Data Recovery Disaster Plan

Data recovery disaster plans aren't just for large corporations and IT departments. Anyone who uses a computer should have a plan for data recovery or else suffer the consequences of lost data. While backing up your data is smart, it's not foolproof. While many backup utilities promise to automate and schedule your backups for you, they often fail.

Did you remember to swap out the tapes? Is the DVD large enough to handle several successive backups? Are you doing your part to ensure that the backups are successful? Check your backups regularly to make sure they are successful. You don't want to find out that there's a data recovery problem when you're desperately trying to restore your cherished files.

Backups are just one tool in your data recovery toolbox. Another must-have tool is a good data recovery program. These data recovery programs actually go into the hard disk drive and restore deleted files.

For example, let's say you regularly backup your data each night. During the day, you spent hours compiling the company's annual report and saved it to your hard drive. Right before you head home for the evening, you decide to clean up your disk drive for better performance. You delete obsolete data, uninstall unnecessary programs, and clean out temporary files. As you delete your old files, you accidently delete your new annual report but you don't notice. Next, you empty the Recycle Bin. Right after you okay the permanent emptying of the Recycle Bin, you realize your mistake. Your annual report is gone and you have no backup. Your whole day's work is gone for good.

Not so fast. If you have a data recovery program, you can easily restore your annual report – even if you emptied the Recycle Bin. That's because data recovery technology exploits the way Windows deletes files. The files are not automatically erased. In fact, they remain unchanged after deletion. Windows simply removes them from view and allows them to be overwritten when space is needed. If you've lost data, data recovery tools can go in and find your deleted files.

Because these deleted files are no longer protected from being overwritten by other processes, it's important to use your data recovery program as soon as possible and avoid installing new programs in the meantime.

Disasters and data loss happen. It doesn't matter if you're a single computer user or part of a larger system, when data loss occurs, it can be devastating. Having a data recovery plan in place will help you when it happens. Regular backups and data recovery software are two proactive steps you can take to get started.