Data Loss and Disasters

 

Digital information can be instantly sent over wires over long distances to any place in the world. It is easy to modify digital data, delete it, change it and make as many copies of it as one wants. All information technology devices have fast processors that process data at an astonishing speed that results in tasks getting executed faster and more efficiently.

 

Any company in its routine work generates a lot of digital data. This has to be stored safely and securely on a storage device so that it can be accessed anytime in the future for further processing or transferring to other machines. The data storage products industry is quite advanced and offers a range of devices to suit every need and budget.

 

Popular storage media available in the market include non-removable devices such as hard drives, USB drives, floppy disks, optical disks, portable hard drives and tape drives. Their capacities range from 1.4 MB for a floppy disk to a whopping 500 GB and even more for a hard disk.

 

Digital data has many benefits, but suffers from one very serious drawback which almost negates all its advantages. It is volatile and unstable because it is represented as electric charge or a pattern of magnetic particles. For a variety of reasons, it can disappear instantly anytime, leaving the users in serious trouble.

 

Data loss is a very serious affair that is responsible for many companies closing down every year as they cannot cope with its after-effects. Digital data can be lost due to a variety of factors that may hit the storage devices. Mainly these are of two types – hardware errors and software errors. Most of the data lost due to these can be recovered by the users themselves using DIY data recovery software or handing over the damaged devices to professional recovery companies.

 

But the worst-case data-loss scenario for an organisation is when the office building is hit by a disaster. These disasters can be natural such as accidental fire, floods, storms, cyclones and lightning strike or man-made such as arson, sabotage and terrorist activity.

 

Fire

 

A fire is the most unfortunate thing that can happen to an office building. It destroys everything such as paper files and documents as well as information technology devices. A fire is capable of intense heat that roasts computers and bends or melts hard disks and optical disks out of shape. Additional damage is done when the fire trucks arrive and pump water and foam into the building, submerging everything.

 

Floods

 

Floods are getting increasingly common in the world because of global warming and melting of glaciers and polar ice caps. Any river lying close to your office may overflow its banks without warning in an unexpected rainfall or cloud burst. Computers and storage devices that get submerged in water suffer serious damage and become inoperable.

 

Lightning Strike

 

Lightning is accompanied by thunder clouds during storms and cyclones. It contains an electric charge that is millions of volts strong. If it strikes your office building, it sears through electric and telephone cabling and fries all electronic circuits inside computers and hard disks. It can also make flash memory cards useless by destroying their data that is manipulated by an electric charge.

 

Terrorist Attack

 

Terrorist attacks account for large-scale destruction of property and human lives each year. Usually, such a strike involves a massive bomb blast that collapses the building or hurls everything around with a great impact. If your office is located in a busy commercial district, terrorist attack can be a possibility.

 

Backing up Data

 

Most companies realise the importance of data and take a regular backup on devices such as portable hard disks and tape drives (usually the latter). This is very effective in cases of hardware or software errors that crop up in individual computers.

 

However, data loss by a disaster is a totally different ball game. Keeping backup on individual devices is of no use when a disaster strikes because the backup and computers are usually stored inside the same building. Both are totally destroyed if a fire or flood sweeps through the structure.

 

The only way to guard against data loss due to natural or man-made disasters is using remote or online backup. Many service providers today offer this technology. In this, the backup is taken automatically from the client’s computer by a software and the entire data is quietly transferred to the service provider’s servers that exist far away. When a disaster strikes, the client can buy new computers, download data from the remote server through a password and be back in business in a matter of hours. 

Article Source: http://www.theukarticledirectory.co.uk