A Complete Beginner’s Guide to Data Loss, Backup and Recovery

Today, sensitive data is at risk and you can never anticipate who is going to be the next victim to data loss. We, humans, value our personal information and don’t like anyone to have access to it. Further, there are some factors that lead to data loss and they cannot be overlooked. This complete data recovery guide takes a holistic approach, primarily focusing on data loss, its prevention, the significance of backup and the alternative solutions.

We can classify data loss as:

How to Prevent Data Loss?

There are a variety of solutions that can help tackle the issue of data loss but the best way to prevent it is backups. Backup files are the replica of your original files so that you can restore your files in such circumstances. It is the process of creating multiple copies of your data and storing it in another location which comes handy when the original files are somehow inaccessible.

Data recovery is the other side of the coin and it is the process of recovering data which has been lost due backup failures. The procedure of data loss varies depending upon the circumstances and the degree of data loss. For instance, suppose you accidentally delete some files from your Windows system, then you can simply restore them from the Recycle bin provided that the files have not been permanently deleted.

Now lets discuss on the two mentioned data loss prevention techniques:

1. Use a Professional Data Recovery Software

Windows offer certain utilities using which you can restore lost data. It facilitates the option to restore files from a backup or from the previous versions of the files. However, the probability is there that the procedures mentioned may not result in a successful data recovery. Further, if the storage media is severely corrupt, then the best course of action would be to leverage the assistance of a data recovery software.

Data Recovery software is a sure shot solution which will efficiently recover your lost data. One software which stands above the rest is Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Windows. The software is capable of recovering any type of lost data. With its easy to navigate and intuitive user-interface along-with robust features, you can easily bring back your data.

As the software requires minimal system requirements, you can easily download and install it.

2. Creating Backups

Creating backup files is not limited to saving files to secondary storage devices as there are different types of backup operations which you can implement to safeguard your data. They are as follows:

a. Full Backups

Full Backups is the process of creating backups of the entire data. Simply put, it is the exact copy of your original files and folders stored in a different location.

b. Incremental Backups

Since Full Backups are time-consuming, you can go with Incremental Backups. Incremental Backups is the process of taking backup of the files that have changed since the last backup. For instance, suppose you took a Full Backup of your files on Monday and Incremental Backup on Tuesday, then the backup files of Tuesday would only contain the files that have been changed since Monday.

c. Differential Backups

Differential Backups first, creates a Full Backup and thereafter backup of data that has changed since the last Full Backup.

d. Mirror Backups

One of the fastest backup methods is Mirror Backups. It keeps all the files separately in the destination and copies without compressing them. However, it does not facilitate password protection and you cannot track the previous version of files.

e. Online Backups/ Remote Backups

It is the process of backing up your data over a network on a remote server. The advantage of this backup option is that you can store, access and administer the backup files over the network easily.

Conclusion

To conclude this data recovery guide, we can say that data loss is an emerging threat but there are certain procedures that can mitigate it, using a data recovery software being the most common and reliable way. Further, one should also implement proper backups as well to ensure speedy recovery of the data.

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About The Author

Isha Rikhi

Isha is a technical blogger and data recovery expert. She has experience in Windows data recovery. She writes about technical tips and tutorials.