Tech Support 911 - Stories from a call center

Nearly 50% of data recovery attempts fail …

jtsmith — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 16:41:26 +0000

Nearly half of all attempts made by organizations to recover lost data to some degree ultimately end in failure, according to a survey from server appliance manufacturer Equiinet.

Even those companies with a large number of professional IT staff and back-ups in place had problems recovering data, although the survey revealed that the problem is more common among firms using older back-p technologies and slightly smaller companies, many of which do not make regular back-ups of electronic data.

Dave Abbot, product marketing director of Equiinet, said: “Despite a lot of time and effort in undertaking the back-up process, older back-up technologies, such as tapes, have considerable drawbacks.

“Our survey showed that 40 percent of data recovery attempts fail to restore all the required data.”

The survey also revealed that many back-ups that are made are not stored securely, with about two-thirds of companies admitting to leaving them in the same room as their servers.

More worrying still, 80 percent of IT managers admitted that they wash their hands of responsibility when it comes to backing up data stored on individual laptops or standalone PCs, leaving it to staff to make their own back-ups.

Data Recovery Singapore is over 85% successful, give them a call now. We specialize in data recovery and ONLY data recovery, we are the experts you can trust.

Seagate launches hard drives with flash memory

jtsmith — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 21:24:07 +0000

Seagate Technology launched it’s first hard drive that combines traditional data storage and flash memory storage. The Seagate Momentus notebook drive has 160GB traditional storage as well as 256 MB of floating storage. This follows rival Samsung Electronics hybrid drives released last month. The new drives will sell at a premium of 30% above the equivalent old technology hard drive. Seagate claims that the new drive will boost performance by 20% and increase battery life by an additional 25%.

Hard drive recovery experts

jtsmith — Tue, 09 Oct 2007 16:18:29 +0000

It is usual in every recovery operation performed by a hard drive data recovery expert that a free evaluation of the drive is considered prior to the actual process. The evaluation process is vital in every data recovery operation as it is where the hard drive data recovery experts determine the real problem. However, after the evaluation of the drive, the hard drive data recovery experts won’t usually proceed to the actual data recovery operation without your consent or approval to proceed. Once you have given your approval, it is only the time that the hard drive data recovery experts will do their task. Perhaps what nice to know about them is that no matter what the cause of the failure is, the hard drive data recovery experts are able to repair your drives and retrieve your lost files 80 to 85 percent sure. (Data recovery Singapore)

The Storm Worm

jtsmith — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 19:10:43 +0000

The Storm worm first appeared at the beginning of the year, hiding in e-mail attachments with the subject line: “230 dead as storm batters Europe.” Those who opened the attachment became infected, their computers joining an ever-growing botnet.

Although it’s most commonly called a worm, Storm is really more: a worm, a Trojan horse and a bot all rolled into one. It’s also the most successful example we have of a new breed of worm, and I’ve seen estimates that between 1 million and 50 million computers have been infected worldwide.

(Wired)

DIY: data recovery problems

jtsmith — Tue, 02 Oct 2007 19:57:15 +0000

In the world of computers, data recovery is something we all know and rely on to recover lost of missing data. The process of data recovery is very complicated, one that you should never attempt to do yourself. Hard drives especially, are very fragile and need extra special care when they are worked on. You have to be careful with the small components inside of them, which is why only a trained specialist should be attempting data recovery.

When you first take your hard drive to a specialist, they will perform an evaluation then get back to you and tell you the problem, as well as the cost. When most people get their price quote, they immediately think the price is too high. As this happens, the individual will decide to try their own data recovery software. This isnt the smartest idea, as it normally results in your data being lost forever. In most cases, where individuals attempt data recovery themselves, the data is so far gone that even the best data recovery specialist cant bring it back.

Signs of a drive failure

jtsmith — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 15:04:21 +0000

Here are some signs of a problem before the drive dies on you:

Computer freezes often. When it happens, the mouse cursor is unmovable and keyboard is ignored. Nothing works and a restart is required to recover the computer.
Files mysterious disappearing.
Frequent lock-up during booting. I say “frequent” because all computers will freeze every now and then and it doesn’t necessarily mean the drive is failing. You’re looking for a pattern here.
File access mysteriously slows to a turtle’s pace. Saving files or open files simply takes forever.

You might need data recovery. First try some data recovery software. It could provide a quick fix for you. Otherwise talk to a professional.

7 steps for a good tech support experience.

jtsmith — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 19:43:39 +0000

1. Don’t complain.

2. Listen and follow my directions.

3. Don’t tell me you work in IT.

4. Write down the error message.

5. Be in front of your computer during the call.

6. This is tech support not refunds.

7. There isn’t a ‘magic button’ so don’t expect immediate results.

IBM: free office suite software

jtsmith — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:30:03 +0000

Multiple users from business, academic, government and consumer segments can download the enterprise-grade software from the company’s website (www.ibm.com) under “Lotus Symphony“, according a statement released by IBM India.

“The software tools can be used to extend a business process or custom application to create dynamic composite applications. The tools, which support Windows and Linux desktops, are designed to handle majority of office productivity tasks,” the statement said.

Professional Data Recovery Software

jtsmith — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:18:19 +0000

CBL has just launched Pro-V their advanced data recovery software. This is a nice edition to their basic data recovery software. It’s a great option for those do-it-yourself situations where spending $1000 is not an option. Free to download and try. Also a very nice tool for erasing old hard drives, data shredder.

Well I knew that!

jtsmith — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 16:57:09 +0000

Caller: “My computer isn’t booting.”

Me: “Ok, let’s check a few things -”

C: “I already checked the cables, the power, and monitor works fine. It’s a Windows problem.”

M: “Ok, what kind of error does it give you?”

C: “It says insert a valid boot disk, but the disk booted fine yesterday.”

M: “Can you check -”

C: “I ALREADY CHECKED THE CABLES, the power works fine, the monitor works on another computer they aren’t the problem.”

M: “I know but could you check -”

C: “It’s definitely a Windows problem! Just tell me how to get into the system so I can correct it.”

M: (pause, waiting for them to finish) “O. K. Does your computer have a floppy drive?”

C: “What does that have to do with anything? Yes, it has a floppy drive. I told you it’s a Windows problem!”

M: (coolly and calmly) “Does the drive have a disk in it?”

C: “- but” (checks) “Yes, it does.”

M: “Eject the disk and reboot the computer.”

C: “…” (ejecting disk and rebooting) “Well I knew that!”