Archive for the ‘Backup Software’ Category

Do You Have A Data Backup And Data Recovery Plan ?

Sunday, February 7th, 2010

Data backup is rarely a part of the plans say a home computer user or business IT administrator, all of us, it will never happen to me or my company, but in reality we are just mentally preparing for the time we lose our data. like trying to quit smoking, we all know we should do it, but will find all.
Excuse not to. To be honest with yourself and ask yourself the question, you have a backup plan for your data, or more importantly, you have a> Re-establish your business plan should something go wrong, protect? All operators and owners now say that past computer as a useful part of our lives, but now they are an absolute necessity.

We confirm the data that is on our computer infrastructure is the most important asset of an organization. I ask again, what would happen if you lost your data and what you do to protect them?

 

The reasons for data lossare endless, human intervention would be a hardware failure, software failure, natural disasters, loss, theft, we can go, but we can be sure of one thing that over time the list is getting longer and longer.

Ever had anything stolen or lost before something? I have found in the IT industry for about 25 years, and as you can imagine, I have some bizarre stories about how computers and servers were stolen one. Laptops stolen from rear of car (data lost), he forgot a colleagueLeft his laptop on the roof of his car, problem is, he realized if he was 160 miles by road (data loss).

My friend’s office twice in two nights, the first time resulted in a loss of desktop computers and totally devastated alarm system (some data loss), and the second night was broken to take the servers along with the backup device and media! Apparently the heavy stuff was stolen during the second night when the thief had more time there, the alarm is not repaired quicklyenough (total data loss and their activities within 8 months). You can save money to plan, to avoid data loss in the first place by implementing a data backup.

Hardware failure

If you managed to lose it, never have stolen your laptop or your entire IT infrastructure, then well done, now we want to prepare ourselves for hardware errors. There are essentially only three mechanical parts inside a laptop computer or server, 1) hard drive, 2) backup drive 3) CDor DVD. Hard not to do and if it does not happen, but it will.

Do not get me wrong, if you take the failed drive to be an expert, they probably get most of your data back (phew) but expect to pay more than £ 5,000 for the pleasure (not phew) to. You can save money to plan, to avoid data loss in the first place by implementing a data backup.

Fire or disasters (natural or not).

I live in the UK, it is a beautiful place, because we do not have problems with forestFires, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc., and so it will never be a major natural disaster, the extermination of the majority of a city. This is what I blasted until Bunsfield oil refinery, the air and flattened everything within a 3-mile radius expected.

There are a million and one reasons and scenarios, I can illustrate to you why you should backup your business data. We all know the practices of data backup is nothing more than common sense. Mission critical or sensitiveData that you do not want or can not afford to lose, should be ensured. PROTECT YOUR DATA!

If you really think that you lose do not need to backup your data, because you will never be there, please stop reading this article and have to go now and a little less boring.

Let’s talk about the different ways to backup your data and other backup services. If you are one of the following on board you will be able to the solution that best fits you or you find yourCompany.

Backup to CD solution.

To make your data to CD-file backup is easy to do that consume time to it every night, and you must be disciplined, to order up to one hour to one side to the job every night. To backup data to a CD drive is not an automatic process, and we all know busy people.

Once you backed up your data on CD, please always check whether the data is actually on the CD and then take home with them. There are noPoint they leave are stolen or destroyed by fire, together with your hardware.

Please do not us a CD for archiving data (documents safe) for a long time, as I did not expect this type of media also continues to be stable for more than 2 years. Backup to CD has many limitations, but it is certainly better than no backup of your data at all.

RAID – not just protect your backup server disks.

All servers should be every opportunity to stay alive;Running a RAID configuration will help to prevent data loss from hard drive failure. If you have 3 drives in a RAID 5 configuration will have your server when a drive fails tolerated. RAID does not protect you against fire, flood, theft or
another disaster coming our way, but provide business continuity.

This solution is usually not protect you from theft as an additional hard drives for RAID storage are usually installed on your computeror in other facilities on site. There is usually no protection from fire either so this method has its
Restrictions.

Secure offsite data backup and recovery via a third party organization. Offsite backup over the Internet or saving methods is usually associated with larger enterprises enterprises. In the past, the high cost of high-speed connectivity has been prohibitive for smaller companies.

This type of backup is to be completed now acceptedand gaining momentum around the globe. The main reason for this is grown, as the price for high-speed Internet connections is greatly reduced, virtually every business and every home is connected to the Internet through a minimum 2MB line as a result it is now possible to produce large quantities of backup data to a secure server offsite
Data center.

For me, the best element of an offsite backup solution is not the high encryption security in place, the price or the purposereplicated infrastructure development, where the data is stored, but it is the fact that an offsite backup solution is a completely automated process. Set and forget as soon as you set the software backup your data at a certain time each day, you can just forget it and let her work to protect your data preserved.

When I checked your backup process, I would implement all three of the above options. A RAID system for business continuity, offsiteBackup-to-business securely protect all my data, and a fast recovery, a CD backup only allow my critical data, which will keep my business running.

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Restoring A Damaged Hard Disk- Hard Drive Recovery

Friday, January 29th, 2010

You may regularly expect a Hard Drive crash to happen at some moment in time, in reality, several forms of Hard Drive breakdown is expected. This means that on average, lots of persons go through it to some point. The causes behind Data Corruption differ, and might involve anything from a human error to damages.

 Ensuing from floods and fires to internal and external Hard Drive defects. Viruses may be a feature as well, along with numerous other probable issues. For lots of persons, the necessity to salvage data which has been lost or destroyed has made information recovery such a very valuable asset.

Virtually all Hard Drives can be salvaged. Ordinarily, if the drive is developing a ticking or a scratching noise, you can use certain computer programs to retrieve the information. Occasionally, due to age or flawed parts, the aperture arm in the Hard Disk can stop working, or the Hard Disk platters may get dented and suffer the loss of the information that they contain.

If you can’t retrieve the information with computer applications, you’ll must to send out the Hard Drive to have it either reconstructed or have information salvage techs salvage your data for you.

Data retrieval is always an alternative, from Hard Drives which are 2 GB in size to the largest Hard Drives with terabytes of information. No matter what size Hard Disk you possess, the information can normally be salvageed. bear in mind that if you have had a PC crash, you’ll want to send off the Hard Disk to have the data recovered by technicians.

Hard Disk Partition retrieval, and even information which has been lost somewhere on the hard disk can be retrieved by techs with the correct equipment. Although it might look like your information is vanished permenently, the technicians which specialize in information retrieval may regain it.

Whether you are utilizing a Windows to Mac or Linux, almost all can be recovered. Specially skilled technicians may be capable to restore file structures like NTFS and FAT32, which are common in Windows, easily.

Those who have multiple Hard Disks in your PC, can rest assured that more complex filing structures like RAID configurations can also be recovered.

When your Hard Disks crashes, data recovery is there to assist you getting back your files. Whether they are private documents or files that are required for your job, you may place your faith in information recovery and know that you’ll obtain much of the information back.

Recovering lost information from your Hard Drive is can frequently be processed with the help of a data recovery lab, but the greatest choice is for you to backup your documents often. Saving up your files onto DVD’s or using an online online data backup is by far the best way to keep your files safe.

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Protecting Your Digital History With Data Backups

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

Like most personal computer users out there, you may have data on your PC that is irreplaceable. Papers, essays, and articles that you are fighting to finish by the end of the semester. The resume that you spent hours trying to perfect and haven’t gotten the chance yet to send out to potential employers.

 Photos of your children that seem to be growing and maturing at a rate that makes you think “I swear she just learned to walk the other day.” Saved data from Microsoft Money, Quicken, Quickbooks, or other money management software that keeps your finances in order. This data is important to you, and also like most PC users out there, you probably aren’t backing it up.

Being the Network Manager at the Standard-Examiner backups make me cringe on a day to day basis. Running 50+ servers in a mixed Operating System environment consisting of Linux, Unix, OS X, and Windows makes backups an every day battle. You may have heard the adage: “it’s not a matter of if a hard drive fails, it’s when”.

Coming from someone that has had years of experience in the computer world, this saying rings true and exemplifies the importance of data backups. Luckily for you, the end user, backups can be an easy, automated process. There are tons of solutions out there that make the backup of your personal computer extremely manageable and the majority of them can be had for free.

 

If you have found your way here to see which solution I recommend, then jump down to Mozy or Windows Live Sync (but don’t forget to read my warning on bandwidth issues).

Backing up Locally

The traditional method of backing up, backing up locally, can be done to a variety of devices such as a DVD burner, flash drive, external hard drive, a Windows Home Server, or NAS device. Probably the most cost effect way of doing so, with the decreasing cost of storage, is by using an external hard drive. Right now, a 1TB USB 2.0 drive can easily be found for around $100. Before going out and buying one, make sure that you check slickdeals.net or wait to see what kind of Black Friday hard drive deals will be available (or check the Black Friday inserts now).

Within the last couple of weeks, slickdeals has had a 1TB drive for $80 and a 1.5TB for $100, and traditionally, retailers have killer hard drive deals the day after Thanksgiving. Regardless of what storage type you choose, generally the process is the same. You select a file source, then a destination, choose some options, set a schedule, and then let it do its thing.

Centered Systems Second Copy, Acronis True Image, and Norton Ghost are all applications that I have used and work well in their own regards. Although they offer some advanced features, they all come with a price tag, and if you can get something similar for free . . . then why not?

Windows Backup

Windows Backup comes with your PC (if you are running windows of course) and gives you the convenience of scheduling and versioning (having multiple versions of the same file). If you are running Windows 7 or Windows Vista, Microsoft has simplified the process of backing your precious files up from one place to another and has added the ability to backup your entire PC. Here is a quick how to on setting this up in Windows Vista (the process is very similar in Windows 7).

Synctoy

Synctoy, as its name implies, synchronizes files between two folders. This backup method is great because it copies your files in a manner that you can easily access them on your backup device. They show up as directories and files that you can browse from any computer without having to install any software or having to go through any special process. A tutorial on how to use Synctoy can be found here.

Backing Up Over the Internet

Local backups have their advantages (recovery time for example), but what happens if your house burns down, or someone breaks into your home and steals your computer? This is where off-site backups show their strengths. I personally keep both types of backups, but if I had to choose one, I would send my files into the cloud.

Some popular online backup solutions include Carbonite, Logmein Backup, and Buddy Backup (the latter two of which require two PCs in two different locations). You are more than welcome to check out these products (I have), but there are two solutions that I think are killer offerings.

Bandwidth Warning

Some internet service providers (locally to where I live there is Digis), will truncate your speed, charge you extra, or cut off your internet access if you transfer an excessive amount of data. Comcast limits its subscribers to 250GB of data transfer a month and some other heavy hitters are doing the same, but most people will not have this much data to backup. Also, after the initial backup, incremental data transfers should be a lot smaller.

Mozy

Mozy.com works similar to Windows Backup, but it encrypts and compresses the files that you choose and then sends them up to Mozy’s servers. Mozy keeps different versions of your files in case you save over a file that you didn’t mean too, and allows you recover your files from any computer that has an internet connection.

After the initial setup, the process is completely automated and costs only $4.95 a month for unlimited data. Yes, I said unlimited. So assuming you have the patience and the bandwidth, you could backup hundreds of gigs worth of music, videos, pictures, and documents. This process keeps your data safe and secure in some remote location away from any natural disaster that may come your way.

Windows Live Sync

Similar to Synctoy, Windows Live Sync (formerly Foldershare) lets you synchronize folders over the internet. This process works best with friends or family that also want to backup their data. You add computers to your account by installing the Windows Live Sync software, choose a folder to sync between the computers, and the files are compared and transferred.

 This method keeps your files in sync and allows you to share music and photos with your family. Through the web interface you can also browse the hard drives of your synced computers (if enabled), and share folders for others on the internet to access.

As you can see, backing up doesn’t have to be a time consuming or expensive process. Whether you choose to backup locally, over the internet, or both, doing so will help ensure that those school papers, resumes, precious family photos, or other documents are safe and sound.

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