A Few Simple Ways to Avoid Data Loss

All of a sudden, for no apparent reason, your hard disk may start making a funny noise or your computer screen may suddenly turn blank. While you may just sit there in disbelief, your valuable data will remain entrapped within a helpless yet destructed hard disk. Therefore, make sure that your data is adequately protected.

Tips to Avoid Data Loss

A data loss incident can happen with anyone. While there is little you can control Mother Nature or your luck, you can play safe by adopting the techniques that we have listed below. The golden rule to remember when it comes to data backups is ‘better safe than sorry’. Data recovery can cost you several hundred pounds if the situation gets sticky. Therefore, the easiest way to save your money, besides choosing a good investment strategy, is to regularly backup your data! The following tips may not always prevent data loss but it will make a data loss situation less painful.

• Do Not Store Your Data Files on the Same Drive as the Operating System


Don’t put all your eggs in one basket! If you remember this simple yet powerful rule, your data recovery battle is half won already. You should not store your data files on the same drive as your operating system; if your operating system crashes some day, so will your data files.


• Backup Your Data Regularly


People very often fail to understand the importance of creating regular backups. The most common reason for this is that people fail to see any immediate benefit out of this activity. However, people who devote that extra time each day tend to save themselves a lot of misery, frustration, and anxiety when a data loss incident strikes.

Conversely, people who do not backup their data regularly may actually end up losing their data permanently after a data loss incident. While under most data loss circumstances data is recoverable, it may not always be the case.

Make sure that you backup your valuable data using reliable data storage media. For example, if you are working from home and have an important marketing campaign idea that you may need to use later, backing up this data on a CD may not be a very good idea. CDs and DVDs are extremely prone to scratches. Therefore, even though you may be backing up your data regularly, you will still have to walk the road towards data recovery simply because your storage media failed.

It will also help to keep your data storage device away from your primary site. Therefore, make sure that your data storage device is portable yet easy-to-use. The last thing you would want is to corrupt the data storage media in transit. If the size of the data is not huge and your data is valuable to you, backing up your data on a USB Flash drive may be a good idea. Flash drives are not only very easy to carry around, they are also extremely durable and survive falls etc. unlike most data storage devices.


• Install a Powerful Antivirus Software


You will be surprised to know how many malicious users attempt to hack, destroy, and spread viruses onto your computer. While taking these malicious users for psychological therapy may be a good idea, it may not be a very feasible one. Therefore, the least you can do to protect yourself from such people is to install powerful antivirus software.

Most antivirus software come with additional features such as website security advisor which advises you about whether or not the website or the content of the website is good for computer’s safety. You will have to be extremely cautious even while opening the attachments in your email. Make sure that you never open an attachment when you are not sure about the intentions of the sender or the sender.


• Make Copies of Your Valuable Files Under Different Names


In most cases, the time taken to recreate or restore the data will be far more than the time taken to keep the data safe. Therefore, it would help if you create multiple copies of your data under different file names. This way, even if one of your files gets corrupted, you can still access your data using the other file. This is one the easiest ways to escape file corruption issues.


• Make Hard Copies of Your Data


While storing and accessing data electronically is convenient while you still have your computer up and running, the fate of the data remains very uncertain once your computer crashes. However, the good old way to store your data can come to your rescue. It always helps to take printouts of your important data and store the copies in a safe place. Therefore, even if something happens to your hard drive or operating system, your data will still be safe.

Article Source: http://www.a1-articledirectory.com

James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you are concerned about data loss and would like more information on Data Recovery see www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk

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