You Think a Firewall and Anti-Virus Are Enough?

Why do I care? I am not worth hacking!

What precautions have you taken to ensure the security of your personal computer or your company's network? Holland IT, a computer network security firm, offers innovative solutions to the challenges of securing your data, your network, your money and your identity.

You think a firewall and anti-virus are enough? Think again! Anti-virus and a firewall are just the tip of the iceberg! If you have seen the AOL advertisements on television, you know there are worse things than your hard drive making a sound like a yeti! On a personal level, if you are even slightly concerned about a third party obtaining anything on your computer, then your first step is to take a moment and figure out how vulnerable you are. The same basic process applies to a corporate network.

Keep in mind that being connected to the Internet is a bit like stumbling down a dark alley wearing a shiny gold Rolex while you are drunk. Rather dangerous - who knows what is around the next corner! You may end up on the Channel 5 news. Would you risk it, considering how hard you've worked on building your company?

You have a firewall (maybe many!)? Sure, better than no firewall. But you do have holes in it, right? I mean, your e-mail goes through it, you can surf the Web through it, send files right through it. Are any of your people using Instant Messenger? FTP? SSH? Any MP3 servers, WEB servers, WEB e-mail servers anywhere in your network? Your wireless data is encrypted, right? Every vulnerability in every operating system or program you have on every computer in your infrastructure has been patched, right?

Think "proactive" to avoid attack or extortion

At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, computer network security has to be more proactive and not reactive. In a recent survey, Orange County was well below the national average in secure computer network standards. Public companies have no choice but to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley, but what about the privately held companies? Are their systems immune to hackers, worms, viruses, spam and spyware? System security is a highly complicated subject - no one knows everything, especially overworked, stressed out IT persons! But with the appropriate tools and the right procedures and safeguards in place, a hacker may select an easier target to attack or a less proactive company for extortion.

Home computer vulnerabilities

Some individuals are worth hacking, although less so than companies. Thieves can use your connection for criminal activities, send spam, store copyrighted data for illegal distribution, steal your identity or money, and wreak havoc on your credit rating. If you have wireless in your house or home office, your information is easily captured. If you have any connection to the Internet, you can be hacked. If it's broadband, DSL or cable, you can be hacked at any time, even when you are sleeping or not home, and your connection can be abused - firewall or no firewall. If I were a spammer, I wouldn't use my own connection - I would "borrow" yours!

Impact on your business

If your company relies on the Internet for business, just imagine the impact if your connection is locked up. Every time you switch it off and then back on, it's still locked up! It's called a DDOS (denial of service) attack - what are you going to do about it?

Has someone published vulnerabilities to gain access to your systems? A resounding "Yes!" Welcome to the World Wide Web, where all information is available if you know where to look. Although real hack attacks are actually rare, they do happen. The most common hacks are from within, ex-employees or employees with something on the side, but the net result to your business is the same.

Why do most hacks go unreported? How would your customers feel if they knew your network was compromised? Anyone with money or confidential information in his or her systems is a possible target. In 2004, hackers got away with an estimated $800 million and that is surely only a fraction of the true amount.

There are even worse things than theft to deal with. Former CIA Director George J. Tenet said recently, "Telecommunications -and specifically the Internet - is a back door through which terrorists and other enemies of the United States could attack the country, even though great strides have been made in securing the physical infrastructure. The Internet represents a potential. Achilles heel for our financial stability and physical security if the networks we are creating are not protected." (Washington Times) And we have not even talked about viruses, worms or spyware.

Initial course of action

A recommend initial course of action would be for everyone to take time to download the FBI CSI file on Computer Crime from http://www.fbi.gov, study it, and take a look at what other companies are doing to secure their infrastructure. Maybe you can wait; maybe your infrastructure will be okay. But think about why you have car insurance. If it were legal not to have it, would you do without insurance? Attacks and ruined computer networks are a very real problem that cannot be ignored. The solutions are out there - talk to an expert today.

SIDEBAR SIDEBAR ... if you are even slightly concerned about a third party obtaining anything on your computer, then your first step is to take a moment and figure out how vulnerable you are.

At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, computer network security has to be more proactive and not reactive.

Pen Drive - A Necessary Evil?

Technology has always been a necessary evil. The more the technology develops, the greater are the chances of its being abused. Pen drive, the small storage device used to store and transfer data to and from computers, has gained popularity due to its functionality. It has got thousands of uses. Ease of use and convenience is the prime reason of its popularity.

However, like many other equipments, pen drives are also a necessary evil and pose a potential security threat to the technology world. When placed in wrong hands, the portability and high storage capacity of the pen drive can be hazardous. The device has evolved as a threat to the corporate and other organizations where security of data is given utmost importance.

The threats that are associated with pen drives are serious. Some of them are listed below.

Stealing of data:

Apart from the defense department, the corporate sectors all over the world are under the threat of data theft for espionage. There is no dearth of incidents where spies, hackers and other source are employed to steal data. A pen drive gives ample of opportunity for the theft from an unattached or unlocked PC with a USB port. It is easy to access data and steal information like client list, research data or any other information. The hackers can even bring the software with a pen drive allowing the user to hack password or other confidential information.

Spreading virus:

Earlier, floppy drives and emails were considered as main source of virus to computers. However, there has been anti-virus software developed to counter virus and protect the PC. But with pen drive it is difficult to check the virus with the safeguard as the device can bypass the protection. It is almost impossible to defend against the viruses unless and until you have strong anti-virus policies or you are not scanning all files in your network. It is easy for a virus writer to corrupt the entire network of a corporate environment with a pen drive.

Plant malicious software:

Virus apart, it is not difficult for anyone to take any spamware and plant it in the PC. In corporate sectors the threat multiplies when employees use pen drives to bring unauthorized software or any other data such as software pranks, sharewares, mp3 files, pornography pictures, video clips and other inappropriate data that is against the corporate ethics. As pen drives allow more space, it is easy to bring bulky software which impossible with a floppy. Situation worsens when the software is used to crack password.

Causing data loss:

Pen drives barely allow any security system in terms of password or any other built in security feature. So it is more likely that if a person loses a pen drive, the data inside it can be accessed by anyone. If it falls in wrong hands he or she can misuse it. a pen drive can be easily stolen or misplaced and the data stored inside it can be easily manipulated. There have large demand for pen drives with some security systems such as finger-print reader or protective software.

There has been a conscious protest against pen drives in many private and government organization. Though it is a convenient device for the productive brains, it has proved to be beneficial for the thieves as well. Pen drives are small in size and have greater capacity to store information. Hence the thieves can carry the device stealthily in pockets and take information.

Unless and until any drastic step has been takes against it, the security of any organization can be in stake. Even a visitor can retrieve data easily from an open computer. Considering these threats, some companies have taken some protective measures for their security by banning pen drive inside company premises. It can reduce the threat to some extent.

Recovery Tips For Errored, Damaged Or Unfinalized DVDs

The following procedures can be tried in the event of you having an unsuccessfully finalized DVD, a damaged DVD or a DVD that has not been burned correctly by the video camcorder or recorder and has some corrupt data.

It is a good idea for you to first consider other possible causes of what appears to be errors such as a dirty disc surface, a dirty lens in the DVD reader or other software and hardware related problems. Prior to embarking on any of the following you need to eliminate all possible causes for having trouble with a DVD. Check to see your DVD burner has the latest firmware by going to the manufacturers website. Check to see if the media (brand and type) are compatible with your DVD burner/reader. Once you are certain that you have an unsuccessfully finalized DVD or a corrupt DVD you can get started.

Scratched DVD Disks

A simple visual inspection of the surface of the disc will tell you straight away whether your first problem is physical damage to the disc. If you can see a scratch or scratches on the surface then this may need to be addressed first. I say "may" because personally I use DVDFab to check to see if the disc will copy before I embark on any other course of action. DVDFab can read through a lot of surface errors because of its superior algorithms so I always take the lazy route and see if I can simply make a new copy. Now failing that you could go online and buy some expensive DVD scratch repair kit. Or you could do as I do and go to your local hardware store or even your own garage! All you will need is a bottle of any neutral colored (clear) car polishing product. Turtlewax happens to be the one I use. Take a VERY soft cloth (NOT paper towel), apply a little polish to the surface of the disc and GENTLY (remember, it's not a car!) rub the disc. Use straight strokes from the centre of the disc to the outer edge and continue to do this until you can see the scratch either disappear or reduce noticeably. Then using the same motion and fresh cloth buff the disc back to its original shine. Now try it with DVDFab. If you are still unsuccessful repeat the process until you can be certain, again by visual inspection, that the problem is now not coming from a damaged disc surface.

DVD data Repair/Recovery

The software you can use for this are DVDFab, Nero 8 (trial) and Isobuster. In the case of Isobuster you can try the free features first but failing that the full featured version needs to be purchased. A straight search of Yahoo or Google will find you the relevant sites.

Put the problem disc in the DVD drive of your computer then:

1. DVDFab. Try to use DVDFab first, as it has the best algorithms for reading anything on a DVD including how it integrates with the DVD drive, honestly sometimes I think it would read a bagel if you put it in there!

Select "DVD to DVD." DVDFab will now try to read the contents of the disc and, if it can, write the contents to a folder on your hard drive. It is as simple as that. It is either going to work or not! If it does do it then the copy you now have on your hard drive will be fully repaired and you can then burn a new copy.

Failing that:

2. Isobuster. Using the free functions try to make a disc image file and burn to another DVD. Isobuster has three alternate methods of dealing with data corruption. It can replace the corrupted area with nothing, with fake data or with a series of zeros. It will give you the choice and just select them in order to try each until one works. Isobuster will not create the disc image file unless it knows it will be successful. If Isobuster has created the file (note where it was going to put it first!) you will have to re-name the extension to .iso. Use the disc image file to burn a new DVD disc. At this point, if you now have a new disc, you need to check that new one carefully. There is always the possibility that Isobuster has just made a perfect copy of your faulty disc! So now you have a brand new faulty disc!

Failing that: You will need to pay for the full version of Isobuster but ONLY buy it if you got this far. If Isobuster free couldn't even read the disc then don't bother.

From this point forward the best you can hope for is the extraction of the MPEG video files or data files on the disc. You ARE going to lose the video menus and you may lose some of the video or data.

a. Start Isobuster then load the disc.

b. When Isobuster has detected the files on the disc run the "Find Missing Files and Folders" option under the "File" menu.

c. You will now have an entry on the left hand column of "files and folders found by their signature."

d. Select that, then go to "File," "Files found via their signature" then "Extract files found via their signature." Choose a location and let it run.

Now you will have all the files where you selected them to go. The ones with the extension .VOB are the MPEG files from your disc wrapped in the VOB container. They can then be imported into a video editing program using the "Import DVD/VR" function or can be read by most DVD burning software.

Unfinalized discs. If at all possible try to get the original device used to create the disc to finalize it. If this is not possible or the original device is failing to successfully finalize the disc you may have to resort to the Isobuster routine above.

If you have been left with an otherwise perfectly good disc, but unfinalized do the following.

This requires Nero 8 (Trial version) and is suited to unfinalized discs only. Go to the Nero link above, download and install Nero 8. Yes, it's big...sorry!

Place the unfinalized disc into the computer DVD tray. Open Nero 8 StartSmart. Click "create and edit" at the top of the screen. Click "author, edit and capture video." NeroVision 5 will start. Click on the disk tools drop down menu then click "finalize disk." In the option box that appears choose "no menus" and let it run. Hopefully you now have a fully finalized disc that is readable.

Hope this helps!

Identity Theft by Selling a Used Computer

Selling a Used Computer and Identity Theft

Identity Theft is the fastest growing crime over the last few years. The amount of data stored on computer systems is an ideal repository for criminals to attempt identity theft. When someone either discards or sells a used computer system, hard drive, or external storage device most people do not appropriately sanitize the media, but rather delete or format a disk falsely believing all the data is gone.

A friend of mine recently bought a new fancy rig costing $2,000 or so. When I asked him what he did with his old system, he said he sold it on craigslist for $550 to help fund the new purchase. "Did you put in a new hard drive?" "No, but I reformatted it."

There is a misconception among those unfamiliar with the inner workings of computers that deleting files and formatting hard drives removes data completely. Think back and try to remember all the files you deleted over the past 10 years. Did you ever delete financial data, such as accounting spreadsheets, bank numbers, credit card data, or personal information? How about scanned documents, such as mortgage paperwork, driver's licenses, birth certificates, or pay stubs? What happened to those computers or hard drives with which you think you deleted those files from? Did you sell the PC like my friend, donate it to an organization, or just throw it away? Who has used that computer since, and what may they have found? These are all important and scary questions.

I recall a thesis paper written by some graduate students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that outlined this very threat. They had purchased 150 or so used hard drives from eBay to study how much personal data was left on old systems. They reportedly found medical records, email correspondence, corporate financial data, illicit personal photographs, thousands of credit card numbers, and even an ATM drive with numerous bank accounts. This is a very real concern for every computer owner, especially my friend now that the system is out of his possession.

What Deleting and Formatting Really Does

I proceeded to give my friend a little education on how computers store information and what deleting and formatting actually does. Basically, the hard drive is broken down into sectors in which the data is stored. In the figure below, suppose File A is a Tax return for 2007. 2008 comes around and you delete 2007's record and the file appears gone. All that has happened is the Operating System (OS) has marked those sectors as available and removed it from the user's view. It is still easily recoverable through a variety of software. The file still exists and is in just as good of shape as before you deleted it.

See Hard Drive Sectors Image

When space is needed the Operating System will then overwrite the sector with a new file. Perhaps, 2008's Tax return isn't as large as 2007's, and the OS decides to use Sector 1 and 2 to store the data. 2007 (File A) has now been overwritten, but part of Sector 2 was not needed. This extra space is called "Slack Space," and still retains part of the deleted file. Again, this information is recoverable.

Because my friend decided to format the drive, he figured all the information on the drive was inaccessible regardless. In reality, formatting only redefines the hard drives characteristics to store information. The data is still physically embedded on the media and recoverable with simple tools. This software even allows for the overwrite sanitization technique I explain below.

How to Really Erase Hard Drives
What needs to happen to totally remove the data yet keep the drive functioning is repetitive overwriting. This should be done multiple times. As an analogy, say your child writes his name with permanent marker on the living room wall. You take some left over paint and coat the area, but after it dries the writing is still visible. This is called residual data. The same applies with overwriting as a technique to sanitize your computer drives. You'll need multiple coats or overwrites to sufficiently mask what was originally written. Some Tools will overwrite all addressable sectors with random characters eliminating the slack space and the residual data.

If you are going to donate, sell, or dispose of your computer be sure to appropriately safeguard your private information by using some sort of sanitization method. You don't want to be a victim to evil folks whom actually purchased used computers for just this purpose.

Data Recovery - 4 Things You Should Know About Hard Drive Crashes

s I talk to people about data recovery, I find that they certainly do not have all the facts. Most people are only aware of a few options for something as important as their data. If you are anything like me you store photo memories, work information, personal emails -- All those things that are hard to replace.

So, I've put together a list of 4 things EVERYBODY ought to know about data recovery.

1. Just because it was deleted does not mean it is gone forever.

When you lose important data, it is still possible to recover it. In fact, even if something has been written over, it may still be possible to recover that data. The US Department of Justice has said that a purposefully deleted piece of information, in many cases, has to be written over 7 or more times before it is completely gone. The bottom line here is that just because it may seem that it is gone, doesn't mean that it cannot be recovered.

2. Your Drive Will Wear Out.

Physical damage can occur to a hard drive because of mechanical failures such as motors going bad, or head crashes. Physical damage to the hard drive will almost always lead to data loss. In addition to the data loss, it is likely that damage to the logical structure of the hard drive will also occur. Most of the physical damage on a hard drive cannot be repaired by the end user. The mere opening of the hard drive in the normal environment can result in dust settling on the surface which results in further damage to the platters.

3. Data Loss Can Be Difficult in Many Ways.

Losing data from your hard drive can be devastating for many reasons. If you use the computer for business, perhaps all your client files, accounting files, etc. are there. For personal users, you may have your entire family photo album there, in addition to all family contact information. Perhaps there are important emails from family members stored on the computer. In any case, this information is extremely important to you. In addition to regular backup sessions a good data recovery software can be helpful. This software can be useful to a personal user, and it can help you to recover important data, and save you hundreds of dollars along the way. There are many to choose from, but you'll want to make sure what you buy can do what it says it will do.

4. Data Recovery Services are an Option.

When taking your hard drive to a specialist for data recovery, they will evaluate the drive and inform you of the problem, as well as the cost for recovery. Once you have this quote, you may think the price is too high. The real question you need to ask yourself then, is how important the data is. As I mentioned previously, there are data recovery software programs available, but if your data is very critical, you should consider the price quoted to you by the data recovery service. When you attempt to do it yourself, it will almost always lead to permanent loss of your data. A professional can recover most, if not all of the data in question. If your data is that important, then it is well worth the cost involved. Always remember too, that much of the headache can be avoided simply by backing up your data regularly. I can't tell you how many times this has saved my butt!

There you have it! 4 Things that everyone should know about data recovery. There are many more but I just wanted to touch on the most important.

Backup Solutions to Save Your Important Laptop Data

When working on a crucial project, there is always concern that your stored data is not completely protected. The solution to this is advanced laptop backup. It should be effective regardless of Internet connection, and should boast simplicity, speed, functionality and security.

The use of laptop back is quite simple; once you connect to the server that will sync you up, you can utilize a WAN-based backup that is safe and smooth. After choosing the proper provider of these services, you can also choose a procedure for scheduling, and choose the appropriate bandwidth.

It is quite often that consumer complaints are heard regarding poor quality backup utilizing WAN. Because of this, early techniques of laptop backup were criticized, but the solution sand technology has advanced quite far since then. The advance of the Internet and related technologies have made the product worlds more advanced than it was, and the WAN optimizer is simply one of the features - of which there are many more - that is prepared to increase and develop the popularity of such products, and will increase the efficiency and functionality of WAN products exponentially.

The type of support that was offered was also discussed, and new products have been capable of providing support for locked Outlook files, and those for other such programs - this wide range of support in terms of file types is one of the selling points.

Laptop backup, then, appears to your best option for ongoing protection. Advanced options make it possible to save multiple versions of a single file, which provides greater support in the case of several changes.

Further information regarding recent offerings of laptop data solutions, provided by those among the best in the field, can be found if you scan the Internet. Inform yourself visit http://laptop-support.net and you will be satisfied with your choice!

How to Spot a Data Crash and How to Handle One

If you have experienced inability to retrieve stored files from your computer, chances are you may have a data crash. This could happen due to physical or logical problem with your hard drive.

Physical refers to external damage to the hard drive component such as platter, circuit board failure and motor malfunction. Logical problems are internal failures due to virus attack and accidentally deletion of files and so on.

How to tell if you are facing possible data crash? You can usually know by strange noises produced by your computer, such as grinding, scraping, buzzing and clicking.

The above symptoms are indicating the possibility of a head crash. Because hard drive have an operational spinning speed of 3600 to 15000 RPM, severe damage can be done in a very short amount of time. This can result in damage to the head, loss of data and damage to disk surface or a combination of all three.

In this event, you will have to act instantly to firstly avoid further damage to your stored data and secondly, to preserve the damage in its original state. The first thing you want to do is to power off immediately. Do not even use the 'shut down' command, just switch off from the main source. This is because if you shut down, temporary files could overwrite any precious data.

Even if you are working on a particularly important document at the time of the crash, do not attempt to edit, save or retrieve anything. Remember that your hard drive could be severly corrupted very quickly and the goal here is to preserve the original state of the damage in order to recover not one, but all your files.

If your computer tell you that it cannot detect the hard disk, refrain from rebooting repeatedly especially if you face the same outcome after the initial reboot. If there has been a data crash, you risk damaging the head by having it scratching against the disk, damaging the disk surface at the same time.

The greater the damage, the lesser your chance in recovering your data. However, in approximately 80% of the time, data recovery is possible.

What to Do in the Case of a Hard Drive Crash

The worst thing that can happen to someone who works only on the computer is a hard drive crash. This is a disaster especially if data backup hasn't been made. Luckily, nowadays the data can be recovered, that's the good part, and the bad part is that it costs a lot of money. That's why a lot of companies are out there, which offer data recovering services. Many of them use tricks to attract costumers. They ask a low fee at first and after the evaluation the fee suddenly increases. Most of the customers prefer to pay than have it sent back and look for another company.

There exist two major causes which can lead to a hard drive crash. One of them is logical and the other one is physical. You can determine yourself if it's physical or logical; it's not a sure test but it is usually right on the money. If your BIOS recognizes the hard drive, it's logical. If not, the problem is physical. However, it is best that if you suspect a hard drive crash and you didn't do a backup of your data to turn off the computer and let a professional examine your hard disk.

If you are sure that your hard drive has crashed, the best you can hope for is that the problem is logical and not physical. Not only that it could take also ten days to recover the data, but in some cases they won't be able to recover it, in case of a physical problem. If it is logical they will try to restore the file system and if they are successful, the hard disk will work as it did earlier. If not, a thorough scan will be done and every file found will be copied. The cause of a logical problem is usually a virus, but it can also be caused if you, by accident, delete some important files.

Having a physical problem means that it will be hard work to recover the data. The parts that were damage will need to be replaced. Sometimes, this won't even work if it isn't done properly. That's why these things should be done only by professionals. If your hard drive crashed, I hope that you will be able to recover your data, because in some cases no one will be able to recover it. However, the percentage of success is pretty high, since almost 85% of the recovery processes are successful.

A Guide to Backing Up Your Business Data Online With a Bare Metal Server

Traditional offsite data backup involves storing discrete files that can be restored as needed. This is fine when replacing a few files because the originals were corrupted. However in the event of a major disaster that requires a complete system rebuild, restoration is a tedious process of installing the operating system, installing each application, then restoring the data files.

Luckily for IT managers, there is another way: bare metal recovery.

What Is Bare Metal Backup and Recovery?

Bare metal recovery allows an IT administrator to easily restore a system from scratch, even if a catastrophe has reduced the system to "bare metal." Rather than restoring individual files, the entire system drive is restored in one operation. Not even the operating system needs to be installed.

In the early days of PCs an application called Ghost was the first consumer-oriented disk cloning software produced. For a long time it was the only option and to this day the idea of "ghosting a hard drive" means making an exact duplicate that can be restored easily.

Since those days, other options have appeared and there are now several ways to perform a total system restore and backup. Many online backup services now offer dedicated servers to be used for disk cloning, a technique now called bare metal recovery.

Does Your Organization Need Bare Metal Online Server Backup?

The short answer is "Probably." Traditional online server backup is an important tool and is certainly a valid component of an overall disaster recovery plan. It is more likely that a disaster will destroy a few files or even a data drive rather than the entire system.

However, major disasters happen. A fire, flood, or other incident can physically destroy an entire computer system. Every minute your system is down is a minute your organization is losing money because no one can work. Today's businesses are dependent on their computer systems and can't function without them. The faster a system can be restored, the faster the company is running at full speed.

How Do Bare Metal Operations Work Online?

Server backup to an online provider can't be done by direct ghosting. However online providers are still an important step in the system recovery plan. Perform your bare metal backup using the software of your choice, which will create a disk image file. This image can then be saved through your online server backup provider just like any other file, thus backing up the backup.

Your organization has the protection of a complete disk image, allowing data restoration in the event of complete system destruction, combined with the protection of a redundant, offsite copy of your data. This operation will require a computer separate from your server.

After a disaster, the second computer can quickly be brought up with a bare bones operating system and your online restoration software. It pulls the disk image from the online server backup, which is used to restore the main server.

CHKDSK - Life-Saver Or Disk-Drive Killer?

CHKDSK is an often misused utility that resides on almost every Windows Operating System. The basic usage of the program is to check your disk for errors (notice the acronym), and also to attempt to locate damaged sectors if you enable the correct configuration. The total process could take anywhere from a few minutes on up to a few days, again, depending upon the configuration that is used at the command prompt. There are a few basic questions that you should ask yourself before attempting to recover data from a damaged drive with this utility:

How valuable is the data contained on the drive?

What would I do if the data is damaged beyond the point of repair or retrieval?

How large is the disk drive in question?

What is the cause of the damage to the hard disk drive?

The first question, about the value of the data, also relates to the second question. If the data contained on a drive is so valuable that you cannot bear with the thought of losing it, CHKDSK might be a bad idea. It can be a useful utility, but unfortunately, it has the basic limitation of running your drive for an unnecessarily long time period. Additionally, CHKDSK will write files straight back onto your hard-drive, which is most likely already damaged. If there is any sort of damage beyond file corruption, there is a very strong risk that valuable data can be lost permanently. It is advisable to seek the expertise of a data recovery professional, who can make this assessment for you. A large amount of the time, hard drives experience mechanical or electrical failures, which CHKDSK will fail to fix. In these cases, the utility will actually serve to make the problem much more complicated, and in the worst case scenario, unrecoverable.

Another limit of the CHKDSK utility is the issue of hard-drive size. Large hard drives will take an extremely long time to scan, sometimes up to a few days. When a hard-drive has experienced some sort of severe malfunction, every second can make a difference. Time spent scanning the drive and spinning the platters can ultimately result in worse damage or complete failure of the drive. The cause of your hard-drive malfunction can also be a major deciding factor in whether or not to use CHKDSK. As mentioned previously, the utility cannot repair mechanical or electrical problems to the drive. These sorts of repairs must be completed by a qualified professional in data recovery to preserve data and minimize damage.

Judgment should be exercised on a case by case basis, but CHKDSK can become a powerful tool if used properly. Unfortunately, it is very difficult for the average computer user to determine whether their situation merits its usage, so it is advisable to seek the help of a professional data recovery company.

5 Easy Steps to Recover Data From a Hard Drive

So the worst possible scenario has occurred and you cannot access the valuable information on your hard drive or other media storage device. Whether it is due to an electrical shortage, mechanical malfunction, or accidental deletion, the files are gone and days, months, or even years of work are gone. Sometimes, the cost to replace or duplicate these files may cost thousands of hours in time and labor. In the case of photos and pictures, often the files are irreplaceable whether they are family photos, or a special vacation trip. With the advent of the digital age, businesses can also experience data losses that will end up costing hundreds of thousands of dollars if not recovered properly.

There are several steps to take in order to make sure that the drive or storage medium has the highest chance of data recovery:

• Turn off computer or media device, and make sure power is not flowing into the hard drive. Further damage can result if power is applied to the drive, and it is best to reduce any further risk of data loss.
• Do not run the drive or use any diagnostics tools on the hard drive. Data recovery has the best possible chance of success when the drive is completely untouched. Running software on the drive can be helpful, but only in specific situations. Data recovery software on an un-diagnosed hard drive is excessively risky when you do not know the nature of the problem.
• Avoid abusing the hard-drive especially if there are unnatural mechanical noises emanating from the drive. For many the first instinct to fix a drive is to give it a good tap and help it back into operation. While this might seem like a harmless quick fix the ramifications can often be disastrous. The internal components of a hard drive have very close tolerances and while the exterior may appear durable the inside is actually very delicate. A small jolt can cause severe alignment problems resulting in damage to almost every disk.
• Do not open or dismantle your hard drive. Opening your hard drive will only increase the chance of further damage and will also void the original manufacturer's warranty. Manufacturers recommend opening and dismantling hard drives with specialized equipment and in a 'clean room' environment by trained technicians only.
• Ship the drive to a qualified data recovery service inside an anti-static bag. Make sure to cushion the shipping box with at least 3 inches of padding on each side of the drive. This will avoid any unnecessary jolts and damage during shipping. Using an expedited form of shipping will also increase the chances of recovery success, because priority packages typically receive slightly better handling.

If the above steps are followed closely you are well on your way to having the best possible chance at data recovery. Expert recovery technicians are very pleased to see a drive that has been cared for using the instructions illustrated above. Typically the only data that is unrecoverable is data from drives that have been damaged in attempted recoveries by unqualified individuals or software. Use the utmost care with your drive and the data will have the highest possible chance of recovery.

Can You Restore a Deleted File? The Truth About Retrieving a Lost File

While computers have become an essential tool for business and personal life new technologies always come with some problems and risks no matter what other good they give to society. The sheer amount of files and documentation we manage to accumulate on our computers can be staggering and With many of them being effectively junk that can be deleted we find yourself sorting, storing and deleting files constantly often when we are not paying an awful lot of attention and then it happens; You delete a really important file! To restore a deleted file you rush to the recycling bin only to find you have emptied it and now it is gone forever! Or is it?

Retrieving a lost file can seem like impossibility, none of the operating systems have any real way of getting them back. Some have rollback systems that can go back to earlier versions of the computer but this can often undo new information you need as well making this a poor solution. Many will simply say this is just bad luck, the file is gone; this is not completely true however.

You see files are stored differently than you might think on a computer, the data for a file is written on a hard drive and the operating system only knows it is there because it has a reference to where it is stored on the hard disk. This pointer is essential for the operating system to be able to locate the file and subsequently be able to show it as an icon on your screen for you to manipulate into folder, open, move and so on. This is just a graphical representation of your file in a way that we find easy to use. When you permanently delete a file what you actually do is remove the pointer to this file from your operating system which effectively means it does not exist as it cannot be found. However the data is still there on the hard disk it is just lost! The data will remain on the hard disk in the same location until it is overwritten by another file or program. This means that most space on a hard disk is random files and files parts that have been dereferenced and also means it is possible to get a lost file back if you know how to do it!

However to restore a deleted file you need to have a program that knows how to scan your hard disk and find a file without a pointer and then assign it one for the operating system so it can once again be used. So we see retrieving a lost file is possible with the right tools, if you have an important file sitting on your hard disk somewhere you can get it back

400 GB of Data on a Single Blu-Ray Disc

400 GB of data on a single disc. Seems to be quite amusing for some while some would say that it will take time to achieve it. But Japanese electronics giant Pioneer has made it possible. Pioneer has developed world's first 16-layer blu-ray disc, squeezing 25 GB of data on each layer thus totaling to an amazing figure of 400GB.

The currently commercially available blu-ray discs have the storage capacity of 25 GB. Those having two layers can store 50 GB of data. The problem in developing multiple layers disc have been to obtain a clear and stable signal from each recording layer. The frequently visited problems were crosstalk from adjacent layers and transmission loss. Pioneer managed to overcome these issues and developed a disc structure that reduces crosstalk from adjacent layers. Finally it came with a 16-layer optical disc that can play back high-quality signals from each layer.

The good news is that these high capacity discs are backward-compatible and will play on blu-ray disc players. These discs can be read using the same objective lens in current Blu-ray drives. Video game publishers and movie studios can use these discs to take more content on a single disc.

With the development of this technology, Pioneer is putting a green spin on the development. Discs with such enormous capacities mean fewer resources are consumed to deliver the same data or movies on Blu-ray media. For consumers, the main advantage of this technology is the chances of renting an entire season of a television show or collection of movies on a single disc. No need of disc-swapping.

So what do you think? Isn't it the future of data storage?

Remote Data Backup Service - A Guide

As a computer owner are you familiar with a remote data backup service? If you consider the data stored on your computer's drive to be important then it really doesn't matter if your a small or large business or home user. In all cases you want access to information backups so that in case of loss you could restore the needed data from the remote storage in a timely and consistent manner. This article will focus on different information back up techniques available in the market today including the remote data backup service.

Online Backup System
One of the first places to investigate for backups is an online backup system. If you take into account the fact that computers are vulnerable to hard drive crashes, computer viruses and data loss from power failures and natural causes. Even with these vulnerabilities it is still considered safer and more data centric to store information on the computer. This allows for better security around the data and makes it inherently more retrievable and usable in a business format.

The above vulnerabilities can be minimized by using an online backup system. This will protect your data by making a copy of the Veritas drive or storage mechanism and storing it on a separate veritas drive or storage mechanism. This technique can be set-up to do this in any time interval you choose. The schedule should be determined by how much time and cost it would take to recreate lost data and/or how long the business could work operationally before the data loss would severely impact the bottom line.

Remote Data Backup Service
The major difference between the online backup system and the remote backup service is that the remote service will store your data in a different geographical location. So if there was a power failure or natural disaster in your area then chances are it won't affect the area where your data is actually being stored. It works by collecting your data, compressing that data, encrypting the data and then transmitting that information to a remote backup server. This process can be done incrementally (i.e. throughout the day) or daily snapshots of data are used. The central them with this type of service is to make sure data providers always have the latest data protected from harm and able to be restored quickly and consistently.

Different remote data backup service providers implement there services differently. One implementation may allow you to go to the providers web-site, provide the password for your data and if successful retrieve it. This is a common implementation but there are also others to be aware of. In all of them the most important idea is to have access to your data at any time.

Regulatory Data Backup
Depending on what type of business you are in there may be some regulatory reasons to have a backup service in place. In some cases you have to have access to certain financial data for the next 7 years. and in addition if your business has a connection with anything connected to personal health data then not only do you have to store the data but it needs to be encrypted and it also needs an audit process around it's retrieval. Of course you could write the software and processes yourself but statistics,time and expenses would support the idea that it probably makes more sense to purchase the backup solution you need.

Conclusion
This article has focused on data backup solutions including remote data backup service. Statistics would demonstrate that most small businesses would not be able to continue to operate with a significant loss of data. Even big businesses will lose significant amounts of productivity,client good will and money when their databases are non operational. However, if they had access to any of the backup solutions stated here their client and operational data would be protected and easily restored. It has been our experience that the remote data backup service can usually cover the needs of both types of businesses and in an economical fashion.

MMC Data Recovery

Photographs capture memorable moments. Whether it's your baby's first steps, your son's first homerun, your daughter's prom, or your best friend's wedding, taking photographs is a very good way to hold on to the memories of any event. Because manufacturers see the importance and value of taking everyday life pictures, they have made digital cameras and even incorporated cameras into mobile phones where files are stored into a multimedia card.

But together with this innovation, a lot of people also lose their pictures because of improper use. One very common mistake that leads to loss of valuable photos is removing the memory card while the device is still on. Fortunately, there are ways to recover lost photos and other multimedia files through the use of MMC Data Recovery.

MultiMedia Card or MMC Card is a flash memory card standard that is used as storage media for several portable devices, in a form where it can be easily removed for access by a personal computer. These cards can be used in any device that supports SD cards. For example, the MMC Card is used in a digital camera to store image files. Then, by using an MMC reader, the stored images can be copied or transferred to a personal computer.

Other common devices that use the MultiMedia Card include mobile phones, pocket pcs, mp3 players, mobile communicators, PDAs, handheld computers, and other portable devices that use memory card chip storage media.

By using MMC Data Recovery, you can easily retrieve deleted photos or other multimedia files such as audio and video. Using it will allow you to recover, rescue, repair, and "undelete" any lost, overwritten, formatted, or deleted files and folders from your multimedia memory card and flash memory of your device. It is also suitable for cases where the cards are damaged, corrupted, or no longer recognized.

One option you have if you have lost data you want to retrieve is by sending your MMC to companies that offer data recovery services. Although this could be costly and time consuming, you are assured that skilled technicians and experts backed by years of experience are handling your MMC.

If you want to do it by yourself to save on time and costs, you can download or buy a software that can do MMC Data Recovery. It is easy to use and is a non-destructive restoration software. The type of digital files that you can restore depends on the data recovery software you get. Most MMC recovery software will allow you to restore jpg, jpeg, tif, gif, riff, tiff, avi, png, bmp, 3gp, mov, midi, quicktime, mpeg, and wav files among others. If you plan to recover files using data recovery software then it is best you do some research on the various options available so that you can get one that best answers your needs.

So, if you have accidentally deleted, overwrote, or corrupted files such as audio, images, or movies from your multimedia card, then it might be a good idea to get an MMC Data Recovery software, or send your MMC to experts to recover valuable data.

Effectively Using Offsite Data Backup Services For Your Business

The increased awareness around data backups is one reason why offsite data backup services have become such a popular option. Storing and protecting your business's data can be critical. Before committing to one of these services it is important to understand the service, the common features, and their pros and cons. By reviewing this information you'll be able to decide whether or not offsite data backup services are the right solution for your data storage needs.

First, you should understand what offsite data backup services are designed to do and how they work. Basically, the data that is housed on your computer, server, or network drive is retrieved and encrypted on a set schedule through software provided by the service. After the data has been encrypted, it is delivered electronically to off site secure storage. Before choosing a type of offsite storage, it's also important to look at the features each service offers.

Most of the storage services available today offer similar features. For one, you can expect the transferred data to be compressed so it will use up less bandwidth as it travels to the remote destination. Some services allow you to choose continuous backup so you never have to worry about losing any saved data. Other services will give you online access to your stored data. With all of these features, there are some clear advantages to using these types of solutions.

There are a few main advantages to this type of service. For example, you do not have to manually backup your data which means you won't have to worry about forgetting. Having a remote storage site is good because if something happens at the original data's location you could end up losing both the original and stored otherwise. Plus, the security used is usually very high. However, there are some disadvantages.

Using these services comes with some drawbacks. For example, if you have low bandwidth it may take awhile for the data to be restored to your computer. Also, if the backup service goes under your data could end up elsewhere. You may also be worried about losing the encrypted password because it is your only key to your stored data.

Overall, there are many valuable features and good reasons to consider these offsite data backup services. Before deciding, you may want to look at price and security issues in more detail. However, this should give you a starting point for that further investigation into effectively and efficiently using offsite data backup services.