Hard drive mishaps: When data disappears....09 December 2005
Anyone who has ever cringed after hitting the wrong button on their keyboard and realising that the last two weeks work or irreplaceable files are suddenly no more, will appreciate a new poll by US company OnTrack.
As experts in data storage and recovery, it seems the firm has seen some of the most unusual, and most costly, data disasters over the years.
Although it is always amusing to read about somebody else's mishaps, let them serve as a reminder that being organised enough to arrange adequate data backup and storage really does pay off sometimes.
Careless canine
Most of us would imagine that the old "the dog ate my homework" excuse is best left in our childhood years where it belongs, but one unlucky man was telling the truth when he called for data assistance. He had left a memory stick lying out in his home, and quickly found that dogs may be man's best friends but they aren't too compatible with computers. Even after the dog chewed on it like a bone for a while, recovery experts were able to save all the information.
Artistic error
Home offices do have a tendency to get a little cluttered, with coffee mugs, kids toys and various other household items somehow find their way in there. One lady was just having a little tidy up in her own home workspace when she dropped a piece of pottery on top of her laptop. Before the slip-up her hard drive contained five years worth of book research and content as well as unprinted 150-year old genealogy pictures. Oops.
DIY
In the spirit of giving things a go, one man decided to have a crack at recovering his own data from a damaged hard drive. Clearly that was easier said than done, as halfway through the destructive dismantling of his machine he realised he had no idea how to put it back together again. So he posted the drive to OnTrack with each nut and bolt packaged in a separate plastic bag.
Company policy
A firm called out data recovery experts but then found that one of the drives that needed to be accessed was missing. After searching high and low, they found it languishing in a skip. Unfortunately company policy dictated that all discarded drives have a hole drilled through them, this one was no different and the data was lost.
Suffice it to say, it is a good idea to have some sort of fall-back plan in place in order to be prepared for any unexpected. If an IT data disaster does happen, recovery professionals can often work what seem like near miracles to retrieve valuable information. But rather than leave it to chance, it is worthwhile investigating an online data back-up service, such as BT Datasure so regardless of the effects of dog slobber or a drill-hole company data is safe and sound and stored away from harm.
