Posted by
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4:22 PM
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Computer forensics has been defined as a technological, systematic inspection of the computer system and its contents for evidence or supportive evidence of a crime or other computer use that is being inspected. However, computer forensics is also widely used in ivil litigation matters.
The type of evidence sought varies and can include theft of trade secrets, theft of or destruction of intellectual property, and fraud. Computer forensics requires specialized expertise that goes beyond normal data collection and preservation techniques, and care should be taken and selecting a forensics expert.
A computer forensics specialist can use a variety of methods for discovering data that resides in a computer system, including recovering deleted, encrypted, or damaged file information.
Computer forensics specialists generally have experience with a wide range of computer hardware and software than the typical
data recovery expert
may not. Moreover, the specialist often is called upon to testify in depositions and at trial regarding the information recovered.
Computer evidence can exist in many forms or formats. Knowing this possibility, it's possible to recover alternate formats of the same data.
Because the protection of evidence is critical, a knowledgeable computer forensics specialist will ensure that a subject computer system is carefully handled to ensure that no possible evidence is damaged, destroyed, or otherwise compromised by the procedures used to investigate the computer.
The
computer forensics specialist
will take several careful steps to identify and attempt to retrieve possible evidence that may exist on a subject computer system. He will also make certain that extracted and possibly relevant evidence is properly handled and protected from later mechanical or electromagnetic damage.
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Posted by
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4:17 PM
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Most companies use relational database management system (RDBMS) and store their data in SQL databases. What happens if after rebooting the server the database doesn't attach and your backup is corrupt, incomplete or outdated?
Have you ever had a drive containing SQL data crash and the files were recovered by a data recovery company but the SQL database is corrupted? One unreadable sector inside a SQL database will not allow the file to attach. First Advantage's team of data recovery specialist's can expertly assist you in the instances to recover your data.
SQL recovery
from drive failures, more often than not, a two-stage process. First, the physical data (raw sectors) must be recovered in order to gain access to the logical data. If the database will not attach to SQL server, then the second stage is SQL recovery.
Media in database servers suffer from the same failure as drives in personal computers. Even the best configured system can fail due to:
* Corrupted database
* Torn page detection
* Deleted data (tables, records, systems objects)
* I/O error in SQL server
* Deleted or corrupted log file
* Database in "suspected" mode
* Unable to restore from corrupted backup file
Is it possible to recover?
In most cases it is possible to repair the database to an attachable state. If the
data recovery
specialists are unable to repair the database to a point to where it will attach, then the specialist will recover as many tables and records as possible for you with First Advantages' specialized recovery software tools. This recovered data can then be merged back into an empty database that your front end will work with.
Getting Started
If the failure mechanism is hardware or file system corruption, then the recovery specialists would require the original media to be sent to First Advantage data recovery. This is because file fragmentation can scatter pieces of the database and log file all over the media. These pieces must be collected and reassembled so we can start our analysis. If the database was corrupted by some other means then a copy on any media will do.
What can you do to help?
Third party SQL recovery and utility programs can cause damage beyond our ability to recover the files so it is best if clients don't attempt recovery with such programs with the original files. For database repair and/or scavenging, it will save time if you can furnish First Advantage with the database structure (perhaps an empty database or backup) and a list of prioritized tables.
After determining what steps will be necessary to complete your recovery, First Advantage will contact you for approval. No work will be done without your consent. As soon as you approve the recovery, our recovery specialist will continue with the recovery effort by analyzing the database and records, extracting the data and rebuilding the database.
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Posted by
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4:14 PM
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If you find that your personal or business computer suddenly stops responding to your commands, or the hard drive simply crashes, what are you going to do? Sure, you can run down to your neighborhood electronics store and purchase a replacement hard drive for your computer, but what about your data on the failed hard drive? How important was it?
Did you save it or back it up? Unfortunately, most home users do not back up their systems, and many small businesses have older back-up procedures that are often ineffective for recovering files.
The first thing to do is to remain calm. Acting rashly can actually do more damage to your data. In case of actual hard drive failure, only a
data recovery professional
can get your data back. The fact that you cannot access your data through your operating system does not necessarily mean that your data is lost.
The only irreversible data loss is caused by overwriting bits, physical damage to the drive platters or destruction of the magnetization of the platters, which seldom happens in the real world. In the majority of cases, the malfunction is caused by a damaged circuit board, failure of a mechanical component and crash of internal software system track or firmware. These situations can be addressed by the experts in First Advantage's Data Recovery Services unit, who are able to recover 100% of the data for 96% of customers.
First Advantage's
data recovery
'rule of thumb' is: if you hear a clicking sound emitting from your hard drive, or if the computer's S.M.A.R.T. function indicates an error during the boot process, something is wrong. The safest bet is to call First Advantage for your expert data recovery needs (1-877-304-7189 or use our contact form here.
After receiving your failed hard drive, a First Advantage data recovery specialist's first step will be to try and save an image of the damaged drive onto another hard drive. This image drive, not the actual damaged hard drive, is where the data recovery specialist will try to recover the lost data.
The next step in the imaging process is to determine if the
hard drive failure
was an actual malfunction, a system corruption or a system track issue.
System corruption and system track issues are normally fixed by using First Advantage's proprietary data recovery software, which was developed by our research and development engineers. System corruption or system track recoveries do not require processing in a clean room environment.
Unfortunately, damage to a hard drive's circuit board or failure of the head drives is not uncommon. In each of these failures, a First Advantage data recovery specialist will work on the system in a clean room environment*, substituting parts such as drive electronics, internal components, read/write arms, writing/reading heads, spindle motors or spindle bearings from a donor drive in order to gain access to the data on the failed hard drive. In most cases, the data recovery specialist is able to retrieve and return your lost data.
It's really very simple. If your data disappears, don't panic. First Advantage can recover it for you, as we've done for thousands of satisfied customers since 1981. If we are not successful, then you pay nothing. What have you got to lose?
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Posted by
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4:11 PM
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So, your computer has just frozen, locking in data essential to your business or personal life. You know you need to contact First Advantage's Data Recovery Service team in order to retrieve it, but you're unsure of the process. Read this article to learn everything you'll need to know about how to get First Advantage on the case, and what happens in the data recovery process.
The initial step in your data recovery process is to contact First Advantage's Customer Care Center personnel (1-877-304-7189). They are highly experienced in answering questions from panicked PC owners, and they will attempt to ease your data anxiety attack. Be prepared to give the call center personnel detailed information about the problem and the circumstances that led to it so they can better address your concerns.
After speaking to the customer care center, the next step is to get the damaged drive to our Data Recovery Services team. There are several ways to accomplish this: you can either ship the system to us via U.S. mail or a private delivery services such as UPS, or you can drop the drive off at one of our branch offices or drop off centers, located in key cities throughout the U.S. (The customer care center can help you find the drop off center closest to you.)
If you elect to ship the drive to us, please remove it from the computer prior to doing so. Not only will you save on shipping costs, but it will help our
data recovery
engineers to more easily perform a diagnostic on the drive. If you elect to bring the drive directly to one of our locations, this step is unnecessary; an engineer can remove the drive for you.
Software Failure Recovery
After the drive is received and the information you provided is analyzed, the defective drive is connected to a data recovery work station, where an experienced data recovery engineer can diagnose the problem.
If it is determined that the drive has not experienced a hardware failure, then our data recovery specialist will first attempt to recover the data by connecting the drive to a work station computer and utilizing First Advantage's propriety software. This will be successful in recovering data that was lost by accidental deletion of partitions or formatting errors. During this process, any existing data is read and then copied onto another, undamaged hard drive. The data recovery engineer will work with the copied data only, in order to prevent further corruption from the damaged drive.
Hardware Failure Recovery
In the event that the software recovery attempt is unsuccessful, the next step is to perform a hardware failure recovery. In this process, the engineer will usually start out by replacing the circuit board. Sometimes, a trial-and-error method will be involved, requiring the engineer to systemically replace various components, such as defective drive heads, so that the recovery can be completed. Since these replacements require compatible parts and firmware, our Data Recovery Services team maintains an extensive supply of essential parts and has a list of responsive suppliers that can quickly fill our parts requests.
In both cases, the recovery engineer will substitute the defective part with a working one until he or she is able to gain
access to the hard drive data
. In 96% of all cases, we are able to recover 100% of the data.
So now that you know what to expect every step of the way, give First Advantage's Data Recovery Services team a call. Either we'll recover your data and return your system to you (and even pay for the shipping!), or you won't pay us a dime. That's our guarantee, and we stand proudly behind it.
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Posted by
. :~ ShAh G . :~
at
4:09 PM
. :~ ALIVE FUN ARTICALS ~: .
A redundant array of independent drives ("RAID") recovery is much more difficult than a single hard drive recovery and should only be attempted by a qualified specialist, like the experts in the Data Recovery Service unit of First Advantage.
RAID manufacturers set up the internal controls of their arrays in different configurations. Since the RAID configuration is most likely proprietary, it is almost never disclosed to or shared with other data recovery companies.
That's why RAID data recovery engineers must have
years of experience and be able to write recovery programs for each separate RAID data recovery operation.
The first step in the data recovery process is to get the RAID drives' data copied on to a server or other hard drive so that the data set can be re-assembled.
Each recovery procedure is unique to a particular RAID array. For example, a level 0 RAID (also known as a RAID 0) is the most challenging type of recovery because there is no fault tolerance and thus, no margin for error. A RAID 0 is made up of two drives, with the data striped in small sets across one or both of them. Since there is no parity in a RAID 0, the information that was saved on a failed drive is not replicated elsewhere, meaning that it will be difficult or impossible to recover.
On the other hand, a RAID 5 is made up of three or more drives and does offer parity data, so when one drive fails, a replacement drive can be used for recovery and the array can be rebuilt. However, if two drives of a RAID 5 fail, the recovery process becomes more difficult. If enough data can be saved from the malfunctioning drives, an experienced
RAID recovery
engineer can usually succeed, because the RAID parity is still available.
Each
RAID data recovery
is unique, because manufacturers set up their internal arrays differently. A RAID recovery engineer must be able to determine the arrangement of data and the parity cycle to recover the data and rebuild the RAID. The data is accessed on a file system level instead of on a controller level. Normally, an NTFS file system is used in this type of recovery, because the logical drives will be providing the basis for working on a RAID image. This allows the RAID recovery engineer to assemble bits and bytes after a successful recovery using propriety software developed by First Advantage.
RAID data recovery is certainly not recommended for amateurs, nor for the weak of heart. First Advantage has successfully recovered data from RAIDs as well as all popular types of storage media since 1981.
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