Tip #11 on Enterprise Disaster Recovery for IT Managers >>

May 18th, 2010

In a recent article in eWeek.com the headline read:

 ”Data Storage, Data Backup, and Storage Virtualization: 10 Important Enterprise Disaster Recovery Tips for IT Managers”

The article goes on to explain how Sepaton, www.sepaton.com a data backup provider from Marlboro MA, can backup very large data volumes using VIRTUAL TAPE LIBRARIES at a high rate of 34Tb per hour.   Clearly, this is  an important development for IT departments with large amounts of data to protect.  The article continues with 10 tips for Enterprise IT managers to address in their disaster recovery planning.  All 10 tips are valid and essential.  However, I would like to suggest an 11th tip which is commonly missing from most such recommendations:

Tip # 11.    Evaluate a Data Recovery lab or two and establish ongoing relations.  We at Cherry Systems have daily proof that is indisputable: systems and processes designed by humans will fail.   Murphy’s Law clarifies it by saying that it will happen at the worst time!  Therefore if our experience is a good indicator and Murphy’s law concurs then the 11th tip should be included and executed.

By saying executed, what does it mean?   It means that IT management should establish communication and form relations with a P.D.R (Professional Data Recovery) http://www.cherrysystems.com/blog/data-recovery-recognizing-a-professional-part-2 provider, who can consistently recover lost data.   

IT managers:  Don’t wait until that awful day lands in your lap.  Safeguard your disaster recovery plan with a proven data recovery  provider.

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Are you committed to protect your data, and want to know how? Part 1 >>

May 14th, 2010

We at Cherry Systems, are asked daily by individual, small business and mid-size clients, “What should I do in the future so this will not happen again?”  The simple and easy one word answer is BACKUP.   It could be equated to another recurring question people ask, “What is the healthiest diet?” A one word answer to this one is VITAMINS. To continue the analogy of backup-vitamin, both require variety and frequency.

 The three primary backup methods to consider:

  1. Personal backup device (external drive, Thumbdrive, One-Click-Backup-device)
  2. On-premise network storage media (shared drive on one of the systems, or a NAS device on the local area network)
  3. Remote backup service:
    1. Remote shared drive like Jungle disk ,
    2. Remote backup unmanaged like Mozy ,Carbonite,
    3. Remote managed backup like Barracuda Networks 

 The costs:

1. At least $10-20 per month if you just have pictures and music and some odds-and-ends.

2. At least $35-55 per month if you have a small business.

Be careful with relying primarily on cost to make your decision.  As with other things in life, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

Either solution you pick you will have to; 

  1. Make sure you know how to do a partial restore.
  2. Test it at least once a year, and when you make a significant configuration change to your computing environment.
  3. Reassess for data growth, don’t hesitate to find a proper replacement, see all the notes which apply to your new computing environment above.
  4. Perform a data inventory as frequent as you can, but no less then quarterly.  Compare it to the previous one.  Than ask yourself why is there a difference, can you explain what could have caused the increase or decline.

Review our next post on selecting the right backup method for your situation.

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Data Recovery-Recognizing a Professional part 2 >>

February 10th, 2010

As with all highly skilled professionals services, like doctors, dentists, CPA’s etc, the level of professionalism is achieved combining extensive higher education, years of training in the field, specialized industry specific tools and facilities.

Cherry Systems Inc. is an example of a P.D.R (Professional Data Recovery) provider. Our recovery process is based on the 3D Data Recovery worldwide standard.   As such some of our specialized software and tools are designed and marketed by DeepSpar  a company who adopted and adhere to that same standard.  On their web-site DeepSpar refers to the 3D standard as;

          Phase 1: Drive restoration

          Phase 2: Disk imaging

          Phase 3: Data retrieval

 For more information please go to http://www.deepspar.com/pdr-system.html and read the section “Know your terrain”

 

A P.D.R engineer knows the terrain;

The first D starts with properly diagnosing the media to determine the most efficient  process to recover the data.   There are two primary outcomes;

            1.  Drive performs electro mechanically well.

            2.  Drive has failed or failing.

                  A.  If drive is failing it must be restored to working condition,  which should allow the engineer enough time to make an image.

 

The second D is for obtaining a good image of the failing drive as QUICKLY as possible, since you never sure how long is the failing drive will cooperate.  A tool like DDI, developed by DeepSpar as well as other similar tools by other vendors, were developed to facilitate and automate storage media specific code to optimize the cloning processes.  Do not confuse a tool like DDI with a tool like Ghost by Norton. While they seem to do the same at a first glance, Ghost should only is be used if the drive is performing well. 

<*>Warning, a P.D.R tool like the DDI typically does a great job imaging a failing drive but it is no substitute for the skill and knowledge of the P.D.R engineer to monitor, manage, and tweak the process to a successful completion. 

 

The third D is the the one in which the file system is rebuilt utilizing the clone drive (see  the 2nd D) and recovered files extracted to a safe repository site, for delivery to an anxious customer.

 

When evaluating potential providers, you should ask if they are following the 3D standard. A provider that does not utilize proven specialized tools or bypasses the 3D standard, should not be considered a P.D.R provider.  If your data is valuable, don’t take chances – choose a professional.

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Data Recovery – Recognizing a Professional >>

February 2nd, 2010

What do you get when you combine ”easy to use” inexpensive recovery software and a downturn in the economy?   In many cases, its a recipie for an amature to practice with your one-of-a-kind data which in many cases create recovery disasters.

Along with the development of off-the-shelf recovery software, we are seeing more and more new comers into the data recovery field.   And, in an effort to boost sagging bottomlines, we see more computer service & repair shops that profess to offer data recovery services.   Some are partnering with professional providers in an effort to provide a wider range of services to their clients.  But how do you tell the professionals from the pretenders?   There are a few requirements you’d be well advised to check upfront – before handing over your fragile and failing digital life.

  1. Facilities – A Class 100 Clean Room is essential for recovery from  physical hard drive failures.   While some recovery jobs are purely logical, requiring  software tooling only, what does the provider do should your recovery require clean room work?  Do they work with another provider?  Does that provider meet the DR professional test?
  2. Experienced Staff - Software is only as good as its user and a clean room is only as good as the engineers that run it.   The higher the level of education and experience, the higher likelihood of successful recovery of your data.
  3. Established Business – Just as you would check out any vendor, you need to know the reputation of the provider.  How long has the provider been in business?  What is their record with the Better Business Bureau?   As in any business, problems can arise.  You need to know the company will stand behind their service.

Often, you have only one shot to recover your most valued data.  Don’t take chances with a novice provider.  A little additinal research work can save you a lot of grief (and money) in the long run.

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How to Avoid Privacy Breach by Data Recovery Providers? >>

January 15th, 2010

In previous blogs we discussed the many sources of data loss, and that prevention can minimize many, but not all occurrences.   Execs in charge of data access and security sometimes overlook these less likely scenarios because they are few and far between.  But the impact of such occurrences can be potentially devastating and require timely resolution. Since most companies do not have an in-house data recovery lab, the only option, is to send the defective media to a third party lab.  So when that dreadful day comes, and data loss is looming, there is a frantic scramble to find a reputable data recovery lab.   The pitfall is that under the time constrains to save the data and the day, due diligence is typically limited to price and turnaround, often neglecting to take into account one of the key consideration SECURITY; “Is the data recovery company safe?”  Is the data recovery lab at par with the customer’s data security policies to prevent data leaks or at worse data breech?

In a recent article in Forbes, http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/05/data-recovery-privacy-technology-cio-network-breaches.html.  By Andy Greenberg  he cites a study done by Ponemon Institute ,  clearly linking data recovery to data breach, potentially causing a bad situation to turn real ugly.

Conclusion:

Fortunately, CIOs and IT execs can prevent this unsavory scenario by pre-selecting a data recovery lab who can maintain the security level the customer requires while successfully recovering the data.

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Data Recovery D.I.Y software tools decisions >>

January 13th, 2010

For those seeking solutions to recover lost files, there are basically two options:

1.   Choose a professional data recovery lab, see discussions on www.cherrysystems.com/blog posts in late November and December 2009.

2.   Choose a Do-it-Yourself (D.I.Y) data recovery software tool from an ever-increasing array of software tools available, many touting their tool as “the best data recovery tool” you will ever need.   As data loss and data recovery become a mainstream issue, more companies are making an attempt to capitalize on this space.   Therefore we will focus on this subject in the post below and several subsequent ones.

 Clearly not all data recovery tools are the same, so choosing one can be a daunting task for the SMB/home user as well as the IT professional who only comes across this problem a few times a year.  This is partly due to the fact that there are so many variations of operating systems and there are so many ways to loose data on a storage device.

The providers of data recovery software tools can be placed in two major categories:

1.   Software houses selling tools for a wide variety of computing needs including data recovery.  Some of these products are very good but only address a limited scope of data loss problems.  However, many of these software tools are poorly designed and worse yet poorly supported.  Unfortunately, it is not simple to tell the good from the bad based on price alone.  Prices start at $39.95 and up.

2.   Data recovery service providers like Ontrack or MHDD also offer self-directed data recovery tools, in addition to providing a full range of professional data recovery services.  Typically these are well designed professional looking products, but with a hidden motive;  to give the customer a very light version of their in-lab tool, with the hope that should it not recover everything needed, the customer will be inclined to use their in-lab services. Prices start at $79.95

 Users considering D.I.Y. data recovery must keep in mind the following important points:

1.   No one tool, available on the market, solves all data loss problems.  They are typically designed to overcome a limited variety of crashes.  Just like you can’t have only one hammer which works for all jobs requiring hammering

2.   Software tools can only recover data from a fully functioning media.  If the drive is physically failing (which may not be easy to tell) you are at worse risking loosing it all, or at least wasting time and money trying.  (see upcoming blog post on Warning Signs of Physical Failure)

3.   How much time and money do you have, to buy, learn and experiment with the DIY tool?

4.   How important is the data to be recovered?  Truly consider the risk that you could do more harm than good to your irreplaceable data.

 You still have choices of action, but you need to consider them wisely:

1.   First consider your time constraints. Make sure you know how long it will take a pro to recover the data in case the tool you purchased and tried to use has failed.  Add to this the number of days you will allow to experiment with the DIY method, that will enable you to meet your recovery deadline.

2.   Consider the operating system, the type of files you are recovering (all data files are not made equally).

3.    Consider the media type the data is stored on, e.g. hard drive, flash drive, SSD’s etc.  Some tools work better (or not at all) on some of the media types above.

4.    Make sure you have a way to load the software on a system other then the one you have a problem with the data. Make sure you can connect the failed media to that system to perform the recovery. 

5.    NEVER! EVER! install the recovery tool on the failed media.

6.   Have enough available space on the drive you are attaching the failed media, to be able to copy out all the recovered files.

7.    DO NOT reuse the failed media until you have verified and re-verified the critical recovered files.

8.    Make sure that the failed media was not infected with a virus that will be happy to find a new home on the new media.

9.    If all of the above checklist is a go, locate a site that will list and compare data recovery tools, like http://data-recovery-software-review.toptenreviews.com/  (0r others).

10. Be prepared to deal with storage and data-specific unique lingo to be able to use the software. 

Please watch for our next post in this series on this blog “Should professional data recovery service sell data recovery software?”

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How to maintain an edge in Data Recovery >>

December 23rd, 2009
Glipms into Cherry Systems parts inventory

Glimpse into Cherry Systems parts inventory

Due to the well documented economic woes in 2009, we experienced an increase in the number of abandoned drives.  Let me explain; an abandoned drive is one that Cherry Systems has made repeated attempts to contact the customer to either proceed with the recovery or retrieve the drive, to no avail, often up to 90 days after the evaluation is completed.   At that point we consider the media abandoned and move it into our long term storage, adjacent to our 9000+ parts inventory . In is not unusual for customers to return a year (or two!) later hoping to find an abandoned drive.  In all cases with the help of our advance job-tracking-systems we located the drive in our storage in a matter of hours and either returned it or completed the recovery to the surprise and delight of the client. 

Although I do not recommend this strategy for a client, this scenario tests and reaffirms how our systems and processes helps us keep our commitment to our  customers;

  1. We do not sell or reuse abandoned drives (except the use of non-data containing components)
  2. We take as good care (or better) of our customer’s media than they do themselves.

 It  is particularly significant at these times when many shoppers are so price sensitive, to realize the value of good, dependable and reliable service.

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Data recovery provider 10 Commandments >>

December 11th, 2009

I believe it is time to draw some clear lines in the sand for our industry.   It is important for our vulnerable customers seeking a data recovery service to know that their precious data will be treated with the care and attention it needs and deserves and also know where we stand and demand the same standard of care from our competitions:

  1. We will not alter your original drive or data from the condition it was received.
  2. We return your original drive in the same working-condition it was received.
  3. We will not diminish the recoverability of a drive if the job was declined.
  4. We do not open customer data files, except;
    1. If customer specifically requested certain files to be tested.
    2. If a customer asked to view files prior to pickup.
    3. For limited random QC test if we suspect the data integrity is in question.
  5. We guarantee that customer data is removed from our storage, after delivery and acceptance confirmation.
  6. Abandoned or scrapped drives with customer data will not be resold, reused or be compromised to the public.
  7. Abandoned or scrapped drives will only be used to harvest components (which do not contain customer data) to be used in the process of recovering another drive in our lab.
  8. We only use your original drive long enough to make a clone. 
  9. A customer clone-drive is wiped after 30 days from the completion and delivery of the data.

10.  Every job is covered by our published NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement). In addition we will not disseminate, or make commercial use of, information disclosed during the recovery process, (e.g. client information, email address, username, passwords etc.).

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Certification for business and data recovery professionals >>

December 3rd, 2009

I was reading recently a posting by Cole Shiflett on his blog http://coleshiflett.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/business-certifications-and-it-professionals/

And it brought into focus an issue that I have tried to raise with my data recovery peers in the past, the subject of certification.   There are three reasons to have certification:

  1. Stop the delusion of our industry by untrained unprofessional competition.
  2. Prevent or at least significantly reduce the chance of data loss due to unsuspecting customers taking their precious data to be recovered by individual or business not qualified to do the work.  The reason why this is so important is that the media may be damaged beyond recovery, while the unqualified attempting to perform delicate and highly specialized procedures they are not equipped and trained to do.
  3. Have a clearer picture of each provider certification and specialty, incase the recovery needs a very specific expertise.

Clearly most qualified lab can do the “common-run-of-the meal” recoveries, but then in addition they also develop specialties and expertise in a sub segment of our profession.  Like for example PDA’s, Optical SCSI drives, drive with severe media damage, etc.  If this was published information about a lab, it would help all of us who every once in a while come across one of those “unusual cases” and the customer is willing to pay what-it-takes to recover it.  So that we can refer the customer instead of just dismissing it as no-recovery.

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Data Recovery – IT Pros and Buyer Beware! >>

November 20th, 2009

In the past several months I have become aware of an increasing number of cases which should be concerning to both the public and to the reputation of the data recovery industry.

1.  More and more, over-confident IT professionals are attempting recovery activity well beyond their qualification e.g. platter transplant one-at-a-time.  For us, the pros, it sends chills down our spine, because we know the answer before we even touch the drive.  While it may be border line criminal – I certainly think  so – what about the unsuspecting customer who I am sure is being told, ”Sorry, your data was not recoverable.”   If we continue to condone such activity we are in a way accomplices.  Other than educate the public in blog postings such as this on what constitutes a data recovery professional, what else can we do, and who can we call for help?  Is it time to clearly designate a professional data recovery and to include level of profficiency?

2. To support my points above, enclosed are two recent postings by two data recovery professionals who commented to our “When Enough is Enough” post in this blog.  I copied their exact comments identifying them only by their initials. 

Unfortunately the amount of re-work we are doing that has been to other, some quite established data recovery companies is significantly on the rise… We have witnessed deliberate damage caused to customers drives following them turning down quotes. It’s a very sad state of affairs for the customer. There is one particular company in the UK whose standards have significantly dropped of late, I wont name for legal reasons.

By C.L 11/15/2009

Whether recovered or not, there is a company here that burned the PCB of a perfectly good SCSI hard drive. This drive’s data was recovered, but they destroyed the PCB afterward. Why? I know exactly why in this case. Email and I can tell you the details. The drive had a firmware problem. The client wanted the drive back, so they destroyed it. I believe it would be far more a appropriate to return the firmware to it’s original faulty/bad state. If heads – well, put the original ones back in, etc. But of course, this involve MORE WORK. Sometimes, they simply don’t want to take the time to return the drive to its original state. At any rate, for years we could not deal with Quantum nor Western Digital alignments. We’d outsource these cases. Only one of these large well established giants in the industry returned the drives in good order. All others, damaged the components…drives that had good PCBs would return with burnt ones routinely

By M.T 11/15/2009

By some standards,  this is even worse than the first problem.  Those data recovery providers who damage the source drive for any reason are doing so clearly aware of their misguided action.  I can not imagine any explanation why this kind of action could be defended.

What type of action would you recommend to deal with this problem?

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