| Digital information can be instantly sent | | | | water and foam into the building, submerging |
| over wires over long distances to any place | | | | everything. |
| in the world. It is easy to modify digital | | | | |
| data, delete it, change it and make as many | | | | Floods |
| copies of it as one wants. All information | | | | |
| technology devices have fast processors that | | | | Floods are getting increasingly common in the |
| process data at an astonishing speed that | | | | world because of global warming and melting |
| results in tasks getting executed faster and | | | | of glaciers and polar ice caps. Any river |
| more efficiently. | | | | lying close to your office may overflow its |
| | | | banks without warning in an unexpected |
| Any company in its routine work generates a | | | | rainfall or cloud burst. Computers and |
| lot of digital data. This has to be stored | | | | storage devices that get submerged in water |
| safely and securely on a storage device so | | | | suffer serious damage and become inoperable. |
| that it can be accessed anytime in the future | | | | |
| for further processing or transferring to | | | | Lightning Strike |
| other machines. The data storage products | | | | |
| industry is quite advanced and offers a range | | | | Lightning is accompanied by thunder clouds |
| of devices to suit every need and budget. | | | | during storms and cyclones. It contains an |
| | | | electric charge that is millions of volts |
| Popular storage media available in the market | | | | strong. If it strikes your office building, |
| include non-removable devices such as hard | | | | it sears through electric and telephone |
| drives, USB drives, floppy disks, optical | | | | cabling and fries all electronic circuits |
| disks, portable hard drives and tape drives. | | | | inside computers and hard disks. It can also |
| Their capacities range from 1.4 MB for a | | | | make flash memory cards useless by destroying |
| floppy disk to a whopping 500 GB and even | | | | their data that is manipulated by an electric |
| more for a hard disk. | | | | charge. |
| | | | |
| Digital data has many benefits, but suffers | | | | Terrorist Attack |
| from one very serious drawback which almost | | | | |
| negates all its advantages. It is volatile | | | | Terrorist attacks account for large-scale |
| and unstable because it is represented as | | | | destruction of property and human lives each |
| electric charge or a pattern of magnetic | | | | year. Usually, such a strike involves a |
| particles. For a variety of reasons, it can | | | | massive bomb blast that collapses the |
| disappear instantly anytime, leaving the | | | | building or hurls everything around with a |
| users in serious trouble. | | | | great impact. If your office is located in a |
| | | | busy commercial district, terrorist attack |
| Data loss is a very serious affair that is | | | | can be a possibility. |
| responsible for many companies closing down | | | | |
| every year as they cannot cope with its | | | | Backing up Data |
| after-effects. Digital data can be lost due | | | | |
| to a variety of factors that may hit the | | | | Most companies realise the importance of data |
| storage devices. Mainly these are of two | | | | and take a regular backup on devices such as |
| types - hardware errors and software errors. | | | | portable hard disks and tape drives (usually |
| Most of the data lost due to these can be | | | | the latter). This is very effective in cases |
| recovered by the users themselves using DIY | | | | of hardware or software errors that crop up |
| data recovery software or handing over the | | | | in individual computers. |
| damaged devices to professional recovery | | | | |
| companies. | | | | However, data loss by a disaster is a totally |
| | | | different ball game. Keeping backup on |
| But the worst-case data-loss scenario for an | | | | individual devices is of no use when a |
| organisation is when the office building is | | | | disaster strikes because the backup and |
| hit by a disaster. These disasters can be | | | | computers are usually stored inside the same |
| natural such as accidental fire, floods, | | | | building. Both are totally destroyed if a |
| storms, cyclones and lightning strike or | | | | fire or flood sweeps through the structure. |
| man-made such as arson, sabotage and | | | | |
| terrorist activity. | | | | The only way to guard against data loss due |
| | | | to natural or man-made disasters is using |
| Fire | | | | remote or online backup. Many service |
| | | | providers today offer this technology. In |
| A fire is the most unfortunate thing that can | | | | this, the backup is taken automatically from |
| happen to an office building. It destroys | | | | the client's computer by a software and the |
| everything such as paper files and documents | | | | entire data is quietly transferred to the |
| as well as information technology devices. A | | | | service provider's servers that exist far |
| fire is capable of intense heat that roasts | | | | away. When a disaster strikes, the client can |
| computers and bends or melts hard disks and | | | | buy new computers, download data from the |
| optical disks out of shape. Additional damage | | | | remote server through a password and be back |
| is done when the fire trucks arrive and pump | | | | in business in a matter of hours. |