We understand what happens when the information you have been storing for keeps suddenly becomes inaccessible.
When you lose the information, which was once accessible is referred as data loss.
The threats to data loss may come in many different forms, from a simple mistake to a massive natural disaster
Since, we now know what data loss is; let us read on to find out as to what causes data loss to occur and what measures do we need to follow in order to prevent that from happening.
Hardware or System Malfunction
The biggest factor leading to data loss is hardware malfunction or hard disks failure. It is known that 44% of all data losses are an outcome of hardware or system malfunction. Hard disks are mechanical devices and therefore are more prone to wear and tear. It is believed that the estimated average life of a hard disk is 3 years. Hardware fails to function properly due to one of the following reasons:
(a) Head/Media Crash: Head/media collisions account for a large percentage of hardware malfunctions.
Picture this: a series of hard disk platters rotating at the rate of 150 times per second with heads being separated (at submicron distances), moving over them. Even the slightest of disturbance inside the disk could cause the entire disk to stop functioning properly. When the read/write head touches the rotating platter of a hard disk, it leads to head crash.
When even the smallest bit of dust enters the sealed drive unit and settles on magnetic surfaces, it gets stuck in the thin gap between the head and the disk.
Dropping a disk to the floor may also cause hard disk malfunction. Not only this, even the slight jerk or vibration can unsettle alignments and lead to hardware malfunction.
(b) Sudden catastrophic failure: When you cannot detect the presence of the hard drive in the CMOS setup or when the operating system doesn’t locate the hard drive, it’s logical to think that the data loss has occurred. This POST failure results in hard drive to become inactive. This is when you hear the clicking noise from the hard drive. Sudden temperature variations may directly influence the data loss to occur.
(c) Electrical Failure: Another issue ultimately resulting in the loss of information is electrical failure, which can occur any time. Electrical failure is the direct effect of the circuit board failure, which is located on the bottom of the hard drive. A faulty component, electro-static discharge, damaging circuitry during installation are some of the various causes leading to electrical failure. It is important to keep the system clean and well ventilated; otherwise, it may cause electrical components to fail functioning properly. Hence, it is recommended to keep the system in cool conditions.
(d) Controller Failure: When you try to boot the system but instead receive an error message displaying “HDD Controller Failure”, then be prepared for the loss of your precious data. Yes, this is another reason for data loss to have occurred.
Hard disk controller failure occurs due to one of the following reasons:
• When the adapter is not firmly seated in the slot.
• Failing CMOS battery or accidental user intervention resulting in incorrect data in CMOS setup.
• When IRQ conflicts with other devices.
• When the IDE drives are not mastered/slaved properly.
• MBR (Master Boot Record) or the partition table is distorted.
• When the IDE drives (installed with master and slave) are incompatible.
• When Hard disk drive is not connected or set up properly.
• When the hard drive cable has gone bad (loose, twisted or has a broken wire).
• When the hard drive or the motherboard has gone bad.
When you notice the following changes taking place with your system, prepare yourself for the attack called “data loss”.
• Hard drive stops spinning.
• You receive an error message stating that the device is not being recognized by the system.
• You are unable to access the information, which you could previously.
• When you hear the scraping or rattling sound from the system.
• You system or the hard drive suddenly stop functioning.
This is what you could do in order to avoid the above-mentioned changes taking place:
• Connect your system to a UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply), in order to protect your system against power surges, which is the main cause of electrical failures.
• Keep your computer in a dry and shaded room, which is clean and free of dust.
• Head crash is one of the most common hardware failures resulting in data loss. It is recommended not to shake the hard drive or avoid giving jerks to the computer, since the slightest of the jerk may result in a head crash or misalignment of platters. It is strictly advised not to remove the casing on the hard drive.
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Why Data Loss ?!===> Hw or System Malfunction
Mysql Backup Ideas
MySQL Backup of mixed type tables have been a night mare for me always. When it comes to the Win32 port serving a client application, which was a recent client requirement we at Saturn had to grease our brains a little too much. Finally all the requirements were met.
The Requirements were that all triggers, proceedures and functions along with table defenitions, permissions and data should be backed up. The backup and restore should be with maximum efficiency. Triggers should not be triggered when restoration is happening.
Considering all the above points, it was finally decided, to go with a suggested solution as follows. The structure of tables would be taken using show create table, parsed and properly formatted to a particular markup with a create table, a load data in file, and a set of alter tables.
Considering tables with mixed types, ie some tables are InnoDB, and others MyISAM, all InnoDB tables will be converted to InnoDB after the data has been populated, if there are any indexes ( there should be), and even auto_increment primary keys, are built after the data is populated. The data is taken as a csv using select into outfile. The triggers are taken from the data folder as files, and copied to a temporary folder.
The point where we had to break our heads were the functions and procedures, which was due to the mysql connector/v5 which we were using did not support delimiter, and finally what we did was to dump the proc table from mysql database with the same method. All the resulting files are zipped together with some meta information.
When the Restore was developed, we faced another problem, that simply dropping the TRG files did not activate the triggers, but we needed to restart the mysql server.
Finally all is well and the client is satisfied. The backups, taken will only be a full backup. But for the incremental one, it would be better to enable the replication service, and use mysqlbinlog.exe.
Backup on Lto Tape
The value of your data more then the hardware and we know that when we loss over data and that’s why the Backing up data has become golden rule in the computer world. We need to backup data once in a day to avoid panics at the time of data loss. Data backups, hard drive backups, email backups prove beneficial when you lose some important data.
In such case you can trust the backed up data! But how can we create backup of over data and what hardware can we use to have backup on that is reliable and easy to use. Capabilities such as dynamic rate matching and dual mode compression enhance tape drive performance and product life.
Released in 2007, LTO-4 tapes have a native capacity of 800 GB which can go up to 1.6 TB worth if compressed (2:1). The data transfer rate has gone up to 120 MB/s and a 256 bit AES-GCM drive level encryption has been added. LTO 4 Ultrium also features backward compatibility with LTO-2 and LTO-3 drives. Another advantage of using LTO tapes is that future versions are in development so there will be a chance to update your system instead of it being phased out of use. Multiple sources for LTO media and drives reduce production bottlenecks and also ensure investment protection for OEMs and end users alike. Related products available at Tape4Backup are: LTO 1, LTO 2, LTO 3, LTO Cleaning Cartridge, LTO Barcode Labels, LTO Empty Cases and LTO Cartridge Memory Reader.
Backup tape users are increasingly sensitive to data security in the wake of high profile data loss incidents, and encryption techniques have appeared to help ensure security. For example, if an unencrypted tape is lost or stolen, its data is at risk. But, if an encrypted tape is lost or stolen, its data is still considered to be secure. Thus, the use of encryption has a profound effect on corporate liability and reporting obligations.
We can find LTO 1, LTO 2, LTO 3, LTO Cleaning Cartridge, LTO Barcode Labels, LTO Empty Cases and LTO Cartridge Memory Reader on the
Data Backup Challenges and Solutions
I don’t know of a single medical practice that does not perform some kind of data backup or save information on some medium. The correct choice often goes unnoticed, but the incorrect backup selection can lead to many issues. So what are some of the challenges you may face in a data storage environment?
• Traditional data backup is time consuming, intrusive and unreliable. Mission critical medical data and information can only be backed up into whatever time is available, usually during off hours or weekends.
• Data restore is especially critical and must be fast and reliable. The backup process is usually uneventful, but the quality of data retention will not be known until someone needs the data right now. Did you know that 50% of tape back ups fail to properly restore data, and tape failures were often caused by human error.
Now there is a more effective solution; a “managed offsite” backup solution which securely backs up all of your network data. Backup is accomplished directly to an offsite secure vault. With this system:
• there are no time-consuming manual programs;
• no tapes to manage or store;
• no expensive tape hardware to maintain;
• backup more often to minimize data loss between runs;
• and quick recovery lost data.
Further, an offsite data back up system is cost effective because you only pay for the total aggregate amount of data protected—no matter how many servers, personal computers and laptops you are protecting. Typically pricing is based on gigabytes of data backup on a per month basis; and usually the more you store the lower the price per gigabyte.
If a practice is heavily invested in a current backup system, one should consider a migration strategy that begins with the back up of practice management or EMR data to an offsite vault. As the current backup system becomes obsolete, one can move additional data offsite.
In the final analysis, as with everything, not all offsite backup solutions are created equal. When a practice is considering an offsite solution, the following key factors need serious examination:
• Fast, easy installation—is there just one software application to install or are you required to install multiple agents to accomplish your backup needs?
• Accountability—can you easily access real-time reports and/or is there email alerts to ensure that you will know your backups were successful?
• Fast and efficient data recovery— is there quick restore capability? And is there an option of having the most recent data backup being stored locally and in the vault?
• Data security—is there advanced security technology that is HIPPA compliant to ensure safety and confidentiality of your data at all times? The minimum is AES 128 bit encryption, but one should consider AES 256 bit encryption.
• Network optimization—is a solution capable of detecting data duplication and block-level incremental backup? Is the data compressed to reduce the amount of data transmitted to a vault?
• Restorability—is there an enabler that ensures that data stored in a vault is restorable? Without this feature, there is no way to confirm data can be restored.
As for implementing an offsite data backup solution, one must first perform an assessment of all medical practice data. The assessment begins with locating the data, then identifying duplicate data to ensure the back up of the right and appropriate data. Depending on the amount and size of data to initially back up, it may be downloaded to an external hard drive, enabling the delivery and uploading to a vault. All subsequent data backup would be completed automatically through a secure Internet connection. And scheduling of the
backup could be throughout the day, at the end of day or as dictated by policy.
In sum, there are many solid data storage solutions. However, the traditional backup method where tapes are used is expensive, time consuming, unreliable and could spell disaster. In fact, 40% of firms that shut down for three days due to a disaster, failed within 36 months as cited in Contingency Planning and Management magazine.
