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The Importance of Data Archiving

Friday, December 11, 2009
posted by dsclarkkk

The Importance of Data Archiving

It is no secret that we now live in the information age. Throughout our daily lives, we are constantly bombarded with information. Whether coming from emails, text messages, television commercials, radio advertisements, print ads, billboards, or flyers, information is everywhere. Along with this barrage comes the need to manage the information.

For most of us, a simple turn of the dial or change of the channel suffices, but it is still there. Where did it come from? Where does it go? It comes from as diverse a source as the media it appeared in. That being said, every form of media has a commonality. What is the one thing that every form of information we are exposed to has in common? It is all data… simple, right? Someone somewhere captured or created an image or phrase and designed the advertisement for all of us to view. This data is saved, distributed, and finally archived. That is its life cycle.

During all of these stages, the data must be properly managed. Data management can have many different considerations. Where is the data saved? What is it saved or captured with? How can we gain access to it after it has been archived? The answer to all of these lies with the modern computer. At every stage of the life cycle, a computer is involved with the process.

In a photo studio a computer is used to download the media card form the camera. In an office somewhere, a computer is used to write the written portion of the advertisement. A computer is then used to disburse the final product. Once the data has been used, it is archived with a computer.

Data archiving is defined as “the consistent removal of closed business transactions or master data from the database and their relocation to the storage system.” If you ever need access to it again, a computer is used to retrieve it. Each of these computers has a hard drive. These are the long term memory banks of the machine where the data is stored. Each of these hard drives has the potential to fail.

What happens to your data if there is a hard drive failure? You guessed it; you stand to lose every byte of data on it. Often, when there is a hardware failure of this sort, people frantically take their computers to service repair shops in a desperate attempt to recover the data. If something besides the hard drive failed, the data can usually be recovered. If the hard drive itself experienced a problem, you are probably out of luck.

This means those pictures of your baby’s first steps or your child’s graduation could be lost forever. That is unless you enlist the assistance of a data recovery services firm. These companies make preparations in advance to insure you against data loss. The way it works is simple. You tell them how often to back up the data on your hard drive and the data is there if you ever need a hard drive data recovery.