Data Recovery

Here's a good article on data recovery. Everyone should be aware that they are always vulnerable to data loss unless proper steps to avoid it are practiced.


What is Data Recovery? - A brief Introduction

By: Simon Steggles - www.disklabs.com



What is Data Recovery?

Data Recovery is the process of retrieval of inaccessible or
corrupt data from digital media that has become damaged in some
way. Data Recovery can be used to recover data from devices as
varied as Hard Disk Drives, Memory Cards, Tapes, Mobile Phones,
Personal Digital Assistants, Floppy Disk's, CD's, DVD's, Data
Cartridges, Xbox's and many more items.

Data Recovery may be needed for reasons as diverse as hardware
failure, (the tape has been 'chewed' up, the hard disk drive has
failed, the user has maliciously damaged the computer or digital
device, or it could have suffered fire or flood damage). All of
these instances will require the services of a professional data
recovery company if the data was of such value (be it
sentimental or financial) that the cost of the services are less
than the perceived value of the data which is no longer
accessible.

It is not just businesses who are at risk from Data loss.
Clients requiring data recovery come from all walks of life,
including large corporates, smaller businesses, and the self
employed to "joe public" who, with the introduction and
subsequent boom in the use of digital cameras etc to record
holidays and special occasions may have lost anything from
sentimental data to critical e-mails, and personal account
details. Students are often grouped under this heading too.

There are numerous ways that Data can be recovered from digital
media which can vary greatly, the simplest method can often
involve the running of basic software on the storage medium in
question. This is always a dangerous idea, because the recovery
data could overwrite the very data that is being recovered. More
complex commercial software tools are available which will do
this job more professionally. No software fix should be
attempted prior to the original media being imaged, enabling the
recovering company to work on a 'back-up' of the original
software. The most professional companies will also take a
second image should there be a problem with the first image that
is being worked on for recovery.

The next problem is what happens when the hard disk or storage
device doesn't work. For the smaller 'Data Recovery Companies',
this is a problem, and it is when the more serious Data Recovery
Companies get involved, (such as Disklabs,
http://www.disklabs.com ), who specialise in higher end Data
Retrievals. It is always recommended that the most critical work
should be sent to a true data recovery specialist, (check out
the accreditations - ensure the specialist has ISO9001-2000
Quality Assurance status, and is certified to ISO BE EN 14644 to
ensure that their clean facility is at the correct level for
intrusive data recovery work, find out how long that company has
been trading, and check their testimonials). Once you have found
the company that you are happy with, if the data storage device
doesn't work, there is a high likelihood that the digital media
will require spare parts, this is where organisations such as
1st Computer Traders Ltd, ( http://www.1ct.com ) are of service.
Organisations such as 1CT sell spare parts for hard disk drives
to organisations such as Disklabs, ( http://www.disklabs.com )
enabling them to get the original data accessible for long
enough to image the data onto a stable storage device, enabling
that data to be duplicated again which in turn allows a safe
recovery attempt to be achieved.

The data recovery job is generally finished when a list of all
the recovered files is sent to the client. Once the client
approves this file listing, they are then shipped the data of an
appropriate media. This can be a hard disk drive, floppy disk,
CD or DVD. Alternatively, if a file is considered critical, it
can be encrypted and then emailed to the client.

It should be noted that in extreme cases it may be impossible to
recover any data, however the bottom line is, as soon as you
have lost data you should power off your device and send it to a
professional Data Recovery Company to optimise your chances of a
successful recovery.

Simon Steggles Disklabs Data Recovery and Computer Forensics
Services

www.disklabs.com www.mobilephoneforensics.com www.1ct.com

About the author:
Simon Steggles is a Director of Disklabs and also a director of
1st Computer Traders Ltd, (www.1ct.com). Disklabs are data
recovery and computer forensics specialists, 1CT.com specialise
in hard disk drive repair.