Data recovery for the average organization using computers is the process of extracting or salvaging data from damaged or otherwise inaccessible storage media. Data is usually recovered from a variety of common storage media including hard disk, backup tapes, optical discs, and other media types. Damage to storage media usually comes as a result of hardware failure, human error and accidents, or disasters resulting in physical damage due to power failures, fires or floods and moisture damage. Data recovery in the field of computer forensics refers to the process of extracting deleted data from storage media.
Due to the number of different factors involved, no data recovery method can guarantee the recoverability of data. Some backup providers use a self-healing data backup process which automatically corrects logical inconsistencies, duplicate files and other problematic data while data is being backed up.
Data recovery methods vary depending upon the source of backup data. Tape backup is most commonly used for data recoveries, although independent analysts have reported failure rates in tape data recovery as high as 20 to 50 percent. Organizations using offsite
disk-to-disk backup typically enjoy higher
data recovery success rates, since remote backup systems such as CRC DataProtection have autonomous self-healing data copying built in to their software architecture. Additionally, backup service providers like this offer
continuous data protection (CDP) which dramatically improves recovery point objectives (RPOs) and minimizes business disruptions or data loss discrepancies.
