Blog

Since most IT organizations agree that BYOD is here to stay, and this data was corroborated in a recent Forrester poll, the best you can do is set policies and guidelines for issues regarding firewalls, virus protection, device service, data loss and emergency data recovery. (There's a lot more to talk about from an HR standpoint, such as issues of reimbursement for all or part of the mobile device bills, who is allowed BYOD within the organization, and other questions... but we'll leave that to other experts, since, here at 24 Hour Data, we know technology and data recovery.

Here are some of our tips for protecting mission critical company data stored on an employee's mobile device, and what to do in the event of data loss.

1 - Set standards and mandates when it comes to virus protection. - While failed hard drives happen, most data loss occurs either through user error (such as accidental deletion of files) or corruption of data due to a virus, trojan or malware. If company data is stored on a mobile device, even if your company doesn't own the device, you have a huge stake in protecting that data. Set minimum standards for virus protection and have your IT staff ensure employees are following those standards. While it's technically not the job of your IT staff to tech employees' personal mobile devices, it may be in your best interests to have your IT staff upload the proper anti-virus and security software. It will save money, time, headaches and prevent lost productivity in the future. 

2 - Set standards for passwords - Should corporate data reside inside a separate firewall witheter  separate password protection? Should you maintain policies regarding what apps, files and data can be stored on employee-owned mobile devices? What happens if a device is lost or stolen? These are all questions for your IT staff, HR department and operational offers to consider. At best, make sure employees know best practices for password protection and change the password on their mobile device frequently. 

3 - Determine who is responsible for providing tech support and/or emergency data recovery services in the event an employee-owned mobile device fails. - What happens when an employee-owned iPhone, iPad, smartphone or tablet fails or requires service? Who is responsible? You may prefer having your own IT staff tech equipment, perhaps relying on a data recovery service partner if your IT staff gets in over its head with do-it-yourself data recovery. But that eliminates one of the benefits of BYOD: Your IT staff is not responsible for the equipment. Nevertheless, it's your important company data at stake. 

24 Hour Data can recover all the files from a device, or only select files and apps, so we can retrieve your mission critical data, keeping it 100 % confidential, and leave the employee's personal files alone. Or we can retrieve all the data at a fair price. Your employee will thank you for saving his vacation memories and personal data, while you can relax knowing your corporate data is safe once again. 

Business owners have different IT needs than individuals. Mission-critical data loss can cripple a business. Every minute of downtime can equate to hundreds, or thousands, of dollars lost. While 24 Hour Data is there to help during a data recovery emergency, it's best to try to avoid the need for data recovery services. 

Just as a regular SUV or even a consumer class truck won't have the same reliability and performance of a commercial class truck, consumer hard disk drives perform differently than enterprise class hard drive storage, especially in RAID arrays. 

Let's look at just a few of the benefits of enterprise class storage for your business. We're not saying that every business needs enterprise class storage; in some cases, the benefits aren't worth the added expenses. 

However, if you're running a RAID server with multiple drives and a controller, enterprise class hard drives from reputable manufacturers like Seagate might be the right choice to reduce the likelihood of a failed disk drive and a data recovery emergency.

1. Sensors reduce the effects of vibration on the drive, helping prevent RAID failure.

When regular hard disk drives are used in RAID arrays, they're often stored in metal racks, with additional equipment such as power supplies and fans surrounding them. Drives housed in these conditions are subject to intense rotational vibrations that may, with time, cause errors during the read/write process, resulting in the loss of mission critical data and even hard drive failure.

Enterprise class drives in the same RAID array use multiple sensors that detect vibration and then cause a controller within the drive to move the heads with the vibration, keeping the heads centered in the track and increasing rotational vibration tolerance. 

2. The possibility of an read/write data error is diminished thanks to features in an enterprise drive. - Not only is an enterprise drive stronger, many feature technology such as Error Correction Code (ECC), which checks data for errors (and corrects them) during read/write cycles. Seagate's RAID Rebuild feature further reduces the chances that data from a RAID array will be lost during a rebuild.

3. Lower power consumption over the long-term, thanks to increased performance. - Consumer drives, especially those marketed at green drives, may use less power during operation. But slower performance in consumer class hard disk drives means drives may be in operation longer, consuming more power in the long haul than their faster-performing enterprise class counterparts. When you consider how many hard disk drives a server room might house, all running 24 hours a day, this can represent substantial power savings and lower electric bills. 

Is enterprise class storage the right choice for your RAID array? 

When you're buying a new external hard disk drive, you have choices in connectivity options. Previously, those choices included FireWire, USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 (the current industry standard). There's a new kid in town when it comes to device connectivity. Well, actually Thunderbolt isn't new, it was first introduced early last year, but it's finally making headway in the consumer market as a rival to FireWire and USB 3.0. 

Does that mean it's time to dump all your external hard disk drives and upgrade to this “lightning fast” new technology? 

Not quite. While major manufacturers like Lacie and Drobo are already creating devices with Thunderbolt ports, most hard disk drives will still come with USB 3.0, and maybe even FireWire, connectivity options, too, in the foreseeable future. 

Is Thunderbolt better than the other connectivity standards? Let's take a look at some of its features. Thunderbolt: 

- Supports both PCI Express and DisplayPort connections from one port

- Can support DVI, HDMI, VGA, FireWire, eSata with adapters

- Upload and download times up to 10 gigabits per second, 20 times faster than USB 2.0 and 12 times faster than FireWire

- Daisy-chain devices without a noticeable loss in speed

Faster Transfer = Easier Back-ups

Speed, of course, is the key selling point for Thunderbolt ports. Ten gigabits per second, with potential for even faster speeds in future incarnations, makes data transfer easier, especially when it comes to downloading large movie and music files. 

Such blazing fast download and upload speeds also offer another benefit: quicker back-ups. Thunderbolt allows you to copy the entire contents of your PC, Mac, tablet or netbook's hard disk drive to an external drive for back-up in mere minutes; there's no excuse to not back-up your data regularly. 

Remember, even the most cutting-edge hard drive or solid state drive technology can fail after a certain amount of read/write cycles. Regular back-ups are the best way to protect your data. But if you should encounter a data recovery emergency and your back-ups failed (or you didn't have any) remember that 24 Hour Data is here to help. No judging. No blame. Just fast, successful hard drive recovery at reasonable prices. 

There's a misconception within the IT community that RAID 5 servers are virtually fail-proof. It's true that they are relatively stable and that the use of mirroring and striping both enhances performances and creates redundancies that make data loss less likely. However, a server built using any level of RAID can still fail. Here are five things that can go wrong with a RAID server. 

1. A hard disk fails, creating adding stress on the other hard drives in the array. - Since hard drives in a RAID array are usually around the same age, when one fails due to the end of its read/write life cycle, the other drives may not be far behind. When a RAID operates with one drive missing due to a failed drive, it speeds up the degradation of the other drives. Cascading failure may result, causing a need for emergency data recovery services. 

2. Controller failure - The failure of a RAID controller in an array can cause the loss of mission critical data. 

3. System file corruption caused by viruses or other logical hard drive failures - The redundancy in a RAID array is designed to protect against data loss in the event of the physical failure of a single hard drive due to old age or other factors. Once a virus enters the system, however, it spreads rapidly to every drive in the array, resulting in logical hard drive failure and the loss of mission critical data. Fortunately, logical recovery is often easier, and less expensive, than physical data recovery. As long as you rely on a trusted professional data recovery service, the likelihood of a full recovery is extremely high. 

4. A power surge or other physical event damages all drives in the array - Redundancies don't mean anything if your RAID array experiences a power surge, extremely common in these warm months when Dallas businesses face thunderstorms, tornadoes, and brown-outs due to hot weather. If your drives suffer physical failure, a data recovery service can help you recover your lost data quickly to minimize down time for your business. 

5. Accidental deletion of files - This is more common on personal computers and mobile devices, which are often handled by children or inexperienced technology users, but we see it happen often enough in a business setting, as well. If important files, such as system files that keep your RAID array functioning, or even mission critical business files, are deleted, they can often be recovered by an experience, professional data recovery firm. 

Not sure what happened to your RAID array, but can't access your files? Whatever the problem, you can trust 24 Hour Data to recover your data promptly.