Digital Data Recovery - Problems and Solutions

Computers are used even in places where we wouldn't expect them like in appliances. Computers make devices more intelligent but also more vulnerable in the case of failure. Take a look at digital cameras. We use giant flash memory cards that can store thousands of images. We expect that they will stay there until we will delete them. However, any camera malfunction may corrupt memory card data and erase files. Fortunately, digital images form memory cards can be recovered. This is possible because in order to completely erase files the memory card would have to be overwritten with new data. In the case of failure this is not what has happened. Usually there is only some corruption at the file system level which can be fixed by digital data recovery.

The same principle applies to hard drives. All the files saved there will remain where they are until the data is overwritten. Even when you delete file the data remains there, only the file becomes marked as deleted and thus invisible to the operating system. This principle is used to recover files from hard drives and other storage media. However, it can happen that hard drive fails completely. It may be because the electronics has failed or there is some mechanical problem. Fortunately, the data is still saved on the disk platters. The only problem is that we can not access it. The only solution to get the files is to repair the hard drive to the level the data can be read. This can be done by any hard drive data recovery service. They have all the tools and knowledge to recover digital data from hard drives and other storage media.

To prevent data loss there is one simple and effective solution. It is called data backup. All you have to do is to regularly back up all the important data. It is enough to copy important files to a CD or DVD. Another step in securing the data is to create complete disk images. This way you will be prepared in the case of disk failure. If the hardware has failed or digital data recovery software can not restore the files, you will simply use the latest backup to restore the files. Having own backup of files is the cheapest data recovery service.

There are many ways how to make a cheap backup of a hard drive. No expensive hardware or software is needed. You only need to be aware that the failure can happen. Digital data recovery can in many cases restore lost files, but why pay for it when you can create your own cheap recovery solution?

First DDR4 DRAM modules

Samsung Electronics has announced new generation of DDR (Double Data Rate) memory modules. DDR4 modules offer increased performance and lower consumption (up to 40%) comparing to DDR3 memory. The DDR4 chips will be manufactured using 30 nm technology. DDR4 modules will offer speeds of 1.6 Gbit/s to 3.2 Gbit/s. Taking into account that memory prices are decreasing--the cost of 1 GB of DDR3 RAM is approaching $1. The module makes use of Pseudo Open Drain (POD) technology, a new technology that has been adapted to high-performance graphic DRAM to allow DDR4 DRAM to consume half as much electric current as DDR3 when reading and writing data.

Some Facts About Deleted Files

When we delete a thing it usually doesn't exist anymore. It is deleted. We rarely expect to be able to undelete anything. But computers and all other digital equipment behaves differently. It is not possible to "normally" delete digital data. You can only change it. Of course, when you change the original data you have deleted the original information. But the data is still there, only the information was deleted.

This fact can come handy when we accidentally delete some file. The first step of deleting a file is to move it to the recycle bin. From here it can easily be restored back. But when we empty the recycle bin the file is lost. But we can still get it back because it was not deleted, it was only marked as invisible (deleted). It is possible to undelete or recover files even if they were removed from the trash can. However, this possibility lasts until some other file overwrites the original deleted file.

Because of the way how operating systems delete files many companies have problems. Whenever they would like to get rid of old computers they can not simply dump them. All the hard drives contain files. There might be sensitive data or even confidential files, passwords or credit card numbers. Therefore, before each computer leaves a company, every hard drive must be erased. To properly erase the hard drive and to actually delete all the files and to prevent data recovery, all the data on the drive must be overwritten many times. One pass is not enough because of the way how hard drive writing heads write new data on the drive. With some advanced technique it would be possible to recover once overwritten data. However, such equipment is expensive and not available to everyone. But for intelligence agencies this is not a problem, so adequate measures need to be taken.

Hard drive data recovery is possible but you need tools and knowledge. Because of many reasons computer users lose their data there are many data recovery companies. They can recover data from damaged or broken hard drives, failed digital cameras, RAID systems or any other digital media.