In a world that is run by computers, perhaps one of the most frustrating things that can happen to a person is waking up to find out the hard drive on their computer has stopped working, and all of their files inaccessible. In the event of such a failure, many people would view the situation as beyond remedy, and resign themselves to simply dealing with the loss. This however does not need to be the case. Although recovering files from a hard drive is not always possible, there are steps that can be taken to give yourself a chance to recover everything you believe to be lost. This paper will discuss various possible solutions to hard drive failure, and will detail steps that can be taken to secure your data.
As with most problems, the simplest solution is prevention of the problem before it occurs. In the case of Hard Drive Recovery, this takes the form of backing up all of your data to a separate, external hard drive. Backing up your data ensures that a hard drive failure need not be a catastrophic event, and makes the recovery process much easier. In the event you have a hard drive back up, simply copy the files from your backup to the hard drive in question, if the hard drive is inoperable, then replace the hard drive with an inexpensive replacement, and copy your files back to the new hard drive.
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The first thing to do is to try and diagnose the problem as accurately as possible. One of the most common symptoms of hard drive failure is a constant beeping, or clicking sound. A beeping or clicking typically represents a hardware problem with the hard drive, usually resulting in the System Area of the hard drive not being able to be read. Some causes of this are: The platter of the hard drive is scratched, The head is damaged, and cannot read the System Area, the head is stuck on the platter, or damage to the firmware on the
In the world today, computers are used in every field. Be it a major space exploration or a small chore like cleaning our room. The use of computers has made our lives easier but at the same time a computer failure can make our lives miserable too. We trust computers more than we trust anything else these days. We use computers to communicate, share personal information, buy goods online, etc. We also trust computers with our safety. Starting from house alarm systems and other safety devices we have now moved on to using computers to Test Car Crashes.
At this point, I would attempt to recover all of the information from the system, and place it on an external media mass storage device, like a flash drive, or external hard drive. If the system is damaged to the point that it would not start up, or boot, I would remove the hard drive from the computer, and install it on a separate computer as the secondary hard drive. Doing this means that the hard drive does not need to start up, but will only work if the filing system on the hard drive is intact, thus allowing the information to be removed. To disconnect, and reconnect the hard drive:
There are several different methods of utilizing TrueCrypt to provide encryption for sensitive files, as well as to provide a layer of privacy. TrueCrypt can be used to encrypt entire hard drives, flash drives, as well as partitions. It can be used to force pre-boot authentication, by encrypting the drive or partition that an operating-system is installed on. The end-user of TrueCrypt can also provide fake boot error messages during the pre-boot authentication phase when the encryption password is incorrectly input.
disaster and who is to preform those steps. With a clear, documented disaster recovery plan in place the risk from a disaster can be minimized. While there is no way to plan for every disaster that could happen, the likely disaster can be planned for and the risk minimize as much as possible. The disaster recovery plan is the documented efforts that IT will perform to minimize the risk of catastrophic failure. This document is a requirement for any IT audit that is performed on the Clinica Tepeyac information systems department.
The first and most important step in the entire process for collecting evidence is to document the scene. It is extremely critical that an investigator capture as accurate a depiction of a crime scene as possible (Solomon, Rudolph, Tittel, Broom, & Barrett, 2011). This can be accomplished in a number of ways. These include taking a photograph of the scene to preserve the original image of the scene for a judge and jury. Investigators can also take images of a computer system. It is necessary to take hash images of volatile data first as volatile data relies on a constant flow of electricity to keep in system memory. Things that are considered volatile are registers, the system casche, routing tables, kernel statistics, memory, temporary file systems, disks and archived media (Soloman, Rudolph, Tittel, Broom, & Barrett, 2011). The first thing an investigator s...
Well, Before anything else, here is a few names of components that need to be known to not be completely lost. The CPU(Central Processing Unit) (It processes everything from basic instructions to complex functions.) (Techterms.com). The Hard drive (the location of all the computer’s folders, files, and information, saved magnetically so even if turned off it’ll all stay saved). The RAM (Random Access Memory) (The more RAM your computer has, the more data can be loaded from the hard drive into the RAM, which can effectively speed up your computer.)(Techterms.com), The OS (Operating System) (just what it sounds like, this is the system that works the computer, as in Windows, Linux, and Apple OS.) The Graphics card (helps the CPU by processing the graphics portion of what the CPU has to process). The Disk Drive( this is the CD,DVD, or Blu-Ray driver that is installed to use CD’s DVD’s and or Blu-Ray disks.) The last major term to know is the Motherboard ...
The database administrators machine will be a little tricky as it is already considered to have malware. Good malware will want to stay on the computer and be looking out for forensic type activities. The first part is to assess from the above steps is if the machine is able to be shut down safely and not lose any data. Whatever data that can be attained should be documented and considered before moving forward.
Let’s say your brick-and-mortar location loses power, or the buildings is destroyed. I think that any business that is internet-based that store electronic data, customer files, and documents needs a disaster recovery plan in place. With a recovery plan in place you have all the necessary tools to rebuild your business. Snedaker, wrote that some business sees a recovery plan as an inconvenience they might even be able to tolerate a system outage, but “every business that relies on technology wants to avoid having to conduct business without that technology” (Snedaker, 2013). Even though this medium size company may have not run into issues in the past a disaster can strike sometime without warning. The attitude some small businesses have about a recovery plan is dangerous and counter-productive. So having a plan in place will not hurt the company, but only make it better
On 5 October 2009, computer equipment from a network data closet was stolen from BCBST. The items stolen were 57 unencrypted hard drives which contained over 300,000 video recording and over one million audio recordings. According to Whitman & Mattord (2010), confidentiality, integrity, and availability makes up the C.I.A triangle which is the basis of Committee on National Security model for information security, an industrial standard, (Whitman & Mattord, 2010). Confidentiality can be a synonym for encryption but also means only the people with the correct permission can access the information. One of the major security issue is the hard drives were not encrypted. The hard drives should be encrypted to prevent people from reading the information the computer. Software can be purchased which will encrypt files on hard drive with such as Folder Lock, SensiGuard, Secure IT, and more. There are open source encrypting software which are free for use which could have been used. If the hard drives were not needed, the data should hav...
Live acquisition: The future of data acquisitions is shifting toward live acquisitions because of the use of disk encryption with newer operating systems (OSs). In addition to encryption concerns, collecting any data that’s active in a suspect’s computer RAM is becoming more important to digital investigations. The processes and data integrity requirements for static and live acquisitions are the same. The only shortcoming with live acquisitions is not being able to perform repeatable processes, which are critical for collecting digital evidence.
The conclusion attained from the discussion is that the malfunctions of computer systems are common but these can be prevented using safety measures. Data loss and theft can be answered by backing up the data and using the strong security systems, disaster recovery plans are important in case of data loss or theft.
Computers; they are a part of or in millions of homes; they are an intricate part of just about every if not all successful businesses, the government, and the military. Computers have become common place in today’s society and the lives of the people who live in it. They have crossed every national, racial, cultural, educational, and financial barrier, which consequently ushered in the information age. A computer is a programmable electronic device that can store, retrieve and process data, and they come in all shapes, and sizes. They can be used for and in just about anything. As stated before, they are used in just about every aspect of modern society. They are so fundamental to modern society that it would be disastrous to society without them. As stated before, there are many areas in modern society that are run by computers. They play an intricate part of millions of homes in the world. Office workers in business, government and the military may use them to write letters, keep rosters, create budgets, find information, manage projects, communicate with workers, and so on. They are used in education, medicine, music, law enforcement, and unfortunately crime. Because computers have become such a part of the world and how it operates, there is a tremendous responsibility for those who are in control of these computers and the vital information that they carry, to manage and protect them properly. This is management and protection is vital because any loss or damage could be disastrous for the affected entity. For example, a mistake or intentional alteration of a personal credit file could affect ones ability to buy a car or home, or can lead to legal actions against the affected person until the mistake or intentional alteration has been corrected. Therefore, with the advent of computers in the information age, and all of the intentional and unintentional violations against them, comes the need to safeguard them and the information they carry with strong systems and policies of computer security.
Conclusion Overall, the consequences of not having a Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity Plan can become costly in the event of a disaster. Most companies will find themselves in financial disarray when having to rebuild and/or replace any portions of the IT infrastructure that were destroyed during a disaster event. Hence, companies invest in insurance to cover such costs; however, there must be a balance because even with insurance an organization may still incur high expenses. Having a good disaster recovery and business continuity plan will keep your company up and running through any kind of interruptions such as power failures, IT system crashes, natural or man-made disasters, supply chain/vendor problems and more.
If done right, the sale of refurbished computers have the potential to become a very profitable undergoing for manufacturers. Companies have to pay attention to customers’ needs and have to tailor their product range and offered services to the demand. While many consumers prefer to purchase new products, there is a significant market for refurbished products as well. Descy (2007) states that “according to the National Safety Council, 63 million computers became obsolete in 2005 alone”. If these computers were to be rebuilt by the manufacturers and redistributed across the globe, electronic waste in landfills could be reduced and companies could make a second profit off of these products. Of course, as Kristen (1999) outlines, consumer participation is needed as many of these old devices are either kept in storage spaces or are simply thrown in the garbage instead of returned to the manufacturers. As Yeh (2005) outlines, consumers look for “post-sale remedies” after purchasing a product. The better the exchange, repair and service arrangements are for a product, the more likely consumers are to take a chance with a refurbished product. Corbitt (1997) mentions in his article the importance of data protection. It is suggested that next to a comprehensive warranty, data stored on computers has to be protected. Companies could offer cloud storage for consumers who purchase refurbished computers so in case the equipment does fail, the data will n...
Privacy exist wherever personal information or other sensitive information is collected, stored, used, and finally destroyed or deleted – in digital form or otherwise. The challenge of data privacy is to use data while safe-guarding individual's privacy preferences and their personally identifiable information. The fields of computer security, data security, and information security design and utilize software, hardware, and human resources to address this issue.