Data Recovery - services, hard drive, raid…

With the increasing popularity of Virtual Machines comes an issue that many may not be aware of. This problem is an age-old issue that has affected systems from the very early days of storage. It can cause hard drive failure leading to expensive data loss scenarios necessitating data recovery professionals. This problem is, of course, fragmentation.

Just like any other software virtual machines still require (unless you have a very specialist setup) to be run from the hard drive, which is still and probably will remain so for many years to come, the slowest part of your system. Drives can be broken in sub parts know as partitions which can then be utilized as a different drive so to speak but hard disk fragmentation is still an issue.

Fragmentation is where a file is split into multiple components by the operating system to allow it to fit in available space of the hard disk drive. When you are already running one operating system, and fragmentation becomes an issue, running another highly fragmented system on top of this causes a tremendous slow down in performance.

Fragmentation is the scourge of modern computers as most people fail to conduct even the most basic maintenance on their computers. The situation just get worse over time and some people have even been known to purchase a new system even though there is nothing wrong with the old. On servers and raid arrays fragmentation is far more serious as it slows down business applications and reduces productivity. In very bad instances data recovery is the only method of saving the data.

Operating systems handle fragmentation in different ways. Microsoft Windows, for example, pays little or no attention to the degree of fragmentation on a storage device, whereas Mac OS X goes some way to helping by automatically defragmenting files under 20 MB in size. Other Operating Systems handle file fragmentation in various ways, with varying levels of success.

Windows does ship with its own on board defragmentation tool but many would consider it a mere tick in the box as running the utility will mean that the hope of having a usable system in the meantime is improbable, and defragmentation could last for many hours or even overnight in some cases, so what are the other options.

Fortunately we are not left to the operating systems alone as there are a number of third party defragmentation applications that are far superior to the inbuilt OS tools. These can be scheduled to run when system usage is very low for example whilst the system is idle or the screen saver is running. As you go defragmentation is my personal choice.
Use dedicated hardware for the Virtual Machines: Whilst it may appear to be a contradiction in terms, running the virtual machine from a dedicated hard disk or RAID Array is probably the most efficient method of running the machine at all. It leads to the minimum of wear on the individual hard disk devices and means that running even simultaneous defragmentation is possible.

Ensuring your systems are working in tip top condition is vital to maintaining a productive IT infrastructure. For more great computing tips visit the IT support Bury , or click here for hard drive recovery information and raid data recovery advice.

When you have backed up meticulously every day for the last five years, then you find that when you need the backup, you discover the tape wont let you because of a tape error.

So what can you do. There are many software options for backup data recovery, but nearly all of these only work on backup files, so how do you recover data from a tape?

Data Recovery Engineering Software Limited write software mainly for data recovery companies, and one of their titles is a very affordable tape copying tool.

The software reads the tape and creates a file dump to hard disk. Now you are able access the data on the tape and recover it with your backup recovery software.

Another use for the software is when someone has made a backup that you need the data from, but it is password protected (not encrypted) and the user cant remember the password or no longer works for the company. Or a forensics engineer needs to examine the data stored on the tape but does not have access to the software used to make the tape.

Copying Tapes

We would all like to think that we are immune to a system failure and that our trusty computers will just keep on going without a hint of a problem. Sadly regardless of whether you’re are a home or business user, systems are prone to boot up failures and these often result in unexpected data loss of varying degrees.

Knowing how to deal with the potential for data loss is what separates those who have been there from those who are yet to experience it. So what kind of scenarios are we talking about here and what are we looking for?

Computer starts up but never reaches the login window: When this happens there are a number of potential problems that can be to blame, these range from hardware issues relating to the hard disk drive, down to driver incompatibility or the loss of important system files. Sometimes the problem can be resolved by booting up in Safe Mode, however, not always.

Computer starts to become slow: When we first get our new computer there is very little on it when it comes to programs and games for example, and over time the operating system due to the way it is designed becomes cluttered. Registry repair utilities can help operating system problems but data loss is always a risk. In extreme circumstances a total ODS re-install is the best option.

Pc virus, malware and spyware: Pc virus and other, malevolent applications can cause untold data loss and problems if not handled in the correct manner from the outset. Boot sector viruses and others will first start to be noticeable when you Pc starts behaving strangely so be on your guard.

So what are the options here once the problem has arrived, and how can we avoid any form of data loss when in a lot of circumstances the only answer is to wipe our system and start from fresh?

The Key, wherever possible, and where there is no hard disk drive fault requiring professional data recovery services is simple: Backup! Sounds simple enough if the drive is working fine, but not enough people do it.

External hard drives can be purchased in most computer shops now days and a quick search online for online backup will also give you a number of remote back up options

So what options do you have to get your important or vital data back? If things seem really bad and saving the data is crucial, don’t take any risks and contact a data recovery specialist. They will have a whole host of solutions available to save your data and whilst it cannot be guaranteed, they do stand the best chance of success.

You can find more great advice on data recovery and in particular for businesses raid data recovery here.

We all know that computers can malfunction and valuable data can be lost in the blink of an eye. Recovery data center specialists can store your valuable information. Lost data can cost a company valuable time and money.

If the damage that has been done to the computer cannot be repaired and therefore the data cannot be recovered, then most often the information will have to be reproduced. Before this happens, backup services can be implemented that will store the information for you, in case of an emergency.

recovery data center
The time to look for an offsite recovery data center is before valuable data is lost. There are many recovery services available that will offer various storage systems to help you recover data. Asking simple questions can help you discern which one will work best for your company’s needs.

Find out exactly how much help they offer during an emergency. Does the service send someone to your company to restore the data or is it all done online? Find out if the restoration process can be handled by someone in your business by following simple procedures or if they will need to contact the backup service by computer or telephone for help. Find out, how often the system should be backed up.

Does their system store the information automatically or do files need to be uploaded during the day. The more ease of use and self-sufficiency of the product can go a long way when you are looking to quickly restore lost data.

hard drive data recovery
Take the time to find out every aspect of the hard drive data recovery center process that you are thinking of using. You will want to find out exactly how they plan on storing and helping you recover any lost data. No matter what type of data you are storing, the loss of it can most likely put your company out of commission for a while, or at least slow it down.

Research different facilities until you find one that offers what works best for your company. In the end, however, the important thing is that you have a hard drive recovery system in place to protect your data.

Overview
Modern computer system hard drives can contain a massive amount of data. So when a hard drive fails, and there are no recent backups available, data recovery is the only option available.

Introduction
A hard drive consists of a number of component parts. Each of which has its own failure modes.

1. Electronics
2. Mechanics
3. Firmware
4. Logical

Electronics
The circuit board on a hard disk is the ‘brain’ of the hard drive and a single component failure will stop the drive from functioning correctly. Recovering data from drives with electronics failures will require highly skilled electronics engineers who are able to make temporary repairs in order to recover the data.
There are also electronic parts inside the hard drive that are critical for the correct operation of the hard drive and consists of the head pre-amplifier circuit.

Mechanical
The critical mechanical parts of a hard drive comprise of, the actuator arm, the motor and the platters. (There are other Mechanical parts, vibro-acoustic components, filters, VCM Magnets, etc, but these are less critical).

The majority of mechanical malfunctions involve the Head pre-amplifier. Whilst this is not exactly a mechanical failure, the method that the head pre-amp is fixed to the head stack means that when it fails it involves the replacement of the entire head stack assembly.

The next biggest cause of failure is motor failure. This is probably the most serious problem and requires specialist equipment so that platter alignment is not lost when removing and replacing the motor. Main problems with motors are burnt out coils and seized bearings.

Firmware
The firmware zone or System Area (SA) is a section on the hard drive where the manufacturer’s proprietary information such as

• Primary Defect Maps
• Translator Tables
• Operational code
• ATA Password Information
• ROM overlays.
• Self test logs
• SMART Logs
• Head maps

and many others

For a hard drive to work properly it is vital that the Firmware Zone is error free. Working on the Firmware on a hard drive is a highly skilled job and requires specialist equipment. Making a mistake when modifying the information in the Firmware of a hard disk can render a drive useless.

Logical
Logical problems are where there is no physical problem with the hard drive and it is fully functional. Logical problems are where data has become inaccessible for some reason, for example, the user has deleted the files, the computer has come under virus attack. The skill set of the engineer requires an understanding of how the operating system that the files were stored on works. Also, knowledge of the file format for different file types so that quality of files can be determined on a bulk and individual basis.

Data Recovery from Hard Drives
MjM Data Recovery Ltd

How to identify data recovery software for your needs.

Data recovery software can be used to recover data that has been lost or files that have been deleted from your computer’s hard disk or a CD or DVD. Since there are several data recovery programs available in the market, you need to select the one that suits you most. This will ofcourse depending on your computer system, whether it is just a personal computer or a large network systems. There are different data recovery softwares in the market that caters to your exact needs. It makes sense to make the right choice as you maybe buying something that you don’t really need.

You find the most suitable data recovery software by using the following guidelines:

One, you should look for a data recovery program that is easy to install. Most users have limited knowledge of computers and may not be able to use a program that requires a complex installation procedure.

Two, the software should be compatible with a range of platforms such as Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 98 and Windows NT. This will allow you to use the program across a number of operating systems.

Three, the data recovery program should come with clear instructions and should be easy to use. Some programs have options that are not easy to find and users waste a lot of time looking for them.

Four, you should ideally look for a program that allows you to recover data across storage media, like hard disks, CDs, DVDs, or thumb drives. The data recovery program should be capable of recovering all of the data or a part of it and you should be able to use it to recover one file or many files, with ease.

Five, the software should support multiple file systems like FAT, FAT32, and NTFS, because different file systems are used by different operating systems.

Six, some data recovery programs are capable of working as background agents that backup critical data selected by users for protection.

Seven, look for data recovery software that offers a high level of support by means of helpdesk, e-mail or phone. Vendors should provide all relevant information about the software on their website.

Eight, there may be a large number of files that can be recovered and it may take a lot of time to search for a particular file manually. A good data recovery program will have search capabilities and will help you to find files you want to recover easily.

Finally, you may find that some data recovery software are able to locate the files that you are looking for, but are not able to restore them to their original file directory. Look for software that will help you do this.

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Retrieving Data from a Broken RAID 5 Array
RAID 5 requires a minimum of three drives. Data is stored in stripes of a specified block size. In some ways it is similar in configuration to RAID 0 however The biggest difference is that RAID5 has redundancy built-in. Redundancy means that if a single drive fails, then the data can be recovered from the working hard disks in the array. The redundancy is in the form of a parity block, using a three drive array as an example, redundancy for the first stripe would be calculated by taking each byte from each block from the first two hard disks, then XORing these values to give. It is this value that is stored in the parity block for the current stripe. So, if a drive fails, the missing value can be regenerated or rebuilt by XOR-ing the remaining two values. This does increase write times slightly as the parity needs to be rebuilt.

Rebuilding a RAID 5 Array After Failure
The difficult part for data recovery technician is working out the original drive order, block size and parity rotation algorithm.

There are many permutations and these are compounded by the number of drives in the array. For example if you have a RAID array with 5 drives there are 120 permutations of drive order alone. Then there is the block size to take into account. These are not as complex to calculate, but can be any size from 2048 bytes upwards. However, the most common sizes are 32kb 64kb, 128kb and 256kb.

Once drive order is determined the next thing is to calculate the parity rotation. What this means is, that for each complete stripe, the parity block moves to the next drive in the sequence. As an Example, if you take 3 drives and number them 0,1 and 2 below is a diagram indicating where the data blocks are (shown as numerics) and the Parity block (P).

Drive 0: 1 3 P 7
Drive 1: 2 P 5 8
Drive 2: P 4 6 P

You can see that the first parity block is on drive 2. The next one is on drive 1 and final one is on drive 0. Then the sequence repeats itself until the end of the array.

Initially this looks fairly straightforward, and in fact the above is the simplest RAID 5 there is.

here is another type of parity (Backward with continuous data)

Drive 0: 1 4 P 7 10
Drive 1: 2 P 5 8 P
Drive 2: P 3 6 P 9

Did you notice the difference? Blocks 3 and 4 (and 9 and 10)are inverted. This is because once the first stripe is complete. The first data block of each stripe must go immediately after the parity block so the drive reads the data as 0,1,2,0,1,2… So in this case block 3 is placed after the parity block on the second stripe. This balances out reads so that the same hard disk is not read twice successively. A mistake in determining the block[spin/] rotation will result with corrupt data.

Data Recovery Services
When fully understand the technologies employed in RAID of any level. Comprehensive understanding of how data is stored on disk is essential if the data is to be recovered correctly. MjM Data Recovery Ltd have developed proprietary software that they use for RAID data recovery and have engineers that are able to recover from the most difficult of jobs. If another data recovery company has already announced that the data is unrecoverable, it is always worth sending it to another company for a second opinion. Most will not charge for a diagnosis or it will be a relatively small charge if the value of the data warrants the cost.