Electronic Document Managements

Data protection is crucial for protecting your business's continuity. Unnecessary failure such as the business premises burn down to the ground, severe flooding, natural disasters or even the computer hard disk failure are some lost that are irretrievable. For adequate data protection, you need to establish a data backup system could archive business data regularly, create data backups on reliable media and keep updated data backups in a secure, off-site location. It’s also important to keep the files on your computer organized and up-to-date. Just as with paper files, the goal of computer file management is to ensure that you can find what you’re looking for, even if you’re looking for it years after its creation.

Beginning in the 1980s, a number of vendors began developing systems to manage paper-based documents. These systems managed paper documents, which included not only printed and published documents, but also photos, prints, etc.

The earliest electronic document management (EDM) systems were either developed to manage proprietary file types, or a limited number of file formats. Many of these systems were later referred to as document imaging systems, because the main capabilities were capture, storage, indexing and retrieval of image file formats. These systems enabled an organization to capture faxes and forms, save copies of the documents as images, and store the image files in the repository for security and quick retrieval (retrieval was possible because the system handled the extraction of the text from the document as it was captured, and the text indexer provided text retrieval capabilities.

EDM systems evolved to where the system was able to manage any type of file format that could be stored on the network. The applications grew to encompass electronic documents, collaboration tools, security, and auditing capabilities. The importance of document management system must be observed; document archiving are preserved for future readability, the distribution must be available for the people that need them, ease in retrieval and keeping the data away unauthorized personnel from reading, modifying or destroying the documents.

Read more...

Electronic Document Managements

Data protection is crucial for protecting your business's continuity. Unnecessary failure such as the business premises burn down to the ground, severe flooding, natural disasters or even the computer hard disk failure are some lost that are irretrievable. For adequate data protection, you need to establish a data backup system could archive business data regularly, create data backups on reliable media and keep updated data backups in a secure, off-site location. It’s also important to keep the files on your computer organized and up-to-date. Just as with paper files, the goal of computer file management is to ensure that you can find what you’re looking for, even if you’re looking for it years after its creation.

Beginning in the 1980s, a number of vendors began developing systems to manage paper-based documents. These systems managed paper documents, which included not only printed and published documents, but also photos, prints, etc.

The earliest electronic document management (EDM) systems were either developed to manage proprietary file types, or a limited number of file formats. Many of these systems were later referred to as document imaging systems, because the main capabilities were capture, storage, indexing and retrieval of image file formats. These systems enabled an organization to capture faxes and forms, save copies of the documents as images, and store the image files in the repository for security and quick retrieval (retrieval was possible because the system handled the extraction of the text from the document as it was captured, and the text indexer provided text retrieval capabilities.

EDM systems evolved to where the system was able to manage any type of file format that could be stored on the network. The applications grew to encompass electronic documents, collaboration tools, security, and auditing capabilities. The importance of document management system must be observed; document archiving are preserved for future readability, the distribution must be available for the people that need them, ease in retrieval and keeping the data away unauthorized personnel from reading, modifying or destroying the documents.

Read more...

Clean Room Technology

An increase in the reliance of businesses, institutions and individuals on the saved data for their day-to-day functioning is guiding the world economy in a direction where all the aspects of production and consumption will be electronically controlled. In such a scenario, the consequences of a major data loss incident may prove to be disastrous.

Considering the given context, the role of data recovery companies becomes vital in sustaining and supporting the world economy. However, in today’s competitive environment, only those data recovery companies will survive who have the access to proper infrastructural facilities such as a clean room.

What is a Clean Room?

A clean room is a specially designed work space where environmental parameters such as the quality of air, humidity and temperature are technically controlled and manipulated to protect sensitive equipment, samples, apparatus and gadgets from contamination. The size of a clean room often depends upon the needs of a particular organization which owns it. A clean room may be as small as an office cubicle or may be large enough to contain the entire manufacturing facilities. Thus, clean rooms come in all shapes and sizes and may be permanent, modular or portable, depending upon the requirements of the companies who put them in place.

When were Clean Rooms Invented?

Clean rooms were first of all invented in the early 60s, when they were needed to develop high precision technology to be used in the upcoming aerospace industry. Later on, they were used in a variety of other industries, which needed a highly controlled and regulated environment to achieve their objectives.

Where are Clean Rooms Needed?

Clean rooms are exclusively used for manufacturing and R&D in high precision industries like bio-technology, nano-fabrication, space satellites, semiconductors, sterile medical devices, computer hardware, optics, silicon chips and microprocessors. A clean room happens to be 10,000 times cleaner than an operation theatre in any reputed medical facility.

How the Air inside a Clean Room is Kept Dust-free

The environment inside a clean room is kept dust-free and well-regulated by following an effective contamination control programme. The air inside a clean room is repeatedly filtered with the help of a variety of filters, so as to remove particulate impurities that can jeopardize the production of highly sensitive technologies. The HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filters used inside a clean room are capable of filtering particles as small as 0.3 microns, with optimum efficiency.

Appropriate precautions are taken while designing and manufacturing the clean rooms to maintain a laminar air flow so as to avoid turbulence. People working inside a clean room wear special gloves, face masks, head covers and bunny suits to prevent contamination. Physical behaviour and attitude of the staff operating inside a clean room are highly disciplined to control particulate contamination and turbulence. The commodities, stationery, furniture and gadgets used inside a clean room are of specified quality. The clean rooms are cleaned and maintained by certified contractors who specialize in the requisite technology and procedure needed to sanitize a clean room.

How are Clean Rooms Classified?

Clean rooms are classified as per the number and size of particles allowed per unit volume of air. The clean rooms were first classified in the US in 1963. The Federal Standard 209 proved to be a great success the world over. It classifies clean rooms into six categories ranging from Class 1 to Class 100,000. A Class 100 clean room contains no more than 100 particles of 0.5 microns or more per cubic foot of air. In 1999 UK came out with British Standard 5295. The first ISO standard called ISO 14644-I was published in 1999.

Role of Clean Room in Data Recovery Business

Data recovery is a highly competitive field and a clean room is an integral and indispensable constituent of any reputed data recovery company. Many digital media like hard disks are extremely sensitive to dust. Even a single particle landing between the read/ write head and a platter could cause the disk to crash. A clean room provides an ideal environment for opening, operating and repairing such devices.

If a data recovery company has its own clean room, it shows that the particular firm is serious about its work and has made ample investments in securing, maintaing and sustaining its critical infrastructure to ensure a high success rate.

Read more...

Data Loss Affects Organisations

The day-to-day running of an organization is dependent on the efficiency of their data management. As all their data is stored on computers, it is imperative that proper safeguards be adopted and installed to avert any damage, deletion or corruption of their data. Any data loss can bring a smooth running company or business to a grinding halt.

What exactly is data loss? Data loss is a situation in which there is an inability to access data involving a previously functioning computer system or backup. Any accidental erasure of data or overwriting of data leading to this sort of access failure is categorized as data loss.

Data loss can happen due to a number of reasons. Backup files may not recognize the database engine, database getting locked preventing access, deleted or dropped tables, accidentally deleted or overwritten records, all involve data loss. Data can also be deleted with criminal or malicious intent, database files corrupted and individual data pages damaged. Even natural calamities like flood, fire or earthquake can damage database leading to data loss.

The first and foremost step towards preventing data loss is to efficiently and carefully maintain a backup. To avoid major data loss, a routine data backup that creates a second copy of important data for storage in a different physical location needs to be established.

A data backup does not ensure a 100% recovery of data. In case of data loss where data backup cannot be of much help, it is important to employ other methods for data recovery. Data recovery should be done at the earliest as time saved is money saved. Timely data recovery ensures that the setback suffered by the organization is temporary in nature.

Any data loss in an organization has severs implications. Any sizable amount of vital data loss affects the business continuity. For companies data loss represents a business risk. Even if a monetary value is not assigned to the data, the negative effects on the operations can be significant:

1. Risk to Sales: Any data loss affecting communication with the customers means that the company will not realize sales and revenue. Emails have become a primary form of communication. Losing emails and attachment means the customer may not be serviced correctly. A hard drive crash can make an important delivery go unnoticed till after the sale is lost. A lot of companies rely on call centres for their customer relationship management that help them track customer issues and orders. Any data loss here represents a risk to sales, revenue and profitability.

2. Inability to Operate: Computer technology and the data associated with it are integrated into all aspects of an organisation’s operations. Because of this dependence, a company may not be able to fulfil orders, update employee records, produce financial reports, manufacture goods, provide services and so on, thus stalling their operations.

3. Reducing Productivity: Even partial data loss can harm an organization’s efficiency and productivity. Employees may sit idle for long periods while data recovery is in process, reducing productivity as a result. Also, applications may fail unexpectedly when referencing data is inaccessible. Essential reporting may be incomplete because component data is not available.

4. Disrupting Decision-making: Most modern businesses rely on financial, market and manufacturing measures. Without the ability to gather and report on key business indicators making any analysis is difficult or incorrect. This means faulty decisions may be taken depriving the company of profits.

5. Security Threat: Data losses in organizations such as banks that have online service facilities pose many security-related issues. Banks have online service facility and store a lot of sensitive information and any elimination or theft of records will be disastrous.

6. Waste of Money and Time: Data recovery process wastes time and money as normal functioning halts as the recovery work is in progress. Also, there is no 100% success rate and by the time the futility of the exercise is apparent, a lot of time and money are wasted.

7. Loss of Reputation: Many companies provide services and perform task on a daily basis. Any loss of orders or inefficiency in service gives rise to a feeling of mistrust among consumers and a loss of reputation in the market.

This makes it important for companies to have a disaster recovery plan and a data backup policy in place. These safeguards can mitigate the effects of data loss to some extent.

Read more...

Main Causes of Data Loss

All regular computer users dread the possibility of facing data loss. Everyone who uses computers has some time or the other undergone the traumatic experience of data loss in varying degrees. Whether one is a student or a pro, all have ventured into this dreaded territory.

There are professional records like accounting records, client databases, marketing strategy, new inventions and there are personal records of emotional value like photographs, video clippings, emails that have been lost due to various reasons. Data loss affects everyone in varying degrees. It can upset a user and, in extreme cases, even put big corporations out of business.

Information loss is directly converted into financial loss. In today’s world of digital technology, information is an important asset and time spent in retrieving it is equalent to monetary loss. Nowadays everything learnt, developed, invented and planned is stored in digital form and any damage to this information can bring lives to a standstill and businesses to a close.

It is not only important to use technology to its optimum capacity but to be equally aware of all potential failures arising out of our complete dependency on it. In order to use technology efficiently, it is imperative to identify potential data loss situations and take necessary precautions to either prevent them or mitigate their impact.

There are many reasons for data loss. Some of the important ones being:

1. Hardware or System Failure: These include hard drive crash which is the main storage media for the computer. It can also be electrical failure, read/ write head crash, controller failure and so on. To prevent these hardware problems one needs to protect electrical components by using computers in a dry shaded area. It is important to protect against power surges using a UPS. Do not shake or remove the covers on the hard drives or tapes and make sure that your hard drive is in a secure dust-free environment, away from any potential dangers.

2. Human error: User error is also one of the major causes of data loss. These include accidental deletion of files or drive format and emptying of recycle bin thereafter. Also, there is physical damage or trauma resulting from a drop or a fall, server configuration error or network failure. These can be avoided by not attempting any installations or repair without proper knowledge or experience. Avoid moving a computer while it’s on. Maintain security on your personal files and folders and maintain systematic and timely backup.

3. Software Error: These include corruption by diagnostic or repair tools, failed backups and configuration problems. Database corruption also falls under software errors. These can be avoided by maintaining proper backup, using diagnostic utilities carefully, updating security software and programs and ensuring data integrity and backup prior to any software upgradation.

4. Computer Viruses: They can establish themselves in your system and create havoc. These infect files, emails and the whole databases leading to glitches and errors and unpredictable behaviour. They can destroy or overwrite any existing data making access impossible. These can be prevented by using a good quality anti-virus program from a reputable company which should be run on regular intervals to scan all incoming data and software. Be extra cautious when using any external media like floppy disks and CDs.

5. Natural Disasters: These cause the least amount of damage in terms of percentage but can wipe out data storage completely when they strike. These include natural calamities like floods, earthquakes, lightning, fire and so on and can be guarded against by maintaining an ‘off-site’ backup of your data.

6. Vandalism: These include malicious acts of unknown hackers who either destroy or steal information or of disgruntled employees trying to get even. Even competitors can sabotage important data from company’s account leading to corruption, erasure or loss of vital information. These can be prevented by putting up security systems and firewalls by reputed companies. Also, a good and regularly updated data backup free of virus ensures that data recovery is easier. One can also employ data forensics to investigate and find the guilty or the methodology to prevent any recurrence of similar episodes.

The crux of the matter is that data loss is today’s reality and the most important safeguard against it is a well-maintained data backup.

Read more...

Why is Data Backup a Time-Consuming, But Necessary Task?

People are creating electronic data at a rapid rate these days. Our paper mails have been replaced by emails and electronic notepads and MS Word have replaced our paper notepads. In addition, even the business registers have been replaced by huge databases that keep a record of all the updated information. While using and accessing data has never been easier, the risk of losing this data too has never been this high. Our data is very vulnerable to natural disasters, virus attacks, and man-made disasters. Therefore, the need of the hour is to create effective backups.

Why Most People do not Create Data Backups

Creating data backup involves storing your primary data on an external data storage media or backing up your data electronically via network severs. When the crisis does not strike, most people tend to take data backups very casually and may not create data backups on a regular basis. According to recent studies, the main reason for most data loss disasters is human error.

Creating backups is considered to be a wasteful activity that is also very time-consuming. People tend to see no apparent immediate benefit attached to creating data backups and therefore, tend to avoid this task as much as possible. Most people do not realise the importance of creating backups up until the disaster strikes

The Need for Data Backup

Data backup is very important if you want to preserve your data. Data disaster can strike at a time when you least expect it. Many times people keep using a computer for a very long time and tend to think that if their computer has not crashed so far, it never will. However, this is far from truth.

Computers and hard disks are like any other electronic device. They are prone to errors and can crash anytime. Most people complain that their computer crashed on the very day they forgot to create a backup. Creating data backups and having an effective data backup plan is essential if you want to preserve the integrity of your data.

There are times when people do not create backups and lose their data entirely if the primary data is unreadable when retrieved. Customers these days are very demanding and the businesses extremely competitive. If a business loses its data and has no backup data, chances are that the business will waste a lot of time in retrieving the data. This would mean a high business downtime.

During the business downtime, the business will not be able to serve its customers. As a result, the business will not only risk losing its current customers but also potential customers. In addition, the reputation of the business may also be at risk. Creating effective data backups ensure that the business is able to get back on track in no time and that the customers continue to get served despite the data loss crisis. Due to this reason, creating effective data backups has become an integral part of business continuity planning in most of the companies.

Advantages of Creating Data Backups

Creating data backups can save a lot of time when the data loss event strikes. According to recent studies, 70% of the businesses suffer data loss due to virus attacks, natural disasters, and mechanical and electrical failures of the hard disk. Therefore, it becomes imperative for the businesses to have an effective data backup plan. Data backups enable a business to carry its normal course of operations even during the time of data loss crisis.

Contrary to usual perception, creating data backups can actually save a lot of time. Imagine creating an entire database or an entire business campaign all over again due to a data loss event. Not only can the re-work be very time-consuming but it also affects employee and company productivity because the employee could have been engaged in something more productive had the proper data backup been in place, which in effect, would have increased company productivity.

Data backups ensure that your customers are always served promptly and without any hassles. Some data loss events can translate into customer service disasters. In such cases, the reputation of the business will be at stake and the customer might take his business elsewhere. According to recent studies, companies that are unable to resume normal business operations within 10 days from the date of the data loss disaster, file bankruptcy within a year from the date of the data loss disaster.

There might be some industry standards that mark a standard business downtime for that particular industry. If any business in that industry faces a downtime that is greater than this standard, it can have a serious impact on the future of the business. Creating timely and effective data backups can ensure that the business downtime is minimised so that the business can survive the competition in the industry.

Read more...

Pen Drive As The Ultimate Mode To Transport Data

We have come a long way from the times when floppy disks were the mode to store and carry data from one computer to another. CD-ROM and DVD`s replaced floppy disks for transporting data but all these were not very handy. Users of computers craved for something which they can carry easily in their pocket and although being small something which can store huge amount of data. The Pen Drives have emerged as a solution to this. Accessing and transporting data has been made quite easier with the use of Pen Drives.

Pen Drives comes in shape and size of a normal small pen and weighs a mere 21 Gms.Though small in size it comes in massive data storage capacity ranging from 32 MB to 8 GB which is about 5600 times more than a 1.44 MB floppy disk. It is a dust proof, shock proof device without requiring any batteries. It is compatible to be used in PC`s and laptops and does not need any cables or software but just a USB port on your computer. The USB Pen drives just need to be plugged into the USB port of your computer which will then automatically detect it.

The small size of the Pen Drives makes them easy to be carried anywhere as they fit easily in the pocket or can be worn around the neck. The main purpose of the USB Pen Drives is to transfer and transport data from one computer to another and they are also needed to store personal data. These pen drives are very easy and fast to use. Since these are very new device, manufacturers of Pen Drives are continuously adding new features to them. They are available with lots of added features such as MP3 playback, Built-in Cameras, fingerprint biometric privacy etc.

The most common uses of the USB Pen Drives are:

The most common use of a Pen drive is to transport data fro one device to another. Personal data such as files, pictures and videos can be stored and transported easily with the help of Pen Drives. Information and Alerts for medicines etc. can also be stored in the Pen Drive.

While repairing of Computer and retrieving of lost data, Pen Drives are known to play a major role. They are used for data back-ups and transfer recovery software or anti virus software to the infected machines. It can archive host machines data in case of an emergency.

Pen Drives are commonly used by System and Network Administrators to store configuration information and software used for maintenance of the system. Since the Pen Drive is very portable it has become most familiar with them.

Pen Drives are used as an Audio Player since they come with additional features of MP3 playback. Companies have started manufacturing digital audio players using pen drives for sound output. Some Pen Drives have LCD display for track browsing and audio input jack.

Pen Drives are also used as application carriers which can run on host computer without the necessity of installing them on the hard disk. There are so many software which can run from a Pen Drive and can turn its host PC and other nearby PCs in to a web like environment.

So, USB Pen drive is all the rage today and is earmarked to be the next big thing in the Computer USB flash drive industry. Although being most useful due to its size, the small size also sometimes becomes a deterrent to its use. Owing to its ultra small size it needs to be kept very carefully as there are chances of misplacing the same or it getting lost among other things.

This article is under GNU FDL license and can be distributed without any previous authorization from the author. However the author's name and all the URLs (links) mentioned in the article and biography must be kept.

Read more...