Hard Drive Recovery Group Discusses Privacy Flag, Smartphone Data Transfer In Latest Blogs

In its latest blog, Hard Drive Recovery Group discusses a new EU funded project that creates tools to promote privacy and personal data protection.

A suite of three tools were created to help citizens monitor and control their privacy, one for smartphones, one for mobile apps installed on their Android phones and tablets, and a third tool which provides a general overview of Internet data privacy. The project was crowdfunded, and enables the kind of privacy knowledge few other apps have attempted.

"Data privacy is one of those subjects that is rarely discussed in mainstream media in general, and the layman typically knows very little about how his or her data is being used," said Maureen Davies, spokesperson for Hard Drive Recovery Group. "Tools like those of Privacy Flag are a great start, but the main fact that most users need to understand is that their data is worth protecting at all costs, and that it is frequently the sources they trust the most that are the most suspect in their treatment of personal data."

Recent scandals at Facebook and Yahoo have pointed to an Internet in which large corporations profit heavily off of personal consumer data, and then face very little scrutiny or regulation when that same data is breached by hackers.

Social media sites have long used personal data to target ads, while keeping their key social services free of charge. Only now are regular citizens beginning to see the danger in this.

"When it comes to social media, most folks are just not informed about the fact that services like Facebook are in effect a trojan horse," said Davies. "You provide them with your personal data, and then you use their service. The problem is that the longer you stay on their site, the more they compile, and it may be a lot more than you think if you also link the apps to your smartphone."

In the post entitled, "Here’s How You Can Transfer Data From One Phone To Another", Hard Drive Recovery Group talks about the process of transferring data from an older smartphone to a new one, a task that few people really think about until they have a new phone.

The data transfer process was once an arduous one, as smartphones were still in their fledgling stages. But, as Google Android and Mac OS have become the smartphone operating systems of choice pretty much across the board, standardization has begun to take hold. This has made the transfer process a lot easier than it has been.

"One of the bonuses of Android phones early on has to be their Google account integration, which ensures that unless you deliberately select against the policies, much of your personal data is backed up somewhat automatically," said Davies. "Sadly, this does come at the expense of a lot of data privacy, but on the other hand it is actually hugely helpful when a phone is lost or needs to have data migrated."

The post also references the process of moving from an Android phone to a iPhone and taking your data along. Both processes are broken down in simple language, and are extremely easy to follow. Creating smartphone backups on hard drives can help as well.

"Like any piece of technology entering its second decade of use, smartphones are becoming easier to use in general," said Davies. "It only seems natural that smartphone manufacturers would want data to be able to be transferred easily, as this undoubtedly spurs hardware upgrades. Whereas even five years ago you had people resisting upgrades because of overall hassle, nowadays the process is so simple that it's not even a concern for most."

In order to promote privacy in general, Hard Drive Recovery Group recommends to users to use private windows while browsing, an ad blocker app and to limit web use while on a smart phone. These tools are simple, but can make a huge dent in the battle against what experts are calling, "Big Data".

from Hard Drive Recovery Group

Keeping Online Data Safe With The Latest Tools

Online data sharing is easy nowadays. As matter of fact, it just takes a click to share data online. Once data is shared online, it automatically reaches a wide range of audiences. As convenient as it may seem, it could get quite dangerous. It’s hard to guarantee the privacy of online data.

Advances in digital technology are challenging our concept of privacy. In today's world, huge volumes of data are being collected, shared and stored in unprecedented ways and at tremendous speeds. Everything we do with our connected devices generates data that can be used or misused without our knowledge. Controlling when and how our personal data is used by others seems impossible, especially since sharing this information is an integral part of our participation in today's society.

(Via: https://phys.org/news/2019-04-tools-online-misuse.html)

Technology has made online data sharing inevitable. Even if you refuse to share data online, you will still find bits and pieces of your personal information floating on the world wide web. It’s just the way it is these days and there’s no way you can stop online data sharing. The most you can do is to control it. However, that does not guarantee 100% privacy. The truth is, online data sharing is hard to control.

That is the reason why the Privacy Flag has been launched. This is an EU-funded project that aims to protect the privacy of the consumers each time they go online.

To tackle this problem, the EU-funded project PRIVACY FLAG has created helpful tools that promote privacy and personal data protection. These tools are based on an innovative system called the Universal Privacy Risk Area Assessment Methodology (UPRAAM). UPRAAM was developed by the project team to assess whether applications, websites and Internet of things (IoT) technology comply with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and Swiss data protection law. Using the UPRAAM-based tools, citizens can check if their privacy rights are being respected and companies can get the help they need to comply with personal data protection requirements.

(Via: https://phys.org/news/2019-04-tools-online-misuse.html)

Digital tracks can easily be traced. Website administrators can easily track down their visitors. There are tools or plugins that can identify a website visitor. Even if the visitor has no intentions of sharing personal information on a website, the fact that the visitor is on the website, bits and pieces of his location and browsing habits are automatically shared online. That’s a lot of shared information online. The bad part is that not a lot of visitors are aware of it unless they take some time to read the Terms of Service of a website. Reality is, who really reads the Terms of Service of a website?

To protect the privacy of ordinary citizens, the Privacy Flag has created three tools.

There are three tools to help citizens monitor and control their privacy: a smartphone app, a browser add-on and a threat observatory. The mobile app informs users about potential privacy risks from apps installed on their Android-powered phones and tablets. Similarly, the browser add-on notifies users about a possible breach of privacy when browsing on the internet. Software and websites are deemed privacy friendly and safe or not based on analyses using input from technical enablers and crowdsourcing data from UPRAAM end users.

The third tool available to citizens but also useful for legislators web developers security researchers and businesses provides a general overview of data privacy on the internet. Using graphs and charts the observatory presents information on best practices adoption on the web and identifies issues with widely deployed technologies that lack data security. Links to the three free tools can be found on the PRIVACY FLAG website.

(Via: https://phys.org/news/2019-04-tools-online-misuse.html)

Some of the Privacy Flag tools would have to be downloaded and installed. On the other hand, some of the tools are very informative as well.

The Privacy Flag project shows how critical it is to keep data safe and protected. That’s the reason why a group of https://www.harddriverecovery.org/hard-drive-recovery.html experts know the importance of keeping data private. Their https://www.harddriverecovery.org/data_recovery_process.html guarantees data privacy. This goes to show that any kind of data, whether they’re stored online or offline, should always be protected.

Keeping Online Data Safe With The Latest Tools was initially published to Hard Drive Recovery Group

source https://www.harddriverecovery.org/blog/online-data/

Here’s How You Can Transfer Data From One Phone To Another

It could be pretty tedious. If you have to transfer data from one phone to another, it could take up a lot of your time. It’s for that reason that some folks would rather stick to their old smartphone. Even if they’re tempted to upgrade, they’d rather not.

With the influx of smartphones, it’s a must to upgrade. After all, you wouldn’t want to miss out on the latest features of a leading smartphone, would you? In that case, you would just have to allot some time to transfer data from one phone to another. But if you read on, you’d know that it isn’t so hard to do after all.

Here’s how you can transfer data from android to android.

1. When you turn on your new phone, the first few steps will be the normal Terms and Conditions kinds of screens. As you tap through, you’ll eventually be asked if you want to bring your data over to the new phone, and you’ll be asked to pick where the data should come from.
2. Tap “A Backup from an Android Phone,” and you’ll be told to open the Google app on the other phone. Do so, and tap Next.
3. You’ll be instructed to go to your old phone, launch the Google app (not the Chrome app; the Google app), and tell it to set up your device.
4. Your old phone will show a Getting Started screen without much information. Tap Next to get started.
5. The old phone and new phone both want to establish where you’re moving your account in case there’s more than one phone in Bluetooth range. Tap the correct device icon on each phone.
6. Just to be sure, the phones will both show a screen with numbers and colored shapes to confirm that your data is going to the right place. Those screens are supposed to match. Tap Next on your old phone (notice there’s no place to tap on the new one).
7. Enter your screen lock code on your old phone and approve the copy to your new phone. Presto — your account will appear on the new phone.
8. Log in to your Google account on the new phone. It may take a few minutes to download everything, but eventually all your Gmail, Contacts, Calendars, Photos, and backups will appear. What will not appear are all your apps, so there’s one more step.
9. Launch the Google Play Store. Tap the menu icon, then tap “My apps and games.” You’ll be shown a list of apps that were on your old phone. Pick the ones you want to migrate (you might not want to move brand-specific or carrier-specific apps from the old phone to the new), and download them. While you’re there, update the apps that came with the new phone, too.

(Via: https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/28/18282698/iphone-android-data-transfer-how-to-new-phone)

Here’s how you can transfer data from iPhone to android.

1. On the new phone, the first few steps are the normal Terms and Conditions screens. As you tap through, you’ll eventually be asked if you want to bring your data over and you’ll see a screen that lets you pick where your old data will come from. Tap “An iPhone device.”
2. Your phone will tell you to open Safari and navigate to android.com/switch. The tricky part here is that they don’t say explicitly that you’re supposed to do that on the iPhone. You are.
3. If you don’t have Google Drive on your iPhone, go to the App Store and download it, then sign into your Google account (presuming you have one). If you don’t have a Google account yet, Google Drive will guide you through the process of setting one up. You’ll need a Google account to use Android.
4. In Google Drive, tap the hamburger menu at the upper left of the screen, then tap the Settings gear in the menu that slides out from the left.
5. Tap Backup.
6. Tap on Contacts, Calendar events, and Photos & Videos and slide the toggle on for everything you want to back up to Google Drive. It’s probably all of the above.
7. Tap Start Backup, and wait. Depending on how much stuff you have, it may take a while — like, hours — to back up everything to the cloud. You will probably want to connect your iPhone to power while this is happening.
8. This is important: if your new Android phone has the same number as your iPhone (for example, if you’re swapping the SIM card), you need to turn off iMessage and FaceTime or you’ll never get another text message. In the iPhone’s Settings app, scroll down to Messages (it’s quite some distance down the page) and tap it. Slide the iMessage toggle to the left, turning it off. Go back to the Settings menu, tap on FaceTime (it’s right below Messages), and turn it off, too. (You can do all this during the backup, to save a bit of time.)
9. Continue setting up your new Android phone, logging into Google with the same ID you used on the iPhone to back up that phone to Google Drive. Eventually, all your backed up data will appear, safe and sound. Your apps won’t be there, of course, but your iOS apps wouldn’t work on Android, anyway.

(Via: https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/28/18282698/iphone-android-data-transfer-how-to-new-phone)

Obviously, it isn’t so hard to transfer data from one phone to another. Just as long you follow the steps above you can do it yourself.

Of course, you wouldn’t want to transfer all your data to a new smartphone. You really wouldn’t want to use up all the available space, would you? Some of your photos and videos are probably better off in your laptop or desktop.

There’s really nothing wrong with that. However, you can’t expect your laptop or desktop to store your data forever.
Your laptop or desktop can fail you. In case that happens, your data can disappear. To recover your data, you would have to rely on the trained technicians from the Hard Drive Recovery Group. Their professional https://www.harddriverecovery.org/data-recovery-services.html include https://www.harddriverecovery.org/mac-data-recovery/. So if you’ve transferred some of your data to your Mac, you can always get them back.

Here’s How You Can Transfer Data From One Phone To Another is courtesy of The Hard Drive Recovery Group Blog

source https://www.harddriverecovery.org/blog/transfer-data-from-one-phone-to-another/

Hard Drive Recovery Group Talks Big HDDs, Hard Drive Failure In Latest Blogs

In its latest blog, Hard Drive Recovery Group discusses the new range of 14TB Seagate hard drives, as individual HDD units continue to grow their overall storage capacity.

Spotlighting the Seagate Skyhawk, Ironwolf and Barracuda Pro, these drives are just a little smaller than the company's most recent "largest hard drive available", which has been reported to be 16TB.

"As a data recovery company that has seen thousands of hard drives over the years, beginning with tiny drives measured in megabytes, this is a pretty major step," said Maureen Davies, spokesperson for Hard Drive Recovery Group. "This trend will of course continue, but the question will probably someday arrive when the old platter and spindle 3.5 inch platform will become obsolete. What will the manufacturers do then?"

The newest drives tend to be extremely expensive, and targeted mostly at business and data center users, but they certainly point to a coming future where it is possible drives go beyond "terabytes" as a capacity measure.

"After using the spindle and platter setup for hard disk drives since the 1980s, the real question for HDD manufacturers like Seagate is, 'What's Next?'" said Davies. "It's quite unlikely that solid state drives in their current form will be able to reach the capacity of these drives anytime soon, which begs the question whether a new platform beyond the 2.5 and 3.5 inch drives will be available."

In a second post, entitled Hard Drive Failure: One Of The Most Annoying Tech Problems, HDRG discusses why hard drive failures are one of the biggest tech bugaboos for users worldwide.

The post references a recent British study surrounding gadgets and the annoyances of living with electronics that do not always live up to human expectations.

"The surprising note about the study noted in the post is that a majority of people get so annoyed with their devices that they simply don't bother trying to fix them, instead opting to simply buy new ones," said Davies. "While certainly this is something that I'm sure device makers love, it is not necessarily the best way to deal with things."

In essence, people love upgrades, and hate malfunction.

The survey notes that devices and computers are so integrated into our lives at this point that they actually become a stress point for people, as well as their relationships. The amount of devices that have been destroyed because of a fit of rage caused by malfunction continues to grow each and every year.

A key factor that is relevant when it comes to hard drive recovery customers is that over three in ten of the respondents to the server say that they have "made the situation worse by attempting to fix their devices". This is particularly key, as 25% of respondents also noted that they lost important files such as documents and photos as a result of a gadget or PC drive failure.

"When it comes to data and attempting to recover data by yourself, knowledge, as well as the right equipment and experience is not only important, but critical," said Davies. "We see at least five hard drive recoveries every week that are made more difficult and more expensive by the user that decided she was a data recovery expert."

Hard Drive Recovery Group always recommends that any kind of data loss be met with a single action - calling a data recovery expert - before any other actions are considered.

"Talking to a data recovery engineer at any qualified data recovery service near you is not only going to provide you with serious piece of mind, but it will also protect you from permanent data loss because of user error," said Davies. "Plus, as with our data recovery company, most reasonable services will at least provide you with some free advice which will point you in the right direction."

Basically, the more conservatively one reacts when encountering a hard disk or solid state drive failure, the better - in almost every case.

from Hard Drive Recovery Group

Seagate’s Latest 14TB Hard Drives Provide More Business Storage

It’s time for some good news. Seagate announces their latest 14TB hard drives. Needless to say, they are all suitable for storing a huge amount of business files.

The data storage solutions provider recently launched its advanced range of 14TB hard-discs that includes SkyHawk that can store over 9000 hours of HD video, IronWolf for your NAS needs, and the Barracuda Pro for desktop computing.

(Via: https://smallbiztrends.com/2018/09/seagate-14tb-drives.html)

The first on the list of Seagate’s latest hard drives is the Barracuda Pro. This is a helium-based drive that is very durable. There’s hardly any friction inside this super light-weight drive. That's a good thing because it lessens the wear and tear of this particular hard drive. Needless to say, the Barracuda Pro has a longer lifespan. It's perfect for small businesses that deal with a great amount of data.

The Barracuda Pro offers small businesses, IT staff and creative professionals with industry leading 7200 RPM spin speed and transfer rates of up to 250 MB/s are possible. What this simply means is that you can now efficiently transfer large files to an attached backup or even engage in data-intensive editing of 8k videos.

(Via: https://smallbiztrends.com/2018/09/seagate-14tb-drives.html)

Aside from the Barracuda Pro, Seagate also announces their latest network attached storage (NAS) series of drives. These are the IronWolf and IronWolf Pro drives.

For NAS drives, Seagate now provides IronWolf and IronWolf Pro drives that are optimized with AgileArray firmware, which provides dual-plane balance, rotational vibration sensors, advanced power management and error recovery control and as well improves RAID performance. Additionally, customers get peace of mind with Seagate IronWolf Health Management and 2-year Seagate Rescue Data Recovery Services. The comprehensive health analysis and status updates allows users to be preventative and not just reactive.

The IronWolf and IronWolf Pro drive comes with 2 years of Seagate Rescue data recovery as well as a 3 and 5-years limited warranty respectively.

(Via: https://smallbiztrends.com/2018/09/seagate-14tb-drives.html)

Seagate’s latest addition also includes surveillance hard drives called Skyhawk. The Skyhawk surveillance hard drive is perfect for users who want clear and smooth video streaming.

The SkyHawk is optimized for surveillance, providing your business with enough storage space for more than 9000 hours of HD video. This drive also comes equipped with ImagePerfect firmware that minimizes dropped frames and downtime. And like the IronWolf’s, the SkyHawk features a Health Management technology that actively monitors and analyzes the drive’s health, empowering its users to prevent, intervene and recover from potential anomalies.

(Via: https://smallbiztrends.com/2018/09/seagate-14tb-drives.html)

Seagate also offers the Exos X14, which is pretty much the world’s fastest and highest capacity hard drive today.

The Exos X14 is designed for hyperscale data centers, and according to Seagate, this drive boasts “the industry’s lowest power consumption and best performance in its class.” The drive also features the “always-on” Seagate Secure protection that effectively encrypts data without performance degradation.

(Via: https://smallbiztrends.com/2018/09/seagate-14tb-drives.html)

While the latest hard drives from Seagate provide premium data protection, they come at a high price as well.

Seagate says that the The IronWolf and IronWolf Pro 14TB are available starting from $529.99 and $599.99 respectively, while the BarraCuda Pro 14TB and the SkyHawk14TB are going for $579.99 and $509.99 respectively. The Exos X14 is available at $614.99.

(Via: https://smallbiztrends.com/2018/09/seagate-14tb-drives.html)

Considering the cost of the latest hard drives from Seagate, one would easily wonder if it’s worth investing in one? From a business point of view, it definitely is worth investing in one of the latest hard drives from Seagate.

Although the latest hard drives from Seagate are suitable business solutions, they’re not disaster proof. There will be times when data could become inaccessible in a Seagate hard drive. This page https://www.harddriverecovery.org/seagate-data-recovery.html could help increase your awareness on the  fallibility of a Seagate drive.

The following article Seagate’s Latest 14TB Hard Drives Provide More Business Storage is republished from Hard Drive Recovery Group Blog

source https://www.harddriverecovery.org/blog/seagates-latest-14tb-hard-drives-provide-more-business-storage/

Hard Drive Failure: One Of The Most Annoying Tech Problems

Tech problems are annoying. While technology is supposed to make things a lot easier for us, it could also lead to a lot of frustrating situations. When technology breaks down, we break down as well. The fact that we can’t get any work done because of an annoying tech problem is enough to drive us nuts.

Of course, there are extreme cases. Some people actually throw a fit when faced with an annoying tech problem, such as a hard drive failure.

One in eight British people have broken their gadgets or tech in a fit of rage, a survey claims.

(Via: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/tech-gadget-break-anger-top-problems-survey-a8840781.html)

The survey should not justify our rage. After all, a hot temper will not solve a problem. The survey just proves that we aren’t the only ones going crazy when faced with a tech problem, such as a hard drive failure.

Commissioned by online mobile and tech supporter Wiztek, the poll of 2,000 adults found that many people have lost patience with their tech devices at some point.

On average, those polled said they will experience 63 IT issues a year – including intermittent WiFi, endless pop-up adverts and paper jams in printers.

And typically they will begin to become frustrated after spending 12 minutes trying to fix technical problems.

(Via: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/tech-gadget-break-anger-top-problems-survey-a8840781.html)

According to the survey, going crazy or losing our temper in the event of a hard drive failure could lead to some serious repercussions.

A third of those surveyed said that they have become so tired of dealing with these problems that they have purchased a completely new device instead of getting their old one repaired.

One in five have even fallen out with their partner as a direct result of their phone, computer or tablet not working as it should.

(Via: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/tech-gadget-break-anger-top-problems-survey-a8840781.html)

It’s human nature to feel frustrated when faced with a hard drive failure. However, that’s not a good excuse to take it out on a device, a hardware, or even on a partner. Things are just going to get worse if we don’t control our emotional outburst. Nonetheless, there’s an explanation as to why that happens.

Paul Amsellem, CEO of Wiztek, said: “Tech is an integral part of lives – whether it be through our jobs or through our home lives.

“And as such, we’d be significantly hampered in our daily lives – unable to check emails for important messages, use sat nav to successfully get from A to B or to keep track of appointments.

“So when our devices stop working or don’t operate as they should it understandably becomes very frustrating.”

(Via: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/tech-gadget-break-anger-top-problems-survey-a8840781.html)

It’s gets worse because according to the survey, there’s a big percentage of respondents who don’t know how to deal with annoying tech problems.

Over 45 per cent of those polled said they are not very knowledgeable when it comes to resolving computer and tech issues.

And three in ten say they have made the problem worse when trying to fix their gadgets.

The study also found that 40 per cent of the population has been left unable to work following problems with IT equipment.

And 25 per cent have lost important files such as cherished family photos and key documents as a direct result of a tech failure.

(Via: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/tech-gadget-break-anger-top-problems-survey-a8840781.html)

An annoying tech problem such as a hard drive failure can really crush our motivation to work. The downtime leads to wasted time and resources.

When faced with a sudden hard drive failure, it’s better not to solve it. The most that we can do is to understand why https://www.harddriverecovery.org/hard-drive-failure.html happens. In terms of solving the situation, we should just call on the experts who can provide reliable https://www.harddriverecovery.org/hard-drive-recovery.html services to spare us from losing our files and our sanity.

Hard Drive Failure: One Of The Most Annoying Tech Problems is republished from www.harddriverecovery.org

source https://www.harddriverecovery.org/blog/hard-drive-failure-one-of-the-most-annoying-tech-problems/

Hard Drive Recovery Group Talks SSD Upgrades, Data Restore In Latest Blog Posts

In its latest blog, Hard Drive Recovery Group discusses Western Digital SSD drives and their strong performance, which makes them a solid upgrade for most older computer users.

An aging computer can be greatly upgraded by installing an SSD drive, something that Hard Drive Recovery Group recommends partially for performance, but also for data safety.

"When it comes to consumer data recovery, there is really no more critical cause of physical hard drive crash than drive age," said Maureen Davies, spokesperson for Hard Drive Recovery Group. "The classic spindle and platter drive will fail eventually, but few consumers expect this. As a result, most of our consumer level hard drive recoveries are on drives five years older or more."

SSD, or Solid State Drives, are one of the rare upgrades that desktop users can make very easily, without any need to consider replacing things like RAM or a motherboard. Drive installation and replacement can certainly be more difficult for laptop users, but for most consumers, going from an HDD to SSD can virtually renew the system in terms of speed.

One of the additional bonuses of upgrading to an SSD is that as of May 2019, NAND flash components, which are the foundation of SSDs, are expected to reach all time low prices. According to a recent press release by DRAMeXchange, it is possible that 512GB SSD/prices per GB could fall to below 10 cents.

"If you happen to be in the market for an upgrade either to an SSD or from a smaller SSD, planning for a purchase over the next year is probably a very good idea," said Davies. "Pricing will likely continue to go down over the longer term, but right now seems to be a sweet spot."

Despite their strong performance when compared to conventional hard disk drives, it is important to note that SSDs are just as prone to failure. Adding to that is the fact that not every data recovery service can actually recover them from failure.

"Hard Drive Recovery Group does offer SSD data recovery, but it is not uncommon for less established data recovery companies to not offer the service," said Davies. "In the end, it is critical to understand that no matter the type of hard drive, having a consistent backup plan using both offline and online avenues is the best way to avoid data loss."

In another blog post, entitled Defining Data Restore, Hard Drive Recovery Group tackles the issue of restoring backups - something not a lot of consumers have experience with, yet something that any practitioner of consistent backups should understand.

Backups are easily the top way to avoid the issues that come with data loss, but many backup software programs are more complicated than they need to be. A better avenue is often simply purchasing an equivalent size hard drive to the drive that needs to be backed up. Then, the user can easily purchase a drive cloner for under $50 and effectively image the drive.

"Although they aren't commonplace at all nowadays, there was a time when backups were frankly more prone to failure than actual hard drives," said Davies, addressing old school storage technologies like Zip and Jaz drives, as well as backup tapes. "Now, an extra $150 spent can get you a simple, software-free way to completely image your hard drive whenever you want with very little technical know-how."

Outside of extremely rare cases of tape data recovery, Hard Drive Recovery Group almost never hears from customers that have had a failed backup. Again, cheaper storage technologies mean a person can grab a modern 2TB external drive for under $75, which can make hard drive failures more of an annoyance than something that requires professional data recovery help.

"Like anything technical, the best move when you are working out the details of a backup plan is to keep it simple," said Davies. "The fact is, the less onerous the data backup plan, the more likely you are to stick to it consistently."

from Hard Drive Recovery Group

Upgrade Your PC With A Western Digital Solid State Drive

Is your PC aging? Does it need more storage space? Well, if your answer is yes to both questions, there's no need to throw out your aging PC. Yes, you can still keep your PC and save a couple of bucks. Instead, you can upgrade it by  adding a Western Digital solid-state drive.

One of the simplest ways to get extra performance and squeeze more life out of an aging PC is by upgrading the storage to a more spacious or faster solid-state drive. This is especially true if your system relies on a slower hard disk drive. Though solid-state drives, or SSDs, are generally more expensive than their hard drive counterparts, Western Digital is making the upgrade more affordable for consumers with the launch of the WD Blue SN500 NVMe SSD, which starts at $55 and uses the faster NVMe technology, rather than the cheaper SATA-based SSDs.

(Via: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/western-digital-wd-blue-sn500-ssd/)

While the price range of Western Digital’s 500GB WD Blue PC Mobile hard drive is lower than Crucial’s P1 and Samsung’s 970 EVO, it still lacks the main features of what an SSD can offer.

The M.2 format card is available in either 250GB capacity or an upgraded 500GB model. The upgraded model tops out at $78. WD’s pricing compares favorably to Crucial’s $80 P1 NVMe drive and Samsung’s $150 970 EVO in the same capacity. For comparison, Western Digital sells its 500GB WD Blue PC Mobile hard drive for $42, but you won’t get the speed, power efficiency, and reliability that an SSD offers at that price.

(Via: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/western-digital-wd-blue-sn500-ssd/)

What your aging PC needs is the latest SSD from Western Digital.

“The new SSD delivers three times the performance of its SATA counterpart while maintaining the reliability the WD Blue product line is known for,” the company said in a press release. “For content creators and PC enthusiasts, the WD Blue SN500 NVMe SSD is optimized for multitasking and resource-heavy applications, providing near-instant access to files and programs.” Western Digital boasts 1,700MB per second sequential read speed and 1,450MB per second sequential write speed for the 500GB model. The WD Blue SATA SSD, for comparison, tops out with a maximum sequential read speed of just 560MB per second.

The WD SN500 NVMe SSD utilizes Western Digital’s 3D NAND technology, firmware, and in-house controller, and the Blue series drive is based on the company’s premium WD Black SN750 series. Western Digital is positioning the SSD at slim form factor notebooks and desktop PCs. The company claimed that the affordable storage capacities make these M.2 form factor SSDs ideal for content creation, including 4K and 8K video work, as well as multitasking and resource-heavy applications and programs. Western Digital’s Blue SN500 SSD is backed by the company’s five-year warranty.

(Via: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/western-digital-wd-blue-sn500-ssd/)

There’s no doubt about the reliability of Western Digital’s hard drives and SSDs. The price points for their latest products aren't so bad as well.

While Western Digital’s SSDs can bring life to your aging PC, it does spare it from failing or breaking down. Fact is, your computer will eventually break down.

The latest SSDs from Western Digital will, at the most, extend the lifespan of your aging PC. However, it will not prevent your aging PC from failing when the time comes. The same goes for a Western Digital’s hard drive.

According to the https://www.harddriverecovery.org/data-recovery-services.html, both can fail terribly. When that happens, you can lose some of your important data in a split of a second. In case your Western Digital hard drive fails you, there is still a way for you to recover your data. You can contact trained technicians, who can recover your files from you aging PC. For more tips on Western Digital data recovery, you can read more about it on https://www.harddriverecovery.org/western-digital-data-recovery.html.

The blog post Upgrade Your PC With A Western Digital Solid State Drive is available on Hard Drive Recovery Group Blog

source https://www.harddriverecovery.org/blog/solid-state-drive/

Defining Data Restore

Do you know what data restore is? Well, unfortunately, it could mean bad news. If you desperately need to do a data restore, it means that you have lost or damaged some valuable information in your computer. It could also mean that some of your information has been stolen.

Data restore is the process of copying backup data from secondary storage and restoring it to its original location or a new location. A restore is performed to return data that has been lost, stolen or damaged to its original condition or to move data to a new location.

(Via: https://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/definition/restore)

You wouldn’t want to end up losing some of your valuable data. The thing is, can you avoid it? Probably not. Even if you back up your data regularly, you’re bound to lose some of them in the future. This is not meant to scare you or anything but that’s reality. Considering the possibility of losing data in the future, there’s always the need to do a data restore.

There are several circumstances that lead to the need for a data restore. One is human error, where data is accidentally deleted or damaged. Other circumstances include malicious attacks where data is exposed, stolen or infected; power outages; manmade or natural disasters; equipment theft, malfunctions or failures; or firmware corruption.

Data restore makes a usable copy of the data available to replace lost or damaged data and ensures the data backup is consistent with the state of the data at a specific point in time before the damage occurred.

(Via: https://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/definition/restore)

The thing to consider about data restore is that it’s not just something you do when you lose some of your valuable data. Data restore is really more than that.

Data restore is part of the overall data management process and is contingent on having a system in place to produce a good copy of the data being protected by traditional backup, snapshots or continuous data protection (CDP). Without a reliable protection copy, there is nothing usable to restore.

To ensure a reliable data backup version is available to restore, it's necessary to test the restore process and the data recovery tools used. Protection copies should be randomly checked at various points in time to ensure they meet recovery point objectives (RPOs). Data being restored must be readable, consistent with a chosen point in time and include the information needed to comply with RPOs, recovery time objectives (RTOs) and other service requirements.

(Via: https://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/definition/restore)

Keep in mind that a successful data restore requires good quality backup material. Without some good quality backup material, it would be quite impossible to do a data restore yourself.

Where backup data is stored will affect the ease with which it can be restored.

(Via: https://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/definition/restore)

So, what happens when there is no backup data? Well, it will definitely be a lot harder to restore data. With the help of experienced data recovery specialists, it won’t be impossible to get back your lost data.

For the average person, the technical part of data restore seems pretty tedious. Even with a reliable backup, a good amount of time would have to be allotted to do a data restore. The process of doing it could easily stress out a regular computer-user.

That is the reason why there are data recovery specialists who can help you. Instead of trying to do a data restore yourself, you could just leave it to the experts who have more than enough hard drive recovery experience. The good thing about data recovery specialists is that they won’t have to rely on your backup material to get back your lost data. Instead, they will work on your hard drive to try to get back your data. Relying on https://www.harddriverecovery.org/data-recovery-services.html is an easier way to get back your data. Still, that shouldn’t stop you from learning the definition of data restore.

Defining Data Restore Read more on: www.harddriverecovery.org

source https://www.harddriverecovery.org/blog/defining-data-restore/

Hard Drive Recovery Group Discusses RAID And NAS Setups And Laptops On Planes In Latest Blogs

Continuing its series of data recovery and storage related blog posts, Hard Drive Recovery Group's latest blog entitled "RAID Vs. NAS: Differentiating These Two Data Storage Technologies" addresses two of the key business level storage technologies that have recently made large forays into the consumer data storage segment: RAID and NAS servers.

While RAID arrays generally consist of multiple hard drives or SSD that cooperate to offer not only better data redundancy but also better speed, NAS servers are Network Attached Storage devices, which can be setup as a single disk or as a RAID.

"For the longest time, when people were seeking any kind of NAS recovery, they were probably seeking help for the company they work for," said Maureen Davies, spokesperson for Hard Drive Recovery Group. "Now, however, we're seeing that the lower end consumer segment has embraced NAS and RAID technologies much more than in the past."

An issue with many of the newer NAS systems is that users may not really understand what to do when a drive or multiple drives fail. Many consumers assume that because these storage products are relatively expensive, they are relatively failure-proof.

"Despite all the bells and whistles on some of these new NAS units, the fact is that they still tend to run on mechanical spindle and platter hard drives," said Davies. "Not only is it very possible that these hard drives can fail, but if the drives are arranged in something like a RAID 5 array and it experiences a multi drive failure, the customer is likely in for an expensive surprise."

While multiple disk RAID arrays and complex NAS devices are very available at the consumer level, Hard Drive Recovery Group's experts tend to recommend them more for business applications than anything else.

"Certainly storage technology continues to progress throughout the years, bringing more and more options when it comes to storing data," said Davies."It is important to note, however, that it isn't necessary for consumers to complicate data storage when something as simple as a newer router and an external hard drive will allow you to dabble with NAS without the commitment."

In the end, Davies said it is always better for the consumer to err on the side of keeping it simple, as most users really don't require high end business level storage technology.

In another post, entitled, Laptop In Check In Baggage Will Finally Be Allowed In US Airports, Hard Drive Recovery Group discusses a recent change to TSA regulations that ensures laptop users will soon no longer have to remove their laptop from its case during security checks.

By upgrading baggage scanning machines, US flight passengers will no longer face the delays and issues that come with not only having to remove laptops and electronics, but also toiletries, which can cause privacy concerns.

"If you've taken a plane anywhere basically since forever, having a laptop on a flight always tended to add a level of difficulty to the entire pre-flight security check," said Davies. "These scanning technologies have been around for a while, so it's nice for US travelers to be able to benefit from them."

Davies notes that laptop data recovery remains one of Hard Drive Recovery Group's most popular services, and one that continues to grow. The mobility factor and smaller, cooler chips that run these new notebooks have made the product segment far stronger than that of the now aging desktop profile.

"If it isn't their smartphone, then it's a tablet, and if it isn't a tablet, it's a laptop you'll want to carry when traveling," said Davies. "No one wants to travel without their data, and these new CT scanners will definitely help make security more efficient."

Davies warns laptop users to consistently backup their computers, as laptop hard drive failures tend to occur with much higher frequency because of high-shock drops and water damage.

"Laptops tend to fall from tables and benches which can virtually ensure a hard drive crash," said Davies. "It's important to be safe with your laptop, for sure, but every user should be backing up their drive daily if they're planning to be in mobile situations a lot."

from Hard Drive Recovery Group

RAID Vs. NAS: Differentiating These Two Data Storage Technologies

We all need data storage. All our personal and business files are dependent on it. It’s safe to say that the longevity of all our files rely a lot on which data storage technology we choose to use.

These days, the two most widely used data storage technologies are the redundant array of independent disks (RAID) and the network-attached storage (NAS). So, which data storage technology is better? It’s hard to say without differentiating one from the other first.

Let’s talk about the redundant array of independent disks or RAID first.

RAID, short for redundant array of independent disks, is a method of enhancing disk performance, increasing storage capacity and improving fault tolerance, depending on the RAID level chosen.

RAID enables the same data to be saved across multiple disks while still appearing as a single logical drive using specialized hardware or software called a RAID controller. RAID levels, which are denoted by a number, determine the performance characteristics of a given configuration and how much or little data protection they offer.

(Via: https://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/storage-networking/raid-vs-nas-how-they-differ-and-overlap.html)

There are several RAID levels. Each level has their own benefits.

In RAID level 0 (zero), also called data striping, block-level data is simply distributed but not copied across multiple drives, improving performance and storage capacity but not offering enhanced protection. If one of two or more drives in this configuration fails, all data is lost.

RAID 1, on the other hand, offers a safety net in the form of data redundancy. By mirroring the contents of one drive onto another, RAID 1 ensures that data remains available should one of the drives in this configuration meet an untimely end.

Needless to say, in any discussion on RAID 0 vs. RAID 1, it's important to keep these differences in mind.

Other RAID configurations add their own benefits. For example, the popular RAID 5 configuration uses three or more drives to store data and recovery information called parity across the drives. If one disk fails, the remaining disks can keep the array going until a replacement arrives and is rebuilt.

(Via: https://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/storage-networking/raid-vs-nas-how-they-differ-and-overlap.html)

The network-attached storage or NAS is a more centralized technology.

NAS stands for network-attached storage. Used by enterprises large and small, as well as in SOHO (small office, home office) environments and by creative professionals and other enthusiasts, NAS allows users to store their files on a centralized appliance or storage array.

These devices are accessible over a network using an ethernet connection and file protocols like NFS (Network File System) or SMB/CIFS (Server Message Block/Common Internet File System). Often, they contain enterprise grade NAS drives, hard drives built to withstand operating all-day, every-day, and provide better overall performance relative to their desktop counterparts.

Some sport CPUs powerful enough to allow them to run applications, security software or pull double duty as mail and multimedia servers. Others enable remote access, allowing users to access files on their PCs, phones or tablets over the internet.

(Via: https://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/storage-networking/raid-vs-nas-how-they-differ-and-overlap.html)

When it comes to data storage technologies, it’s really not easy to say which one is better? It really depends on the kind of data we need to store. The good thing about data storage technologies is that they can be tweaked and used in combination.

One of the most important things to consider in choosing a data storage technology is backup. Between the two, NAS can be scaled according to your own storage capacity. While RAID uses multiple disks to back up files, it won’t protect portable data devices. They can’t hold multiple drives. On a personal level, it would be pretty expensive to use RAID. The RAID configuration is more fitting in the work place.

Nonetheless, it’s still worth considering it because data recovery from RAID is easy. At Hard Drive Recovery Group, they have seen all kinds of RAID configurations. They are more than familiar with this particular data storage technology. This page https://www.harddriverecovery.org/raid-pricing.html can give you more information on the maintenance and repairs of RAID.

RAID Vs. NAS: Differentiating These Two Data Storage Technologies is republished from http://www.harddriverecovery.org

source https://www.harddriverecovery.org/blog/raid-vs-nas-differentiating-these-two-data-storage-technologies/

Hard Drive Recovery Group Talks Data Loss, Data Recovery Experts In New Blog

Continuing its series of blogs surrounding data recovery as well as preventative measures to avoid data loss, Hard Drive Recovery Group addresses backup strategies through the lens of the recent World Backup Day on March 31, 2019.

Like it or not, for very many mid to large sized organizations in North America, data is literally a lifeblood for sales, customer retention and strategy execution, and its protection should be paramount to all serious businesses.

"First off, if you have an IT Administrator of any kind serving your business, you should have a backup plan in place as soon as yesterday," said Maureen Davies, spokesperson for Hard Drive Recovery Group. "The best thing to do is to consider all of your organization's data to be absolutely mission critical, which means ensuring that it is protected from potential threats both due to hardware failure, and intentional deletion."

As noted in the post Experts Share Their Insights On How To Recover Data, one of the main issues that many organizations have is that they take a lot of time and spend a lot of money on creating a backup plan for their data, only to have it fail when they need it most.

"The key to any successful data backup plan is not only what at times seems like excessive redundancy, but also ensuring you actually put the plan to the test," said Davies. "Data recovery services like Hard Drive Recovery Group constantly deal with corporations that have huge investments in their backup plans, only to discover that when a drive fails, the data cannot be recovered."

The best way to test a company's backup plans is to schedule a virtual "data fire drill", and simulate what it would be like if a company's key assets were suddenly accessible. Going through the process enables companies and IT professionals to work out the kinks in their strategies, while ensuring that the backup plan is actually effective.

"It is important to remember that taking a rock solid backup plan beyond the theoretical is absolutely paramount to ensuring it works," said Davies. "Sometimes the best way to ensure that safety measures actually function as they should is to put the data in 'simulated danger', and observing the results."

The post also notes the fact that a disaster recovery plan for any organization should be fairly simple, and free of excess complication. This ensures that the plan is not only less likely to fail, but also is simpler to follow and execute correctly.

"Your best two avenues for backup are via hardware and via the cloud," said Davies. "Any serious data recovery plan should have both, which ensures all bases are covered."

In another post, entitled "Data Loss: It's Here To Stay," Hard Drive Recovery Group addresses some of the key reasons why permanent data loss occurs. Accidental deletions, as well as software and hardware issues continue to plague consumers, with reported instances increasing by 30% year over year.

"If you're a computer user over 20 years of age, it's quite likely you've been using a computer of some kind for most of the 2000s," said Davies. "After years of constant reminders, people are beginning to understand that data loss can be horribly expensive, and are making moves to address it."

A survey referenced within the post notes that 92.7% of consumers are indeed backing up their data in some way, a level that increased year over year by 24%. Data loss continues to plague users, however, as despite these backup efforts, the number of devices that use data continue to increase.

"When we talked to people about backing up their data in 2009, we typically were dealing with PCs and laptops only," said Davies. "Nowadays, smart phones, tablets and other devices tend to be the biggest problems for people, as these devices are not only portable, but have high potential for failure."

from Hard Drive Recovery Group