Improving Awareness Of Data Recovery As A Service

By Author: James Walsh
Total Articles: 68
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The very fact that we are saving something is enough to guarantee its preciousness to us. But while we are fully aware of the value, we have not yet been able to get used to the fact that the digital medium, just like paper and tapes, is also fallible. A hard disk can fail, a CD or DVD can be scratched exactly where you have recorded that wedding photograph, and the USB drive might get mistakenly formatted by you as you pull it out in a hurry without shutting down any of the eight open windows.

Spreading Awareness - Joint Responsibility

It is easy to say that it is solely the seller's duty to hawk his or her wares, and put up the strategically placed billboards. But, in this case, there is a matter of public good involved too. If the government can take steps to let the public know about contraceptives and family planning, vaccines and health care, fresh vegetables and nutrition, it can also do the same service about data recovery. After all, the vaccine manufacturers and the pill makers are all private companies too, and they do make a profit when their goods are sold for public benefit. This may sound ...
... a bit far-fetched, but it just shows that we are really not ready, as a nation, to attach importance to our most important personal and work information. 43% of UK businesses who do not have a recovery plan in place close shop after a data disaster. Most home users are blissfully unaware of what to do if the hard drive falls into a bowl of soup (and likewise if it was an office hardware like a pen drive). It does not come as a surprise when we hear that all the major cases of corporate data thefts (and there was a good spate of them last year) were aggravated by the employee's delay in reporting. If you notice a virus in your office computer, what would you do? More than 75% of UK office-goers felt that they should do something - but what was that? After all, 86% of the firewalls aren't even updated. And when an employee feels that a data loss may be his or her fault, more than 60% shamefacedly admitted that they would just keep mum about it, waiting for the storm to blow over, rather than lose their jobs. It had not occurred to any of these bright individuals that spending a few hundred pounds from their pockets might recover the data without too much hue and cry, and also without any damage done to innocent clients. In the case of major data losses, where recovery may run into thousands, the companies themselves have been wary about calling in data recovery people out of fear that the clients and rivals would come to know about it all.

The data recovery companies need to work in precisely this area to improve their image. The first duty is to clearly establish that they have only honourable intentions and are not going to steal, divulge or sell data. Once this is established, they have to flaunt their solid recommendations built on their excellent handling of sensitive data to reassure and invite customers.

Objections - and What to Do About Them

One of the major objections that customers might raise in handing over their matter to data recovery groups has already been dealt with above, along with a method to mitigate it. The other objection that may come, predominantly from the home user's section, is that of cost. It is the duty of the seller, the corporate buyers and the government to convince people that money has to be spent if it means jeopardising much more money in return. The other objection may be about the credibility of the software, that it may damage what little is left. In this case, there are only two things to be said, choose you Recovery Company carefully, and don't try DIY if you feel unsure about the handling.

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 http://www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk