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Digital data can be of any type, such as research and development results, engineering drawings, creative work such as graphics, audio and video clips for entertainment, financial accounts, customer database, family pictures, personal or official correspondence, and so on. Data is a critical asset for any organization because it has become the lifeblood of the modern economy. An abrupt loss of data can bring an entire company crashing down to its knees. This is because all records and intellectual property disappear, making it impossible for workers to do any job. Manpower sits idle. Customers cannot be serviced. Bills cannot be paid. Money cannot be credited. Everything goes topsy-turvy. Dozens of companies go bankrupt every year and fold up because they cannot bear the consequences of data loss. Due to this, every company these days is careful to have a data-backup plan. There are many data storage devices available in the market for taking backups, ranging from low-capacity floppy diskettes and compact disks to high-capacity portable hard disks, digital video disks and tape drives. Most companies even today rely on the tried and trusted and cost-effective technology of tape drives to store their data. This is quite effective in cases of data loss due to various hardware and software errors such as hard disk crash and accidental deletion of files by the user. But the problem is that these storage devices are usually placed in the same office premises, and are thus of no help when the entire building is hit by a disaster. In that case, the original data as well as its backup are both destroyed, leaving the company in the lurch. Disasters can be both man-made and natural. The following are some of the disasters which strike various parts of the globe every year, leading to data loss. Fire: This can start naturally due to an accident or be the result of arson triggered by a disgruntled employee or anti-social elements. Fire is every computer user’s nightmare because it chars and destroys digital storage devices. Optical disks made of plastic can melt. Hard disks can get burnt and their inner circuitry can melt. Smoke and soot may enter their innards and do additional damage. Floods and Water Damage: Floods can come unexpected and unannounced in cases of copious rainfall or storms and cyclones. Flood water is muddy and sedimentary. Hard disks submerged in flood water become damaged because the sediments settle down on the data-recording surface and harden, forming a crust. Other reasons that inflict water damage on hard disks include burst pipes and sewage backflow. Earthquakes: Tremors triggered by earthquakes can cause the entire office building to collapse, burying digital storage devices under tonnes of debris. Everything gets twisted out of shape and sometimes digital devices are never found after a collapse. Lightning Strike: Lightning is a bolt of atmospheric electricity that carries a phenomenal voltage. With 16 million lightning storms hitting earth every year, it sure is not an uncommon phenomenon. Lightning can strike your building and the electric charge can course through telephone and electric wires, totally frying the circuit boards of a computer hard disk. Volcano Eruption: A volcano can become active and explode without any warning, spewing tonnes of ash and hot gases into the atmosphere. The soot and heat of para-plastic flow generated by the volcano can utterly ruin everything in its path. Since on-site backup is of no help in cases of natural or man-made disasters, the only option is to copy one’s data and store it as far away as possible from the premises, preferably in another city This can be a real hassle and quite impractical to do every day. This is where remote backup comes to the rescue. There are many service providers out there which are providing the facility of remote or online or off-site data backup. In this, the remote backup company runs several servers with a huge data-storage space. This space is rented out to clients wishing to store their data off-site. The client’s computers are connected to the servers through the Internet or a dedicated link. The software loaded onto the computers automatically keeps sending files every day over the wires to be stored on the servers. Whenever the client’s premises is hit by a data disaster, the data can be quickly restored from the backup servers. The only problem is that some clients are not comfortable with their valuable and confidential data leaving the office everyday to reside far away. Also, the cost of storing a huge amount of data may come out to be prohibitive since the remote backup companies typically charge according to per MB of data stored. But that is not an issue for corporates who want to keep their data safe and sound at any cost.
Article Source: http://kawarthapublishing.com
James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you are concerned about data loss and would like more information on Data Recovery see www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk
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