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Five Ways to Lose Your Data

By: James Walsh

Data loss can be categorised into four broad types.

Hardware failure is the leader of this pack. It has earned this title because of the many opportunities it presents, for you to lose your data. Around 40% of data loss occurs this way, commonly.

  • When a sneaky little electrical spike snakes its way from the power outlet to your computer’s hard disk or motherboard, it can evaporate your data and deep fry all the sensitive components like memory chips, processor etc.


  • Micro dust particles can accidentally find their way into the rarefied confines of the hard disk drive and get wedged between the read / write head and the surface of the rotating media. The resultant scratches or damage to the recording surface results in data loss.


  • Loose connections (especially of the data bus) between the various critical components inside a CPU, like the processor, hard disk, memory etc. are instruments of data loss.


  • Since the hard disk consists of moving parts and as gravity affects everything on this planet, some of these parts loosen or routinely suffer from wear and tear, which if not rectified in time, can pose a real threat to the data.


  • Sometimes, the software that controls the functioning of the hard disk can malfunction and cause data loss.


  • Improper handling of the storage device and physical impacts also a present a high risk of data loss, due to physical damage sustained by the recording medium.


Human error accounts for about 30% of all reported data loss.

  • Accidental deletion of data by using potentially destructive system commands or wrong commands.


  • Not saving the work periodically or lapses in concentration while executing critical work.


  • Indiscriminate usage of third-party software packages without being sure about the credentials of the software.


  • Repeated installs and uninstalls of third-party software can result in accidental deletion of your data.


  • Poor system maintenance or badly organised data on the storage media.


  • Trying to set things right on your own, without even having the faintest idea of the problem or solution, only worsens the problem.


  • Botched up data recovery efforts by the professionals.


  • Storing data on defective media or unreliable storage media.


  • Misplacing the storage media with the data on it.


  • No backups.


Natural causes are responsible for about 10% of the reported data loss, until now. However, it is not a comforting thought that these natural forces are beginning to show more often their destructive potential, in recent times. In future widespread natural destruction will be causing almost 100% destruction of your data, announce the doomsday experts. Lightning, magnetic storms, rodent menace, extreme winters and summers, downpour of rain, dust storms, fires, earthquakes etc., can easily wreak havoc on the data storage medium and the data too.

Acts of sabotage, caused by the various flavours of malicious software (viruses, worms, Trojans etc.) contribute to data loss. Then there is the wilful destruction of incriminating data or the wiping out of mission-critical data by a disgruntled employee, terrorists etc. or the theft of sensitive data for gain. Usage of pirated software or expired software, sometimes, results in data losses too. This happens when bugs or software defects are not ironed out due to the unavailability of software fixes. Less than 10% of reported data loss takes place in this manner.

Direct data corruption can also result in data loss. Some of the factors that contribute to data corruption are corruption of the logical file system, corruption of the structure of the database system, improper formatting of the hard disk, and failure of the operating system; excessive disk fragmentation is also capable of causing data loss.

These are some of the leading causes for data loss. Whether the data loss is permanent or temporary, is another matter altogether.

Article Source: http://www.rightarticle.com

James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you are concerned about data loss and would like more information on Data Recovery see www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk





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