The Center for Business Intelligence Education

Data Recovery And Data Loss - A Costly Proposition

2009-01-30T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Frank Owen

Data Loss and Business Solvency

Many companies are not able to survive a major data crash. For that reason it is critical you do everything possible to prevent significant data loss when working from a PC. There are a number of precautions you can take to limit your risk of data loss or the nee for data recovery.

Taking precautions will help establish your firm's solvency and legitimacy. You can establish more trust and better business relationships when customers know you protect your data using tried and tested methods. The best way to protect your business data is by backing it up, whether using an outside agency, to disk or to a server.

Recovering Lost Data

Of course if despite your best precautions you find that you still face a data loss problem, its best you find a data recovery specialist to work with. Tinkering too much on your own may result in bigger problems and greater losses than you might have initially incurred. Fortunately there are plenty of data recovery specialists that have worked even under the most dire situations that often are capable of recovering most if not all of a users data in the event of a serious mishap. To ensure the best success you should shop around for a provider with a lot of experience particularly with the situation you are experiencing and one capable of providing you with substantial references. This way you'll make sure you are charged a fair and honest price and get what you pay for.

About the author: Article by Frank Owen, visit his web site for more information on data recovery http://www.datarecoveryinsiders.com

Data Recovery - The Best Method Is Prevention

2009-01-29T03:02:00.000-08:00

Author: Frank Owen

An Act of Prevention

The best way to protect your data is to prevent problems from happening. Data recovery usually isn't necessary or at least not complicated at all if you properly back your system up religiously.

That said sometimes computers fail. There are usually warning signs involved before a system crashes. Some classic signs may include strange sounds, popping, frequent crashing, virus attacks or similar problems. Most of the time information lost through a temporary crash is salvageable. You will probably however have to hire a data recovery specialist if a crisis occurs to your computer.

Using Computers Safely

One way to prevent a computer crash and the subsequent need for data recovery is by taking good care of your workstation. Consider your computer not just a source of recreation or education but a lifeline to the outside world. People have increasingly become reliant on computers to handle just about everything, thus when a computer crashes a major crisis occurs.

Fortunately with regular or routine maintenance you may be able to avoid a crash altogether. This includes supplying updated virus protection software and ad ware software that removes potentially damaging programs from your computer. Then of course there is the obvious. You should keep your system away from liquids, food and overly hot conditions. You should clean your keyboard on occasion and make sure you plug your computer into a surge protected outline. You should also periodically free up disk space and clean your computer to make sure it is running optimally. These small steps can help reduce the risk you will lose data in an unexpected crash.

About the author: Article by Frank Owen, visit his web site for more information on data recovery http://www.datarecoveryinsiders.com

Before You Take the Plunge: Essential Information on Data Recovery

2009-01-28T03:02:00.000-08:00

Author: Alex Bezborodov

Know what you're dealing with

The world of data recovery is a big mystery for most consumers and even some IT professionals. This is largely because hard drives themselves are complex devices and their technological specifics are not generally well known. Data recovery companies thrive on their customers' lack of information and often get away with charging obscene rates for any recovery, regardless of complexity. I hope this article will be a helpful resource for consumers and professionals alike. I provide some basic information about data recovery by shedding some light on how hard drives work, how they can fail, what are the chances of successful recovery and how much the user can expect to pay. This information will enable the user to make an informed decision when choosing a data recovery company.

A bit about Hard Drives

A computer hard drive stores data on metal oxide platters which spin up to 10000 revolutions per minute. An actuator arm contains the ' head ' which reads and writes the data in the form of magnetic charges one millionth of an inch above the surface. Any given drive can have multiple read and write heads and each head can 'crash' independently. A head crash occurs when the read/write head comes in contact with the platters of the disk (more on head crashes below). As manufacturers strive to cram more space on hard drives without increasing their physical size, the data gets written increasingly closer together, making for very difficult recovery should one or more heads crash. The brain of the hard drive is its controller board and this is unique for each individual hard drive. One other detail worth a mention is the service track of a hard drive. This is an area located on the outer part of the disk platter and it contains the drive's firmware zone. The firmware of a hard drive is the information used by the computer to communicate correctly with the drive. These are the main components that make a hard drive work, now let's talk about what can go wrong.

There are many ways in which a hard disk can fail

Hard drives are extremely fragile and can suffer failures in many different ways, leading to a loss of data. The five most common types of drive failures are: logical errors, mechanical failure, electronic failure, firmware corruption, and bad sectors, or any combination these. Least severe of these is usually data loss due to logical errors.

Logical errors are often the simplest and sometimes the most difficult problems to deal with when recovering data. They can range from an invalid entry in a file allocation table, a simple problem that needs little work; to severe issues such as the corruption or loss of the entire file system. Logical errors can be spotted when files become inaccessible, there is a delay in starting up the computer, and programs do not run properly . Logical errors are often seen as simple because there is nothing wrong with the physical drive leading users to try recovering it themselves by using third party software. This is quite risky, however, as running such software on a damaged drive can result in total loss of data. The most effective way to prevent logical errors on your hard drive is to regularly use the Disk Defragmentation tool in your operating system. For more comprehensive information on preventing data loss, visit the tips section of our website.

Recovering a drive with logical errors can be simple and quick , however if the problem requires manual bit-by-bit reconstruction of the data, it can also be quite complex and time consuming. Normally, logical errors are in the lower end of the price range as they do not require manual disassembly of the drive, however there are cases when logical failures end up in the higher end of the price range. The bottom line with logical errors is the sooner they are caught and the less a user tampers with the drive, the better the chances for a quick and thorough recovery.

Mechanical failures are often much more serious than any other failure and frequently lead to a partial or even total loss of data. The most common type of mechanical failure is a head crash, which is when the read/write head comes in contact with the disk platter. Head crashes can be caused by a variety of reasons, including physical shock, static electricity, power surges, and mechanical read/write failure. Mechanical failures are detected by a constant clicking or grinding noise coming from the drive . If you suspect mechanical failure, you must immediately shut down your computer and call a data recovery company for advice.

Mechanical failures are usually the most severe and most challenging to recover from . All mechanical failures require physical disassembly of the drive. The replacement of a read/write head is one of the most complex and costly procedures that can be performed by a data recovery engineer, especially with larger capacity drives. The chances of recovery depend entirely on how much damage the drive has sustained, however they can be quite good. A crashed head does not mean that all your data is lost! Once again, the sooner you catch a mechanical problem and turn off your drive, the more of your precious data is likely to be rescued.

Electronic failures are most common after a power surge or due to some other electric problem, and the most common type is control board failure. A power surge can knock out the control board, making the drive undetectable in the BIOS. Because each drive is fitted with a unique control board, recovery of this type is relatively complex. However, the good news is that normally once the control board issue is fixed, the data is usually 100% recoverable.

Recovering a drive that has suffered from an electronic failure can be time consuming, mainly because the specific problem takes some time to diagnose. Once diagnosed, though, the recovery is usually not tremendously complex and would probably land in the mid-range in terms of price. Most of the time, we are able to achieve a 100% recovery from drives that have suffered an electronic failure.

Firmware corruption is caused by logical problems or physical damage to the firmware zone on the disk platter. When the firmware becomes corrupt, the computer is often unable to properly communicate with the hard drive, and drive is not recognized in the BIOS. Fortunately, when the drive fails due to firmware corruption, the data is usually fully recoverable once the drive has been repaired.

Recovering a drive that has suffered from Firmware corruption is possible with the use of our proprietary technology. Because the firmware information is isolated on the outer rim of the disk, most of the data can be recovered successfully. The complexity of recovering a drive that has suffered from firmware corruption depends on the amount of damage suffered by the service track on the disk's platter. Expect the cost of this type of recovery to be in the mid- to high-price range.

Bad sectors are a common fate of all hard drives .

Eventually, all drives develop areas that are no longer functional and when this happens, they are isolated by the operating system. Bad sectors are very much like bumps in the road, areas which are avoided by the read/write head and which are no longer accessible to the user. If mission critical data exists on the drive, we recommend to backup as soon as possible, as the formation of bad sectors often indicates the impending demise of the drive. Finally, and most importantly, do NOT under any circumstances run the ScanDisk or Chckdisk utilities when data becomes inaccessible. These utilities are designed to fix only file system errors and not any other types of errors, so if your hard drive has suffered from bad sectors, these utilities only make things worse.

Bad sectors are accessible

We are able to recover drives with bad sectors using our proprietary mirroring technology. The process often involves manual mirroring bit-by-bit, which can be time consuming. The price of this type of recovery will generally be in the mid-range of the pricing schedule.

I hope the above explanations are of some use to all computer users. The basic fact is that data loss happens to everyone. Every hard drive crashes, and often when you least expect it to. Backup is essential for end-users and business users alike, and there are many excellent ways to back up your data. But if you've lost data, attempt to understand the problem before calling a data recovery company. Be informed, save your money, get your data back.

About the author: Alex Bezborodov is the technical writer for Accurate Data Recovery . Let ADR bring your data back to life!

Data Recovery Made Easy

2009-01-27T03:02:00.000-08:00

Author: Emil Malmberg

Today millions of people all around the world depend on their computers for their daily work, and while modern computers are fairly reliable millions of dollars are lost every year due to technical problems and loss of data. If you spend more than a few hours per month in front of your computer you probably have some important documents and emails somewhere on your harddrive. In fact, many computers users have the result of hundreds of hours of hard work stored on their harddrives. What most people do not realize though, is that computers and harddrives is not a very secure place to store important information. A virus attack, disk crash or even a human error can easily wipe out irreplaceable files or your entire harddrive. While it is possible, although very expensive, to recover information from a crashed or erased harddrive, there is only one simple way to protect your files, emails and other data from crashes and technical disasters. Save backups on CDs, DVDs or some other secure media and update your backups daily! If you have an up to date backup, expensive and complicated data recovery procedures are no longer necessary.

Creating Backups the Easy Way When creating backups, it is important that you update you backups often or they will not be very useful. To accomplish this I strongly recommend that you use a backup software with built-in scheduling. If your backup software can write your backups directly to a CD or DVD, that's even better. WinBackup is a new backup solution from LIUtilities that makes it very easy to schedule backups of files, documents and emails. WinBackup can update your backups automatically on a daily basis. Since WinBackup also includes fully automatic CD/DVD burning you can even leave your backup DVD disc in the DVD writer all the time and it will automatically be updated every day (or night). WinBackup can also encrypt and compress your backups on-the-fly. By compressing your backups you can often store over 1 GB on a single CD or 10GB on a DVD. Encryption ensures that no one else will be able to access your backups, which may contain sensitive information or documents. WinBackup also lets you backup file from other computers on the network and you can store your backups on server any where on the network. If you are using 256-bit encryption you can even store your backups online without compromising security. Creating backups of important files, emails and documents on a regular basis is simply the cheapest and most efficient way to recover your data after a crash.

About the author: Software developer for LIUtilities ( www.liutilities.com )

The Essential Data Recovery Report

2009-01-26T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Greg Duffield

Your worst nightmare just became a horrifying reality. You keep hearing that little voice in your head mockingly shout "you should have backed that stuff up" The voice keeps echoing throughout your head as you perform a quick inventory all of the important information that you just lost…..your client database, a years worth of e-mail, your entire inventory database, even your family photos. Even worse, you've got a deposition in two-weeks and key information needed to help win the case were also lost. You quickly call a service technician and have them come over to check the computer out, only to hear the worst news of all….your data has been lost. When a hard drive crashes, it's too late to worry about what you "should have done."

Today data recovery is a multi-million dollar industry. The number of data recovery firms out there seems to exceed the number of fast food restaurants for the entire planet. These companies specialize in helping their clients retrieve data on anything from hard drives to flash-roms. In the following report, we will discuss what data recovery really is; the different types, the costs, and what you can realistically expect when it comes to getting your data recovered.

What To Do In The Event Of Data Loss? Around 44% of all data loss is caused by hardware failure. It's important to make sure that you immediately shut your system down if you suspect that hard drive has crashed. Don't even try to go through the shutdown procedure, just pull the plug from the wall. Do not try to run off the shelf data recovery software or drive utilities. Many times these applications will assume the drive is functioning properly and will increase the risk of permanent data loss.

Types Of Hard Drive Failure

When we discuss data recovery in this report, we will primarily focus on issues surrounding hard drive failures; since these types of failures are most common. There are really two primary forms of failure in a hard drive, logical and physical. Logical failures are usually a result of file-system corruption. This can occur due to a virus, accidental deletion of key files or registry components, and in some cases even electro-static discharge. In most cases where a logical failure has occurred, the drive is still recognized by the system BIOS, but it will not boot. In most cases, your data should still be intact on the drive, even though it may appear to be inaccessible. If the system BIOS does not detect the presence of the hard drive, then chances are a physical failure has occurred. Physical failures can result from a wide variety of causes. There are really two sub-categories for physical hard drive failures; mechanical and electronic. Mechanical failures usually result from a failure of the spindle motor. Spindle motor failure can result from excessive heat due to a bearing failure. The increased heat resulting from the bearing failure will expand the drive shaft and therefore seize the spindle motor. Suddenly, your drive will become inoperative. Occasionally, you will get a warning that something bad is about to happen. You may hear a loud whining, a grinding noise, even high-pitched screeches. If anything like this starts to occur, BACK UP YOUR DATA IMMEDIATELY. Another physical issue that sometimes rears its ugly head is an electronic failure. If you look at a hard drive you will notice a circuit board on the bottom. This board is basically the brains of the drive, and it is where the computer interfaces to the hard drive. An electrical failure can occur unexpectedly at any time. Even brand new hard drives are not totally immune to having electrical failures. Sometimes it's just a faulty component, sometimes it's improper installation (i.e. electro-static discharge, grounding out the board, damaging circuitry during installation). It's important to also keep your system clean and well ventilated, since excessive heat can damage the electrical components on the drive. If you have a system that is in a somewhat contained area, you may look at adding an additional 80mm fan to cool the internal components of the system, especially the hard drive. No other component of a computer works as much as the hard drive, and therefore it is vitally important not to overlook it when cooling issues arise.

How Is My Data Recovered?

One of the most often asked questions that customers ask is, "how do you get my data back?" Well, it's really not black magic or rocket science. It's just a matter of having the right tools and the knowledge necessary to know what to do, much like a surgeon performing heart by-pass surgery. Many prominent data recovery facilities have a large array of hardware, software and tools for recovering data.

Generally speaking when a hard drive is received by a data recovery firm, the first thing they do is evaluate it, and determine what recovery solution will be necessary. If the drive failure is a logical issue as mentioned earlier, then a scan of the drive will be performed to try and repair the file system corruption. Sometimes a partition can be repaired and the drive restored to the status that it was before the failure. If this is not possible, then a very low-level scan will be performed that essentially searches every sector of the hard drive for files. Once the files are located, they can then be copied to the media of choice, i.e. a CD-ROM, DVD-ROM or another hard drive. Logical recoveries can take up an enormous amount of time, especially if the drive is on the verge of physical failure. It's not uncommon to allow for one day of scanning and a day for recovering the found files.

If the drive has suffered a physical failure, then the recovery procedure is quite a bit more challenging. As mentioned above, there are really two sub-categories of physical failure; mechanical and electronic. An important element in recovering data from a physical failure is having the necessary parts to get the drive functioning again. Unfortunately with hard drives if you have a 20GB Maxtor Hard Drive for example, then you will need another identical 20GB Maxtor Hard Drive for salvaging parts. In cases where the electronic circuit board has failed on the hard drive, then you have to have the exact same circuit board on hand in order to retrieve the necessary circuit components for replacement. Many times you cannot even exchange circuit board for circuit board. These repairs generally require soldering skills and a thorough knowledge of electronics to be successfully completed. You will most likely hear "Class100 Clean Room" thrown around a lot when talking to data recovery professionals. Simply stated, a Class100 Clean Room maintains exceptional air purity, and contains less than 100 airborne particles larger than 0.5 microns in each cubic foot of air. This is vital in protecting sensitive internal components of hard drives. Anytime a hard drive is having an invasive procedure performed on it, a Class100 clean room or better is needed.

The time frame for recovery is generally 5-10 business days for physical issues and 2-4 days for logical issues. Sometimes if components are not readily available, then it may take weeks to complete the recovery. Some firms offer expedite service and you definitely pay for this added attention.

What About Data Recovery Software

This is one area where you really do get what you pay for. Try to stay away from software in the $20-$60 range, since these utilities are generally very limited in what they can do. Also make sure that you NEVER and just to emphasize, NEVER EVER get data recovery software that writes anything at all to the damaged disk. You run the risk of overwriting data that may otherwise have been recoverable, but will be lost forever. If you are fairly computer savvy, then there are a few good data recovery software solutions available.

What To Look For When Shopping For Data Recovery

There's an old saying, "you get what you pay for." In most cases this is true. However, just because a company with a fancy website quotes you $3,500 for data recovery, does not mean that they are any better than a company that quotes you $1,500. Also, try to stay away from companies that want to charge $50-$300 for evaluating your drive. There has been a movement in the data recovery industry over the last couple of years to offer a number of free services. Most reputable data recovery companies will evaluate standard IDE drives free of charge; so don't let the word "free" this or "free" that stop you. The data recovery market is quickly becoming saturated, and a company does not necessarily cheapen itself or lack expertise by offering free evaluations.

You will find as you shop around for data recovery that prices vary greatly. You will get quotes that range from $300 to $5,000 for standard hard drive recoveries. It's not uncommon to literally get quotes that have at least a $1,500 high/low spread. We shopped one prominent data recovery company where we gave them specific indicators of a physical hard drive failure. We were eventually quoted a price range of $600 to $2,900 for the recovery. Many times this is a bait and switch type tactic. They get you to send in the drive with the low-end $600 price, then they let you know it's going to cost $2,100 for the recovery. You end up being well under the $2,900 high-end price, but well over what other reputable companies would charge. Since most customers won't go through the pain of having the drive sent back, only to have to send it out to another company, these bait and switch companies end up making huge profits off of unsuspecting customers. Try to find a company that will give you an up front cost for either a logical or physical recovery. Most companies will be able to tell you within a couple hundred dollars the cost of a recovery. However, don't misunderstand a company that gives you a price for two different procedures. For example, some companies will give you a price if the failure is logical and a price if the problem ends up being physical. We called one firm and were told that if the drive had a logical failure the price would be $400 and if it ended up being a physical issue the price would be $1,600. This is not a high/low spread as mentioned in the earlier example, this is simply quoting a price for two different types of recoveries.

On average you can expect to pay anywhere from $400 to $600 for logical recoveries, and $1,200 to $2,000 for physical recoveries on standard IDE hard drives. If you have RAID drives, SCSI, etc. depending on the configuration prices can be as high as $15,000. Remember, backup backup backup backup backup!!

Can My Data Be Recovered?

In most cases the answer to this question is yes. On average, the success rate for data recovery professionals is about 75-85%. However, there are times when the data is just lost, either due to extensive damage to the platter or unavailability of replacement parts. How Do I Get Started?

If you have a hard drive that has crashed, the most important thing you can do is contact a data recovery professional immediately. Make sure you aren't being charged an evaluation fee if you have a standard IDE hard drive. Most companies only charge evaluation fees for complex RAID and network server drives.

It is important to do your homework, call and talk with the companies. When you find one that you feel comfortable with, give them a chance. Your hardest job, may be finding data recovery firms that actually have someone available to answer the phones. Ask questions and be sure to have the following information available:

· Size of the drive · Operating system (i.e. Windows 98, Windows XP, etc.) · Situation of failure (what happened just before the drive stopped working) · Is the drive recognized by the computer or not

Good luck in getting your data recovered, and make sure you always backup your important information on a daily basis.

About the author: Greg Duffield is the founder of ACS Data Recovery, a premier provider of data recovery services. You can visit them on the web at www.acsdata.com or call toll-free 1-877-646-0546.

The Best Data Recovery Choice For You

2009-01-25T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: John Simpson

The best defense against a loss of data is a really solid and faithful backup routine of important files to reliable media. It's also a good idea for the media to be removable and portable if possible so that even if something happens to your whole computer for any reason, the data is protected by being in a totally different physical area.

OK, so that is the best solution to data loss. But what if you have not been backing up your drive like you should and now you find yourself confronted with the daunting task of getting all the important files back that were on your computer before the emergency happened? (By the way, you can take some comfort in knowing that quite a few people find themselves in this situation. You are not alone.) What are your choices at this point?

Well, basically there are two ways of recovering data from a damaged disk, either by using a data recovery service or a data recovery software package. Either can do the job, but there are some factors that should go into your decision about which one to use. First, are you pretty computer savvy? If you are then maybe data recovery software will work for you. If not, do not try this method at all. The other is how much time do you have to spend on retrieving this data? If you have lots of time to put into it, then consider doing the job yourself with a reputable software package. If you don't have much time to devote to this endeavor, don't waste both time and money with the software option.

If you have decided upon using a data recovery service, you should know that the odds are that you will get a good portion, if not all of your data back. The generally accepted success rate in the industry is around 80%. Much of the success will depend on the skill and determination of the data recovery specialist who will be working on your drive. They all have sophisticated software tools to work with, but data recovery is not as simple as just plugging in a piece of software, walking away and coming back when it has found all the files. It often requires a specialist who is a bit of a detective, andnot easily discouraged, to get back a good portion of data, especially on drives with physical damage.

Don't be surprised to get two quotes for data recovery from some companies either. One for logical data retrieval that is much easier to handle and will be a much lower figure, and one for physical damage which is far more challenging and therefore rightly costs more. You will also find that cost quotes will often vary considerably. It is usually best to choose somewhere in the middle of the pack toward the higher end. The reason for this is that some companies engage in a bait and switch tactic that indicates that they will cost less initially, but when they actually receive the drive they wil claim that upon review the cost will be much higher. It's best to avoid messing with these companies at all.

So if you have lost data and have no backups to fall back on, data recovery can still be done. Just use the guidelines presented in this article for choosing the data recovery method that will work best for you.

About the author: John Simpson All About Data Recovery is a website that provides free information, tips and resources for finding the best data recovery, data retrieval, and file recovery options for your data loss situation.

Data Recovery The Easy Way

2009-01-24T03:02:00.000-08:00

Author: John Simpson

It's a fact of life that bad things happen to good people's data every now and then. And when it does, too often the victim is not prepared for it. Is that the case with you? Are you prepared in advance for a complete loss of critical files and data on your computer or on your computer network?

If you aren't prepared in advance, you will most likely have to use a data recovery service or data recovery software solution to help get back as much as you can of what was lost. This can be a very good idea if there is no other way to recover your files, but it doesn't have to come to that in most cases.

This is a classic situation of where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. A very simple backup routine that is adhered to on a daily basis can usually solve any data loss situation quickly and fairly painlessly. And it won't cost you anything but the time neded to restore the data files from your backups, and maybe the program files from the original disks.

There is a wide choice of media that you can backup your files to, inclusing CDs, DVDs, external hard drives, other internal hard drives, tape drives, etc. They all work, it's just that each media choice has it's own pros and cons regarding ease of use, data storage capacity, and so on. A discussion of those limits is beyond the scope of this article, but the most important thing to remember is that the best backup is the one that works. That means that regardless of the media you choose, just make a choice and stick to a backup schedule like glue.

There are sevral good backup programs out there that work very well and will do a fine job, but most Microsoft Windows users have a great backup program included with their operating software. If you are a Windows XP user that program is called NTBackup. If it's not already installed on your computer insert your Windows CD, find the folder titled ValueAddMSFT tbackup, and run the program in that folder called ntbackup.msi. It will set up the backup software for use on your computer in no time and you will even have simple to use wizards that will walk you through doing file backups and restores simply and easily.

Once the software is installed, it is now up to you to use it faithfully to prepare for data recovery when it is needed. Maybe you never will need it. But don't count on that. You will be so glad that you have a solid reliable way to restore lost files if disaster ever happens on your computer. It's truly the easy way to data recovery!

Hard Drive Crash? The Essential Data Recovery Report

2009-01-23T03:02:00.000-08:00

Author: Greg Duffield

What To Do In The Event Of Data Loss?

Around 44% of all data loss is caused by hardware failure. It's important to make sure that you immediately shut your system down if you suspect that hard drive has crashed. Don't even try to go through the shutdown procedure, just pull the plug from the wall. Do not try to run off the shelf data recovery software or drive utilities. Many times these applications will assume the drive is functioning properly and will increase the risk of permanent data loss.

Types Of Hard Drive Failure When we discuss data recovery in this report, we will primarily focus on issues surrounding hard drive failures; since these types of failures are most common. There are really two primary forms of failure in a hard drive, logical and physical. Logical failures are usually a result of file-system corruption. This can occur due to a virus, accidental deletion of key files or registry components, and in some cases even electro-static discharge. In most cases where a logical failure has occurred, the drive is still recognized by the system BIOS, but it will not boot. In most cases, your data should still be intact on the drive, even though it may appear to be inaccessible.

If the system BIOS does not detect the presence of the hard drive, then chances are a physical failure has occurred. Physical failures can result from a wide variety of causes. There are really two sub-categories for physical hard drive failures; mechanical and electronic. Mechanical failures usually result from a failure of the spindle motor. Spindle motor failure can result from excessive heat due to a bearing failure. The increased heat resulting from the bearing failure will expand the drive shaft and therefore seize the spindle motor. Suddenly, your drive will become inoperative. Occasionally, you will get a warning that something bad is about to happen. You may hear a loud whining, a grinding noise, even high-pitched screeches. If anything like this starts to occur, BACK UP YOUR DATA IMMEDIATELY.

Another physical issue that sometimes rears its ugly head is an electronic failure. If you look at a hard drive you will notice a circuit board on the bottom. This board is basically the brains of the drive, and it is where the computer interfaces to the hard drive. An electrical failure can occur unexpectedly at any time. Even brand new hard drives are not totally immune to having electrical failures. Sometimes it's just a faulty component, sometimes it's improper installation (i.e. electro-static discharge, grounding out the board, damaging circuitry during installation). It's important to also keep your system clean and well ventilated, since excessive heat can damage the electrical components on the drive. If you have a system that is in a somewhat contained area, you may look at adding an additional 80mm fan to cool the internal components of the system, especially the hard drive. No other component of a computer works as much as the hard drive, and therefore it is vitally important not to overlook it when cooling issues arise.

How Is My Data Recovered?

What About Data Recovery Software

What To Look For When Shopping For Data Recovery

Try to find a company that will give you an up front cost for either a logical or physical recovery. Most companies will be able to tell you within a couple hundred dollars the cost of a recovery. However, don't misunderstand a company that gives you a price for two different procedures. For example, some companies will give you a price if the failure is logical and a price if the problem ends up being physical. We called one firm and were told that if the drive had a logical failure the price would be $400 and if it ended up being a physical issue the price would be $1,600. This is not a high/low spread as mentioned in the earlier example, this is simply quoting a price for two different types of recoveries.

Can My Data Be Recovered?

How Do I Get Started?

You will find links to various data recovery firms on this page. We do not support or endorse any of them, but they are listed for your convenience. It is important to do your homework, call and talk with the companies. When you find one that you feel comfortable with, give them a chance. Your hardest job, may be finding data recovery firms that actually have someone available to answer the phones. Ask questions and be sure to have the following information available:

Size of the drive Operating system (i.e. Windows 98, Windows XP, etc.) Situation of failure (what happened just before the drive stopped working) Is the drive recognized by the computer's BIOS or not Good luck in getting your data recovered, and make sure you always backup your important information on a daily basis. For more information visit: http://www.acsdata.com

About the author: Greg Duffield is the founder of ACS Data Recovery. ACS specializes in providing hard drive data recovery services for clients around the world.

Data Protection And Hard Disk Recovery Go Hand In Hand

2009-01-22T03:02:00.000-08:00

Author: J Schipper

When it comes to hard disk recovery, the best method is to insure that you will never need it. Besides making frequent backups, the following measures will keep your system running smoothly.

Antivirus Protection

New viruses are invented every day, and system security is a concern for every business. Malicious software can damage your system to the point where it will not even boot up. The latest versions of Windows are the favorite targets of malicious programs such as spyware and viruses, and it is helpful to use 2 or more antivirus/anti-spyware programs to prevent destruction or theft of your data.

Spyware Scanner

The clues that spyware is on a computer include a barrage of pop-up ads, a hijacked browser,a sudden or even repeated change of your computer's Internet home page, the appearance of a new toolbar or new screen icons, malfunctioning keys, random error messages, and most of all, sluggish computer performance. Any sytem with access to the internet is prone to this problem, but there is software to block spyware installation. In addition, make sure all employees using the office network do not download from unknown sites, and set your internet browser security at ""Medium"" or higher. Install individual firewalls to prevent uninvited users from accessing your network. A firewall blocks unauthorized access to your computer and will alert you if spyware already on your computer is sending information out. Purchase an anti-spyware program from a vendor you know and trust. Set it to read on a regular basis, at least weekly and if possible each time you run your computer. Delete any programs the anti-spyware program detects on your computer.

Computer Maintenance

The best way to avoid having to use file recovery software is to be sure that no corrupt data is stored on your computer. Companies like Norton sell disk optimization programs keep your network running at top speed, correct problem files and maximize the available space on your hard disk. Run disk optimization and anti-virus programs at least once a week.

Hard Disk Recovery

There are disk recovery applications specifically geared to recovering files of a certain format, like graphics files as opposed to word document files, and there are general-purpose programs to hunt for any type of misplaced file regardless of the format. There is no program on the market that can guarantee recovery of every lost file, but you are able to increase your chances for recovery by selecting the appropriate program for the file you are trying to save.

Do-it-yourself programs are a lot less expensive than hiring a data retrieval company that specializes in information recovery, and to save money you should at least attempt to utilize of this type of program before calling a professional.

In addition to recovering deleted files, there exists information recovery programs that can restore files after you have formatted the drive, after a power failure, natural disaster, or even files damaged by a computer virus.

RAID

RAID is short for Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks, a category of disk drives that employ 2 or even several drives in combination to improve data storage fault tolerance and performance. RAID disk drives are frequently installed on servers but can also run on individual computers. Because of the duplication of data, it is possible to recover files from one or another disk when the need arises. As you might expect, RAID disk repair is quite a complicated process. However it is one of the most foolproof methods of data storage because the RAID architecture strategically distributes information randomly across the array. However, this sort of architecture demands the services of a recovery professional.

About the author: J Shipper needs Data Protection and Accounting Software

Nucleus Kernel for FAT Data recovery software

2009-01-21T03:02:00.000-08:00

Author: Nucleus Technologies.com

Nucleus Kernel for FAT recovers data from deleted, formatted, damaged, or corrupted partitions where FAT based operating systems, such as Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003 are installed on the hard disk or data storage media. During recovery process a complete scan of the damaged drive or data storage media is performed to locate and revive the lost partitions, files and folders. After the complete scanning the data found in the damaged disk is displayed in a tree like structure from where you can easily copy your recovered files to a working disk or volume. Nucleus Kernel for FAT Recovery Software helps in easy recovery of your all-important data lost after an accidental format this data recovery utility examines your inaccessible hard drive and shows you the data that is present in the hard disk. Simple FAT disk recovery process requires you to only select listed files & directories and copy to a working drive. Nucleus Kernel for FAT is a quick, simple and easy to use FAT recovery solution that helps you in file recovery in moments of a disk crash. Nucleus Kernel for FAT Data Recovery Software uses quick algorithm for searching and restoring lost partitions, files and folders and hence is fast, simple and easy to use Windows data recovery software, which helps you to recover your lost data and files in minutes in case of disk crash or data loss disasters and hence supports your business continuity. Nucleus Kernel FAT recovers data from deleted, formatted, damaged, or corrupted FAT partitions. Nucleus Kernel for FAT recover after partition loss, boot sector corruption or any other type of file system corruption or after using fdisk or scandisk programs. During recovery process a complete scan of the damaged drive or data storage media is performed to locate and recover the lost or deleted partitions, files and folders. Nucleus Kernel FAT will recover your data if the hard drive's partition table, boot record, FAT/MTF or root directory are lost or damaged, data was lost due to a virus attack, the drive was formatted, fdisk has been run, a power failure has caused a system crash, files were lost due to a software failure, files were accidentally deleted.QFSCI (Quick File System Component Identification) Technology will make sure that all directories and sub directories are put together as they were, and that long file names are reconstructed correctly. Nucleus Kernel for FAT data recovery software recover data from for Unexpected system shutdown or software failure. Windows Registry Corruption. For more information on the product please visit http://www.nucleustechnologies.com .

About the author: Nucleus Technologies.com offers a complete range of data recovery software and utilities for Windows, Linux, Unix, Novell Netware, Apple Macintosh operating system and supports various file systems including FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5, Ext2, Ext3, ReiserFS, NWFS, Net386, NSS, HFS, HFS+, UFS, FFS, VxFS, EAFS, HTFS etc

Data recovery from laptops

2009-01-20T03:04:00.000-08:00

Author: Jakob Jelling

A lot of important data is being stored on laptops today. Laptop use has increased significantly in recent years. Increased demands for portability and convenience have been envisioned in this mobile technology.

Demand for laptops has gone up in part due to the spread of telecommuting in businesses today. Businesses often allow employees to work on laptops at home and bring them to work.

Data loss in a laptop can end up costing the company a lot of employee hours worked. Even people who use their laptops for personal use are not pleased if they lose any important data. Carrying around a laptop all day can cause stress on the machine and increase the chances of data loss.

There are many companies that can help you with the laptop data recovery process. After you contact a company, first you will likely go through an evaluation process to evaluate the extent of damage done.

A lot of companies will offer a free evaluation and a quote if they feel they can successfully perform recovery operations. It may be a good idea to shop around for services to make sure you are getting the best deal. Each company may offer a different price. Some companies even have fixed pricing.

If you are panicking over a blank laptop screen or a hard drive crash, you will be happy to learn that a high percentage of the requests data recovery companies get are successful completed. However you still need to be prepared that some of the data may never be recovered. The only way to find out is get proactive and contact representatives from data recovery firms.

Several data recovery companies have specialized departments for performing data recovery operations on laptops. You can get a lot of your data recovered and receive it in a readable format, even from badly damaged storage devices.

Laptop systems are more fragile and therefore highly susceptible to damage to their hard drives.

There are many companies online that can offer you internet-based laptop data recovery. This allows you to ship of your laptop to company headquarters and have it shipped back to you after the data has been recovered.

Some problems you may experience with your laptop is a dead screen, hard drive crash, etc. There are different types of laptop data recovery operations you can perform. Laptop data recovery can allow you to recover files after such events and after technical malfunctions. You may also be able to recover MS Word, Excel or Power Point files that you may have accidentally deleted.

Laptops can receive a lot of abuse and their hard drives can get damaged. You may need laptop data recovery support if:

- You dropped your notebook and it no longer turns on. - An unsolicited e-mail has downloaded a Trojan or virus on your laptop. - The laptop's hard drive crashes. - You accidentally deleted some important company files and you want them retrieved in a hurry before your boss finds out.

If you have lost important company data and your boss just says to go and recover it, rapid data recovery can be a solution. Often companies can perform emergency operations to recover lost data and get you on your way in only 24-48 hours. However be prepared to pay up for these services. The services will be worthwhile depending on how important the lost data is to you or your business.

If you are involved in the management of a company, you may want to keep the contact information of a reliable data recovery specialist near your desk. You never know when you may need one.

About the author: Jakob Jelling is the founder of http://www.sitetube.com. Visit his website for the latest on planning, building, promoting and maintaining websites.

Data Recovery Software Comparison

2009-01-19T03:03:00.000-08:00

Author: Brad Triggs

Software programmers recognize the importance of data files, and thankfully, they have been able to create products that demonstrate their understanding of how often people accidentally delete or lose important data. Thanks to software programmers and development companies, people have a variety of data recovery software programs available to purchase in the event they've lost vital data.

There are disk recovery applications that are specific to recovering files of a certain format, like graphics files as opposed to word document files, and there is software that can recover any type of lost file regardless of the format. If you've accidentally deleted an image on your digital camera, there is even software available to retrieve that!

It's important to take the time to research and compare each software program before purchasing one in order to make sure that it will have the best possible chance at retrieving your lost file. Remember that there is no program on the market that can guarantee recovery of every file, as there are simply too many factors and situations that effect whether or not a file can be retrieved once deleted or lost. You can increase your chances for recovery by selecting the appropriate program for the file you are trying to save.

Do-it-yourself software is less expensive than hiring a company that specializes in data recovery and you should at least attempt to recover your data yourself with the use of this type of software program if money is of concern for you. Even if money is not a concern, your first step should be to check whether or not recovering your data is as simple as running a software program, as that will be your fastest and most convenient way.

In addition to recovering data files from accidental deletion, there is data recovery software that can recover files after you've formatted the drive, after a computer power failure, natural disaster, or files lost from a virus.

About the author:

******************************************* Brad Triggs provides more information on Data Recovery at his website: Data-Recovery-Central .com - Data Recovery Software *******************************************

Computer Data Recovery Options

2009-01-18T03:02:00.001-08:00

Author: Brad Triggs

Losing files on your computer can be a frightening experience if the files are of importance to you personally or professionally. Computer data recovery techniques include the most simple of operations, like simply retrieving an accidentally deleted file, to very complex file retrieval procedures that only professionals should attempt to do.

If you are trying to proceed with your hard disk recovery solution on your own, first start with the most obvious answer. Look in your recycle bin to see if the file has been placed there. If it is, you can choose the ""restore"" option, and your system will automatically put the file back on your computer where it was stored originally. Of course, if every retrieval was this simple, there would be no need for computer professionals who specialize in data recovery, so chances are you'll need to try a different technique to find your lost data.

If you've deleted a file on your computer, and you've emptied your recycle bin, don't despair. When a file is deleted on a computer, it's not erased immediately from the system. What actually happens is the computer marks the deleted file as ""deleted"", and it is no longer in view to users within your computer's files. The file remains on the hard drive until new data is saved over it, similar to recording songs on cassette tapes. So, in order for computer data recovery to happen on files that have been deleted, you'll need to attempt to recover them before new data has been written over the file.

The best thing you can do to increase your chances of success is to immediately stop using the computer until you've retrieved the deleted file. The more you use your computer, the more information will be saved and the more likely the information could be saved over the file you are hoping to get back!

About the author:

******************************************* Brad Triggs provides more information on Data Recovery at his website: Data-Recovery-Central .com - Computer Data Recovery *******************************************

Nucleus Kernel for FAT & NTFS data recovery software

2009-01-17T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: Nucleus Technologies.com

Nucleus Technologies.com offers a complete range of data recovery software and utilities for various Platforms including Windows operating system and supports various file systems including FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5, The Hard Drive Data Recovery Software offered by Nucleus Technologies ensures safe and precise data recovery against numerous threats like accidental file deletion and disk formatting, Nucleus Kernel for FAT & NTFS data recovery software is a non-destructive and read-only file and partition recovery utility that helps you in recovering data lost due to accidental formatting, virus problems, software malfunction, file and directory deletion, and sabotage. The program examines your inaccessible hard drives for damage and corruption and recovers the data. It provides partition recovery from FAT16, FAT32, NTFS and NTFS5 file systems. It recovers deleted files and folders, even after the recycle bin has been emptied. It recognizes and preserves long file names when restoring files and folders. Nucleus Kernel FAT & NTFS File recovery from deleted partition, formatted logical drives or deleted files, File recovery from Missing or Lost folders. During recovery process a complete scan of the damaged drive or data storage media is performed to locate and revive the lost partitions, files and folders. After the complete scanning the data found in the damaged disk is displayed in a tree like structure from where you can easily copy your recovered files to a working disk or volume. Kernel for FAT+NTFS Data Recovery Software uses QFSCI (Quick File System Component Identification) Technology for searching and restoring lost partitions, files and folders and hence is a fast, simple and easy to use Windows data recovery software, which helps you to recover your lost data and files in minutes in case of disk crash or data loss disasters and hence supports your business continuity. Nucleus Kernel for Windows supports FAT, NTFS, HPFS, and NTFS5 File Systems. For more information on the product please visit http://www.nucleustechnologies.com .

About the author: Nucleus Technologies.com offers a complete range of data recovery software and utilities for various Platforms including Windows operating system and supports various file systems including FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5, The Hard Drive Data Recovery Software offered by Nucleus Technologies ensures safe and precise data recovery against numerous threats like accidental file deletion and disk formatting.

How You Can Avoid My Data Recovery Nightmare

2009-01-16T03:02:00.001-08:00

Author: John R. Barker

Many subjects related to your work might be more fun, more sexy. Who wants to talk about data backups, disaster preparedness and data recovery?

I sure didn't.

But, a disturbing thought kept popping into my head for days . .

""You better spend Wednesday . . . Thursday . . . Friday . . . backing up your hard drive.""

Did I listen to that intuition?

Just a couple of weeks prior I begrudgingly sat through a presentation on disaster preparedness for small businesses.

It was a great presentation, actually. I learned a lot. I knew it was a weak spot in my business. But priority number one?

So back to present past time:

It was 12:30 AM on Saturday night / Sunday morning. Sitting on my couch in the living room, I closed the lid on my laptop - the core of my business and family income.

Five hours later, at 5:30 AM, I woke to the frantic screams of my wife. ""John, the kitchen is on fire! Oh my god, our house is on fire!""

We lost everything.

Including my laptop and a lot of precious information. Email addresses, new projects, software, my audio library. Customer testimonials, purchase records, receipts, passwords, bookmarks and more.

Fortunately a lot of it was backed up. Well, at least the guts of my business. But if it had been backed up better, I'd have saved myself a lot of headaches and a LOT of money.

It's easy to put off subjects like data recovery, data backups and disaster preparedness. There are more pressing things to be done, and what are the odds? Right? When you consider the many things that can happen to your data, regular data backups are just smart.

Don't get burned like I did - be prepared.

Backup Your Data

To see what's left of my living room, visit http://www.4data-recovery.com.

About the author: To see what's left of my living room, visit http://www.4data-recovery.com.

John R. Barker is an Internet marketer. His unexpected life disaster has inspired him to launch a site that will, hopefully help you from enduring the same.

Disc Recovery - Data Recovery - Raid Recovery

2009-01-15T03:02:00.001-08:00

Author: J. Brian Keith

Data Recovery is probably the last thing on anyone's mind when they buy a computer. Most of us never think something will go wrong until it's too late. Data recovery or Disc Recovery services is something we hope we will never have the need for. Whether your computer simply crashes or you accidentally delete software that is important or imperative to you, it may seem that your information is lost for good. Although, if you have quality data recovery software already in your system or on your computer, you should feel good in the fact that it has backup, even though things like this can and will happen at times. This can be extremely important for you state of mind and well being when it comes to safeguarding your personal or business information and software.

What many don't understand is that there are numerous reasons things can go wrong on their computer. Whether it is your own personal computer you are responsible for, or a large business computer system, having a method of restoring the information when things go wrong can be of the utmost importance. Your computer could run slow or be packed full of non efficacious adware and spyware that can ultimately destroy your important files, siphon and transfer personal data, this could cause a computer crash. In a blink of an eye, everything that is important to you could be gone. Storms can cause Power surges quickly and without much or any advance warning, that could be all it takes to lose everything.

These are not the only ways you can lose the data that is stored on your computer. Most people think this will never happen to them, it's human nature. So what do we do? Nothing, which means you could lose everything. Disc recovery is an absolute must to avoid these things from happening. Disc and Data Recovery is very easy to install and use and can be virtually self maintaining. So why doesn't everybody take advantage of data recovery? It could be the expense, but it doesn't cost much, more likely they just don't understand the importance or simply don't think about it at all until it's too late. Data recovery is quite possibly the most important thing for computer users. Don't get caught without it!

About the author:

For more information about: Data Recovery ,

Computer Forensics or Articles about Data Recovery Services

Hard Disk Data Recovery Expert: Choosing Yours

2009-01-13T03:02:00.001-08:00

Author: David A. Williams

If you need a hard disk data recovery expert, you need one now. You have just lost a good amount of work that you need to send, well, yesterday. No matter how well versed you think you are in the computer world, chances are that at some point, something will go wrong. This is when you will want to find the right person or company to help solve your problems. Data disk hard recovery is a touchy situation, though. So, to help you find the hard disk data recovery expert that you need, here are a few helpful hints.

* First off, take the time to find the right company. Don't simply choose one that says they will do the job for you. They can make things worse if they are not prepared. It only takes a few minutes to find out what they can do for you. * Consider the company itself. Does it have the ability to service your manufacturer? What experience do they have? How do you know its not a bunch of college kids? Ask questions, do some basic research. It takes only minutes.

* You will want to know what specifically they will do for your data disk hard recovery needs. The hard disk data recovery expert should be able to handle your specific problem. More than likely, they will ask you just what happened, what type of application is being used and if you know what the source of the problem is. From here, they should provide you with some sort of plan of action that they will take.

* Very important is that the work that they do will not violate your computer's warranty. You will specifically want to make sure of this. * Will they need you to bring your system in? Or, many of the hard disk data recovery experts will work with you over the phone to help you restore data within minutes. That will save you quite a bit of time and expense. Often times they will log into your system and handle the issue professionally. In many cases, though, you will need to take your system in.

* How will they provide the lost media to you? The hard disk data recovery experts often offer a number of methods to provide you with what you lost. They can often be transmitted to you, sent to you on CD-ROMs or hard disk drives. Most of the time, the choice is up to you. * Lastly, it is also important to know what the hard disk data recovery experts will charge you when the data disk hard recovery is unsuccessful. Will they charge you for the service or will the service be free? Perhaps they will offer you a lower price?

Finding the right company to choose from is not that hard. The hard disk data recovery experts that are available to you are able to help you in your time of need. In many cases, they can have your files restored as you need them within a few hours, days or in extreme cases a little longer. Nonetheless, their data disk hard recovery service is something you will likely need and not be able to think twice about having the service preformed. But, when you take the time to find a qualified hard disk data recovery expert, things can go right, right from the beginning!

About the author: David writes for the Business Catalyst where you can find information on Small Business Startups in Nashville, TN. For more information on Data Recovery visit http://www.mydatarecoveryexpert.info

Nucleus Kernel for NTFS Data Recovery Softwares

2009-01-12T03:02:00.001-08:00

Author: Nucleus Technologies.com

Nucleus Technologies.com offers a complete range of data recovery software and utilities for Windows, operating system and supports various file systems including FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5 Kernel for NTFS recovers data from deleted, formatted, damaged, or corrupted partitions where NTFS based operating systems, such as Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003 are installed on the hard disk or data storage media. During recovery process a complete scan of the damaged drive or data storage media is performed to locate and revive the lost partitions, files and folders. After the complete scanning the data found in the damaged disk is displayed in a tree like structure from where you can easily copy your recovered files to a working disk or volume. Kernel for NTFS Data Recovery Software uses QFSCI (Quick File System Component Identification) Technology for searching and restoring lost partitions, files and folders and hence is a fast, simple and easy to use Windows data recovery software, which helps you to recover your lost data and files in minutes in case of disk crash or data loss disasters and hence supports your business continuity. Kernel for NTFS data recovery software Recovery of deleted and damaged partitions. Data recovery after the loss of MBR, Boot sector or File Allocation Table. Provides recovery of data lost due to accidental formatting of your hard disk. Recovery of lost data due to variety of viruses(s). Full support for long file names. Recovery possible even if the disk partition has been formatted with different file system type or with different parameters. Kernel for NTFS data recovery software Full support for IDE, EIDE, SCSI and SATA, PAN, ZIP and USB drives. Nucleus Kernel for NTFS will recover your data if the drive was formatted, fdisk has been run, a power failure has caused a system crash, files were lost due to a software failure, files were accidentally deleted. For more information on the product please visit http://www.nucleustechnologies.com .

About the author: Nucleus Technologies.com offers a complete range of data recovery software and utilities for Windows, operating system and supports various file systems including FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5 Kernel for NTFS recovers data from deleted, formatted, damaged, or corrupted partitions where NTFS based operating systems, such as Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003 are installed on the hard disk or data storage media.

Choosing a Data Recovery Company

2009-01-10T03:03:00.001-08:00

Author: Yaroslav Shkvorets

There are many different factors to consider when choosing a data recovery company. All of them may have strong advantages in some areas but be weaker or less efficient in others.

If this is your first time choosing a data recovery company, you will want to learn as much information as possible regarding them. Browse their websites, contact representatives and find the answers to the following questions. This will help you to make an informed choice. Do they have specialists specifically devoted to data recovery? Some companies offer data recovery as supplementary to other computer support services. You should definitely avoid these since data recovery is a complex process and it requires many years of devoted experience. How do they perform an evaluation? Most good companies offer a free evaluation and do not have any cancellation fees. However some firms will try to make money on ""unsuccessful"" diagnostics attempts. Do they charge for unsuccessful data recovery attempts? Make sure that you won't be charged in case a firm fails to retrieve your data or else may lose your money, time and information. When will they give you a final quote? Upfront pricing is a good choice. You should always have the right to cancel your job if the price or other circumstances don't suit you. Don't leave a final quote for the last moment or the price might shock you. What are their prices like compared to the competitors'? Data recovery is a very comple complex procedure, so prepare possibly a few hundred dollars. Very high or low prices are not usually an optimal solution. Explore your local market to find the golden mean. What about an emergency service? If you need your data back urgently, find a company that offers this type of service. It may be costly but worth the expense. It is also a good idea to discuss responsibility for possible delays. There is also a number of ways data recovery companies may try to trick customer in their advertisements. Among them are: Unbelievably high successful recovery rate No ""magic machine"" exist that can automatically retrieve all data from the hard disk. 15-20% of all cases are entirely unrecoverable and there is nothing anyone can do about it. If a company claims to have successful rate of more than 90%, they are definitely being dishonest with their customers. Class 100 Clean Rooms Clean rooms are only used in most difficult cases when engineers have to disassemble a broken drive in order to fix its mechanical parts. This is a really complex and expensive procedure with very low rate of success. And besides, mechanical failures happen very rarely(only 4-5% of all accidents). Most companies mention clean room for marketing purposes only and most likely you will pay for it from your own pocket. Free Diagnostics A good company SHOULD offer free diagnostics. But sometimes this is misleading. It may still be free, but if you become unsatisfied with the price offered after evaluation and try to withdraw your order, you will be charged a so-called ""cancellation fee"" (that may go up to $200). Be aware of this.

About the author: If you want to learn more information about data recovery in general please visit Choosing data recovery company website. There you can also ask your particular questions in data recovery forum and receive consultation from experienced specialists.

Yaroslav Shkvorets, http://datacent.com

Data Recovery Help

2009-01-09T03:02:00.001-08:00

Author: T. Potter

If you are looking for help with data recovery, you are likely not in the mood for the sales hype and the marketing schemes. Individuals looking for it are usually in need of it because their system has crashed or they can not locate the data and information that they desperately need. Many individuals find themselves lost without the precious memory that they have to have in order to make a sale or to contact a company or even worse the data to keep their computer in functioning order. Data recovery options are available though.

There are two main ways in which you can find help here. First, you can call on data recovery specialists that can come in and help you. These individuals can help by accessing your computer and finding what has happened. They are skilled and able to read more into the problem than most computer users can. A good individual to call on for this type of service is someone that has the ability to be around anytime that you need them, experience dealing with your type of system and honesty. You do not want to go with just anyone and it's important to establish a working relationship with a company before you have problems.

The second type of data recovery option that you have is through software. Many software programs are available to help you. These will store and keep your very precious information on file so that if something were to happen, they would have it available for you. Of course, this type of data recovery really only works if you have it in place before a problem.

Do you need data recovery help? Do you need to call on someone to help you through one of the worst computer situations of your life? When all else fails, the best thing for you to do is to call on a specialist. Sure, your brother's wife's aunt's husband says that he can help you, but unless you really know that they can and you have the time to wait around for him to fix it, it is best to call on a professional to handle your situation in data recovery.

About the author: Written by T.Parker.Visit No1 in Data Recovery for further information.

Contract Management Software: the Solution to the Problem of Coordination

2009-01-08T03:02:00.000-08:00

Author: Joe Miller

Charles Petrie, from Stanford, released a short article entitled "The Problem of Coordination," which highlights 4 categories in which businesses find it difficult to connect:

Interoperability

Agent Communication

Semantic Unification

Coordination

Though this article refers to a specific type of business, its principles are just as applicable to any business, especially when collaborating on a contract. Contract collaboration and management is difficult in any business, and the negotiations can go on for weeks, months, or even years. In seeking to manage contract deliberations, organization of personnel, documents, and software can make or break a clean operation.

Using Petrie's model, this article explores how the right contract management software is the solution to the problem of coordination.

Interoperability

Interoperability is defined by Petrie in the question "Can you read my data?" Search "contract management software" in Google, and in .44 seconds you will be introduced to millions of products indexed for your specific search-18,400,000 to be exact. The only problem is that they are not all compatible.

The most commonly used business software is MS office software, which coordinates email with other applications targeted toward common business needs: spreadsheets, word processing, presentations, etc. The problem cited by Petrie and applied to contract management is that businesses which work together need to have the right contract management software, which will aid collaboration within these commonly used business applications. The solution is surprisingly simple.

Agent Communication

Again, some questions: "What is the protocol? How will you find me?" In contract management, generally a draft is drawn after much negotiation and deliberation. The man or woman who is "lucky" enough to draft the contract must draw from up to thousands of documents of drafts and notes. This draft will quickly multiply into an almost unmanageable number of drafts and documents.

The old way to handle this document influx was either to file them in a drawer, paperclip them together, or pile them on your desk. This is virtually impossible to handle because it takes up so much space and is so difficult to organize. What most people don't understand is that if you are saving these drafts electronically, you still have the same problems. It is almost impossible to manage all of the drafts, and you may overload your desktop.

The other way protocol becomes a problem is that the editorial cycle is really not a cycle at all but a cyclone of drafts whirling back and forth in no particular order. The likelihood of always finding the most recent draft right away is about the same as reaching out into the cyclone for a specific thing and finding it in the first grab. In other words, you may send several drafts to several people before any of them send their collaborative efforts back. When they open and save your drafts to a drive, they are not only needlessly taking up too much space on the drive, but they have also just downloaded a pile of drafts that they now need to sift through in order to make their changes. Now, imagine what will happen to you when they send all of their drafts back-the cyclone image comes to mind again.

How can the right contract management software solve this problem? The answer, again, is surprisingly simple. The right contract management software will have Digital Thread technology, which connects the who, what, when, where, and how of each draft, even creating a "family tree" of the drafts or a flow chart to help you to see exactly where you are in the protocol. No matter what order the drafts whirl by in, they will always be tracked, saving you time and storage space and protecting the integrity of the contract protocol.

Semantic Unification

"What do you mean by ______?" Semantics is a nightmare in contract management. The precision in wording is an important service to any business, and creating the right wording produces a solid contract. It also produces the most drafts. One word can be deliberated over for hours, days, or weeks. Drafts will go back and forth, and a quick and easy way to review changes as small as word choice in a document that could range from 10 to 1,000 pages long.

Document Signature is a feature that is almost a necessity to keep up with semantic changes. It produces a window attached to any document you open that lets you know that changes were made and who made it. It's that easy.

Coordination

"What do I do now?" This question probably cycles through every professional's mind, no matter how briefly, at least a few times a day. In contract management, the question might be altered to "How do I go about implementing all of these changes?"

This simple answer is probably the most surprising. You need the contract management software that will record changes and merge them for you. You are involved in so many drafts and changes that you can barely keep track of them, but with the right contract management software, all of the changes are tagged and tracked, almost like a DNA strand. The changes from various drafts can then be merged within seconds, giving you the ability to review the merge when it happens and use it to produce your final draft.

In collaborating any project, whether a contract, a budget report, a presentation, or even a memo, these four problems of coordination always loom over professionals' heads. Contract management software answers back to the rescue of every collaboration committee. Narrow the search using the answers provided in this article and you will find the right contract management software for your company and finally find the solution to the problem of coordination.

About the author:

Joe Miller is specialist in

online advertising . For more information on

contract management software , please visit NextPage.com .

Finding a Search Engine Friendly Content Management System

2009-01-07T03:02:00.001-08:00

Author: Mike Goldstein

What is a Content Management System? A Content Management System (CMS) is a third party software application which allows web site administrators to add, update or delete content, photos, and documents to their web site in ""real time"". Many web sites are modified using these web-based tools as they require little to no knowledge of HTML or web scripting languages. CMS programs make it easy for a webmaster or site owner who does not know HTML or have access to a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) HTML Editor, such as Macromedia's Dreamweaver, to update their site.

In today's high paced web world, a good CMS is integral to the efficient operation of a web site. Many webmasters and web site developers are building database driven, or dynamic web sites, which require a third party solution, such as a Content Management System, to update the content that lives in the database. In addition, a CMS allows the web site owner to outsource content development remotely to contract copywriters and other willing contributors. With built in access level hierarchies, webmasters can allow various users to register as authors and start submitting articles and news to be published on their site.

How do Content Management Systems Work? Content Management Systems create a dynamic web site environment, where all the content is stored in a database or XML file. Using a web-based interface, the webmaster can select which page they want to update and then can modify the web content in a text editor, with many of the familiar formatting keys that can be found in a word processing program. Once the content has been updated, with the simple click of a button, the CMS will turn their text into HTML code and publish the content to the web site.

Problems Between Search Engines and Content Management Systems Historically, search engines have had difficulty indexing dynamic pages. While their ability to index and rank dynamic pages has improved dramatically, there are some basic things to avoid. One of the greatest enemies of search engines is URL strings that contain many URL parameters. URL parameters are variables that are passed to the CMS through the URL, which tell it what information to retrieve from the database. URLs with too many parameters generally make little logical sense to the average user and may also scare off search spiders. For example see:

www.mysite.com/mg/vbclass/search.asp?A9_MAKEVBCookie=Yes&vertical =CLTH&cat=Mens& subcat=ID&displayTarget=Subcategory It is suggested to limit the number of URL parameters to two or three per URL to ensure that that search spiders will not have difficulty indexing pages deep within the web site.

Certain URL parameter names may automatically flag a filter on the search engine. One example is the URL parameter names that contain 'ID', such as 'sessionid', 'sid' or 'userid'. Historically, search engines detect the term ""ID"" and assume it is associated with a session dependant variable. As a result, search engines have learned to flag these parameter names and it can cause problems with page indexing. Passing session dependant variables through the URL is a problem for search engines because the spider essentially sees a unique URL each time they visit the site because the session dependent variables change with each visit. For example, on one visit to the site, a page URL may be http://www.mysite.com/page.asp?sessionid=12345. The next time the spider visits the page, the URL may be http://www.mysite.com/page.asp?sessionid=56789. This creates a situation where a spider may think that there are multiple URLs with duplicate content, resulting in penalties which will negatively impact search rankings.

Based on the above, it is imperative to employ a CMS that does not pass session dependent data, such as session variables, through a URL string. Doing so will not only create potential usability issues for the end user, but will also result in indexing problems for the search engine spiders.

Finally, search engines gather understanding from your web site's content by filtering through the HTML code. For this reason, it is extremely important that your CMS generate HTML code that adheres to the latest requirements of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). Use the W3C Code Validator to determine if your code meets the W3C standards. Be aware that some CMS's add in many lines of proprietary code or JavaScript at the top of the file, which can choke search spiders. This violates a cardinal rule of SEO; 'To always have more content then code'.

Finding a Search Engine Friendly CMS that will Work for You Now that we have explored many of the potential problems with Content Management Systems, lets look at how to go about finding one that will be both search engine friendly and suit your specific needs. First you will need to determine what server platform you will be using. Many Content Management Systems use scripting languages and databases that are platform dependant. If you are married to a particular platform, it may limit your CMS options. Ideally, you will want to find a CMS that is platform independent, which can run on any server.

There are many search engine friendly CMS's that will allow the web site owner to generate a URL structure that is both meaningful to their users and digestible by search engine spiders. Instead of having a URL that is packed with parameters, you can create a URL structure that looks like this: http://www.mysite.com/children/hats/prodid/121576. Your next step is to check whether your CMS builds HTML pages to the latest standards established by the W3C. Most CMS providers will be able to tell you if their solution generates valid code. If they can't, then ask for a sample page and run it through the W3C Code Validator. In order to rank effectively in organic results of the search engines, it is imperative that your CMS allows you to update your title tags, meta data and alt tags on a page-by-page basis.

The most important aspects of a good CMS are the ease of use and richness of content formatting features. This one is a no-brainer because the very reason that you are looking for a CMS is that YOU DON'T WANT TO CODE. Any good CMS should provide an editing stage that is similar in feature and function to a standard word processing program, such as Microsoft Word. The technical term for this is a WYSIWYG Editor or a Rich Text Editor. This important feature will allow you to type and format your content using standard buttons and keyboard shortcuts. When you publish the content to the live web site, the CMS will write the HTML, CSS and scripting to display your content as it was formatted during the editing stage. Many Content Management Systems are offering additional technologies, such as RSS feed, shopping cart solutions, forums and live chat integration, which can really enhance the functionality of your web site. The key is to find a CMS that will suit your core needs and then determine what add-ons would be beneficial. The ends result will be a web site that is easy to manage and usable for both your customers and the search engines.

This Article was written by Mike Goldstein. Mike is the SEO Manager at Rock Coast Media, a Boston-Area search engine marketing firm that provides results-driven custom search marketing solutions .

About the author:

Mike is Rock Coast Media's Search Engine Optimization (SEO) manager. With extensive experience in web application development, SEO, and instruction at the college level in all web development disciplines, Mike creates the processes and practices that deliver increased organic search rankings for clients of Rock Coast Media.

Before coming to Rock Coast Media,

CMS - Content Management Software

2009-01-06T03:02:00.001-08:00

Author: Lee Asher

If all this talk of coding and designing scares you off, you might want to know that there is an alternative to all this. You can install a kind of software called a Content Management System (CMS) that allows you to put content up on the web without ever knowing a thing about HTML.

Now in its 8th Edition, the acclaimed CMS Report provides a comprehensive overview of Web Content Management products and best practices, including updated, 5- to 12-page comparative surveys of 31 Web CMS packages (26 in the Standard Edition), as well as short descriptions of 15 other products across 7 vendor categories.

The report is ideal for companies looking to develop a business-driven Content Management strategy, or who are considering selecting a CMS product and need unbiased technical assessments, or who simply need a clearly-written guide to this confusing, fast-changing landscape. Further details can been found here: http://www.cmswatch.com/CMS/Report/

Fantastico

Depending on your host, you might find that you already have a selection of CMSes available and ready to install from your cPanel. Log in, and take a look for the Fantastico script installer. If you have it, then you'll be able to read a description of each piece of software you have available to you - try out a few of the CMSes to see which ones you like.

Finding a CMS

If you don't have Fantastico on your host, or you don't like what it offers you, don't worry: there's plenty of choice out there on the web when it comes to CMS software.

For finding free CMS software, a truly excellent resource is www.opensourcecms.com. At that site, you can use the menu at the side of the page to see lots of open source CMSes running before you commit to downloading them and installing them yourself. Textpattern, Drupal and Plone are very popular right now, so they're a good place to start.

If you're considering commercial CMSes as well, then you should take a look at www.cmsmatrix.org, which provides an up-to-date comparison of almost every CMS out there. Be prepared, though, that commercial CMSes can be ridiculously expensive or unnecessarily expensive.

Getting a Custom CMS Built

If nothing out there seems to meet your needs, you might consider having a web designer build you a custom CMS in a scripting language like Perl or PHP. Any web designer worth their salt should have something basic already that they can build whatever features you want onto. This can be really good when it comes to making your website work the way you want, since the CMS will be built around your website to make it as easy as possible for you to modify.

Using a CMS

The whole point of a CMS is to make it much easier to add content to your website and to edit the content that's already there. Once you've installed your CMS, you will generally be able to log into its user system using a special admin password. This will add 'edit' options to the existing pages of the site, as well as giving you a 'new page' link somewhere to allow you to create a new page.

When it comes to actually writing the content of the pages, most CMSes will make it easy for you to copy and paste from programs like Word: they shouldn't require any special HTML formatting. Some will require you to mark words with special symbols if you want them to be bold or italic, but it shouldn't be too troublesome.

Changing the design with a CMS usually involves installing a template into a template folder and then selecting it in the options. Creating your own templates can be complicated, depending on what software you're using, but it shouldn't be any trouble for a web designer, and most template sites will provide designs in a format suitable for this kind of use

Finding a Hosted CMS

Once you know which CMS you want, an alternative to installing it on a web host that doesn't necessarily support it is to do a search and find a host that specifically supports your CMS. You shouldn't have too much trouble finding a host somewhere that will support you - if nothing else, you might try opensourcehost.com, which supports almost every open source CMS out there.

Using a host solution might be a little more expensive, but it will save you a lot of time in configuration and a lot of problems if anything goes wrong. Using a hosted CMS is one of the quickest ways to set up a website: you simply pay the host, log in, add your content and you're away.

About the author:

Original Source: Articles-Galore.com

Information supplied and written by Lee Asher of The Home Income Portal

Home of Serious Online Business Options.

Content Update Management

2009-01-05T03:02:00.001-08:00

Author: Delphine Campes-Edouard

The phrase ""content is king"" is no longer new, but its message is stronger than ever. The competition among online retailers is fierce. Businesses of any size are scrambling to grab a domain name and take advantage of the growing online shopping industry. To do this, companies are looking for ways to improve online exposure. After all, if internet users can't find your site, they'll spend their money with the competition. One of the most effective ways to ensure a steady flow of web traffic is by maintaining current information on your site. However, for many small companies, editing pages requires technical expertise--and content update management is left to webmasters and programmers. This often results in update delays, leaving stale content to collect dust on the Web. How can you avoid this?

At Systems Web, we offer DotNetNuke, a revolutionary content update management system that puts the site owner in control. This browser-based system enables site owners to edit, add or delete pages in real-time with just a few clicks of the mouse. Systems Web customers are now enjoying the freedom to update or alter their websites around the clock. What does this mean for website performance? Search engine spiders thrive on fresh copy. With the ability to edit or add copy instantly, our customers are experiencing high volumes of traffic and higher conversions.

Need another reason to choose the DotNetNuke solution? Since our content update management system is open source, you are not obligated to stay with Systems Web throughout the life of your site. In fact, if you want to transfer hosting services at any time, you can--and your content management system will stay with you. For more information on how we can help optimize your website, visit our web site at http://www.systems-web.com or call us at 801-733-5800.

About the author: Delphine Campes-Edouard is currently Vice President of Systems Web, a web development company in business since 1999. Systems Web specializes in the open-source Content Management System DotNetNuke, a simple-to-use tool to edit your web site without any knowledge of HTML. Their award-winning web sites are now all using DotNetNuke. Go visit their web site at http://www.systems-web.com.

Content Management Systems Demystified

2009-01-04T03:02:00.001-08:00

Author: Tim Priebe

A content management system can be puzzling to non-web savvy users. It can even be complicated for web designers and programmers. This is not a guide for the latter, rather it is a quick overview for the former. If you have heard of a content management system (or CMS) and are wondering what one is, this is the place to start.

A CMS can basically fall into one of two categories. It can be a catch-all that is intended to do a million things. Alternatively, it can be very specialized.

To add to the complication, some specialized CMS's can be integrated into a catch-all CMS. We won't really get into that specific situation much here, but I will mention when it's possible.

Also, there are tons and tons of CMS programs out there. I'm only going to be mentioning some that are available for free and are open source. That way, if you read about something here that interests you, you search Google and get it immediately with no monetary risk to you.

Catch-All

PHPNuke

PHP-Nuke is an excellent CMS for a news site. It is divided into modules, each of which performs a specific functions. In addition to modules made by the PHP-Nuke team, there are tons of other modules available from 3rd-party programmers.

The primary module for most sites using PHP-Nuke is the News module. The Reviews module is for reviewing books, movies, or pretty much anything you would want to review. The Advertising module helps you set up banner ads on your website for revenue. A Downloads module is available for web site visitors to download PDF files, movie files, or any type of file. A Recommend Us module allows users to (you guessed it) recommend your website to someone else.

The possibilities are really endless for someone who decides to use PHP-Nuke. However, because it is a catch-all content management system, it isn't for everyone. It may have way more features that you need.

Drupal

Drupal is a CMS that also uses modules. There are lots of modules available. A Story module provides a similar functionality to PHP-Nuke's News module. A Profile module supports configurable user profiles. The Blog module enables keeping an easily updatable blog. An Upload module allows users to attach files to news stories or blog entries.

Again, you end up with the same issues as other catch-all CMS's where this may be more CMS that you really need. But Drupal does have about the same amount of modules out there as PHP-Nuke does. Drupal even does a better job than PHP-Nuke of listing the best modules at their own website.

Image Galleries

Gallery

Gallery is the definitive gallery software. You can upload images, sort into albums, resize, delete, restrict access, etc. You can even plug it into most catch-all CMS's, including both PHP-Nuke and Drupal.

Coppermine

Coppermine is another popular gallery. It has most of the same features as Gallery, but cannot plug into catch-all CMS's as easily as Gallery. Also, if you are wanting visitors to your site to be able create albums, Coppermine currently doesn't support that.

Blogging

bBlog

bBlog is reportedly used by thousands of bloggers world-wide. It allows for text formatting, visitor comments, syndicated RSS feeds (If you don't know what that is, don't worry about it. You don't have to for your visitors to be able to use it.) and categories.

The downside is that bBlog is not quite as powerful as some of its competitors. However, if you have a site that's a pretty straightforward blog, bBlog can be a simple, effective solution.

WordPress

WordPress is one of the most popular free blogging software packages. It's very easy to use, and unlike bBlog, it has a toolbar for text formatting. Of course, it has visitor commenting, searching, categories and other features.

Being much more popular than other blogging systems like bBlog, there are a lot more plugins available from third parties.

Forums

phpBB

phpBB is probably the single most popular feature-rich free forum software out there. It's so popular that it comes pre-installed in some catch-all CMS's, including PHP-Nuke.

The downside is that it can be extremely complicated. You may not need 10 different forums for 500+ users. If not, this software package may be a bit of overkill for you.

WWWBoard

WWWBoard is a simple forum package. It shows all the message subjects on one screen. Once you click on a message subject, you are shown the message itself. From there you can reply, or view another message in the same thread.

Remember that for the majority of the software I've mentioned here, you have to have mySQL database capabilities on your server, in addition to PHP capabilities. If you are using free hosting, you probably don't have that. If you're not sure, contact your web hosting company and ask them.

About the author: Tim is the owner and senior web designer at T&S Web Design . His company has developed and maintained website for dozens of small businesses and organizations. Tim also maintains a blog with free website advice for small business owners, GetASiteOnline.com .