Platter Chatter - Data Recovery

Holiday Classics by CBL

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 21:10:11 GMT

While our experts are still in the data recovery lab helping keep the workshop working this season you can enjoy our collection of holiday-themed classics with a tech twist. From The Grinch, a Lucky Server and Data-Saving Reindeer to the 12 Days of Christmas…err…Data Recovery!

CBL Pictures: Toronto Computes!

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Mon, 03 Jun 2024 19:38:52 GMT

Flashback to the late 90s when CBL had ads running in a popular local print paper/magazine about tech “Toronto Computes!”.

3 Things Driving Data in 2024

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Fri, 02 Feb 2024 23:33:48 GMT

In 2024, data trends are being driven by our creation, capacity to store, and the challenges of protecting it. Here’s a breakdown of those 3 key areas to watch this year in storage tech and data use.

Machine Learning Makes Massive Black Hole Data Darker

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Wed, 03 May 2023 15:41:50 GMT

The first-ever image of a black hole was captured by the Event Horizon Telescope team in 2019. It required a lot of observation data and processing. Researchers have now produced a finer image using even more data from a new source: models generated using machine-learning.

Beyond Bytes: Updated Unit Names Needed for Massive Digital Data

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Wed, 30 Nov 2022 20:51:38 GMT

Gigabytes…Terabytes…Petabytes…Zettabytes… Naming units of computer memory follows a standard system of prefixes but after a certain range gets a bit informal. The common and even very large volumes we see in our digital landscape were covered for years. Until now. For the first time in 31 years the International System of Units (SI) has been expanded to include two more prefixes.

CBL Pictures: Computer Paper

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Thu, 17 Nov 2022 11:53:35 GMT

A throwback to the late 90s when CBL had ads running in a popular national print magazine about tech “The Computer Paper”.

A Mad Desire in the Lab to Make Data Come Aliiiiive

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 15:13:50 GMT

CBL can recover data from the most frightening situations but what goes into making your data come alive again isn’t the work of mad scientists in the laboratory. Check out our fun Halloween video.

Why Big Tech shreds millions of storage devices it could reuse

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 17:00:37 GMT

A recent Financial Times longread delves into datacenter storage use, e-waste, data security and Big Tech’s reuse practices (or lack thereof). We share a related tech tip for the rest of us.

Data With a Drip

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Fri, 23 Sep 2022 17:55:58 GMT

Spotted in the lab. This one needed a bit of specific pre-recovery work.

Keeping Business Going When Extreme Weather Threatens Data

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Tue, 09 Aug 2022 19:29:44 GMT

The NOAA prediction of an above-normal Atlantic storm season seems to be staying on course but while extreme weather can be bad for digital devices it doesn’t have to mean a bad day for data. Forecasts are a good reminder of the precautions and prevention tips you can take to protect data and keep business going in the event of tough climate threats.

CBL Pictures: Too Much

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Wed, 20 Jul 2022 20:08:10 GMT

A look at a severely fire-damaged server spotted in the lab. Disasters don’t have to mean data loss but fires definitely make recovery much more difficult.

Stranger Data – the Stranger Things We See in the Lab for Recovery

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Mon, 30 May 2022 21:01:17 GMT

At CBL we’ve seen odd hard drives, and some stranger things, too.

Behind the Big Data: Revealing Our Galaxy's Black Hole

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Wed, 18 May 2022 16:19:22 GMT

Astronomers from the Event Horizon Telescope project revealed the first-ever image of the black hole that sits at the center of our galaxy known as Sagittarius A*. It was produced using observation data collected from the network of telescopes situated around the globe. How much data must you compute to get an image of an object that’s 27,000 light-years away, is 4 millions times more massive than our Sun, from a network of telescopes that make a dish the size of the Earth?

Sounds Like Something Is Wrong...

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Thu, 14 Apr 2022 20:05:32 GMT

Hard drive making weird noises suddenly? Watch a clip from the recovery lab and you be the judge.

Stories From The Lab: Hospital RAID Array ER Recovery

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Fri, 18 Mar 2022 21:16:19 GMT

Listen to a short story from the CBL lab: a hospital RAID crashes and IT department calls in the CBL data recovery experts. We also discuss the rising data protection challenges in healthcare IT.

4 Storage Tech Trends for 2022

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 20:24:08 GMT

How data is stored and where we use it isn’t exactly the same as it was 10 years ago, let alone even a few years ago. For 2022 multiple things are in play from technological advances to our data storage needs as well as general market forces. Here’s 4 storage tech trends to watch this year from HDD & SSD competition, to storage capacities, flash memory and the pandemic effects on data use.

CBL Pictures: How it started... How it's going

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Thu, 17 Feb 2022 21:21:59 GMT

Some devices in the lab recently for recovery service with many years between them reminded us of a social trend comparing old and new.

Protecting Olympic Moments at the Beijing Winter Games

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 22:37:08 GMT

Good luck to all the athletes competing at Beijing 2022. Protecting golden moments is what it’s all about when data loss is in play.

FLASHback: NAND Memory Technology Celebrates 35 Years

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Mon, 14 Feb 2022 19:32:03 GMT

This year is the 35th anniversary of NAND flash memory being invented. Check out some facts about this technology which transformed a lot of digital devices and has evolved along with our data storage needs.

Interview: Tech Talk with Marc Saltzman, January 9th

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Wed, 12 Jan 2022 22:35:17 GMT

The first Tech Talk radio show of the year with Marc Saltzman featured a segment with CBL talking about dealing with data disasters, backup tips, data destruction and more.

The Grinch Wants Your Data: Holiday Shopping Do's & Don'ts

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 22:59:44 GMT

Shopping of all sorts is making a comeback after the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Friday and Cyber Monday remain at the center of the season. Being back in the habit is a blend of in-store and online shopping now. Where there are deals, there are cybersecurity threats. While more consumers are aware of the weaknesses and data breaches out there, the number of attack vectors out there continues to rise and hackers are there to take advantage. When you’re out and online looking for discounts and deals, protect yourself from Grinches that want to get ahold of your data with these tips.

How Do You Pronounce Data?

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Fri, 19 Nov 2021 21:51:27 GMT

After watching a handy pronunciation guide video we pondered our own preferences around the office & lab in how to say the word ‘data’. A Star Trek friend also weighed in.

Data Protection Survey: What the Numbers Say

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 20:52:07 GMT

Confidence in protecting business data that is being used in different places and threatened in different ways is a point of growing concern according to the results of a recent Data Protection survey. We break down the key findings of the snapshot that includes cyber threats like ransomware and the increase in remote work as factors.

CBL Pictures: Easy to See Not-So Hot Fate for Not-So Burnt Hard Drives

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Fri, 27 Aug 2021 21:06:00 GMT

Throwback to this pair of fire-burned drives spotted in the lab whose not-so hot fate was pretty easily determined early into the recovery project.

Extreme Weather Conditions Tough on Technology

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Mon, 16 Aug 2021 18:40:37 GMT

Extreme weather conditions can be tough on our digital devices and data and with an above-average summer storm season predicted by the NOAA it’s a good reminder of the preparation and precautions you can take to protect business from climate threats and data disasters.

Olympic Moments Not Going to Waste

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Thu, 29 Jul 2021 21:29:59 GMT

The Tokyo 2020 Games are putting the Metal to the Medal! The most successful Olympic & Paralympic athletes won’t only take home something tangible to preserve the memory in a bronze, silver or gold medal, but they’ll be helping impact the growing environmental problem of e-waste.

CBL Pictures: When Fire Damage Makes Hard Drive Recovery Harder

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Thu, 15 Jul 2021 20:51:52 GMT

Technology that suffers the wrath of a catastrophic event like a wildfire is not a pretty sight. Here are some archive photos from the initial findings after wildfires ripped through the community of Fort McMurray, Alberta in 2016 with some pieces that eventually made their way to our labs for recovery assessment.

Vulnerability in Connected Western Digital My Book Live Drives Threatens to Wipe Data of Unsuspecting Owners

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Fri, 25 Jun 2021 21:07:14 GMT

A critical vulnerability in some WD My Book Live external drives caused some owners to find their data had be wiped by a remotely run command. Western Digital’s only recommendation in the wake of customer complaints and alarm was to unplug the devices from the internet to disconnect them from being compromised.

On the E-Waste Case: USA Today #TechTip

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Mon, 31 May 2021 21:22:17 GMT

In an article about recycling devices and the challenges of e-waste, USA Today mentioned a good tech tip about data erasure to protect your privacy.

Stories From The Lab: Engineering Files Buried in Mudslide

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Thu, 13 May 2021 20:47:42 GMT

Look back at some of our emergency response expertise with a story from the lab. This one is about a mudslide in Venezuela that buries a town’s engineering documents. Flood, mudslide, hurricane… CBL helps with critical data disaster recovery.

CBL Pictures: Capsized bits & bytes from a Rowboat Expedition

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 18:03:48 GMT

An Earth Day throwback with some lost shots from CBL’s recovery for an ocean expedition

More Electronics, More Data, More E-Waste

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Fri, 23 Apr 2021 03:03:46 GMT

The occasion of Earth Day is a good time to reflect on how much e-waste we’re creating and its effect on our environment, health, and even our data.

Shipping Capacity: Seagate reports 3 Zettabyte Storage Milestone

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Wed, 07 Apr 2021 22:12:24 GMT

As creation and consumption of data continues to grow like never before, the storage giant claimed it has now shipped over three zettabytes of drive storage capacity, highlighting again how the amount of data in the digital world is not only climbing, but accelerating.

Here's a flowchart to help you decide if you should back up

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 12:07:33 GMT

World Backup Day is on March 31st! CBL supports the mission to increase awareness and decrease the incidents of data loss through avid worldwide data backup. It’s a good annual reminder about the importance of protecting your data. Check out the full chart after the jump.

CBL Pictures: Old Mac, Old OS, New Recovered Data!

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Sat, 27 Mar 2021 18:06:26 GMT

Spotted in the lab not too long ago we’re still finding innovative data loss solutions for Macs new & old.

Predicting Where Storage Is Going in 2021

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Mon, 25 Jan 2021 17:25:40 GMT

As the year begins we look at trends in the digital storage world, projections for the market and technologies that will impact how data is stored and used in 2021.

Data Protection Snapshot by the Numbers

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Thu, 01 Oct 2020 22:05:37 GMT

Organizations are managing a lot more data these days and that means more data to protect – but confidence is lacking in ability not only to protect it but recover from increasing disruptions and downtime. We’ve picked out some of the number highlights from a recent Data Protection survey.

Under the Sea - Microsoft's data center experiment resurfaces

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 18:03:37 GMT

This wasn’t data overboard but data submerged! After two years resting on the ocean floor off the coast of Scotland, Microsoft researchers have retrieved an underwater data center to see how it fared.

DataSphere Report Factors Pandemic Into Growth Forecast in Latest Update

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 13:56:55 GMT

A new update to IDC’s DataSphere report forecasts continued growth of the world’s created and consumed data with a shifting data landscape impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We break down some of the key insights.

Severe Summer Weather Predicted - 3 Strategies to Keep Data Safe

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Wed, 22 Jul 2020 10:46:24 GMT

An above-normal seasonal prediction from the NOAA is a good reminder to be aware of strategies to protect your technology and data from the effects of severe summer weather.

Throwback: Creating the First Hard Disk Drive at IBM

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Fri, 03 Jul 2020 18:44:22 GMT

A promotional film that IBM made in the 1950s looks at the creation of the first hard disk drive and is a retro video throwback to tech innovation and marketing of the time reminding us how far we’ve come and of artifacts from our own data recovery archives.

First Day of Summer at Drivehenge

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Mon, 22 Jun 2020 10:46:55 GMT

Marking the Summer Solstice from our own version of Stonehenge…

Beyond Bytes: Navigating the Names Used to Measure Massive Units of Digital Data

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Wed, 20 May 2020 15:03:20 GMT

Gigabytes…Terabytes…Petabytes…Zettabytes… Naming new units of computer memory may be fun but once you venture beyond the volumes we see in our current digital landscape it becomes a bit informal. Keeping track of just how large the numbers are isn’t so easy either. How much big data is there in a Yottabyte?

Rise in Data Threats Adds to Coronavirus Crisis

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 13:24:07 GMT

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to challenge countries all over the world, data is playing an important role in the fight but is also under heightened risk from threats to cybersecurity and data safety.

Spring Ahead and Look Towards the Future of Storage

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Wed, 18 Mar 2020 14:00:30 GMT

Spring is the season for new beginnings so let’s look at how new applications with new requirements and breakthrough storage technologies will bring fresh approaches to the ways we use and store our data.

Data Recovery Wins on a Film’s Journey From Storyboard to Awards Season

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 14:46:40 GMT

During Oscar and film industry awards season some of the year’s best works are highlighted but data loss threats behind-the-scenes can get in the way of a film’s journey to success. Here are two of our favorite movie-related data recovery wins.

Study: Wide Array of Private Data on Secondhand Drives, a Reminder to Discard With Discretion

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 14:35:10 GMT

Researchers at the University of Hertfordshire performed a study examining secondhand hard disk drives and found they often contained data from their previous owners.

Data Prep Tips for Back-to-School/Work

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Fri, 30 Aug 2019 16:58:24 GMT

As temperatures start to slowly drop, students and employees are emerging from a summer daze, hunkering down for the school year and getting get business in shape for the fall season. Here’s 3 ways you can get data-ready for back-to-school & back-to-work.

Outlook for Severe Summer Season a Reminder to be Prepared - Data Recovery Solutions for Wild Weather

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Tue, 13 Aug 2019 12:34:58 GMT

The NOAA recently updated its outlook for annual bouts of bad weather to “above-normal” and that is a reminder to be prepared in a season that is far from over. Here’s some scenarios and data safety tips for wild weather.

Apollo Moon-Landing Tapes Expected to Fetch Over a Million in Auction

Platter Chatter - ChrisArchitect — Tue, 16 Jul 2019 13:07:21 GMT

Three reels of moon-Landing tapes that were bought by an intern 43 years ago for a couple hundred dollars could fetch $1 million at an auction this week.