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Data Loss. What Does it Cost?

Tags: data recovery, fields data recovery, data loss, hard drive data recovery

There are good reasons for this. Information technology devices are driven by powerful processors that can perform millions of calculations per second. They are formidable force-multipliers. A company that has gone totally digital can any day beat its competition that still works the old-world way. It can design products faster and bring them to market earlier than anyone else. Its inner processes are fully streamlined, which ensure that work continues seamlessly and resources are put to optimum use.

There is a flip side to the coin, however. All this computerisation has introduced a huge new problem that threatens to wipe off entire companies that are unfortunate enough to face it. It is the threat of data loss.

Why Data Loss Occurs?

Data loss is the most dreaded word in cyber-world. When it hits, it hits hard and shakes the very foundation of institutions. Data loss can occur due to many reasons, most of which are related to hardware or software.

Hardware Errors: These arise from failure or malfunction of some physical component in the digital storage device. Physical trauma (mishandling) or normal wear and tear with age are main causes of hardware errors. In a hard drive, data can be lost due to a head crash or failure of spindle motor, controller card or circuit board that supplies power. The disk may get dropped to the ground or even become swamped with water. Optical disks may suffer scratches on their surface or get twisted out of shape when exposed to heat.

Software Errors: These relate to some kind of corruption in the software. The operating system files may get corrupted, there may be a virus attack or the user may accidentally delete a file or reformat the storage media. Some files just refuse to open due to destruction of data structure.

Data Disasters: These can be natural or man-made, such as fire or arson, floods, storms, earthquakes, volcano eruptions, lightening strike, cyclones, terrorist attacks and so on. Such disasters can wipe off the entire premises of a company and destroy all digital devices. This is a very serious situation where the entire data of an institution can be lost at one stroke.

Consequences of Data Loss

The impact of data loss ranges from a minor inconvenience that may take five minutes to set right to massive financial setback that can make a company go belly-up. Data in today’s world is a very crucial resource. In fact, it is more valuable than the physical assets of a company.

Information is the lifeblood of modern economy. Every shred of information is today digitalised and stored inside computers by companies. Their employees operate a row of computers in which data is fed morning to evening and stored in high-capacity hard disks.

When this data abruptly gets lost, the work of the entire company comes to a standstill. The employees sit idle because they can neither save fresh data nor can they access the previously saved data that they need for their work.

Many companies go bankrupt every year because of data loss. Businesses in the area of R&D, biotechnology, defence, space sciences, engineering, movie-editing and creation of intellectual property are at a great risk. For them, the effects of data loss can be simply devastating.

Cost of Doing Business without Data

When data gets lost, businesses are shocked into numbness. At one go, they lose the tools they need to continue with their day-to-day work. However, companies, struggling to survive, try to continue with their work without the data. With this, they lose many opportunities in the market and spoil relations with customers and suppliers. This imposes a huge cost on business.

Cost of Recreating Data

Many companies realise that their data is gone for ever because it is so badly lost that it just cannot be recovered. They then start the painful job of recreating their data bit by bit and doing everything all over again. This has obvious cost implications, not only in doing the same thing again but also in continuing to do business without the crucial data.

Cost of Recovering Data

Getting a huge amount of data recovered professionally is not inexpensive. The cost can easily break the back of many small and medium companies and prove to be an immense financial setback. The hard disks have to be taken to a clean room and the data has to be recovered through special equipment and software.

The entire process may take days or even months, if the amount of data is huge. The company thus incurs the dual cost of doing business without data for a long period of time while also footing the bill of getting the damaged devices processed by a professional recovery company.

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<h1>Data Loss. What Does it Cost?</h1><br />by jameswalsh<br /><p> <br />There are good reasons for this. Information technology devices are driven by powerful processors that can perform millions of calculations per second. They are formidable force-multipliers. A company that has gone totally digital can any day beat its competition that still works the old-world way. It can design products faster and bring them to market earlier than anyone else. Its inner processes are fully streamlined, which ensure that work continues seamlessly and resources are put to optimum use.</p> <p>There is a flip side to the coin, however. All this computerisation has introduced a huge new problem that threatens to wipe off entire companies that are unfortunate enough to face it. It is the threat of data loss.</p> <p><b>Why Data Loss Occurs?</b></p> <p>Data loss is the most dreaded word in cyber-world. When it hits, it hits hard and shakes the very foundation of institutions. Data loss can occur due to many reasons, most of which are related to hardware or software. </p> <p><b>Hardware Errors:</b> These arise from failure or malfunction of some physical component in the digital storage device. Physical trauma (mishandling) or normal wear and tear with age are main causes of hardware errors. In a hard drive, data can be lost due to a head crash or failure of spindle motor, controller card or circuit board that supplies power. The disk may get dropped to the ground or even become swamped with water. Optical disks may suffer scratches on their surface or get twisted out of shape when exposed to heat.</p> <p><b>Software Errors:</b> These relate to some kind of corruption in the software. The operating system files may get corrupted, there may be a virus attack or the user may accidentally delete a file or reformat the storage media. Some files just refuse to open due to destruction of data structure.</p> <p><b>Data Disasters:</b> These can be natural or man-made, such as fire or arson, floods, storms, earthquakes, volcano eruptions, lightening strike, cyclones, terrorist attacks and so on. Such disasters can wipe off the entire premises of a company and destroy all digital devices. This is a very serious situation where the entire data of an institution can be lost at one stroke.</p> <p><b>Consequences of Data Loss</b></p> <p>The impact of data loss ranges from a minor inconvenience that may take five minutes to set right to massive financial setback that can make a company go belly-up. Data in today’s world is a very crucial resource. In fact, it is more valuable than the physical assets of a company. </p> <p>Information is the lifeblood of modern economy. Every shred of information is today digitalised and stored inside computers by companies. Their employees operate a row of computers in which data is fed morning to evening and stored in high-capacity hard disks. </p> <p>When this data abruptly gets lost, the work of the entire company comes to a standstill. The employees sit idle because they can neither save fresh data nor can they access the previously saved data that they need for their work.</p> <p>Many companies go bankrupt every year because of data loss. Businesses in the area of R&amp;D, biotechnology, defence, space sciences, engineering, movie-editing and creation of intellectual property are at a great risk. For them, the effects of data loss can be simply devastating.</p> <p><b>Cost of Doing Business without Data</b></p> <p>When data gets lost, businesses are shocked into numbness. At one go, they lose the tools they need to continue with their day-to-day work. However, companies, struggling to survive, try to continue with their work without the data. With this, they lose many opportunities in the market and spoil relations with customers and suppliers. This imposes a huge cost on business.</p> <p><b>Cost of Recreating Data </b></p> <p>Many companies realise that their data is gone for ever because it is so badly lost that it just cannot be recovered. They then start the painful job of recreating their data bit by bit and doing everything all over again. This has obvious cost implications, not only in doing the same thing again but also in continuing to do business without the crucial data.</p> <p><b>Cost of Recovering Data</b></p> <p>Getting a huge amount of data recovered professionally is not inexpensive. The cost can easily break the back of many small and medium companies and prove to be an immense financial setback. The hard disks have to be taken to a clean room and the data has to be recovered through special equipment and software. </p> <p>The entire process may take days or even months, if the amount of data is huge. The company thus incurs the dual cost of doing business without data for a long period of time while also footing the bill of getting the damaged devices processed by a professional recovery company.</p> <p></p> <br /><h2>About the Author</h2><p>James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you are concerned about data loss and would like more information on <a href="http://www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk">Data Recovery</a> see <a href="http://www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk" title="www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk">http://www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk</a></p> <br /><h3><a href="http://www.content4reprint.com/computer/data-recovery/data-loss.-what-does-it-cost.htm" title="Data Loss. What Does it Cost?">Article Source:</a> <a href="http://www.content4reprint.com" title="Free high quality articles">Content for Reprint</a></h3>