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Another one bites the dust
Posted by Mark on Oct 10, 2008
So it looks as though Fujitsu are about to handover their hard disk reins to Western Digital, or so the rumours abound. With IBM out of the picture, Maxtor having gone the say of Seagate how long before we are left with only one supplier for disk storage? Wonder who that will be.
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“Greater love hath no man…”
Posted by Mark on Oct 10, 2008
We hear that the cabinet official who left top-secret documents lying on a train is to be charged under the Official Secrets act.
Does this mean that data security is now being taken seriously?
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The Tale of the Tape
Posted by Mark on Sep 24, 2008
Well really the title should read, “The tale’s on the tape”
Computer forensic investigation stories tend to focus upon what has been found on so-and-so’s hard disk drive how, despite attempts to eradicate the incriminating data, the dastardly plot was foiled and we can all get back to the Malt bar and eat Scooby Snacks. But where else, other than the local hard drive, can the information you’re looking for be found.
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Does Hard Disk erasure work?
Posted by Mark on Sep 23, 2008
Data being lost stories crop up with too great a frequency, and with them a renewed debate about data security, data erasure and whether data can ever be completely eradicated from a hard drive.
Whatever the data you do not want it falling into the wrong hands, and just keeping it away HM Revenue and Customs or the MOD is no guarantee of its safety.
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Look after your back-up tapes and …
Posted by Mark on Sep 23, 2008
… there is a chance they will look after you.
Care of backup media is an often overlooked issue, but why spend thousands each year on media and even more on the time and equipment to get your data on to it, then effectively risk throwing it all away by not paying attention to storage and environment?
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Do you need to use a professional data recovery service?
Posted by Mark on Sep 23, 2008
I’ll make no bones about it, I work for a data recovery company and believe that a good and professional data recovery service is often the best course of action. However, it is not always economically viable, and I am aware of cases where people have gone down the paid route and had a simple problem dealt with for rather a lot of money.
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Once you are in a hole it is time to stop digging
Posted by Mark on Sep 23, 2008
“There is just one more thing we want to try” has sometimes been the sentence that I have heard from the other end of the phone immediately prior to some data being lost to this world forever.
This is not a plug for using data recovery companies, I work for one and don’t believe that it is always the best option, but it is a good idea to emulate the calm and measured approach that a professional would take.
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How to avoid Data Recovery
Posted by Mark on Sep 23, 2008
We often get asked “what could I have done differently” when data has been lost, especially when a recovery could not be made or the cost of the data recovery work was rather high.
The simple answer is often “made sure you had another copy of the data”. A hard disk crashing might result in annoyance, the cost of a replacement disk, the time to re-install the operating system and all of the applications, but this is nothing compared with the time that has been spent working to create spreadsheets and to write letters or other documents. Worse still is when the data is a record of an event that simply cannot be repeated, it is not possible to travel in time and go back over your children’s early years, and holding that wedding again is not usually an option.
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Why, oh why, oh why, oh why …
Posted by Mark on Sep 23, 2008
Another day another data has been lost on a USB stick/laptop/CD *(delete as applicable) story. What is going on? Is this an inevitable result of technology moving forwards?
I think not, rather it is a sign of systems that are out of control with no responsibility being taken for the consequences of incompetence.
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Altirium launch improved optical media data recovery service
Posted by Mark on Sep 23, 2008
Optical media (DVD, CD, MO disk) tend to fall at the lower end of the data recovery service market in that the the costs for recovery cannot always be justified even though with some problems the work required far outstrips that for a hard disk or tape recovery.
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