Data Recovery | DataRecoveryUnion.com

A data loss has occurred – now what? Determining the need to recover lost data can be a difficult one. There are several things to take into consideration when determining if data recovery is required.

Backup, Backup, Backup
Everyone knows the importance of a good backup system, so your first step should be to determine if the data is actually backed up. Many times lost data is stored on a backup tape, backup hard drive, on the network or other various locations throughout an organization.

Unfortunately, locating and reloading the lost information can be time consuming and deplete resources. If a backup is located, it is important to check that the most recent copy of the data is available. Many times backups occur on a set schedule and if modifications to the data were saved after the backup occurred that information will not be accessible.

Re-Creation
Another important option to consider is if the data can or should be re-created. Two items to take into account when considering this option include the type of data lost and the amount lost:

Type of Data – Different data may have different perceived value. Recovering a customer database is (probably) more important than recovering a file containing possible names for a pet goldfish. Is the missing data a high-volume transaction database such as a banking record? This would be nearly impossible to recreate the thousands of transactions that were happening in real time. Other types of data may not be able to be re-created such as digital photos. Understanding the type of data that was lost is imperative to determining your next steps.
Amount of Data – Understanding how much data was lost can help you understand how much time and resources would be required to re-create the data. The more data lost, the more time and resources required to re-create it – if re-creation is even possible.

An additional point to consider is that with strict regulatory and legal requirements, many companies need access to their lost data in order to comply with these requirements. Accessibility to data and the legal requirements surrounding that data are essential to understand when considering if data recovery is necessary or not.

Data recovery costs can be difficult to plan for because they are unexpected. No one wants to lose data just like no one wants their car to break down or to have to call a plumber for a broken pipe. However, to help put it into perspective with other business related costs – vending services and that morning cup of coffee can run between $500 and $1000 every month for a small business office. An average recovery fee for a typical desktop, Windows-based system is around $1,000. Comparing those figures – the true value of data recovery becomes clear

Data Recovery

Remove Password Protection from Microsoft Word Document

DATARECOVERYUNION.COM16 years ago4 years ago04 mins

Nearly all Microsoft programs have an option for setting up different levels of passwords. These passwords can be used for specific actions, such as, preventing reading, accessing or modifying any particular file. We have all used the feature at some point and it can be easily said that it is a great tool to have at your disposal to protect the privacy of your work. The only problem is what do you do if you forget the password yourself? Is the file forever inaccessible? Can You recover the Lost Password? Well there was a time when, if you forgot your password it was gone for good, but these days there have been huge advances in technology and there are software’s available to help you remove password protection from Microsoft Word and other MS Office Programs. So if you wish to recover your lost password and access your important file again, and then continue reading this article to find out how…

Microsoft Office 2007 and onwards came out with significantly improved security features. Passwords to open Word documents are extremely hard to break but nevertheless they can be cracked. Only two basic methods of password breaking can be used: dictionary search and brute force attack. The quicker option is dictionary search; however this option won’t be off much help if the password was created artificially. The other option is Brute Force attack, this method tries to track the password down by searching all possible combinations of specified symbols, starting from very short sequences, so you can recover a password no matter how long or complex it might be. If the forgotten password contained less than six symbols, it can be recovered quickly. Long Passwords will take a while to recover, but with the aid of good software they can be retrieved fairly easily.

So if you have accidentally lost or forgotten an important password to a Microsoft Office (Word) Document, then don’t eat your brains out over it, you can still recover the lost password and remove password protection from Microsoft Office. All you need to do is get your hands on a good Password Recovery Software and you should be able to access your restricted files in a matter of minutes. Most Remove Password Protection Software’s offer a Free Download these days, so you can try out the program risk free to see if your passwords are recoverable.

Data Recovery

Why you Should Have a Disaster Recovery Plan in Place

DATARECOVERYUNION.COM16 years ago12 years ago05 mins

There is something that is inevitable. You never know when an entire system is going to crash or another disaster may come about. You have to be prepared for these things. If you’re not, then everything will be chaotic. No one will know what to do. In other words, everyone will be running around asking each other, “What do we do now?” And no one is going to have an answer.

What is a disaster recovery plan?
A disaster recovery plan is that protocol in which your employees follow when a certain disaster comes about. You have to evaluate everything that could go wrong within your business and have a recovery plan for each one of those situations. Since not one situation is the same, there has to be a protocol for each. From there, your employees have to study it and know what to do immediately. This means they need to memorize. There are many disasters that do not allow time for someone to pull out a manual and read what needs to happen. They have to act immediately.

But why have a disaster recovery plan in place?
You should have one in place because you need to conduct business in the best manner possible for your customers. Your customers expect seamless service no matter what, so you have to try to make things as convenient for them as possible. If you don’t, then you risk losing their business.

Your disaster recovery plan will include dealing with data loss during a natural disaster, dealing with a system meltdown, power surges, and so much more. It depends on what sort of business you are in as to what kind of plans you use. Just make sure that you cover all of your bases and that you also have a master plan so that you can take care of something that may not have a plan. You just never know what could happen.

Statistics
Statistics have shown that businesses with a disaster recovery plan are amongst those that recover better. Those who have experienced some sort of disaster that lasts for more than 10 days will never recover financially. 50% of those companies without a disaster recovery plan will spend so much time making up for lost cash that they will most likely be out of business in 5 years. That is not something you want to have to deal with. The cost of an outage that lasts only a few days is already bad enough. Contracts can be broken, credibility can be lost, and even future customers will never be acquired. These are extreme losses.

So take these statistics to heart so that you know why it is you need a disaster recovery plan. Not one more business needs to go out of business due to an outage, so you need to be on top of things. You need to realize that anything that prohibits you from carrying out your business practices can do irreparable damages. Your customers expect for you to be there for them whenever they need you. There is nothing more frustrating to them than trying to resolve an issue that you can’t resolve because of an outage. If their request is not fulfilled, then they may suddenly become your competitor’s newest customer.

Data Recovery

Data Recovery Vendor Considerations

DATARECOVERYUNION.COM16 years ago12 years ago06 mins

When looking for a data recovery provider, it’s important to ensure that the one selected can handle not only the various types of media, but also understands the data security regulations of today’s organizations. For example, encrypted data requires special data handling processes — from the clean room to the technically-advanced recovery lab. This isolation ensures no one person has complete access to the media throughout the recovery process, thereby providing security while maintaining recovery continuity and quality.

Additionally, it is important to note that some data recovery companies have been cleared for security projects and services for U.S. government agencies. As a result, these companies implement data privacy controls that are based on the U.S. government’s Electronic Defense Security Services requirements for civilian companies that are under contract for security clearance projects or services.

Unfortunately, most data loss victims only consider data recovery right after they have experienced a data loss and are scrambling for a solution. Emotions run high at this point. The fallout from a data disaster and corresponding data loss is sometimes crippling, with the IT staff working around the clock to get the computer systems back to normal. These distressed circumstances are not the time to think about what makes a good data recovery vendor. Incorporating this important decision into your business continuity planning is best done in advance. Some key questions to ask as part of this proactive exercise include:

Do you have a relationship with a preferred data recovery vendor?
What should you look for when reviewing data recovery companies?
Do you include data recovery in your disaster and business continuity planning?
Do you have a plan for how to handle data loss of encrypted data?
Do appropriate people have access to the encryption keys to speed up the recovery process?

Sometimes planning for these procedures can become involved and tedious, especially if you are planning for something you have never experienced. Do some investigating by calling data recovery service companies and presenting data loss situations such as email server recoveries, or RAID storage recoveries or physically damaged hard disk drives from mobile users. Ask about data protection and the policies in place to protect your company’s files.

Additionally, find out the techniques and recovery tools the providers use. Ask the companies how large their software development staff is. Inquire about how they handle custom development for unique data files. For example, will they be able to repair or rebuild your user’s unique files? Does the data recovery service company have any patents or special OEM certifications?

While these details may not seem important at first, they can be the decisive factors that determine whether your data recovery experience is a positive and successful endeavor.

Following is a checklist of factors to consider when searching for a data recovery vendor for encrypted data or ensuring your data recovery partner is able to comply with your data security policies:

Solid Reputation – Experienced data Recovery Company with a strong background.
Customer Service – Dedicated and knowledgeable staff.
Secure Protocols – Expert knowledge of encryption products with privacy protocols in place.
Technical Expertise – Capable of recovering from virtually all operating systems and types of storage devices.
Scalable Volume Operations – Equipped with full-service labs and personnel that can handle all size jobs on any media type.
Research & Development – Invested in technology for superior recoveries; not just purchasing solutions.

It is important to understand that data loss can occur at any time on any scale. It’s especially crucial to be prepared with a plan that adheres to your company’s security policy. The more prepared one is, the better the chance for a quick and successful recovery when a problem arises.

Data Recovery

Recovery Process for Encrypt HDD

DATARECOVERYUNION.COM16 years ago12 years ago26 mins

Recovering from hard disk drives that are encrypted follows the same handling procedures as all other magnetic media. A strict process of handling and documentation starts right at the shipping door upon drive receipt and ends when the drive is shipped back to the customer. In most cases, when working with a top data recovery provider, all recovery processes are logged. This results in an audit trail of the recovery history and serves as verification that the recovery was conducted in a secure, compliant manner. Specifically, you want to ensure the process consists of the following high-level steps:

1. Triage drive; determine faults without opening drive
2. Clean room escalation for physical or electronic damage
3. Secure original media
4. Sector-by-sector copy of drive data
5. User Key used to decrypt data
6. Produce file listing of user file names
7. Repair file system
8. Prepare data for delivery
9. Encryption options for data delivery

After the first four stages listed above, the recovery engineer will begin to map all key file system structures that point to the user files. However, if the hard disk drive is encrypted, then the drive needs to be decrypted in order to proceed.

Decryption
If this is the case, a user key or decryption password is required. Fortunately, encryption software has come a long way over the years. Instead of using a master password for decryption, most professional encryption software provides a technician level pass-phrase that changes on a daily basis. This protects the user’s password and the organization’s master password.

Many organizations are comfortable providing these one-time use pass-phrases so that the recovery work can continue. However, this is not always the case. For some organizations, providing this information to an outside vendor, such as a data recovery provider, is against their security policy. In these situations, a successful recovery is still possible. There are data recovery vendors that can perform recoveries while leaving the data in its encrypted form throughout the entire process. In this case, the data will be recovered and sent back to the client in its encrypted form; however, the specific results will be unknown until the files are opened by someone with access to the encryption key. Ultimately, this limits the ability for a data recovery provider to communicate the success of the recovery until the recovered data is delivered and opened, thereby placing some burden back on the customer.

As a result, it is clear that significant time and cost savings are associated with allowing your data recovery vendor to access your one-time use pass-phrase codes while attempting to recover your encrypted data. At the same time, it’s critical to ensure that your selected vendor also understands security protocols, is knowledgeable about encryption products and has privacy policies in place.

Resuming Recovery
Following the recovery, preparation for delivering the data begins. Since the original hard disk drive was encrypted, safely securing the recovered data is highly important. The recovered data is backed up to the media choice of the user and is re-encrypted. The new decryption key is communicated verbally to the user; email should not be used, as this could be a security risk. Some leading edge data recovery companies are able to deliver recovered data back to the customer in an encrypted format on external USB/Firewire hard disk drives. From the start of the recovery to the final delivery, data should be secure throughout the entire process.

Data Recovery

Data Recovery and Encryption

DATARECOVERYUNION.COM16 years ago12 years ago03 mins

Business continuity and disaster planning are critical for businesses regardless of their size. Most archive and backup software have key features to restore user files, database stores and point in time snap-shots of users’ files. Software is becoming more automated so users don’t have to manually backup their files. Some computer manufacturers have built-in backup systems that include dedicated hard disk drives for archive storage. Most external USB hard disk drives have some sort of third party software that provides data archiving during a trial time period. Such solutions, while solving the data backup need, create questions regarding how effective the systems are with respect to user data. What are your options when a user’s computer has a data disaster and the hard disk drive is fully encrypted?

Most IT security policies require a multi-pronged approach to data security. For example, when setting up a new computer for a user, the IT department will require a BIOS (Basic Input/output System) password for the system before the computer will start. BIOS password security varies in functionality. Some are computer system specific, meaning that the computer will not start without the proper password. Other BIOS passwords are hard disk drive specific, meaning that the hard drive will not be accessible without the proper password. Some computer BIOS employ one password for access control to the system and the hard disk drive. To add a second level of protection, new IT security policies require full hard disk drive encryption. The most common of full hard disk encryption software operates as a memory resident program. When the computer starts up, the encryption software is loaded before the operating system starts and a pass-phrase or password prompt is required. After a successful login from the user, the software decrypts the hard disk drive sectors in memory, as they are needed. The process is reversed when writing to the hard disk drive. This leaves the hard disk drive in a constant state of encryption. The operating system and program applications function normally, without having to be aware of any encryption software.

Data Recovery

Data Security & Data Loss

DATARECOVERYUNION.COM16 years ago12 years ago03 mins

Encryption continues to be the topic on every CIO and IT person’s lips nowadays. No one wants to end up in the news as the next victim of a privacy breach or the next company that didn’t protect its customers’ information. If you conduct a news search using the words “personal data breach,” you’ll be alarmed at the number of instances where personal information such as social security and credit-card numbers have been exposed to possible theft. In a recent breach, a state government site allowed access to hundreds of thousands of records, including names, addresses, social security numbers and documents with signatures.

Whether it’s government agencies, research facilities, banking institutions, credit card processing companies, hospitals–or your company’s computers – the risk of compromising private information is very high. At the recent “CEO-CIO Symposium,” speaker Erik Phelps from the law firm Michael Best & Friedrich described the relationship business has with technology. In his presentation, he stated that since “business relies so heavily on technology today, business risk becomes technology dependent.” The possibility of litigation is part of business. It has always been a risk of doing business, but because technology and today’s business are so intertwined, business risk has a higher threat level. This has prompted many to encrypt workstations and mobile computers in order to protect critical business data.

If you have rolled out encryption, how do you maintain your IT service quality when the hard disk drive fails? How do you plan and prepare for a data loss when the user’s computer is encrypted? These are all issues that should be considered when putting together a data disaster plan. In addition, data recovery, one of the more common missing elements of a disaster recovery plan, should also be factored in because it can serve as the “Hail Mary” attempt when all other options have been exhausted

Data Recovery

Top 5 Reasons Of Digital Photo Disasters

DATARECOVERYUNION.COM16 years ago4 years ago03 mins

1. OverwritingA common mistake is the accidental overwriting of images held on camera memory cards with new photos. It’s easily done. So check, check and check again that you’ve successfully transferred your images onto your PC, laptop, CD or DVD before taking new pictures.

2. ReformattingUsers often forget that reformatting a memory card will remove all the files stored on it including protected pictures and print orders.

3. Cracked and damaged mediaPacking memory cards into overstuffed suitcases can result in them becoming bent or damaged on the journey home, making them unreadable. Wrapping cards in clothes and placing them in the middle of your case offers some degree of protection in transit and helps ensure the safety of your pictures during your return trip.

4. Holiday injuries For those of you that opt for a tropical vacation instead of a snowy week with the in-laws, digital cameras often get dropped in the sand or splashed with water around the pool, damaging smart media to the extent that photos can’t be viewed..

5. Burnt media Leaving memory cards in an elevated temperature environment – close to a heat source such as a radiator or oven – will increase the chances of failure. Heat is unlikely to cause damage to the digital photos on the memory card but may stop the card from being recognized in a card reader.

Recent research – found that almost 90%of consumers now own a digital camera but around one-third don’t back up their photographs. The danger is that they could lose once-in-a-lifetime memories if anything happens to the memory cards that store their images.

Data Recovery

Data Loss–From PCs to Suit Pockets

DATARECOVERYUNION.COM16 years ago12 years ago02 mins

Data is everywhere. No longer confined to desktop computers, data is always with us – at the gym in the form of an iPod®, in the car via your cell phone, and of course surrounding you at work – notebooks, desktops, servers, etc. With the increased portability of data comes the increased risk for data to be lost, misplaced, damaged or destroyed.

How to protect mobile devices from data loss, here are some simple preventative steps that will help create good habits for the use of USB sticks and hopefully prevent any data disasters.

Minimize misplacement – Try to prevent ‘wandering’ USB sticks. The device is easily lost when you don’t exactly know where it is kept. A dedicated USB spot prevents loss of data from a portable storage device.
Carry with care – Make sure your USB is stored safely when traveling to minimize the risk of losing data.
No backups, please – A USB stick is too vulnerable to store precious information. These sticks should therefore never be used as a backup device.

Put a lid on it – if not in use ensure that the connector of your USB is protected. By using the protective cap, provided with any USB stick, a possible data disaster can be averted.

Unplug before you leave – Before you embark on a journey that requires a laptop and a USB stick, make sure the devices are separated. This way, both the laptop and the USB stick will run less risk of damage.

Data Recovery

Students how to protect against laptop data disasters?

DATARECOVERYUNION.COM16 years ago12 years ago05 mins

Many students will be packing laptop computers in addition to the usual school supplies. It’s clear that laptop computers are quickly becoming a vital part of the scholastic experience, however with more laptops in use comes more danger for data loss.

Laptop computers are an excellent way for today’s students to manage their workload, but protecting the data on those computers isn’t as simple as securing a notebook in a locker. Students need to be careful with their laptops to avoid both physical damage and other problems that could affect the integrity of their data. If problems do occur, it’s also important they know that data recovery is always an option.

To help students protect against laptop data disasters, there are some tips:

Laptops are not as rugged as many like to think. When laptops are being docked, moved or transported, the greatest of care should be taken to prevent unnecessary shock or impact. Set up your computer in a dry, cool, controlled environment that is clean and dust-free. Placing your computer in a low-traffic area will protect your system and storage media from harmful jarring or bumping.

Use a sturdy, well padded laptop bag – Using just a back-pack or brief-case may not provide the protection a laptop needs during transportation. Make sure your laptop has plenty of built-in padding for protection.

Backup your data regularly – Creating regular backups is one of the most effective ways to protect you from losing data. Back up data at least once a week on a reliable medium (CD, DVD, USB flash drives or Internet backup), always verifying that the correct data is backed up.

Run a virus scan and update it regularly – Computer viruses are one of the worst enemies to your computer. Good anti-virus software tests your system for sequences of code unique to each known computer virus and eliminates the infecting invader. Also beware of spyware, a common problem brought about by Web surfing and downloads that can cause complications with your computer’s efficiency. There are several programs available on the internet that can assist with the removal of most spyware programs.

Be aware of strange noises – If you hear a strange noise or grinding sound, turn off your computer immediately and call an expert. Further operation may damage your hard drive beyond repair.

Do not use file recovery software if you suspect an electrical or mechanical failure – Using file recovery software on a faulty hard drive may destroy what was otherwise recoverable data or worsen the physical failure.

Use Auto-Save features – Most software applications have Auto-Save features that will save the project or document you have open at a preset intervals. For laptop users, a good time interval to use is every 5 minutes.

Be battery-level aware – If you are going to be using the laptop for long hours, be sure to try and find an electrical outlet to plug into. Some laptops will shut down quickly when a specific low battery level is reached and important documents may be lost.