End Of The Road – The Nightmare of Data Loss

It used to be the case that the data held on our computers was quite minimal: If a disaster occurred and our hard disk failed, got wiped out by a virus or we deleted something that deep down we knew we shouldn’t have been messing about with, then we normally had a ‘hard copy’ or we could re-create our ‘7 entry address book’ and it didn’t matter that much.

Today though things are very different and the majority of us have a great deal more to lose should the worst happen and our letters, photo’s, e-mails and music library were to disappear. Now it is often the case that our data is more valuable than the hardware it resides upon – we can purchase a new laptop or desktop computer for hundreds of pounds less than a few years ago but our data and memories are quite simply priceless when they are gone for good!

So what can we do about it because whilst we will probably never be ‘100% proof’ against data loss, we can certainly minimise the risk to a great extent by being disciplined enough to keep our files in well ordered and maintained folders and by making sure we back them up.

Many people get caught out though, especially when they see two hard disks appear within ‘My Computer’ - the problem is that even though two hard disks are listed, they are more often than not simply one drive partitioned into two segments – just because we have backed up our files to the second drive does not make them safe – as a client recently found out – if the hard disk suffers a mechanical failure the whole disk is affected!

This client was actually quite fortunate if you can call it that because we were able to send the failed disk away to our specialist partners in London, who were able to retrieve a large proportion of the data by disassembling the drive in a ‘clean room’ (sterile environment staffed by men in white coats). The process is however costly and time consuming – in this case the data came back but retrievals of this nature can cost anything between £750 and £4000 pounds!

Some people sign up for ultra low cost or ‘free with your broadband’ online data backup facilities – all well and good but did you know for example that many of these services offer limited recovery and no ability to roll back to previous file versions if corruption or deletion occurs. Think about that for a moment – you have been backing up your files online for months, your computer and files get corrupted and the backup simply backs up the corruption for you – thanks a lot!

Don’t get me wrong – online data backup is a good way to help protect yourself but you need to be web-wise and choose the right kind of package to ensure maximum protection. CD’s and DVD’s have a limited lifespan, USB sticks and external drives can fail so what can we do?

The answer is probably to spread the risk and maximise the chances of recovery by backing up and then backing up your backup – If you are worried about the implications of losing your data why not talk to one of the team – we, like anyone cannot give you a 100% guarantee that you will never lose another file again but we can give you impartial and practical advice to at least reduce the risk.

We can put procedures in place either at home or at work that will help guard against data loss, help you setup a secure online facility or simply put you in touch with one of our partners who specialise in this type of service.

With computer technology getting more and more complicated and our time and data getting more and more precious – the question is, can you really afford not to safeguard your information anymore?