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| Typical Data Recovery Scenario! Lison Joseph is a contributor at Free-backup.info -- the home of the popular Amazon S3 based software for online data backup -- Back2zip. This article can be found at http://free-backup.info/typical-data-recovery-scenario.html 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 recoveryOk, 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 ExpertsWell, 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!Undelete Software for Your Business Walter Stevens is a contributor at Free-backup.info -- the home of the best online backup software -- Back2zip. This article can be found at http://free-backup.info/undelete-software-for-your-business.html What is Undelete?Undelete is any software utility which allows you to essentially undelete or recover deleted files from your computer. This is the most basic form of data recovery, as it allows you to recover files that you thought that you had lost from your computer. If you work with Windows or other similar operating systems, you most likely already have a basic form of undelete on your machine. The recycle bin is a program which allows you to recover files that you have deleted. When you delete a file, it is first sent to the recycle bin, where you can then permanently delete it manually or wait until the recycle bin cycles itself and deletes the files for you.Why do I Need Undelete for my Business?Undelete is a very important utility for any business. In this computer age, data can be as precious as gold and if you need access to a file that has been deleted for any reason, you will want to have your hands on a powerful undelete utility that will allow you to recover your files. Data can be lost for any number of reasons: accidents, viruses, system crashes, etc. Anything that causes a loss of vital data can be harmful to your business, and you will need to be able to restore it if the case requires it.How do I Get an Undelete Program?There are many different undelete programs in existence, made by many different companies. There are two basic forms of undelete software. One, like the recycle bin of Windows operating systems, must be installed prior to the deletion of a file. Executive Software makes an excellent undelete program of this variety. They replace your recycle bin with what they call a recovery bin. Unlike the recycle bin, every single file that is deleted from your computer will be placed into the recovery bin, from which you can undelete it if necessary. It is a very powerful tool, and one which could greatly help your business. Other undelete tools may be installed after the event of deletion. When you delete files, even if you cannot necessarily see it, it is oftentimes still within your system somewhere. These undelete programs will search out the likely places that your file is, and if they can find it will restore it to your computer so that you can access them and manipulate them as normal. There are many different sources of undelete software. You can try the web site of Executive Software, found at www.execsoft.com. You can also try www.active-undelete.com, which is another powerful undelete tool. If these do not suit you, however, another excellent source is www.download.com. They will have information on a number of different undelete utilities, as well as trial downloads and even freeware versions of undelete programs. This will allow you to get a free undelete program or try an undelete program before making the monetary investment to purchase it for your business.Using the Undelete Command in Windows 98/95, DOS James Fohl is a contributor at Free-backup.info -- the home of the popular Amazon S3 based software for online data backup -- Back2zip. This article can be found at http://free-backup.info/using-the-undelete-command-in-windows-98-95-dos.html Using the Undelete Command in Windows 98/95, DOSEarly Windows users, as well as DOS users have a really great undelete tool built in to their systems. A lot of computer users are still running Windows 98, or below. While Windows XP has been on the market for more than three years now, some people have been hard pressed to make the upgrade, while others have found themselves completely happy with their Windows 98 setup.Undelete is not available on Windows XP systems; only DOS and Windows 95-ME.A really cool program that was in previous versions of Windows, as well as certain versions of MS-DOS is not available in Windows XP. The tool, Undelete is a DOS command prompt program that allows users to literally undelete the files that they had previously deleted. The major limitation of the software is the fact that is can only recover files if no new files or changes have been made. So, basically the undelete command will allow you to recover files if you accidentally delete them, but it will not be able to recover files that you deleted a week ago.Users should be experienced, as the undelete utility does not have a graphical user interface, and relies on text commands.Undelete isn't a flashy program. There are no graphics, and the program is not very user friendly. To start the program, you'll need to activate a DOS prompt in your Windows operating system. To do this, click the start button and select "Run". Type in "command" and press enter. A black box with white text will soon be visible. This is the DOS prompt, and you will soon be able to use 'Undelete' to undelete your files. In order to use Undelete properly, you will have to learn the options for the program. As mentioned before, Undelete is a text based program, and does not have any spectacular user interface.Undelete offers the user several different options to help recover your deleted files.To gain access to the commands of Undelete, type in "Undelete /? " at the DOS prompt, and press the enter key. The following text will be displayed on your screen; /all - Automatically recovers all of the files you specify. /list - All available files are listed (but files are not recovered). /DOS Restricts recovery to those files that meet the file specifications (filespec) in the disk directory table. /DT - Restricts recovery to those files found in the Delete Tracking File. /DS - Restricts recovery to those files found in the SENTRY directory. /load - Loads the Undelete memory-resident program into memory using information defined in the UNDELETE.INI file. /unload - Unloads the memory-resident portion of the Undelete program from memory, turning off the capability to restore deleted files. /purged[d] - Deletes the contents of the SENTRY directory. /status - Displays the type of delete protection in effect for each drive. /S[d] - Enables the Delete Sentry level of protection and loads the memory-resident portion of the UNDELETE program. /Tdrive[-entries] - Enables the Delete Tracker level of protection and loads the memory-resident portion of the UNDELETE program. The optional entries parameter specifies the maximum number of entries in the deletion-tracking file (PCTRACKR.DEL). It must be a value in the range 1 through 999 with the default value determined by the type of disk being tracked. After you have read through 'Undelete' program options, you will need to goto the specific directory of where you wish to undelete the files. Below is an example; C:\> cd Downloads <- cd "change directory" C:\Downloads\> Once you are in the appropriate directory, rerun the 'Undelete' program, only this time fill in the correct options. For example, if you wanted to restore all files in the directory, you would use the '/all' command. Below is an example; C:\Downloads> undelete /all The above command will allow the undelete software to safely recover your deleted files. Now that you have an understanding of how the undelete software works on your operating system, the next time you find yourself worried about deleted files you can simply remember what you learned about the undelete command.What is an Online Backup? Andrew Whitehead is a contributor at Free-backup.info -- the home of the popular Amazon S3 based software for online data backup -- Back2zip. This article can be found at http://free-backup.info/what-is-an-online-backup.html 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 ThisThe 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 BackupOnline 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 BackupAn 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 BackupsThough 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.Update and Refine the Disaster Recovery Plan Lison Joseph is a contributor at Free-backup.info -- the home of the popular Amazon S3 based online backup solution -- Back2zip. This article is also at http://free-backup.info/update-and-refine-the-disaster-recovery-plan.html Disaster Recovery, a race against time!Data keeps changing with passing time, which makes keeping pace with the changing data one of the most important challenges before data security/disaster recovery officials. In the case of any enterprise, logical environment is something that is in a state of constant flux, being changed and redefined with the passage of every hour depending on the various requirements of time. One of the important aspects of any disaster recovery plan is a sensible backup plan for making redundant copies of all critical files of the company database. Apart from making constantly updated backups, the disaster recovery plan should also take into account all the critical changes in the logical environment as it might be of supreme importance at the hour of reconstruction after a tragic disaster and data loss.Backups can become obsolete, making disaster recovery impossibleThe fact that logical environment composed of various bits and pieces of data are ever changing means that there is all the possibility of backup becoming obsolete unless extreme care is taken. This problem of obsolete backup marring the prospects of successful disaster recovery can be avoided only if there is a real time backup. This calls for the right installation of right infrastructure in place, which everybody can afford to, especially small business houses that is willing to set aside only meager sums for data security budget! Take for example the common scenario of new software being installed at the instance of a particular department in the enterprise for a specific purpose. It could be new accounting software or new human resource management software. With the installation of such a new software the logical environment undergoes a critical transformation and the backup plan may need to be updated and refined to take into account the new development. Only such a refined and updated backup that accounts for the changes in the logical environment will be useful in a picture perfect disaster recovery.Not just the backup but also the entire disaster recovery plan needs refining and updatingLike in the instance of backups, the change in logical environment as well as other relevant factors, the disaster recovery plan needs to be constantly updated and refined to be of any constructive use during crises. More often than not, what happens is that once bare bones disaster recovery plan is in place, those concerned with it tend to push it to the freezer and get on with things of "greater importance"! But know this now, and without any delay that a workable and up-to-date disaster recovery plan is as important as any other work in a logical environment consisting of large amounts of critical data. Considering the mere existence of a disaster recovery plan to be enough can prove to be a costly mistake in the event of a disaster. Even a seemingly successful disaster recovery may not be able to reconstruct the logical environment as it was before the disaster struck, unless the disaster recovery plan was reviewed frequently to incorporate necessary changes.Weaknesse in Computer Forensics Andrew Whitehead is a contributor at Free-backup.info -- the home of the popular Amazon S3 based software for online data backup -- Back2zip. This article can be found at http://free-backup.info/weaknesse-in-computer-forensics.html Weaknesses in Computer ForensicsWithin the field of computer forensic science, as in any relatively young discipline, there are weaknesses to be found. In computer forensics the main culprits are training, operational standards, and international standardization.Computer Forensic TrainingThere are many private organizations offering computer forensic seminars and classes. With the growth of computer crime, computer forensic training is a worthwhile investment for any organization - but who should receive it? Computer forensic evidence is very volatile, to preserve it law enforcement personnel should be trained to handle it. Network operators should also be trained, to improve their abilities in intrusion detection, and lawyers should receive some training to give a basic understanding of computer evidence.Operational Standards in Computer ForensicsComputer crime, perhaps more than any other, can be international in scope. There is a need for basic guidelines for the evidence collection process to be established worldwide. This ranges from broad principle that apply to nearly every investigation, through organizational practices so that a minimum standard of planning, performance, monitoring, recording, and reporting is maintained, to recommended procedures, software, and hardware solutions.International Standardization of Computer ForensicsDifferent countries each have their own computer forensic methods, standards, and laws. What is acceptable evidence in one country may not be in another. This is a serious problem when dealing with international crimes, as computer crime often is. The Internet may have no boundaries, but law enforcement does. Investigations that leap from server to server, from country to country, crossing many borders on the way are complicated not only by evidence handling differences, but also by political differences and legal differences. There are some countries in which the networks are owned and controlled by government agencies, who may have little or no reason to cooperate with foreign governments investigating a crime. What is considered to be hacking in the US is not considered to be a crime in other countries, protecting the individual that committed the crime. Fortunately efforts are being made to bring some standardization to procedures regarding digital evidence. The G8 group has recommended six principles for digital evidence gathering:- 1) All standard forensic and procedural principles must be applied. 2) Upon seizing digital evidence, actions taken should not alter the evidence. 3) People accessing the original digital evidence should be trained to do so. 4) All activities relating to the seizure, access, storage, or transfer of digital evidence must be completely documented. 5) Individuals are responsible for all actions taken while the digital evidence is in their possession. 6) Any agency that is responsible for seizing, accessing, storing, or transferring digital evidence is responsible for complying with these principles. This is a start in standardizing computer forensic evidence gathering procedures but there is still a long way to go. Many countries have not adopted these recommendations, and probably will not if they do not have the necessary training resources. The sting in the tail is that these are the countries that pose the greatest computer crime threat. |
