But, if they do strike, they usually cause a large amount of damage and recovery of data is usually not possible. Also, they strike without any warning and hence, it is always beneficial to be proactive and have sufficient protection against them thus ensuring the safety of your data. Let us have a look at each of these disasters in turn and gain some information about the damage caused by them.
Types of Disasters
Floods: Even a small amount of water can cause a large amount of damage to your computer. In case of floods, there is a possibility of your entire computer being submerged in water and it is likely that it will stay so for a few days. Thus, even if some amount of water is left in it, it will cause a short circuit that may lead to data loss. Even if your computer is dry, there is always the possibility of dust having accumulated inside it. This may lead to head crash (the read-write head of the hard drive touching the rotating part) etc.
Fire: This includes fires caused due to human errors or those that are caused intentionally i.e. arson. Even though the damage caused by fire is high, in many cases, recovery of data is still possible. This is so because even a small fire leads to the melting of the plastic components within your computer but, usually do not affect the metal areas. The measures taken to keep the fire under control may cause damage similar to that caused by floods viz. dirt and water accumulating within the devices.
Power Surges or Outage: These are most common among all the disasters that lead to data loss. These may be in the form of sparks within your computer, spikes in the current etc. that are in turn caused by irregular power supply, lightening etc. If the power surge is large in magnitude, it may cause physical damage to your equipment. But, more common ones are those that are small in magnitude and thus cause only logical damage. Data recovery in the latter case is often possible but cannot be guaranteed in case of physical damage.
Earthquakes: Earthquakes cause a lot of damage. This includes damages caused to computers and other data storage media as well. Data recovery is possible if the earthquakes are not severe in nature.
Terrorist Attacks: The loss of data due terrorist attacks has come into the limelight especially after the 9/11 attack on World Trade Centre. Such attacks can lead to fire, explosion, etc. resulting in data loss that usually makes the data irrecoverable.
These are some of the disasters that may lead to data loss. As most of them are not avoidable, backup of data is the essential to ensure the safety of your data. Information about the type of backup to be used in these cases has been provided below.
Data Backup to Ensure Safety Against Data Loss From Disasters
These disasters usually strike at a particular area (simultaneous disasters at more than one location are unlikely) and hence, are likely to affect all your computers, local server (if any) and the data backup media that are stored at your workplace. Hence, localised data backup does not prove to be useful in case of such disasters and remote backup of data is essential.
The term ?Remote Backup? implies storing the data at a different geographical location. Such backup can be achieved by manually transferring the data to a different location or by making use of the internet. These days, there are many companies that offer online remote backup. This proves to be convenient as the process does not require any human involvement at all and even provides immediate backup of data which proves to be useful as these disasters often strike without warning.
As this process is usually expensive, small businesses may not always be able to avail it. If such is the case, it is advisable to backup the most important data that you have at a different location.
Thus, it can be seen that recovery of data from the original media is usually impossible in case of such disasters and backup of data is the only solution.
Types of Disasters
Floods: Even a small amount of water can cause a large amount of damage to your computer. In case of floods, there is a possibility of your entire computer being submerged in water and it is likely that it will stay so for a few days. Thus, even if some amount of water is left in it, it will cause a short circuit that may lead to data loss. Even if your computer is dry, there is always the possibility of dust having accumulated inside it. This may lead to head crash (the read-write head of the hard drive touching the rotating part) etc.
Fire: This includes fires caused due to human errors or those that are caused intentionally i.e. arson. Even though the damage caused by fire is high, in many cases, recovery of data is still possible. This is so because even a small fire leads to the melting of the plastic components within your computer but, usually do not affect the metal areas. The measures taken to keep the fire under control may cause damage similar to that caused by floods viz. dirt and water accumulating within the devices.
Power Surges or Outage: These are most common among all the disasters that lead to data loss. These may be in the form of sparks within your computer, spikes in the current etc. that are in turn caused by irregular power supply, lightening etc. If the power surge is large in magnitude, it may cause physical damage to your equipment. But, more common ones are those that are small in magnitude and thus cause only logical damage. Data recovery in the latter case is often possible but cannot be guaranteed in case of physical damage.
Earthquakes: Earthquakes cause a lot of damage. This includes damages caused to computers and other data storage media as well. Data recovery is possible if the earthquakes are not severe in nature.
Terrorist Attacks: The loss of data due terrorist attacks has come into the limelight especially after the 9/11 attack on World Trade Centre. Such attacks can lead to fire, explosion, etc. resulting in data loss that usually makes the data irrecoverable.
These are some of the disasters that may lead to data loss. As most of them are not avoidable, backup of data is the essential to ensure the safety of your data. Information about the type of backup to be used in these cases has been provided below.
Data Backup to Ensure Safety Against Data Loss From Disasters
These disasters usually strike at a particular area (simultaneous disasters at more than one location are unlikely) and hence, are likely to affect all your computers, local server (if any) and the data backup media that are stored at your workplace. Hence, localised data backup does not prove to be useful in case of such disasters and remote backup of data is essential.
The term ?Remote Backup? implies storing the data at a different geographical location. Such backup can be achieved by manually transferring the data to a different location or by making use of the internet. These days, there are many companies that offer online remote backup. This proves to be convenient as the process does not require any human involvement at all and even provides immediate backup of data which proves to be useful as these disasters often strike without warning.
As this process is usually expensive, small businesses may not always be able to avail it. If such is the case, it is advisable to backup the most important data that you have at a different location.
Thus, it can be seen that recovery of data from the original media is usually impossible in case of such disasters and backup of data is the only solution.
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