Data Recovery – the importance of data backups
Imagine that you are on your computer at work when suddenly all of the lights go out and the computer shuts down. After a few minutes the power is restored. You reboot your computer only to find that an error message appears. It tells you that a fatal error occurred, that some important data has disappeared. Situations such as this happen all too often the good news is that there are key safeguards, one of which is data recovery that can significantly reduce their occurrence.
Primary and the most fail-safe method of preparing data recovery are data backups. Data backup refers to the copying of computer’s information so that these copies may be restored through data recovery process after some fatal event. Backups are useful primarily for two purposes: to restore a computer to an operational state following an accident (also called disaster recovery), and to recover information files after they have been deleted or corrupted (file or data recovery). Backups are usually the last line of defense against data loss (but also the most important one); they require much time and consequently are the least convenient to use. The more important the data that is stored in the computer, the greater the need for backing up the data. Also, the probability of having to go through the data recovery process increases with the amount of information that is stored.
Why data backup is so important? In today’s world, information is more important than money. And a company that loses access to its critical data for more than 48 hours will likely be put out of business within one year. The necessity of data backup allows for quick and successful data recovery which grows with the size of the company the larger it is, the bigger the danger of data loss.
- The main causes of data loss may be divided into following categories:
Human errors – deletion of a file or program by mistake, misplacement of CDs or floppies, errors in administrating databases - Crimes (intentional acts) including thievery, hacking, industrial espionage
- Natural (random) causes – including power failures, hardware failures, a sudden software crash or freeze, software bugs
- Disaster – fire, flood, tornado, earthquake etc.
To prevent data loss a company must choose the right data backup strategy. It consists of many steps choosing the data repository model (from unstructured to continuous), right storage media (from floppy drives to magnetic tapes), and managing the existing copies (they can be destroyed during the same accident) They all have a big impact on successful data recovery, as well as on the well-being of a successful company.
Daniel Gottilla author
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