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Over the years, individuals tend to accumulate a huge amount of data, mainly text files, family pictures and emails. Corporate companies generate even more data, including everything from customer records, research results, financial statements, architectural drawings to other intellectual property.

The value of this data cannot be underestimated. It can be worth its weight in gold and more for many companies. Some data just cannot be replaced. Who can bring back lost digital photos of the first steps of your baby? How can the loss of archival records of the last four decades be compensated? It is not possible.

Most of the data is usually stored on computer hard disks that can accommodate a whole lot of information. Commonly available hard disks have the capacity of 160 GB, though if one really needs them, those having a staggering capacity of one terabytes are also available in the market.

Manufacturers take great care to make their hard disks as reliable and sturdy as possible. However, they still represent a very complex piece of machinery and there are many things that can go wrong.

Hardware and Software Failures: Hard disks are not as reliable as they are assumed to be. They are very sophisticated pieces of engineering that can go kaput for a variety of reasons. They may stop working due to hardware failures like a malfunction in controller card, circuit board or spindle motor. Additionally, the read / write head, that is suspended less than a hair?s breadth over the platters, may come crashing down. Then there are software errors like deleted partitions, corrupted system files and virus attacks.

Disasters: Many companies are struck by natural or man-made disasters every year like fire, flood, storms, lightning strike or even a terrorist attack. When this happens, the computers are damaged quite badly and the work of the entire organisation comes to a grinding halt. They face tremendous losses as employees sit idle, work piles up and data recovery companies start their painstaking work on damaged hard disks.

On-site Data Backup

On-site backups are the most common way of storing data for companies as well as individuals.

CDs: The capacity of compact discs is not much ??just about 700 MB ??but they are great for storing text and picture files. Rewritable CDs make an ideal choice to take daily data backups if your data needs are not huge.

DVDs: These are the bigger cousins of CDs. They can hold up to 4.7 GB of data. This is a very good capacity for individuals to hold their critical data. DVDs are rewritable and their cost has crashed.

Tape Drives: Most organisations today hold their archives and daily backup in tape drives. These are quite inexpensive, can be used again and again, last for a very long time and commonly have a capacity of up to 20 GB.

Portable Hard Disk Drives: These are stand-alone drives that have recently been introduced as a viable backup media. They normally have a capacity of 160 GB and come with software that takes automatic backups at periodic intervals.

Remote Data Backup

On-site backups have one flaw ??they do not protect data against disasters like fire, floods, storms and earthquakes in which the whole office building may get destroyed. Usually, on-site backup media is stored inside the same office and when the entire building is devastated by a disaster, original data residing in the computers as well as its backup, both are lost.

That is why many vendors have started offering remote backups. In this, the data stored on your computers is sent every evening by wires to remote servers of the service provider for safe-keeping. This backup data can be accessed only by the client through a secure password.

Data Recovery is Expensive

Data backups, though they look like a hassle and a waste of money, can be life-savers. Indeed, according to statistics, one out of four companies that lost all their data, goes belly up in the next few years. It is difficult for most companies to get back on track after they have been hit by a data disaster.

Data recovery is an expensive proposition. The cost of extracting gigabytes or terabytes of data from damaged hard disks can burn a large hole in a company?s pocket. And then, too, there no surety that all the data can be successfully recovered. Data backup is like insurance ??it seems a burden in ordinary times but is great to have in an emergency.

James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you are concerned about data loss and would like more information on Data Recovery see http://www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk