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I Think I Know What Happened - How To Prevent Data Loss

A serious loss of data is the worst time to figure out how it can happen. To protect critical business processes, managers should think about all preventing the disasters that can befall their data.

First of all, the computing environment should be clean, dry, secure, dust-free and arranged in such a way that equipment cannot be jolted or damaged. Larger companies and institutions should have uninterrupted power supplies (UPS) to save data during power outages while smaller organizations can use power surge protectors.

Most businesses keep their backed-up data off premises in a safe location, but all too often they ignore the simple step of verifying that the right data is going on to good tapes. It’s not enough to see data on the tape – what if it’s older data that isn’t being overwritten by new information?

Viruses are becoming a more important threat to data and they can arrive from unexpected sources. Any and all data coming into the network must be scanned, and the system should be scanned regularly. The scanning software itself should be updated at least four times a year.

Any storage device that has been visibly damaged or exposed to heat, moisture or soot should not be used. Drives that sound “funny” should be shut down immediately to prevent complete destruction of data.

The checklist gets longer but the message is short: if you cannot verify your data is safe today, it may not be around tomorrow.

Bill Margeson
CEO and Founder
CBL Data Recovery Services
Toll Free: 1.800.551.3917
www.cbldatarecovery.com