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Common Causes of Data Loss:

With the increased use of computers in small business today comes the progressively enhanced risk of losing vast amounts of invaluable data in the blink of an eye. Often the data that a computer holds carries far more value than the computer itself. Hardware can be insured but the data within cannot. There are various causes for the spontaneous loss of data.

Power Surges:

A power surge is a sudden spike in voltage which subsequently produces an abrupt increase in current. Often these will occur with no consequences. This amplified current, however, can without warning occasionally damage vulnerable electronic devices such as computer hardware.

Power Outages:

A Power outage is the temporary loss of electrical power to any given area. This sudden loss of power can mean hours of unsaved work is permanently erased. Saving your work often can minimize the effects of a power outage but occasionally the sudden removal of power to the computer can in some cases destroy sensitive computer hardware or corrupt specific files.

Hard Disk Failure:

As with everything hard disks cannot last forever and will fail given enough time. It is worth doing some research into the hard disk that you choose for your next computer before making a purchase as some are known to last longer than others. But even the best and most costly will in some unlucky circumstances fail prematurely. Hard disk failure is a nasty event that almost always means the loss of the entire disk's contents. It is therefore worth considering some of the options to prevent the data from being permanently lost.

Prevention is the Key:

In some cases files can be recovered after serious data loss but this is often an expensive and painstaking process. Before spending money every small business has to weigh up the cost versus potential gain from any purchase and although losing a piece of computer hardware to any of the following causes might be insignificant, the loss of its contents could potentially have dramatic effects. Prevention is the key.

Surge Protectors:

The most cost effective method of protecting your computer against sudden surges in power such as those from lightning strikes, short of unplugging them from the power point, is to have them powered through a surge protected power board. These are fairly cheap considering their effectiveness and will almost always make all the difference.

Uninterrupted Power Supplies:

Uninterrupted power supplies (UPS) act as surge protectors 'on steroids'. These are slightly more expensive than a surge protector but have the added bonus of powering your computer during a power outage. They often don't have enough battery life to finish the day on. However the 15 or 20 minutes of extra electricity that they do provide is often long enough to finish the task that you are working on, save the document and safely shut the computer down until power is restored. The UPS that I use has paid for itself many times over.

Redundant Array of Independent Disks:

There are various configurations of redundant array of independent disks (RAID). Essentially they are a set of two or more hard disks working together to either increase speed and efficiency or hard disk failure tolerance. When the hard disks are set up in RAID to prevent data loss through hard disk failure the same information is written to two or more disks simultaneously. This allows for one disk to fail as the other will still have the data stored on it and be accessible. This increase in reliability comes at a slight cost in speed and efficiency.

Online Backup:

A UPS powered through a surge protector will prevent loss of data during power outages and electrical surges and RAID can reduce the chance of data loss through hard disk failure but in the case water damage, theft, fire or meteor shower remote backup services are really the only saviour. There are various online backup services available at slightly different costs, each coming with its own advantages and disadvantages. Doing a bit of research before spending money is always wise but any of these will allow you to recover your lost data after a devastating event.

A combination of all of the above methods of prevention of data loss will save your small business a lot of heartache. Do yourself and your clients a favour and spend the few hundred dollars necessary to protect your invaluable data from being lost forever.

Visit architectural rendering Perth for more information about the author Daniel Nitsche, Creative Director of Shadow Gap Architectural Visualisation.

With the increased use of computers in small business today comes the progressively enhanced risk of losing vast amounts of invaluable data in the blink of an eye. Often the data that a computer holds carries far more value than the computer itself. Hardware can be insured but the data within cannot.

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