Thursday, November 13, 2008

Lost Data Problems – What Should You Do.

We would all like to think that we are immune to a system failure and that our trusty computers will just keep on going without a hint of a problem. Sadly regardless of whether you’re are a home or business user, systems are prone to boot up failures and these often result in unexpected data loss of varying degrees.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing and if you have ever experienced a data loss in the past you will at least have at the very least a modicum of experience to guide you. But that said there are many signs of impending system failure so what symptoms should you be on your guard against?

Your computer appears to be starting normally but fails to present the log in window: Typically this can be put down to a number of different causes that could be either hardware or software centric. What this means is that it may be a mechanical problem such as a hard drive failing, or could be one of your drivers failing or a corrupt system file. Starting in safe mode may help but not always.

Your computer loses its zing and starts to feel very jaded and slow: This could be the result of hard drive fragmentation which can be rectified, or could be a more serious operating system problem. The potential for data loss is possible in both scenarios and the most serious operating system problems are best dealt with by doing a totally clean OS install.

Virus or Malware infection: Computer viruses and other Malware applications, if not properly handled from the start, will inevitably lead to situations whereby a full reinstall is the only option to truly remove all trace of the malicious software from the system.

So what are the options here once the problem has arrived, and how can we avoid any form of data loss when in a lot of circumstances the only answer is to wipe our system and start from fresh?

The Key, wherever possible, and where there is no hard disk drive fault requiring professional data recovery services is simple: Backup! Sounds simple enough if the drive is working fine, but not enough people do it.

External hard drives can be purchased in most computer shops now days and a quick search online for online backup will also give you a number of remote back up options.

So what’s the answer when the data loss monster has knocked at your door? Well if you truly cannot afford to lose data, take out the hard drive from the machine and replace it with a new device for the reinstall. This leaves you the option of professional help if all else fails.

You can find more great advice on data recovery and in particular for businesses raid data recovery here.

Saturday, November 8, 2008

You Just Can't know when a Computer Crash is Going to Happen

Backing up your business data files is important.

Anyone who isn't making their living from their computer should also find it important to backup their personal files, photos, and music.It wouldn't be a good time losing everything from family photos to your personal finances due to a PC virus or piece of spyware.Since we have started storing our entire lives on our computer it really is a must that we start backing up that data.

Haven't Had the Luxury of having a Computer Crash? You're one of the Lucky Ones.

While sometimes a computer crash will still allow you to recover files, others can totally blind side you wiping all of your data that was once there.Corrupt Files Can Cause Problems Also Backing up your files actually prevents you from loosing information due to many computer issues.

Any computer user would be wise to have a full Windows backup on hand.

You can make a full backup using a piece of Windows backup software. You can restore everything in your computer if you have a full system backup file. Even wiser still is to store your backup offsite to protect your precious PC world from being destroyed from other disasters. Some Windows backup software services like Acronis have both the tools you need and the space to store your data files.

A product like Acronis True Image is worth its weight in gold.

For making complete backups of your files and OS (Windows) you want to ensure you've got secure storage space online some where as well as the ability to get at that space when ever you might need it. Systems crash without warning and immediate access to your Windows backup software can solve your entire nightmare quickly and completely.

A backup made using Acronis is like having a mirror image of every inch of your PC Hard drive.

Games, movies and music files take up a lot of storage space and Acronis is prepared to allow you to restore even these precious files. Read our Acronis True Image review and learn all the important tools and gadgets it can offer you. Being prepared for an emergency is always wise and your computer is no exception.

Bad Things Can Happen in Threes

Imagine if your computer system was one of them! Perhaps it would be best to make sure you don’t have to go through that catastrophe too. Get Acronis and maybe you’ll only have to fix a crumpled fender after you stop that flood in the basement and rush the dog to the vet because she ate another tennis ball whole. Some days it might be best to stay in bed.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Crucial Info about Paying for a Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) Recorder

Do you want DVD superiority; yet miss your old video recorders ability to save your much-loved drama TV episodes? If so, you are capable to get the best of both with a Digital Versatile Disc (more normally known as a DVD) recorder, as to its clever taping features as well as its DVD outstanding audio and image.

There are presently many types of Digital Versatile Disc recorders on the market, each with different specifications and features. This means that whatever your requirements, there is a brand of Digital Versatile Disc recorders available in stores to suit you.

Digital Versatile Disc Recorders have never been so easy on the wallet. In actual fact, costs are dipping so hastily that ditching that old Video Cassette Recorder (more frequently known as a VCR) and swapping to Digital Versatile Disc or Hard Disk Drive recording makes better sense. Despite this, it is a consumer industry affected by technology and innovation & therefore means DVD recorder features are progressing every month. Find top brand DVD recorders at Digital Direct!

If you are baffled by the diversity between DVD-R, DVD-RAM and DVD+RW, we also supply you with a basic breakdown of the configurations available to buy - which makes are supporting them and what the most modern developments are.

Pioneer creates a series of DVD recorders, a few of which have HDD capability; letting you to tape several hours of telly before transferring them on to DVD when needed. Pioneer also creates a number of excellent Digital Versatile Disc players and Digital Versatile Disc home cinema systems including HDMI compatible makes.

Pioneer is a world famous TV and hi-fi business catering for the home, car, multimedia and DJ equipment industries. Pioneer was created as Fukuin Shokai Denki in Tokyo in 1938. The company firstly began life building speakers and later changed its name to Pioneer in 1961. It has since launched a selection of firsts onto the market, including the world’s first Global Positioning System car navigation device in nineteen-ninety and the first ever Digital Versatile Disc recorder nine years later.

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Remote Online Backup to Protect Your Vital Data

Data disasters happen. It's all too tempting to think that it won't happen to you, until it does. Data protection is essential - could your company survive a cataclysmic systems crash, causing your data to be compromised or lost? Hint: probably not.

So what to do? The days of the floppy disc are dead and buried, and backing onto another hard drive kept on the same premises as the original data will not protect against fire or theft.

One of the most comprehensive solutions available is to copy your data to an offsite location using a remote online backup solution. But just searching on Google reveals hundreds, if not thousands of potential services to choose from. So how do you know which one is right for you? Consider the following points to help your decision...


Space

Space is the first thing to consider when choosing an online backup service. How much space are you currently using across your network? Is that likely to increase? If so, at what rate? You'll want to "hire" sufficient space from the online backup service you wish to use for your current and future needs, so work out how much space you require and check out the best prices.


Security

Companies advertising more than one data center offer simultaneous duplicate backups of your data. Look for warnings from companies about your passkey. They will tell you if you lose your passkey, you cannot access your data backup account. This is a good thing! It lets you know that no one can randomly access your backup account without your permission or passkey.


Frequency


More is better. You want to get multiple copies of your data, automatically uploaded on a frequent and regular basis. The more often your data is backed up, the more protection you have in the event of a virus or irreparable corruption. Ensure your remote backup solution allows updates as frequently as you'll need them.


Price

As the old adage goes, “You get what you pay for.” Typically low-cost services take longer to complete the initial backup. They reduce their bandwidth costs by slowing your upload speed, which limits the amount of data that can be backed up, therefore limiting you when all you want to get done with maintenance and backup and get on with your work! Equally, there's no point in wasting your budget on an expensive yet fast backup solution if you're unlikely to regularly require fast backup of large files.

The best online backup service is the one that fits your needs and pocketbook, so do your homework before you buy to make sure you make the most out of every penny spent on online backup.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

The Importance of Data Backups

All PCs and their parts are subject to failure. Essentially imminently each business will be faced with some kind of PC failure. The biggest threat to companies in a failure will be some form of info loss or info corruption. While the reasons for information loss and info corruption change, not all are simply fixed.

When an information loss or info corruption happens, plenty of times the sole option is to revive the info from a formerly made backup of the influenced info. Plenty of companies today over look the significance of information backups till they suffer the sudden loss or corruption of valuable information. Once this happens it'd be too late, unless the business is fortunate enough to revive the information by physically recreating all the influenced files from the start. This naturally is only probable if they've a hard copy or another source from which to recreate the information. It'll also cost the business a valuable amount of man hours in recreating the information too. That is if they are lucky enough to be in a position to even recreate the information in the 1st place. If your business has made backups of all info stored on the hard drives, restoring that data will go much quicker and require a load less effort. It'll also need a ton less man hours and tears shed over the loss which has took place. Today there are tons of options available to companies for storing and backing up their information. Some of the options available are tape drives and tape libraries, CD-R's and CD-RW's to DVD technologies. There's also the option to use NAS ( Network Area Storage ) and SAN ( Storage Area Networks ) and even remote backups over the Net. Even Windows XP / Server 2003 offers a revive point in case your system becomes corrupted. Naturally just having these tools available to you isn't enough.

They have to be used correctly and on a successive basis to be effective. Imminently all systems will face some form of failure that may need a revive from backup. The point is to perform those backups so they are there when you want them. It is advised that you sit down with your systems director to make a backup plan for your business right away if you've not done so already. Also suggested, is that you review your backup plan annual too. When discussing your backup plan there are certain options to think about. Like how frequently to perform the backups and what sort of backup media is most fitted for your business. Depending on your sort of business and how much your data changes from day by day you may wish to perform backups weekly, daily, or many times each day. For most little to mid-sized companies I might suggest a full backup once per week with incremental backups at the end of each work day. You can also desire to think about if to keep some of your backups off site in the case your business is influenced by some kind of natural or man made disaster. In addition you could also require software to monitor your backup process to make sure that your backups are no longer corrupted too. This could be a common experience with some kinds of backup media too. Ultimately you can also wish to perform a system revive on an occasional basis so you can check the usefulness of the restoration process that you have set in place and to practice it so it is going as smoothly as feasible. Following these steps might be crucial to your business continuity should your systems fail and you suffer a loss or corruption of info. Setting up a backup plan as well as a restoration plan will also go a good way in making sure your business operations if you run into a system failure. This would help build a "who is to do what" list if your systems should fail. Failing to backup your business information, particularly mission urgent info is nothing short of a recipe for disaster. Nothing is as crucial to your business as the information that sits on the hard drives of your systems.