What is a Data Backup and Why is It Necessary?

Data backup is as important as the data you store on your system; if that holds valuable information critical to the daily operation of your business, then making a backup of it is also critical. Think about the customer information, supplier details, debtors & creditors, etc. stored on your hard drive, and then imagine that one morning you can no longer find them.

Backups are for your peace of mind, and to save you a lot of time and money if anything terminal happens to your data files. Your data is fundamental to the operation of your business, and should be valued as an important asset.

Any backup is basically copying your data files to disk or some other storage device, to provide a working copy of your data ready to be restored if the original copy is lost, damaged, or corrupted. This can can occur in a surprising number of ways - viruses, power failures, power spikes (these may not even be noticed! ), system crashes, external events such as flood, fire, theft, or vandalism , or even a simple user error.

A Sample Data Backup Procedure

How often you make a data backup depends on how frequently the data changes, the value you place on the information, its importance to your business, and the cost of replacing or recreating it. If you consider that your data file is too important to lose, or that it would be costly to replace, then you must backup regularly.

If you open and update your data files every day, you should set aside a labeled disk/tape for each day of the week and make a backup everday. The following week, when you next enter the backup file name, you will be prompted to overwrite or append the previous weeks file. If you overwrite, you will then be in a weekly cycle. If you are confident that you will always have space on the media, you can append and have a two weekly cycle.

If you feel your information doesn't alter that frequently, you can backup once a week and rotate disks on that basis - Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4, back to Week 1 again.

The ultimate system is to keep buying new media, backing up daily and working on a very long (6 monthly or more) cycle. This is to ensure that there is always a clean backup if a fault goes unnoticed for any length of time, but it is really overkill for a small business.

Don't Forget to Check That Your Data Backup Has Worked!

Don't be misled into thinking that because you have run a backup that it has worked, there are numerous horror stories of PC users suddenly needing to restore and only then finding out that their backup procedure has been routinely failing. You should regularly test the backup media to confirm that the data has been successfully backing up.

Don't put off learning how to recover files until disaster strikes. Practice to familiarize yourself with the process and make this a regular event, especially after any upgrades or changes.

System Recovery Online Backup

One of the best recommended websites for online backup is www.systemrecovery.com. They described online data backup as having insurance that protects your data against viruses, theft, or accidental deletions. They know that data loss can mean diaster, and that's why they offer their services in online data backup. Their online data backup programs and services deliver automated online storage, data backup, and data protection over the internet. They also offer scheduled daily backup, data recovery, system repair, and online data archiving.

They work with you to conveniently meet your needs and work around your schedule. Their online storage employs bank grade encryption to ensure maximum privacy and security of all data being sent to the data centers. Online storage also makes your data easily accessible and enables you to remotely retrieve files from a home or office PC, and share your files with co-workers.

AmeriVault Online Backup

Www.AmeriVault.com is another highly recommended website for online backup. They offer many benefits including bullet-proofing your data protection and recoverability while solving a myriad of other challenges. Their services include online data backup, email archiving, and data replication. They help you protect and preserve your critical data with disk-to-disk solutions that deliver total automation, maximum security, and regulatory compliance. Amerivault also offers a variety of recovery solutions tailored to minimize your specific risks.

With their online backup your data is automatically secured off-site and available to you with just a few mouse clicks. To solve your compliance, growth and management issues at the same time, Amerivault offers hosting your email archives. Amerivaults recovery solutions offer space, hardware, data, and voice communications. This provides improved efficiency and reliability over tape-based recoveries with their disk-based fleet of mobile devices.

NovaStor Online Backup

The third most recommended website for online backup is www.novastor.com. NovaStor breaks their products and services down into three groups, online backup, network backup, and desktop backup.

NovaStor offers viable, easy-to-manage data continuity plans to their customers through their own program called NovaNet WEB. They are so sure of their program that they offer an evaluation version of it on their website, free to try.

With remote work forces and mobile users rising in popularity, they know that a growing percentage of critical corporate data is residing on individual computers. Thus meaning that the critical corporate data isn't always connected to the corporate network. Their corporate applications help companies create corporate data centers that allow all users within the network the ability to retrieve any data while knowing that it is safe and secure. The corporate data center allows network managers easier management of their employee accounts and data retrieval capabilities.

NovaStor offers the same services to mobile, remote, and home PC users. They'll work with you to help you manage and protect any and all critical data that you have on your machine. They take pride in the services they offer by promoting that with their programs you will never again have to worry about the loss of data!

Why Use Internet Backup

You are probably wondering what possible reason you would have to choose internet backup as your backup system. Well, there are many reasons. First if you backup your important files to the internet, you will not need any additional software or hardware. If you have a connection to the internet, you are all set.

The internet has millions of terabytes of disk space available, and there are several sites you can find that will give you free space to do a backup. As far as that goes, if you have an internet page you can upload your backup files there, as long as you have enough space. I pay about six dollars a month for my web page and I get eight hundred Mb of space. Now, I am using 3% of that so it leaves me with a lot of free space to use for backup, and I still get to run my internet business there.

Basics of Internet Backup

The first thing you need to do is decide which site you want to use. Most sites offer a free trial, so it is a good idea to sign up for a few and see which offers you the service you want. Since the free trial usually lasts Thirty days and you should do a backup daily, or at least every other day, you should have plenty of time to make an informed decision.

Now free sites, though they do have size limitations, are usually large enough to accommodate the amount of files the average computer user, and even a small business will want to backup. The only thing about that is that if you are saving your business files, you are better off to find internet space as soon as possible rather than to trust nothing will happen to your sensitive files. Paid internet backup sites will have some sort of a backup plan in place for the files they store, and will probably have some sort of insurance for lost files.

So now you have made your decision as to which service you will use. Now you have to upload the files that are important and you want in your backup. Some internet backup services allow you to use Windows Explorer to simply drag and drop files into your internet backup folder. There are also some sites that have a file manager or on site FTP program to use to upload your files. As you can see from what I have described so far most sites for backup are very easy to use.

The reason for this is that they want you to use their service and if they make it too difficult, you will go elsewhere. As with any thing else, there is a lot of competition, and a lot of the sites are not too reliable and might not be there in a month or two. So make sure you are very satisfied. Ask questions, the most important being how long they have been in business. You thought I was going to say price didn't you?

That is the second most important question, because if it is inexpensive, that won't matter if they disappear when you need them.

A Few Last Words on Using Internet Backup

So now that you have an idea of what is involved with internet backup, let's go into a few more important questions that you should ask.

1. How easy is it to upload your files to the site for backup?

2. How many customers do they have, and find out if they are happy?

3. Do large companies use the service? This is important because, larger companies can, and do demand a high level of service.

4. What types of file backup do they use? How frequently?

5. How safe are your files from being accessed by someone who shouldn't see them? On this note you should have some form of encryption so that not everyone who looks at your files can steal them for their own use.

6. What protection do they offer you if your sensitive files are stolen, or lost?

You may have other questions, but these are the very basic questions you should ask anyone before you trust them with your sensitive files. So go out and hide your files in plain site, use cyber space to save them.

Importance of having a backup of your Outlook Express data

Despite being one of the most, if not the most commonly used e-mail clients; outlook express was designed for non-professional use and does not have any built in backup. With its lack of protection against data loss one bit of corruption can result in losing all of your data. Nothing is quite so heartbreaking as losing your outlook express e-mails or addresses and not having a backup to restore to.

From the sentimental value of your birthday e-cards, to your business contacts' e-mail address, your e-mail account often has tremendous value. Luckily with only a small investment of time and smaller amount of effort, you can make a backup of your outlook express data.

Making a Backup copy of your Outlook Express e-mail message files:

1. From the Tools menu, choose Options.

2. From the Maintenance tab, choose Store Folder.

3. Select the folder location, and then CTRL+C to copy the location.

4. Choose Cancel, and then Cancel again to close the dialog box.

5. Choose Start, and then Run.

6. In the Open box, press CTRL+V, and then choose OK.

7. From the Edit menu, choose Select All.

8. From the Edit menu, choose Copy, and then close the window.

9. Right-click any empty space on your desktop, choose New, and then choose Folder.

10. Type "Mail Backup" for the folder name, and then choose ENTER.

11. Double-click the Mail Backup folder to open it.

12. From the Edit menu, choose Paste.

13. Finally, close the "Mail Backup" window.

Making a Backup copy of your Outlook Express address book:

1. From the File menu, click Export, and then click Address Book.

2. Choose Text File (Comma Separated Values), and then choose Export.

3. Choose Browse.

4. Browse to the Mail Backup folder that you created.

5. In the File Name box, type "Address Book Backup", and then click Save.

6. Choose Next.

7. Choose to select the check boxes for the fields that you want to export, and then choose Finish.

8. Finally, choose OK and Close.

Making a Backup copy of your Outlook Express mail account:

1. From the Tools menu, choose Accounts.

2. From the Mail tab, choose the mail account that you would like to export, and then choose Export.

3. From the Save In box, locate the "Mail Backup" folder on your desktop, and then choose Save.

4. Repeat these steps for each mail account that you would like to export.

5. Finally, choose Close.

Making a Backup copy of your Newsgroup Account to a File

1. From the Tools menu, select Accounts.

2. From the News tab, select the news account that you want to export, and then select Export.

3. At the Save In box, browse to the "Mail Backup" folder on your desktop, and then choose Save.

4. Repeat these steps for each of the outlook express news account that you want to backup.

5. Finally, click Close.

Solutions for Online Data Backup Woes

Have you ever considered of online data backup options whenever you are on a computer system and are unable to create a backup of your data because you lack the appropriate media? Let's face it, everyone has found themselves in a situation where they had just completed some important work and have no way of transporting it to their home computer system.

Luckily, several online data backup options exist, and with the expansion of broadband internet, these options are starting to become really popular.

Probably the greatest option for users seeking online data backup solutions is to either simply send a copy of the file(s) to yourself in an email (using a free web mail service) or uploading the file to a web / FTP server.

If the file, or piece of data you wish to create an online backup copy of is relatively small, you should probably just consider sending yourself a copy of the file using one of the many free internet email services. You can either use your web mail account, or if you do not have a web mail account can simply create an account with one of the literally thousands of free web mail providers.

If sending the file to yourself in an email is not your cup of tea, you can also upload the file to one of the many free web servers, such as Geocities or Tripod. These options are not only easy, but also cheap since they are one hundred percent free.

Commercial services, such as iBackup.com provide customers with online data backup services for a monthly fee. While these services cost money, many users find that it is well worth it considering all of the tools the services tend to provide to their customers.

Besides the options mentioned above, several online services exist primarily for data backup. While most of these services charge a monthly fee, they are dedicated to providing their users with a wide variety of tools for online data backup. Ibackup.com is widely considered to be one of the best online data backup services, considering that it is also one of the original services.

While most of the online data backup services are not free, Yahoo members can find a service known as Yahoo! Briefcase to be a free alternative to the other services.

Another option for Yahoo users is to utilize Yahoo's free Briefcase service. It is basically a stripped down version of the popular pay services mentioned above only with limited web space and only a few tools for uploading your data.

If you do not wish to pay for such a service, than you should probably reconsider just sending yourself a copy of the file via email, or uploading a copy of the file to a web / ftp server. It may be a little bit more work than simply using a web browser to upload a copy of the files to a backup service, but remember that it is still free.

How to Make a Backup of Your Registry Using Regedit

Computer users who are seeking a way to produce a backup copy of their Windows registry can easily accomplish this task from within Windows, and without any third party software.

Users need to make backup copies of the Windows registry because it is a large file that contains information about the settings of your computer and the programs.

A lot of users don't exactly understand what exactly the Windows registry is, and why they should backup copies of the data. You see, the Windows Registry is basically a vault of the various settings Windows and other programs use. It's where programs get information from. As I said before, the Windows Registry is basically a giant vault for data.

The reason why users need to make backup copies of their registry is rather simple; one little mistake in your registry can basically stop Windows from loading at startup.

It is essential for users to produce backup copies of their registry because every program you install or download has the ability to modify, even destroy it.

It's important for users to remember that every program you install on your system has access to your system's registry. A lot of adware and spyware applications will modify your system's registry in order to take over your web browser.

Making weekly backup copies of your data is not only a smart thing to do, but takes only a few seconds to successfully make a backup copy. As mentioned before, users do not require a third party utility to backup their registry. A tool, entitled RegEdit is installed on every Windows PC, and although it looks quite complicated, making backup copies of your system's registry is actually rather easy.

To start out, click the Start button and select Run. Type in regedit and press the enter key. A few seconds later you will be presented with a two pane window that resembles the Windows Explorer.

Go into the File menu, and select Export. Find the location of where you wish to store the registry backup file, and type in a name for the file. Click on the Save button, and you are finished. You now have a nice backup of your Windows registry.

Remember that registry backups take a large amount of data, so if you make daily backups remember to delete the older copies.

If you decide to make registry backups every day, remember to delete the older copies. Because of the large amounts of data stored in the registry the files can be very large (fifty to a hundred megabytes).

When you find the need to restore a backup copy of your registry, the process is simply. Locate the backup file, and double click it. You will be presented with a dialog asking you if you are sure you wish to add the data to your registry. Click on Yes and your registry will be restored within seconds.

Using backup copies of your registry is a great idea whenever you stumble across a program that takes control of your web browser, or if you are having problems with an installed application that was working file whenever you produced the backup.

The Need for a Disaster Recovery Plan

In a world of large enterprises, with global operations, operating continuously, and business continuity becomes ever more critical, making a disaster recovery plan becomes ever more necessary. In the ideal disaster recovery plan, the recovery will be completely automatic, with absolutely no loss of data, cost nothing, and happen instantly with no effect on business operations. It would, in fact, be invisible to the business clients. While this is impossible, it makes sense to get as close to the ideal as possible.

Disaster Recovery Issues

The two accepted criteria of a disaster recovery plan are the Recovery Time Objective and the Recovery Point Objective. Recovery Time Objective is the time in which normal business must be restored, this naturally wants to be as short as possible. Recovery Point Objective is the time to which data must be restored to successfully resume processing, commonly the last backup point.

Not all of the data held by a business is critical to basic operations, but deciding what is and what isn't critical can itself become a big undertaking, and actually segregating it even more so. For this reason, many businesses choose not to take this approach and instead replicate everything they have. For businesses with a fairly local site for replication and a direct link, this is a very attractive option.

If protection from regional disasters is necessary, requiring the use of a telecommunications link to transfer data, the cost of regularly replicating everything can be extremely high and it may be necessary to either prioritize data or use less frequent copies. This has an impact on setting the Recovery Time Objective (how much data can be transferred? ) and the Recovery Point Objective (how frequently is data transferred? ).

Rolling Disasters and Disaster Recovery

Like any other event, disasters have a beginning and an end. The time in between is called the "rolling disaster".

Any disaster recovery solution has to provide an image or copy of data, as it existed prior to the disaster, to a secondary location. While any image or copy of data at any time before the disaster can be considered reliable, the reliability of any copies made during the rolling disaster cannot be guaranteed. This is unlikely to be a problem for a short duration of rolling disaster, but it is during an extended disaster. This is becomes especially relevant if a continuous availability disaster recovery solution, in which data is continuously copied, is being employed.

Geographical Aspects of Disaster Recovery

Directly connecting primary and alternate sites via ESCON, with repeaters, sets a maximum geographic separation limit of 43km. Using more modern dark fiber and dense wave division multiplexor (DWDM) technology, sites can be directly linked up to 90km apart. This is enough to connect two metro data centers, and gives greater protection from a metropolitan disaster while allowing the higher bandwidths that this technology offers.

If there is a requirement to give regional disaster protection, by separating primary and alternate sites by a distance greater than 90km, the only means of data replication is over telecommunication lines. As distance, bandwidth requirements, and data amounts increase, this can become a very expensive choice.

Brief Overview of Online Backup

Online backup is possibly the most convenient form of backing up files, leaving you with few excuses not to do it. Losing your files is something that is going to happen to you one day, not something that might happen, and if you do not backup your data it will be a disaster. Files can be lost in many ways, most of which are beyond your control. The most common reasons for data loss are:

1. 42% Mechanical Failure
2. 34% Human Error
3. 15% Software Failure
4. 6% Viruses
5. 3% Natural Disaster

How Online Backups Work

Instead of storing your backup files on magnetic or optical media, you send your data over the internet to another computer, and this other computer acts as a remote backup. When you lose a file, you connect to that remote computer to restore it.

In addition to the great advantage of 'disaster proofing' your business with a remote backup, online backup is also a very convenient way for businesses to store critical, high-value, information that they can then download from anywhere in the world. For people who travel, work from more than one location, or want to share files with colleagues, online backup is the ideal solution.

Varieties of Online Backup

Basically, there are two forms of online backup. In the first option, you download software provided by the online backup provider and install it on your PC. This done, you connect to the online backup provider's server, select the files you want to back up, and transfer them over the internet. When the day arrives when you find you have lost everything, you simply connect and restore all your files back onto your computer.

If there is a lot of files that could take a long time to backup, or you have lost your internet connection, some services will send you your backups on your choice of media.

Option two is to use a web-based backup service. You do this from your browser window, and you can access all your stored files from any computer assuming it has an internet connection. Generally, web based online backups cannot back up quite as much as the first option, but they are more user friendly and make file sharing easier.

Advantages of Online Backup

It can cost you less to set up and run than other options.

There is no hardware to buy, maintain, or repair and no consumable media to manage.

Online backups can be made completely automatic, releasing time for more productive tasks.

Simple to manage, all that is required is to turn it on.

No need to arrange for storage of media, either onsite or offsite.

No worries about media degrading or becoming obsolete.

Some online data backup programs can offer features unavailable in media based backups, such as remote data access and synching.

All your backup files are available online, from anywhere in the world, at any time.

All your backup files are encrypted by your computer before sending, and stored in that format ensuring a very high level of security.

Your backup files can be accessed from anywhere in the world.

Restore Your Manual Backup of Outlook Express

Assuming you've followed the steps in my article on How to Backup your Outlook Express, You should have a folder on your desktop called Mail Backup that contains the various files we will need to restore your backup e-mail messages, accounts, and news group accounts to Outlook Express. Obviously in the real world, saving your Outlook Express data to your desktop is not an effective means of backing it up. From there we would burn a copy of this folder onto a CD or save it on a ZIP drive, etc...

Restore the Backup of Your Outlook Express e-Mails

1. From the File menu click Import > Messages.

2. In Select an e-mail program to import from box, choose Microsoft Outlook Express 5 or Microsoft Outlook Express 6, then click Next.

3. Select Import mail from an OE5 store directory or Import mail from an OE6 store directory > OK.

4. Choose Browse, and then select the Mail Backup folder on your desktop.

5. Choose OK > Next > All folders > Next > Finish.

Restore the Backup of Your Outlook Express Mail Account

1. Go to the Tools menu > Accounts > Mail tab > Import.

2. Use the Look In box and locate the Mail Backup folder on your desktop.

3. Select the mail account that you wish to import, and then use the Open button.

4. Repeat these steps for each mail account that you need to import.

5. Click Close.

Restore the Backup of Your Outlook Express Newsgroup Account

Go to the Tools menu > Accounts > News tab > Import.

Use the Look In box to locate the Mail Backup folder on your desktop.

Select the news account that you wish to import, and then use the Open button.

Repeat these steps for each news account that you need to import.

Click Close.

Data Recovery and Disk Imaging

Knowledge of disk imaging is needed for all those grappling with various aspect of data recovery. A regular computer user should be well aware of the fact that data stored on hard disks are vulnerable and can be lost due to several reasons, most of which may not be in your control.

So the best policy is to backup the important data on your hard drive so that, you are not left with the costly and time consuming option of data recovery in case of damage to storage media. Many a time, you can save yourself the trouble of data recovery if you bothered to create a disk image, from which you can actually re create the entire storage media as it was when you imaged it.

Disk Imaging is one of the common and popular ways of backing up your important data. Other ways of backing up the data include, offsite back up, network backup, online backup, CD back up, DVD back up and the like.

What is Disk Imaging and how does it help in data recovery?

Disk Imaging is a specialized process of creating an exact image of the disk at a particular point in time. One can even compare a disk image to a photograph. The disk image is capable of being recreated (read data recovery) into the actual disk contents in the same way a photograph can be used to recreate a particular scene in a particular point of time in the past.

This way even if you lose your data, you can safely recreate the hard disk to the way it was with the help of the disk image, making data recovery a child's play. Disk image in fact, makes an exact copy of the partition tables and the file system. There is also something called the Ghost Image, in which even the nitty gritty of the operating system, the system settings and device drivers will also be incorporated into the image.

Thus after you do a data recovery with the help of a ghost image, you can actually boot up to a desktop and system configuration that is exactly the same as your crashed disk!

How to make disk image and use it for data recovery?

Disk image is made with the help of special software. Several such ready-made softwares are easily available and can be downloaded from the Internet. Apart from a few freeware and shareware, limited edition trialware are also available on the web. The most popular and professional imaging software called The Norton Ghost, is made by the Symantec Corporation.

The disk image should not be stored on the same disk, which you want to protect from data loss. The disk image is normally a heavy file running into several mega bytes of data depending on the size of the disk you are imaging. This disk image, made using special software made especially for the purpose, should be ideally stored on a removable storage media like CD, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD, DVD-R or DVD-RW.

Data recovery using the disk image can normally be done with the help of the same software you used for making the image. In most cases, you can find all the data recovery instructions from the manuals of the help files of the disk imaging software.

Looking for Hard Drive Recovery Professionals

In hard drive recovery, the saying "you get what you pay for." does not always apply. A company with an impressive website quoting you $3, 500 for a hard drive recovery is not automatically better than a company that quotes you $1, 500.

Steer clear of companies that charge you for evaluating your drive, many reputable data recovery companies evaluate standard IDE drives free of charge. The recovery market is approaching saturation, so offering free evaluations does not necessarily indicate a lack of expertise.

Getting a Quote for Hard Drive Recovery

Searching around for hard drive recovery, you will find prices varying greatly. Quotes for standard hard drive recoveries can easily range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand. You may be given individual quotes that have a up to $1, 500 high/low spread, often this is a 'bait and switch' tactic - they bait you to send in the drive with the low-end price, then they switch to telling you it's going to cost close to the high end price for the recovery.

They trust that most customers don't want the aggravation of having the drive sent back, and repeating the whole process of finding another company.

Try to get an up front cost for either a logical or physical recovery, they should be able to give you an indication of the cost of a recovery to within a couple hundred dollars. They will often give separate prices for the two different procedures, one price for a logical failure and another price if the problem turns out to be physical. This is different to the high/low 'bait and switch' mentioned earlier, it is simply quoting two prices for the two types of recovery.

What are the Chances of a Successful Hard Drive Recovery?

Hard drive recovery professionals claim an average success rate in the region of 75-85%. Individually, there are times when your data is permanently lost. This can be for several reasons, excessive physical damage to the platters, your data has been written over, or it could be something as simple as unavailable replacement parts.

Getting Started with Your Hard Drive Recovery

When your hard drive crashes, pull the computer plug out of the socket - don't even shutdown! - and contact a hard drive recovery professional. Ask a lot of questions, and make sure you have the following information to hand:

The capacity of your drive.

The Operating System you are using - Windows 98, Windows XP, etc.

What you were doing just before your drive stopped working.

Whether your computer recognizes the drive.

If you have a standard IDE hard drive, make sure that you do not pay an evaluation fee. Most companies only charge an evaluation fee when they are dealing with a complex RAID or network server drive.

You may find the hardest part is actually finding a data recovery firm with someone available to answer the phones! Despite this, it is important to do the legwork of calling and talking directly with the companies to find one that you feel the most comfortable with.

Why would I ever want Data Recovery!

Data recovery can be your headache when it is the last thing you want. A typical scenario leading to you scrambling around for data recovery experts could be something like this: One fine morning, you start your system to work on your tax worksheet. You are adding the data about the current month's tax returns on your database of tax payment. Out of the blue, there is a power failure, when you least expected it.

In fact, you were almost done with the data entry part when the power blacked out. Now after an anxious wait for the power to come back, you switch on the system only to be informed by the operating system that a certain part of your hard disk has become inaccessible. So not only is your current month's tax data lost, but the whole tax database has become inaccessible.

So how to go about data recovery

Ok, so data recovery can be your share of worry any time of the year! So how do you go about it? What do you need to do? Do you recover the Data? Questions start crowding your agitated brain. Here are a few simple things you can do. Immediately stop using the problem hard disk as any further use of the disk can jeopardize data recovery. Don't even try to run the basic scan disk or disk check to see if you can fix the corrupted part of the hard disk. Look up a simple Data Recovery software from the internet. Several of them are available and some of the are even free to try.

If you are comfortable working with it then try and let the software scan your hard disk to evaluate whether data recovery is possible and if possible how much of it can be recovered. If you think you can safely recover the data you want from the problem hard disk, then try doing it without further disturbing the files on the disk.

If you think, it is beyond you, or if you think data recovery is an expert's job, then look up a data recovery expert from the yellow pages or with assistance from your hardware supplier.

What to expect from Data Recovery Experts

Well, so finally you managed to get hold of a supposedly good data recovery expert. Now the question is can you blindly trust your data recovery expert to wave his magic wand and come up with all the lost data like a magician produces rabbit from his hat! Well, to be frank, you are best advised to take the data recovery expert's claims with a large pinch of salt.

How much data can be retrieved and the accuracy of recovered data depends on how much writing/over-writing activity has happened on your hard drive after the data loss. Another important factor is the nature of the damage that has happened. If all the relevant factors are favorable, then you can safely expect your data recovery expert to come up with your entire tax database intact! Good Luck!

What is an Online Backup?

An online backup offers an alternative to optical or tape backup solutions. While traditional methods can be very effective, they require capital to set up and staff to operate them. An online backup system avoids these problems.

Online Backup Works Like This

The online backup provider supplies a software agent to be installed on the computer to be backed up. This busy piece of software allows the user to select the files to be backed up, manages the internet connection, encrypts and compresses the data before transferring it across the internet to a secure, remote location, and allows the user to view and restore the backed up documents.

The Benefits of Online Backup

Online backups offer several advantages. The main one is the disaster recovery offered by offsite storage but there are also several advantages in terms of ease of use.

No capital outlay is required for purchasing new equipment. There are no ongoing media costs or staff costs, running costs are limited to paying a monthly fee. Setup and installation is a simple matter of downloading the software, and takes only a few minutes to set up. Data recovery is equally fast, as there is no searching for the right tape or waiting for IT staff to recover lost data.

The backup process itself is completely automated which ensures that it gets done, and the backed up files can then be accessed by anyone with permission, allowing file sharing with traveling colleagues, clients, or home PCs.

The Limitations of Online Backup

An intrinsic characteristic of online backup is that it relies on an internet connection. For smaller data volumes a dial-up connection may be adequate, but permanent broadband connection able to handle significantly larger volumes is a necessity in most cases.

Whatever type of connection is used, the initial backup will take a long time. A complete copy of the data must be encrypted, compressed, and copied. This initial copy could possibly be unrealistically long if a large amount of data is being sent over a dial up connection, although most online backup providers will allow the user to break off and resume the backup later. Once this initial backup is complete, subsequent backups will only backup files that have been changed, making them a lot faster.

Security of Online Backups

Though some may have understandable concerns about a third party holding their most valuable data, in reality online backups are very secure. Before being transferred, the backup data is encrypted to 128-bit level - military grade - making it effectively impossible for any one to intercept or decrypt the data. The user is the only person who can read it.

Another common concern is about the security of the data storage center itself. These are invariably class-A facilities equipped with fire suppression, security cameras, personnel access controls, backup electricity generators, using multiple ISPs, high-end firewalls, and clustering and mirroring techniques to ensure the stored data is always available to clients. Except in exceptional cases, the storage premises will be more secure than the client's own premises.

Why a Computer Degree for a Forensics Master?

If you have a Masters degree in computer forensics you will be involved in the solving of all aspects of computer crime. Computer forensics is not the same as the type of forensic crime as say a coroner would be called on to solve. If you have a degree from a master program in computer forensics you would be examining a computer of someone involved in any one of a growing number of types of computer crime.

You may also be called on to examine the computer of someone involved with some other type of crime, to see who they are in touch with by email, for instance or what types of sites they are visiting on the internet.

For example, if you were looking at the computer of a person who had embezzled from work, you might find that they were doing a lot of online gambling. You might also find that they had a relationship with someone who had been demanding a lot of money by looking at email files.

How to Get a Computer Degree As a Forensics Master

If you are interested in getting a master's degree in computer forensics you will need a good grasp of computer hardware and software. It will also help it you have a good intuition so you can think outside the box when it is required of you. You should have an analytical mind so that you can follow a chain of evidence. You should also be not too easily flustered as you will have to testify in court as to your findings and defense attorneys will try diligently to make you come off badly in court.

The first thing you will need to do is get a bachelors degree in computer science. Once you have gotten this you can take a course in computer forensics from an accredited school, which will serve two purposes. One is to find out if you are cut out for this type of work, without paying for two more years of university. Another way this can help you is that many places will hire you as a computer forensics technician and allow you to get your degree in conjunction with your job.

This way you can earn money while you are earning your degree. It might make for a stressful time while you are trying for your degree and it will take somewhat longer, but at least you will save some student loan money, and if you have aptitude for computer forensics, it will be well worth it.

Jobs for People with a Computer Degree As a Forensics Master

There are as many jobs for a graduate of a master degree program in computer forensics as there are types of computer crime - no scratch that! - types of crime in general.

As computer use becomes more common more criminals are learning to use them to commit crimes. This has been true of innovations throughout history. The most obvious job for a person in computer forensics is with the police. This includes major federal agencies such as the FBI, CIA, Federal Marshalls etc. These types of jobs involve all types of crime and computer crime.

A computer forensic graduate developed a program called Carnivore, that checks emails at random, searching for specific words and phrases, to help detect terrorists. Examples might be bomb, or terrorist organization names or even names that are encrypted too obviously.

Another type of job is with government or accounting watchdog agencies or firms. This with involve checking for government waste, embezzlement, both in the public and private sectors. It could also involve looking for stock exchange frauds, and illegal trading. In this case you would basically be an auditor just like an accountant looking for someone "cooking the books" in the pre-computer age.

So if you think you might have the necessary type of skills and personality that this type of study takes check out a few universities, on campus or online, whichever you prefer, and get some more information. Good luck catching those bad guys!

Choosing Suitable Backup Software Does Matter.

Choosing suitable backup software is as important as choosing the right house or the right car - you will have to live with it daily. Choose a good backup software package and you will get regular and reliable backups, with the wrong one you will get unreliable backups or none at all.

Why Buy Commercial Backup Software?

The simplest answer is that you only get what you pay for. Freeware is available, most operating systems have some sort of backup software, and most backup hardware bundles some basic backup software package. This is frequently a stripped-down version of a commercial package tempting you to upgrade to the full version. They work, but are much less full-featured than the commercial package. You can always try free software to see if it meets your needs.

Backup Software Features to Look for.

Media Spanning: Seen by many as the definition of 'real' backup software, media spanning is the ability to backup large files onto multiple pieces of media.

Backup Verification: Any decent backup package must have a verification mode. To ensure that the backup is correct and viable, the software compares every file that it backs up to the original file on your hard disk.

Scheduling and Automatic Operation: A helpful feature found on most commercial software. The backup will run automatically at a preset time, so you don't have to be around to do it.

Wide Device Support: How many hardware devices does it work with? As a rule, software support for new devices is less common than for established ones. Check if they provide updates as new drives hit the market; some do not.

Operating System Support: Does the package support all the features and requirements of your operating system?

Backup Type Selection: Even basic software should provide full, selective and incremental backup options, good ones allow the use of search strings or patterns to select files and directories.

Disaster Recovery: An important feature mostly limited to more expensive products, with names like one-step recovery, single-step restore, or similar. With this, a disk is created with a special recovery program that lets you restore your system without reinstalling the entire operating system. This can save a lot of time and trouble.

Compression: Software compression is very useful, saving space on your backup media.

Media Append and Overwrite: You should have options to always append to the existing files on the backup media, always overwrite, or prompt the user.

Tape Tools: If you backup to a tape unit, will the backup software allow you to format, rewind, retension, or view the catalog on your tape? The tape drive manufacturer often supplies software that does this, but it is more convenient if the backup software supports it.

Security: Can you password-protect your backup set?

Backup Configuration Profiles: You will probably want to do different types of backups for different situations, better software packages allow you to avoid changing the settings every time by saving different profiles.

Commercial Software That Allows You to Undelete Your Files

A really useful piece of software for computer users is one that has the ability to undelete files that have previously been deleted by either the user or as a result of an action taken by a computer application. Unfortunately most computer users do not have this useful piece of software, and wish they did have such a utility whenever they accidentally delete their files.

Several commercial software companies have released various types of utilities for users wishing to have the ability to undelete their files.

Many software companies have produced software over the years that allows users to undelete their files. While older versions of Windows and the DOS operating system came bundled with a DOS undelete utility, today users will have to find a third party solution.

The leader of undelete software is no doubt Norton Systemworks; included in this suite of software packages is UnErase, a very powerful tool for restoring deleted files.

Leading the pack of commercial software is Norton SystemWorks which is a software collection of utilities designed to help computer users with their woes and problems. UnErase is one of these such programs whose primary purpose is to give the user the ability to undelete previously deleted files. UnErase offers users several different options for locating their deleted data including pulling up the ten previously deleted files, as well as giving the user the ability to search for specific deleted files.

In order to gain access to the UnErase application, interested users will have to purchase the entire SystemWorks collection of software; Norton does not sell the undelete utility separately.

Next in line of fantastic commercial software is a program with the very unoriginal title of Undelete 4.0. Produced by Executive Software is a low priced alternative to Norton Systemworks. Users who are only looking for an undelete utility for their files instead of a whole suite of utilities will find Undelete 4.0 to their liking. Priced at $24 95, it can be considered a bargain if you use it to restore your valuable data.

It's much like UnErase in its functionality, only it totally replaces the Windows Recycling Bin with its own little garbage can. While the program suffers in trying to restore files that you deleted before you installed Undelete, the program operates great once the software has been installed.

Cheaper undelete software exists, however this software is usually lackluster in features and restores very few deleted files.

Several other pieces of shareware exist on the internet, however most of these utilities (usually priced at $10-$20 for an online download) are a waste of both your time and money. Most of these utilities fail to restore ANY files at all, and the few programs that are able to restore deleted files usually are only to restore files that were just deleted. It's best to always search the internet for reviews of software that you intend to purchase, so that you know exactly what you are paying for.

Remember, some software companies will make their software sound absolutely fantastic just to get your money. It's best to believe in internet reviews of software then the descriptions of the software posted on the publisher's website.

Have a Plan for Your Backup Software

Before doing anything else, have a plan of what you expect your new backup software to do for you. To do this, you will need to find out which of your other existing software applications is generating the largest backups, and how your backup windows -the time taken to actually perform a backup- are planned too minimize inconvenience to system users.

Once you have done that, the second part of this plan is to make your best estimates of how your backup needs will grow, and plan a practical way to monitor these needs. Thirdly, and most important, make a thorough evaluation of your existing backup system - both hardware and software- to reveal how it can integrate with any planned upgrades. Knowing this will place you in a better position to when you start to evaluate commercial products.

Ensure Your Backup Software is Appropriate

Make sure that your backup software package is matched to your operations, it is very easy to to pay too much for money for the wrong backup software that doesn't do the job you want it for. Data centers, PC LANs, telecommuters, and remote offices all generate different amounts of data, in different ways, and in turn have different backup software needs. It is tempting, and occasionally possible, to try and standardize on one vendor's backup software. Avoid putting too much emphasis on this.

The main priority should be to "tier" your backup strategies based on your corporate requirements, though it might make sense to cut down to one backup software vendor within each tier. You may also find yourself tempted to unload the whole problem by hiring a professional service to come in and make sure your backup operations are running well.

Don't rush into this, it is unlikely that you will realize any return on investment by doing this, even in the in the long run, unless these people are also going to train your staff how to improve backups. They are unlikely to agree to this as it is not in there interests, so it is more probable that you will be creating a new dependency on a third-party when your own team should really be able to do it.

Plan Ahead for You Backup Software Needs

Look as far ahead as you can at developing technologies likely to become available, and consider how they could be deployed in your environment. One fundamental but rapidly developing technology is the ever growing number of backup monitoring tools. The latest generation of these tools can provide very useful reports on whether or not your backups have been completed, and they also provide an analysis report of why failed backups didn't complete.

There are other versatile software packages, such as continuous backups that eliminate backup windows, that you should also considered in terms of future deployment.

You should test, test, and test again before rolling out any backup software upgrades. Finally, a good time to upgrade you backup software is when you upgrade your servers.

Is Data Recovery Worth Pursuing?

When you discover that you have suffered some data loss, the first decision is always if data recovery is possible. The subsequent action that needs to be taken depends on the answer to this, whether it is worth attempting data recovery or whether to find a way of managing the data loss.

Decide If Data Recovery is Possible

This can be a very difficult choice, especially if you are unsure what caused the data loss. A technician may already have attempted data recovery and the effects of some remedies, Microsoft's "Checkdisk" for instance, are quite random.

The decision often becomes a commercial one of whether the information is actually worth the cost of recovery. Except in very extreme cases, the magnetization that stores the data will still be present on disc. Even in case where the computer has been burned, flooded, or crushed data recovery can still be possible, but at an extremely high price.

Types of Data and Their Effect on Data Recovery

The kind of data being recovered also affect this decision. If you can recover, for instance, 90% of all lost data, and these files are pictures you will retrieve 9 out of 10 pictures; this can be considered a success. On the other hand, if the files are database tables and only 90% can be recovered the entire database is corrupted. The higher the dependency and interaction between the data files, the worse the effects of even a small amount of missing data will be.

Is It Logical or Physical Data Recovery?

There are two distinct procedures in data recovery.

Physical data recovery is the extraction of the raw data from a damaged disc, logical data recovery means the rebuilding of damaged data files.

Pure logical data losses are usually caused by operator error. The accidental deletion of files, accidental drive formatting, or it may be from a malicious virus attack.

Physical data recovery from a drive that has failed mechanically may not need any subsequent logical reconstruction if it can be successfully repaired, though in practice many physical repairs are followed by logical reconstruction if some data is permanently lost due to damaged disc surfaces.

The Time Element in Logical Data Recovery

It is easy to underestimate the time element in data recovery, but losing data for a week is effectively losing the data forever. A single file that has been accidentally, permanently, deleted rather that being moved to the Recycle Bin or by emptying the Recycle Bin, is marked in the directory entry with E5.

This frees the associated FAT entry and the as the location of the deleted file is no longer protected by the file system those locations are available for recycling the next time the OS needs to create a new file.

The problem is that in any computer, files are continually being created. Many computer processes write to log files, and browsing even a single Website will download several files. Any of these could overwrite the deleted files making recovery much more difficult.

Spotting a Dead Hard Drive

If a hard drive is not accessible by software such as the system BIOS, Windows' Disk Management, or other disk utilities it can be considered as truly dead and in need of physical data recovery. A dead drive will often display other symptoms, such as not spinning, clicking, or making other unusual noises.

A drive with these problems may have a damaged electronic board, read heads, motor, or damage to the magnetic media. A Data recovery company equipped with clean room facilities can usually repair the drive by replacing the damaged components, imaging the drive, and if required performing a logical file reconstruction.

The cost for this kind of data recovery can be hundreds, even thousands of Dollars, and is not guaranteed to be successful.

Physical Data Recovery Problems

The chances of successful data recovery depend on the extent of the damage. Data recovery from a platter that has been heated up to Curie temperature (770 degrees Celsius for iron) is not even theoretically possible as this temperature completely demagnetizes the platters.

Modern hard drives are surprisingly sturdy, often capable of handling shocks up to 300G, but a hard enough impact can still unbalanced the platters making data recovery very difficult. Such a shock will cause the platters to vibrate while spinning, and if the vertical component of the vibration is greater than the height at which read head flies the result is a permanent head crash, further damaging the surface and making it impossible to read the magnetic information. If there is any horizontal vibration the read head will be unable track properly.

Physical Data Recovery in Extreme Cases

Fortunately there is technology capable of overcoming all these problems. This is Magnetic Force Microscope (MFM) photography, the only route to data recovery that does not require the platters to spin. Instead MFM scans the entire surface of the platter moving from region to region, with each region yielding a picture. This pains taking process takes several months, and when it is finished these pictures have to be stitched together.

Consider that a 20GB hard drive consists of 160, 000, 000, 000 bits. Including overheads that could rise to around 300, 000, 000, 000 bits, with each individual bit represented by a magnetic flux change. Since each MFM picture displaying this flux change uses around 100 bytes, the result is 40 Terabytes of data to be analyzed. Data recovery by this means can cost 100, 000s of Dollars, but it can recover data where no other method can.

Drive Types Issues in Data Recovery

The type of drive also affects the chances of successful data Recovery, as most professional data recovery companies can only work on certain drives. After assembly a modern hard drive is conditioned to work perfectly with the read heads, platters etc. that are actually used. This means that it is not always possible to use parts from another drive, even if the replacement parts have same component number.

Backup Outlook Express vs Outlook

Unlike Outlook, making a backup of your rules in outlook express is not an option on the menu. Instead you will need to extract portions of your registry where the rules and blocked sender list is stored.

Backup the Outlook Express Blocked Senders List

1. From the Desktop, click Start then Run.

2. In the Open box, type regedit then OK.

3. Locate and click the following registry subkeys (save each key to a different file):

HKEY CURRENT USER\Identities\(Identity Number)\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Block Senders (note: there will be a different "(Identity Number)" for each identity on your system. To identify a specific identity you can click on each HKEY CURRENT USER\Identities\(Identity Number) and you will see a "Username" value on your right with the name associated with that (Identity Number))

4. Go to the Registry menu and select Export Registry File.

5. From the Save In box, change the location to your desktop.

6. At the File Name box, type "Blocked Senders[date].reg" then Save.

7. Go to the Registry menu and chose exit.

Backup the Outlook Express Mail Rules

1. From the Desktop, click Start then Run.

2. In the Open box, type regedit then OK.

3. Locate and click the following registry subkeys (each key will need to be saved to a different file):

HKEY CURRENT USER\Identities\(Identity Number)\Software\Microsoft\Outlook Express\5.0\Rules\Mail

(note:once again there will be a different "(Identity Number)" for each identity on your system. To identify a specific identity you can click on each HKEY CURRENT USER\Identities\(Identity Number) and you will see a "Username" value on your right with the name associated with that (Identity Number))

4. Go to the Registry menu and select Export Registry File.

5. From the Save In box, change the location to your desktop.

6. At the File Name box, type "Mail Rules[date].reg" then

7. Go to the Registry menu and chose exit.

Restore an Outlook Express Backup

1. Open Outlook Express on the computer you wish to restore the backup to.

2. From the file menu go to Identities > Add New Identity.

3. Set up your Identity and account information.

4. Close Outlook Express.

5. From the Desktop, click Start then Run.

6. In the Open box, type regedit then OK.

7. Go to HKEY CURRENT USER\Identities\ and locate the identity number related to the Identy you wish to restore the rules to.

8. Close regedit

9. Right click on the "Mail Rules[date].reg" or "Blocked Senders[date].reg" from the Outlook Express Backup you wish to restore and select edit.

10. Replace the (Identity Number) listed in the registry file with the one you just located in the registry.

11. Save and Close Notepad

12. Right Click on the "Mail Rules[date].reg" or "Blocked Senders[date].reg" from the Outlook Express Backup you wish to restore and select merge.

13. Repeat these steps for each Identity.