The following are abstract of articles written concerning Data Loss and Data Backup.

Disaster recovery: help your clients weather the storm.

Disasters shine light on micro recovery system.

Don't turn a disaster into a crisis.

Give me data: if a backup goes bust, data-recovery services may be able to salvage critical files.

Oh, no - all the data is gone!

What would you do if your hard disk failed today?



Title: Disaster recovery: help your clients weather the storm.

(Mass Storage Quarterly)

Authors: Cook, Rick

Citation: VAR business, Nov 1994 v10 n16 p152(4)

Abstract: Value-added resellers (VAR) can find marketing opportunities with disaster recovery products. Many customers associate hierarchical storage management (HSM) and backup technologies with disaster recovery. Many companies are initially interested in HSM, but end up purchasing backup and disaster recovery systems. VARs need to develop a complete disaster recovery solution, adding value to the products and increasing their profits in the process. The Highly publicized disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and bombings, have many companies concerned with protecting their data. However, these companies should be more concerned with local disasters, such as fires, power interruptions and chemical spills that can shut down operations. Ninety-three percent of the companies that did not have their data backed up properly when a disaster struck went out of business.

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Title: Disasters shine light on micro recovery system. (off-site backup)

Authors: Pastore, Richard

Citation: Computerworld, Nov 27, 1989 v23 n48 p37(1)

Abstract: Hurricane Hugo and the California earthquake have boosted the computer disaster-recovery industry as many microcomputer managers consider off-site backup. Secure Data Network Inc. has announced an automated on-line data backup and retrieval service for IBM-compatible microcomputers. The Secure Data Network backs up files through dial-up connections, encrypts and compresses the data, and stores it at remote sites. Subscribers install communications software and a specially designed modem and designate which drives should be backed up; the system then operates unattended. Personal passwords are necessary for a subscriber to de-encrypt and retrieve data; the Secure Data Network also maintains an audit trail, checks for known viruses, and alerts subscribers if any bugs are found in backup files.

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Title: Don't turn a disaster into a crisis. (disaster-recovery services)

Authors: Betts, Bryan

Citation: DEC User, June 1989 p36(2)

Abstract: Three common procedures for disaster recovery are 'hot,' 'warm' and 'cold restarts. A 'hot' restart involves immediately implementing a back-up system which has been kept for the purpose. This method is expensive but necessary for organizations whose businesses would be paralyzed without their computers. 'Warm' restarts use a replacement system either at a remote site or delivered to the destroyed site. 'Cold' restarts entail waiting several weeks until a new system arrives and a temporary site can be obtained. Hot restarts usually must be set up by the organization itself, but warm and cold restarts are available from commercial service bureaus. Cold-restart services may simply supply new equipment and-or office space. A warm-restart service also supplies mobile equipment ready for use. Off-site storage of backups, distributed systems, and reciprocal deals can minimize the effects of disaster.

Don't turn a disaster into a crisis WHAT WOULD you do if you arrived at work one morning and found your computer room a smoking ruin? Those who haven't laid plans for such an emergency would probably panic.

There are people who have 'insured' themselves by making arrangements for disaster recovery. Whether you should join them depends on how long your company could go without its computer resources.

Disaster recovery procedures are often graded into hot, warm and cold restarts. Of course, your insurance company would eventually pay for a new computer. Think of your worst DP nightmare and consider how you would deal with it. The effects of disasters can also be minimized by developing distributed systems which will be more resilient, especially if spread over multiple sites, and as long as the network holds up!

Users should already be storing software backups off-site, and doing the same for other things, such as stationery, is a good idea. Of course, like all backup plans, once decided upon, it must be tested regularly and fully.

Again it comes down to how long you can manage without the system. As Team's Sheridan put it, 'If you can go a week, you're okay. If it's 36 hours, you've got a problem.

PROTECTING YOURSELF. The steps you can take to guard against disaster go beyond fire protection and the like. General security is obviously important, as is strict access control to the computer room. But neither protects against crashing aircraft, for example.

Off-site storage of backups has already been mentioned, along with regular and realistic tests of your ability to restore them. Keeping multiple copies of backups in several locations is advisable.

Don't forget that if you have a network, it is likely to be the critical part of your DP operation. What use are functioning computers if users can't get to them because the network is down?

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Title: Give me data: if a backup goes bust, data-recovery services may be able to salvage critical files. (includes related article on a firm's software return policy) (Conspicuous Consumer) (Column)

Authors: Branscum, Deborah

Citation: Macworld, Dec 1991 v8 n12 p73(4)

Abstract: Data storage systems are growing rapidly, leading to a huge market for data recovery services for Apple Macintosh peripherals. A variety of companies can recover data from removable-cartridge systems, tape drives, erasable optical drives, and floppy disks. DriveSavers is a Mac-only data recovery and drive repair company that services many hard drives, removable cartridge drives, and optical drives in addition to Bernoulli-based drives, WORM drives and flopticals. Companies usually charge between $75 and $100 per hour for servicing a damaged drive, with a one hour minimum. Average costs reach $200 or $300 and turnaround time ranges between 48 hours and 10 days. Users should ask a variety of questions to ensure data recovery success. Customers will need to know how many similar cases firms have worked on in the past, how successful data recovery has been, and if a company has a relationship with a manufacturer.

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Title: Oh, no - all the data is gone! (Ontrack Computer Systems Inc's data recovery services)

Authors: Olsen, Florence

Citation: Government Computer News, July 31, 1995 v14 n15 p43(2)

Abstract: Ontrack Computer Systems Inc, a Defense Department awardee, offers data recovery services that can recapture data lost due to electromechanical failure or data corruption. The company does 12,000 recoveries yearly on average and has invested 500 person-years in internal tools and in repairing volume descriptor and file allocation tables. Professional data recovery services are still in demand despite advanced backup technology because users are still not backing up their data, particularly in non-networked machines. Ontrack has mobile recovery units for UNIX and Novell networks that are on-call 24 hours a day. In retrieving data on drives, engineers bypass the operating system by making an image of the drive. Recovery work focuses on the image. Ontrack charges from $600 to $2,000 for retrieving up to 1GB of data. For on-site recovery services, the company could charge as much as $30,000.

Stored data gets lost when drive motors break down, electrical circuits fail and viruses corrupt files. But that's not the worst of it. Laptop computers are run over by cars or fall into hot tubs. Navy personnel accidentally drop notebook computers overboard. "We see it all," said Marshall Warwaruk of Ontrack Computer Systems Inc.

Most people who lose data attempt to retrieve it, and if they can't, they give up. But a few of them let Ontrack of Eden Prairie, Minn., try its data recovery magic. They get "very panicky, there's no doubt about that," Warwaruk said. Ontrack's data recovery services unit specializes in recapturing data from hard drives, backup tapes, networks, floppy diskettes, magneto-optical devices and all types of digital media subjected to electromechanical failure or data corruption.

Despite advances in back-up technology, users aren't keeping up, Warwaruk said. Many people neglect entirely to back up PCs, laptops and notebooks that are not networked. The price for retrieving up to 1G of data runs $600 to $2,000. On-site recovery for a 20G NetWare or UNIX network can go as high as $30,000.

About 70 percent of Ontrack's business is in data recovery. The rest comes from sale of software products such as Disk Manager, a hard-disk installation utility; RecoverEase, a Intel UNIX-based network maintenance and recovery utility; and Ontrack Data Recovery for NetWare, a server-based NetWare Loadable Module.

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Title: What would you do if your hard disk failed today?

(preparing for hard disk failure) (Viewpoint) (column)

Authors: Lecht, Charles P.

Citation: Computerworld, Oct 7, 1991 v25 n40 p25(1)

Abstract: Most people do not have any plans to prepare for the possibility of their hard disk failing. Some individuals do back up data on floppy disks, but often the disks and the data are not organized. There are a variety of options that can be used in the event of disk failure. Individuals with large hard disks are advised to make two backup copies of all data, but it is also possible to use an auxiliary hard disk. An even better option would be if computer firms produced laptop and desktop units with automatic mirror facilities, but such facilities would raise the price of equipment by an estimated 50 percent. The 135Mbyte optical disc memories that are available for most microcomputers present another option, but it is not a recommended option because of reliability and availability issues.


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