithms that protect your data against hackers. You can also have the file name encrypted for added security. It is easy to add new folders, and you can build your files at the click of a mouse.
The best backup software will:
? Create a backup program
? Choose files for backup
? Define compression settings
? Choose target of the backup
You can have all of your files backed up automatically, or you can pick and choose files to back up. Changes can be made constantly, and most backup software is flexible enough to accommodate multiple versions of the same document or selected revisions. If you want to conserve space, you can select the highest level of compression to make more room. It is also easy to choose which location you want you files stored, whether it is in:
? Hard drive
? USB stick
? Network Folder
? CD
? DVD
? Remote FTP Server
Most backup software employs automatic backup programs that will store your information as it is created. You can choose scheduled backup instead, if you prefer. It is possible to store multiple versions of a document and the wizard feature restores files to their original folders.
Backup software may also contain other features that are helpful, such as virus scanning and disaster recovery. Anti-virus features will help prevent file-destroying crashes from infecting your computer, and disaster recovery will help get your computer up and running again if it does happen to crash. Backup software will ensure that your files will be intact even if your computer temporarily ceases to function.
There are many who simply to backup their files manually on a floppy disk or a CD rather than purchasing backup software. However, these devices have a somewhat short shelf life, and will tend to wear out even if they are not used excessively. It would be a major disappointment to believe that your files are safely backed up when they fail to appear when needed. The sheer effort required to cut and paste and to edit your files for backup will probably cost you in terms of work hours much more than a rather modest investment in backup software. Everything is done automatically with backup software, and there is less likelihood that you will fail to backup certain files due to an oversight.
Backup software varies in price and quality, so it is worth doing substantial research before making your final investment. Some might find that security is more of a priority, whereas others are looking for backup software that will provide them with maximum space. Still others ar searching for the lowest prices on backup software. It is definitely worth it to take advantage of trial offers and demos when they are offered. This will enable you to decide on the backup software that is right for you.
Author - Matt Garrett <a href="http://www.registry-cleaner.org">Registry Cleaner</a> <a href="http://www.offsite-backup-software.com">www.offsite-backup-software.com</a>
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