Data Recovery & Backup
Data backup is an important concept in today’s digital age. As more and more of our personal and professional lives rely on digital data, it is increasingly important to consider how to keep that data safe and secure. As such, data backup is the process of creating copies of computer data that can be used to restore the original data in the event it is lost, damaged, or corrupted.
There are two main types of backup solutions available to consumers: local and cloud storage.
Local storage requires purchasing physical hard drives or network storage devices and either moving or copying your data manually or relying on a backup service to do it for you (e.g. Time Machine, Windows Backup). This method requires time and effort to keep your data updated if you don’t have any automatic services in place. For extreme measures, it may be appropriate to take your local storage backup devices off-site to protect them from fire, accidents, and natural disasters at your place of business.
Cloud storage requires purchasing storage from a company and installing their software to help you manage how or when your data is backed up (e.g. OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud, Backblaze). Cloud storage can be more expensive than a local storage system depending on how much data you have but it is also much more convenient and secure. OneDrive is one of the most effective and simple methods of protecting your data with cloud storage as it is built directly into Windows OS—all you do is sign in and let it do it’s thing. Other systems like Backblaze have more thorough methods of backup but less integration and thus it would be more of a task to recover lost data.
Cloud storage solutions are very attractive because the conveniences they provide often outweigh the costs of managing and purchasing your own local storage. Using both methods will protect you from almost all varieties of worst-case-scenarios.
Data Backup
The need for data recovery arises in a variety of situations, such as when a computer has crashed, a hard drive has failed, or when a user has accidentally deleted a file or folder. Regardless of the cause, data recovery can help to recover important information that may otherwise be lost forever.
When it comes to data recovery, there are a few different types of solutions available. The most basic solution is to simply recover the data from your healthy backup or cloud storage. (Which you definitely have working at all times, right? Right?) Services like Microsoft 365 OneDrive employ a double or even triple-layer recycle bin to help protect your data from even the most malicious situations. Other cloud services like TimeMachine can offer you a historical backup of all of your files, allowing you to go back to a certain version of a file if you accidentally deleted an important paragraph.
If these common safety nets have failed you, the next data recovery method involves using software to search for recognizable patterns in a computer’s hard drive to recover lost data. It is effective for recovering data that may have been accidentally deleted or corrupted. For instance, if you have deleted a file by emptying your recycle bin, the file can still survive for a short period of time before the drive is instructed to overwrite the data. Programs like R-Studio will analyze a disk for errors, thoroughly scan the disk for recoverable data, and copy that data to a healthy drive.
The last resort is the most extreme form of data recovery and it is also the most expensive and time-consuming; taking your damaged drive or device to a data recovery specialist. This would be necessary if a physical component of your drive is damaged. The specialist will attempt to replace that broken component in an effort to make the disk operate well enough that the data can be reliably copied to a healthy drive.
In summary, my advice would be that if you have a Windows computer and less than 1 terabyte of data to use Microsoft 365 and OneDrive to keep a secure backup of your data. When you’re signed in and the software is configured, all of your data backup happens behind the scenes and requires nothing from you but a decent internet connection to access your data. If you have an Apple computer then I would recommend buying an external drive for use with Time Machine, as well as buying a mid-tier of iCloud storage to help you keep the files on your Desktop and Documents secure.