Hard Drive Recovery Associates Blogs About Hard Drive Failure, Going Paperless

As part of continued efforts to keep customers educated about all things data, Hard Drive Recovery Associates has posted a new blog post about being prepared for hard drive failure.

Each year, thousands of Americans experience some kind of data loss, with by far the largest contingent of them suffering from either hard drive crash or failure. Hard drives are mechanical devices by their very nature, and are subject to failure over time.

With the advent of cloud backup services, backing up your hard drive to avoid future data loss is easier than ever; cheap external hard drives also create a situation where there really is little excuse not to have some kind of backup in effect. If more people backed up their drive, they would never have to use search terms like 'data recovery near me'.

"We deal with data recovery service customers from all over the United States and Canada, and without a doubt the biggest fail we see across the board is that few people backup their drives," said Jack Edwards, spokesperson for Irvine, California's Hard Drive Recovery Associates. "While we certainly appreciate the ability to serve customers and make a living, having a robust backup plan for your data is easily the best way to avoid having to call a hard drive recovery service."

Most computing experts tend to recommend having more than one kind of backup type. This means that for most users, not only having a cloud service like Google Drive or Dropbox is appropriate, but also something like an external hard drive. External hard drives are typically connected to the computer via USB 3.0 and are typically very usable in a pinch. They also tend to run less than $100 for a rather large drive that can extend up to 4TB.

"External hard drives are really one of the best accessories that have become mainstream over the past 10 years," said Edwards. "What is great about them is that they really do not experience much wear because of excessive use, but you do have to be careful with them."

Above all, Hard Drive Recovery Associates recommends that people who regularly backup their data also test the backup file integrity once in a while - after all, a non functioning backup is the same as no backup.

In a second post, entitled "What It Really Means To Go Paperless", HDRA discusses the importance of going paperless in a world where identity theft has become somewhat rampant. Technology has made it incredibly easy to digitize documents, either through scanners or even smartphone photo, which makes getting rid of old documents properly very important.

"Cataloguing things like old tax returns and receipts is virtually the perfect situation when it comes to digitizing," said Edwards. "For documents that are 'important enough', there really isn't the need to have them completely pristine, and even a smartphone photo will do."

The post also recommends backing up critical documents in more than one location, but also ensuring that the documents are inaccessible via the web. This can again mean external hard drives or memory keys, which can only typically be accessed by people that are in possession of them.

"Password protection is a good thing for almost anything, but password protecting drives containing critical documents is a lot easier to do than it used to be," said Edwards. "It's something people rarely consider, but is an issue where you often wish you would have been more diligent when the drive is stolen or gets lost."

The bonus with Cloud backup services is that they rarely, if ever fail. These organizations typically have redundant backups of redundant backups, which is key for paying users looking to avoid paying for data recovery services.

Whether one intends to keep multiple backups or not, understanding that the process now is very simple might push one in a good direction.

"Backing up your data to the cloud now is literally just clicking a mouse," said Edwards. "There really is no excuse when the process is that simple."