There’s still a good two months until hurricane season officially begins on June 1 (it ends November 30), but it’s never too early to begin thinking about your data recovery options if your mission critical data suffers damage or loss due to a flood or hurricane.

Organizers of the National Hurricane Conference apparently agree, since they just held the 2012 National Hurricane Conference in Orlando, Florida, at the end of March. The event focuses on hurricane preparedness, response, recovery and mitigation to save lives and property in the continental U.S., and in the tropical islands of the Caribbean and the Pacific.

Facts about Hurricanes and Data Recovery

– The official Atlantic hurricane season spans from June 1 through November 30, when 97 % of all hurricanes occur,  but hurricanes have occurred outside of these months.  

– The Pacific Southeast hurricane season stretches slightly longer, beginning officially on May 15.

– If your home or business suffers damage or loss, or your computer suffers data loss, that is caused by flooding (even if that flooding is caused by a hurricane) damages may not be covered by your homeowners’ or building insurance unless you specifically carry flood insurance.

– Hard drives can suffer damage and data loss during hurricanes caused by power surges and power outages.

– Hard drives may suffer substantial damage if exposed to water caused by flooding from hurricanes.

– Do-it-yourself data recovery on a wet hard drive usually fails, causing worse damage and making it harder for a professional data recovery service to recover lost data

Prepare Yourself for Hurricane Season

Insurance agents — who see the damage caused to homes and businesses by hurricanes every day — say that “hurricane amnesia” is one of the biggest problems when it comes to disaster preparedness. In other words: If you haven’t had a big hurricane or flood negatively impact your home or business in the recent past, you think it will never happen.

In fact, places like New York City and its suburbs need to be exceptionally diligent about hurricane preparedness for this very reason.

First, make sure your data back-ups are up-to-date and stored in a remote location where you can access them even if you can’t get in to your home or business or if you have no electricity there.

Another key step is for individuals and businesses is to know who to call if a hard drive, RAID drive, flash drive or Mac device becomes flooded or damaged in a hurricane. With convenient offices in Dallas, Texas, and New York City, New York, 24 Hour Data is a solid choice for people all over the country facing a data recovery emergency.

Bookmark our website on your smartphone and keep our phone number somewhere that you can find it when you need it. We know that every minute counts for businesses trying to stay up-and-running in the midst of an emergency. A good data recovery plan should be part of every disaster recovery plan, and if you don’t have a disaster recovery plan, what are you waiting for? Hurricane season is right around the corner.