Did You Back Up Your Files Today?

Backing up your files can be a pain. Can your business afford to lose $2.5 million though?

Disgruntled Employee Accused of Deleting $2.5 Million Worth of Files

Disgruntled employee sees an add in the local paper describing what she thought sounded like her job. So, in a pre-emptive action, she goes into the off and click, click, clicks away several years of architectural drawings.

Turns out the job listing wasn't to replace her.

At least at that point, it wasn't.

This get's down to backing up. The company that she decided to get 'revenge' on, Steven E. Hutchins Architects, made several mistakes. It doesn't take an angry employee to wipe out important files. Equipment failure, fires, burglars or a good old tornado are a fraction of the myriad of things to threaten your important computer files.

You have your files all neatly stored away on your hard drive? We in the computer repair industry say there are two types of hard drive; those that have failed and those that have not yet failed. You might get lucky and have your computer's hard drive last until you get a whole new system, just don't bet on it. Murphy is always waiting in the dark corners looking for a place to happen.

As is mentioned in the article, the files were able to be recovered. Quite often, this is not an easy thing. This was just about deletion of the files from the disk. The way a file is deleted from your hard drive is strikingly simple: you take part of the name of the file away. The computer then assumes that the space where the file is can now be used for other things. It will then happily write other, newer files on top of the space. The first level of data recovery comes with trying to get those names back before the computer writes something on top of the old files. Time is of the essence in these cases. If you have accidentally deleted something, do nothing else. Nothing! Step away from the computer and call for help.

Depending on the severity of the data loss, these retrievals can cost you at the very least hundreds of dollars. More severe loss, such as physical destruction of your hard drive can run into thousands of dollars. This type of recovery involves sending your hard drive to far off places where people in paper suits and filter masks perform delicate operations in facilities cleaner than hospitals.

Don't let this happen. Learn how to back up your data. Preferably in more than one place. This can be done in several fashions, such as burning all your important files to disk, or using online storage where guys in too-tight shirts drink Dew all night and ensure your data is well cared for. The benfit of paying for a service like this is, if they screw up, the chances of them losing your data is slim, but if they do, they carry insurance. And you can take away their bag of Cheetos too.