How Long Should You Keep Your Historic Data?

To all intents and purposes, electronic data can be stored indefinitely.

For those who are pedantic, yes, we know that electronic media can deteriorate over time and it is sensible practice to ensure that multiple copies are taken from time to time to ensure that your data is residing on the latest media.

That’s also important because storage formats can change. File and database formats of 20 or 30 years ago may be difficult to restore and gain access to unless they have been converted to more up-to-date versions.

However, the fact that you could practically keep your data forever doesn’t necessarily mean that it makes sense to do so. Although storage is typically low-cost, it nevertheless involves a certain degree of periodic administrative overhead in order to maintain catalogues etc.

There are two real drivers in terms of answering that ‘how long’ question :

• Regulatory Requirements – certain types of business are required by law to store certain types of data for a minimum number of years. Transgress here and you could find yourself in deep trouble with the law. 

• Your operational business requirements. For example, historical data can be invaluable in terms of marketing campaigns and statistical analysis in support of product development. Scrapping all of your historical operational data at the end of a calendar year might not be a sensible use of it given it could generate so much more benefit through what’s called Data Mining.

Why not contact our Business IT Support Services for a discussion of what things such as Server Sentry’s Vault Care proposition might be able to do for you in this area? They may not be able to give you an in-depth definition of what the law requires by way of data archiving for your particular type of business but we can tell you what your technical and cost options are.

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Connecting Your PC to a Large Screen - How to do it?

One of the most commonly encountered questions for us at Server Sentry arises from customers who wish to connect a PC to a wide-screen TV of some sort or another.
Here is a quick overview but things may vary a little from case to case, so don’t hesitate to pick up the phone or contact our online help desk support.

•    There are several different ways of connecting your PC to a TV screen and displaying the results of what you are doing on it.

•    At one time some of these were rather tricky but today it’s typically very simple - assuming that both your PC and TV are relatively modern.

•    If you look at your PC, you should be able to see a port labelled either ‘HDMI’ or sometimes ‘TV OUT’.

•    Look at your television and you should see a port labelled again as ‘HDMI IN’ or possibly ‘PC IN’. You may see slight variations on the terminology depending upon the manufacturer.

•    You will then need to purchase what is called an HDMI cable.  These will have a plug at each end that should fit nicely into your PC in one case and the appropriate slot at the back of your TV in the other. These cables are typically very low-cost but remember to make sure to buy one of suitable length in order to give you the maximum flexibility between where your PC and TV will sit.

•    All you will typically then need to do is to switch on your PC and TV.  You may need to select the TV channel labelled as “HDMI” or “PC IN” with the TV’s controller.  From that point onwards, everything on your PC screen should be displayed on the TV.
It’s also possible to get wireless solutions to this though that involves a slightly different approach and once again, it’s probably a good idea to give us a call before you go forward.  

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Why is my Hard Disk Whirring?

Over many years, this has without doubt been one of the commonest questions we’ve encountered at Server Sentry.

It usually arises because a customer is concerned that one of their PCs or perhaps a server appears to be constantly accessing its disk and making whirring noises - even when they aren’t actually doing anything on the system at the time.

As almost always with IT systems support, there is no one sure answer to the question.  It could have any number of causes including:

• Even though you are n’t doing anything on your system at the time, it could be automatic software that is running various routines which are making heavy use of disk access (technically called ‘disk I/O’ for Input/Output). That might include things such as software security scans, updates following the automatic download of new versions of software and so on.

• It could indicate that your disk is seriously fragmented.  That does n’t mean damaged, it simply means that individual databases and files have been split into different sections and placed on different parts of the disk.  That is perfectly normal and is the way disk space utilisation is optimised but when the splitting of logical units of data becomes very pronounced, the disk is needing to do a lot more work in order to access what you may think of as a single integrated file of data.  It is possible to run what are called disk de- fragmentation programs to help the problem.

• In some, hopefully rare, circumstances, it might indicate that you have a certain type of malware on your system.

• It’s possible that it is a symptom of potential disk controller problems.
There’s no need to get overly worried about what’s happening.
Simply call us and we will diagnose exactly what’s going on and if appropriate, assist you to take remedial action.

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Data Recovery Solutions Melbourne

If it doesn’t matter how modern your technology is, how much you have invested in it or how careful you are when using it, unfortunately problems are always a possibility.

One of the most serious consequential problems of a technology failure arises from the loss or corruption of your data.

Space here doesn’t permit a full discussion of the technical reasons as to why that can happen but it can.  There are also a number of different types of data problem, just a sample of which might include:

• Data that has been derived or input and then subsequently lost.
• Information that has somehow or another become corrupted and is therefore not retrievable, usable or trustworthy – or perhaps a variety of all these things.

The impact on your business of finding yourself in such a position is almost too terrible to contemplate.

You may end up needing to explain to customers why their information has been lost and that they must provide it again.  It may be difficult to engage in billing or debt collection because you simply don’t know what the real situation is.  Your customers may be looking at information on your systems and seeing that it is fundamentally inaccurate or out of date.

Of course, the longer a problem persists, the greater the cumulative effects of the damage to your data and your professional credibility are likely to be.

In a nutshell, this is why data recovery solutions are important.

Data recovery solutions in themselves can’t stop a problem happening.  What they can do though is to ensure that you are able to make the fastest possible recovery and to get your data back to a point in time before the problem occurred. This is sometimes referred to as doing a ‘data restore’.

Thinking about the frequency of data backups and how to restore to a given point in time is a science that we at Server Sentry are experts in.  This process isn’t one where a business should be taking chances or making wild guesses.

Remember that ultimately your data recovery solutions may be all that stands between your business and catastrophe.  That’s why it’s essential to take this subject seriously and highly advisable to contact us for further advice and guidance.

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How do you see data recovery solutions?

Companies come into one of several categories where data recovery is concerned:

• Those that realise that their business is largely data-driven and that the loss of their data would cripple their operations – possibly fatally. They take steps to protect themselves against such a possibility

• Companies that know nothing of the risks involved and as a result, who take no preventative measures

• Those that think they have protection in place but which, in reality, is woefully inadequate.

• Organisations that think the risks are not significant and that the area is hyped-up through scare tactics in order to sell expensive data recovery solutions Melbourne.

Here at Server Sentry, we know with a sad certainty that companies in the last three categories are sooner or later going to have the reality of their vulnerabilities made only too clear to them after a disaster.

In some cases that’s going to lead to regret, recriminations, post-mortems, firings and in extreme situations, the end of their business.

So, what is the solution?

We make no apologies for continually preaching the need for increased corporate awareness as far as data recovery solutions are concerned. It’s one thing to realistically assess the risks to your organisation arising from a catastrophic loss of data then decide to do nothing. It’s entirely another to do nothing through a lack of awareness.

Nor are data recovery solutions simply a case of copying files and information onto another secure site.  For example, there are issues to do with cycles of backup and currency of data.

So, if you ask your provider of data recovery solutionsto restore your files as they were at the end of your last financial quarter for audit purposes, you might not want to hear at that stage, for the first time, that they only keep backups for 30 days.

Equally, if you lose an entire day’s work at say 4pm, would you prefer to restore your data to the last time a backup was taken at say five minutes before, 12pm that day or perhaps at 8pm the day before? Keep in mind anything done between your last backup and your disaster may be irretrievably lost.

That’s why professional data recovery solutionsand their analysis are critically important.

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