Disaster Recovery Software

Computer emergencies, just like life emergencies, can take several forms.  There are files that are deleted by accident, viruses may get on our system and wipe out data or bring our system to a halt, or some mechanical component of the computer, such as a hard disk, may fail. 

When any of these things happen, if you’ve taken steps to be prepared you will be that much better off when it comes from recovering form a computer disaster.  But what should you do and what should you have?  This article will give you some of the basic things you should do and some of the basic things you should have before disaster hits your computer.

The first, and some would argue, most important thing to have is backup and restore software.  And not only have it, but also use it!  If you don’t have this software or have it and don’t use it, resolve right now to correct that.  Not having a backup of your computer data is like being a novice acrobat walking a tightrope.  Eventually you will fall, and backup and restore software is your net.  Take the time to evaluate and obtain a backup software program. 

If you are unfamiliar with these programs, read reviews online or in print, talk to other people who us a backup program, get advice from you computer department where you work.  Backup/restore software allows you to make a copy of your computer’s data (usually stored on its hard disk) to a recordable media, such as a CD, or DVD, tape or even a portable hard disk drive.  You then put the media in a safe place.  Then, should disaster strike, you have a copy of your data that you can use to restore (bring back) to either the same computer or a different one if need be. 

Many Backup/Restore programs also include the ability to create what is called “bootable media.”  Bootable media is just a fancy term for a different disk, such as a CD, DVD, flash drive (or even the venerable but fast-fading floppy disk) that you can use to start your computer if your hard disk just doesn’t work or your operating system (Windows, for example) is damaged.  At a bare minimum, if you are running a Windows computer, you have the Windows backup utility program that can be used to create backups of your data.  

In recent years, an option to back up computers to online locations (called online backup) has been gaining popularity.  The point is, you should have backup software and routines in place, and you should be using them regularly.  And don’t just stop at a backup made a year or two ago—your recoverable data in your backup is only as recent as the backup itself. 

The next thing to consider is disk imaging software.  Disk imaging software is used to create an exact copy of a computer hard disk.  This is like having a clone of your hard disk ready to go, if needed.  A disk image can be useful if you need to have an exact copy of your system at a certain point in time in order to fulfill a disaster recovery plan that involves going to a spare computer in case your main computer stops. 

Simply bring out the spare computer, restore the hard disk image to it, and you are ready to go.  As with backup software, however, your disk image is only as new as the last time you made the disk image.  An old disk image may not have the most recent data you lost when disaster struck.

Accidental file deletions are another thing that can go wrong.  You should have some kind of software tool that will let you “undelete” a file that was deleted by accident.   This is referred to as file recovery software.  There are a number of vendors that sell thiks type of software.  However, if you have a situation involving a deleted file, you’ll want to try to recover it as soon as possible.  The longer you wait to try to recover a file, the more likely it is that it (or significant portions of it) will have been overwritten by newer files or other data on your hard disk.

Finally, be familiar with any sort of utilities that your system provides you that can help insure against disaster.  Microsoft Windows, for example, has several different utilities in all versions (Windows 7, Vista, and XP) to perform backups, to help prevent accidental file deletion (Recycle Bin), and to help repair Windows itself if things go wrong.  Familiarize yourself with these tools so that you know what they do and when to use them.