June 25, 2005

Seagate Technologies’ web site now indicates the company offers data recovery services. Further investigation shows the shipping address, the place to send your subject drive for data recovery service, actually belongs to ActionFront Data Recovery. Many may already be aware of this little tidbit, to others it may be a surprise.

When asked about their arrangement Seagate’s Mike Hall responded, “The services are in trials with a limited number of customers at this time so, as with any other Seagate beta program, there’s little we can share about them other than what appears on our web site.” ActionFront’s Ron Austin responded with a simple, “No comment”. So much for gathering facts.

Hard disk drives wear-out by nature, a percentage fail prematurely, their storage content can be corrupted and often consumers neglect or are unaware of their responsibility to backup the data. Messages posted in forums and other comments I’ve received suggest that those who experience drive failures, place the blame for failure on the drive manufacturer. Subsequent occurrences almost always result in a “black-ball the brand” attitude by consumers. These people are not happy at the prospect of spending hundreds or thousands of dollars to recover data. It’s doubtful that a hard drive manufacturer offering such services will be well received.

Until this recent change hard drive manufacturers have not offered the service, presumably for liability reasons. Hence, the birth of the data recovery service industry. ActionFront is an industry leader that has, over the years, expanded at a fast pace. They are technically capable and have surpassed many competitors. They are also, quite obviously, veracious sales and marketing experts. I’ve always held the belief that if drive manufacturers offered data recovery services it would kill the independent shops. Kudos to ActionFront for such a prestigious achievement, with one caveat. It’s always dangerous for a mouse to sleep with a lion.

Any hard disk drive manufacturer would be more qualified to perform data recovery services than an independent firm. They certainly have the knowledge, equipment and technology necessary. Why would Seagate need, or want, to align themselves with any data recovery service company? Is this arrangement profitable for Seagate? Does Seagate get access to competitive technology with this arrangement? Could this be a prelude to a Seagate buyout of ActionFront? If there is no intent to purchase ActionFront, will this adversely affect Seagate in the long-run? Does ActionFront just have an excellent inside connection with Seagate? If ActionFront does have an excellent inside connection with Seagate, what technologies or information has Seagate provided to ActionFront that other data recovery shops don’t have access to? No comments and limited responses do allot to raise questions not to mention suspicion.

Some may feel that this union brings a certain amount of legitimacy to the data recovery service industry. That may be true from one point-of-view. From another point-of-view Seagate stands to lose goodwill if consumers perceive the company as taking advantage of them. There is no foreseeable benefit to the consumer, as there is no apparent motivation for ActionFront to reduce prices or improve service as a result of the alliance. For now there is only one clear winner, and that’s ActionFront.

Richard K. Myers Owner/Webmaster http://www.data-recovery-hub.com

"We apologize for the inconvenience, but Windows could not be accessed or located."

It happens to the best of us. A complete operating system failure. One day you might turn on your p.c. and that dreadful message is on your screen as plain as day. You don’t know what you could have possibly done, as your computer was working fine just a little while ago.

Panic is usually the first thing to set in. Something like an operating system failure can literally put home business owners out of business indefinitely. The cost and time involved in trying to repair a p.c. and the months or even years of lost information is overwhelming and frightening to think about.

This doesn’t have to happen to you if you are prepared.

When you think about it, our businesses are at the mercy of technology. The technology is only as good as long as it’s working properly. What a wonderful world we would live in if technology were flawless.

The reality is that systems fail. Computers are machines and machines sometimes break down. It doesn’t get any simpler that than. We have no other choice than to be prepared for when those times come, especially IF we want to make sure our home business suffers very little down time.

There are some very easy things you can do right now to make ensure your peace of mind for your business. You need to be back up and running as quickly as possible in the event of an operating system crash.

1. Document everything including usernames, passwords, merchant account numbers, important websites and especially software unlock codes. Anything that is not written down on paper is subject to be lost.

2. Back up your hard-drive as necessary for how often you have new updates that you cannot afford to lose or rebuild.

** Important! If you have to completely reinstall your operating system, the "My Documents" folder is usually lost. Make sure you don’t forget this folder when you do the back up.

3. Make sure all of your .exe, zip and software install files are on a disk. This is easily done by backing them up or burning them onto a CD. You should already have the system restoration and any other store-bought software disks handy.

The actual repair or reinstall of your operating system may simple or it may be complicated. If you are well versed in this area, you may be able to restore the system yourself. If you’re like most of us, you may have to call a computer repair professional.

When your p.c. is restored, you will be able to simply reinstall your software and documents files from the disks you created. If you have access to a secondary p.c., you can install your programs on the backup computer in the interim.

Regardless, you will rest much easier knowing that you have taken some basic steps necessary to prepare yourself and protect your business.

This very same scenario happened to me just recently. It could have been a disaster for my business, but it wasn’t. I was prepared and was back up and running within 24 hours.

Don’t wait until it’s too late.

To Your Success!

Patty Gale

Patty Gale is a successful entrepreneur who specializes in personalization and customer care for all her clients. She exchanged her suits, hose and heels for working at home in her "jammies" and is on a mission to empower other women to do the same.

She can be reached at http://www.Home-Office-Recovery-Plan.com

WinUndelete
http://www.deprice.com/winundelete.htm

WinUndelete™ is an easy to use undelete software utility to recover deleted files from hard drives, floppy disks, zip drives, USB external flash drives, digital camera cards, and more. Its unique and exclusive SmartScan technology completes those impossible recovery tasks that other software cannot touch - SmartScan quickly locates and restores deleted files. WinUndelete works with Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, 2003 and can recover data from both FAT and NTFS file systems.

Filerecovery Professional
http://www.deprice.com/filerecoveryprofessional.htm

FILERECOVERY Professional can detect drives even if they are not visible in explorer. The full directory structure of the drive is displayed (Even on NTFS Drives where it is recoverable) and the built in search feature makes finding files much easier. The Recovery Wizard allows even novice users to successfully recover lost data. Supports Hard Drives, RAIDS, Most Removable Media, SmartMedia, CompactFlash, Memory Sticks and Micro Drives.

BadCopy Pro
http://www.deprice.com/badcopypro.htm

BadCopy Pro is a leading data recovery software for floppy disks, CD-ROMs, CD-R/Ws, digital media, zip disks, and other storage media. BadCopy Pro can effectively recover and rescue corrupted or lost data from damaged, unreadable, or defective disks. The software supports all kinds of damage situations and all file types.

Recover My Files
http://www.deprice.com/recovermyfiles.htm

Recover My Files Data Recovery Software will bring back files emptied from the Recycle Bin, from a formatted disk, lost due to a system crash or virus infection, and will even recover temporary files for documents never even saved. Recovery takes 4 simple steps, no technical skill is required. Recover My Files Data Recovery Software will recover documents that undelete programs won’t find! It searches every sector of your hard drive to recognize deleted files by their internal format. You may be surprised what deleted documents are lurking on your hard disk without your knowledge. The demo includes a FREE Preview which allows you to see deleted files before you decide to buy.

Recover My Photos
http://www.deprice.com/recovermyphotos.htm

Recover My Photos is a powerful data recovery program to recover deleted photos including JPEG, NEF, TIFF, BMP, MOV, MPEG and WAV. Works on Smart Media, Compact Flash, Memory Sticks, hard drives, floppy disks, Zip disks, USB drives. With Recover My Photos you can recover your precious photos even after your digital camera media has been formatted.

John Deprice knows all the inside secrets of picking the right software to recover files. He makes his findings publically available at http://www.deprice.com/utilities.htm

There is a common problem that happens with lot of computer users. This problem is the loss of a password. It happens to many of us due to the enormous number of application we use.

Also, it can happen due to other reasons, like forgetting to keep the passwords in a safe place, or failing to update your password list after a change was made to it.

In this case, when you need to recall the password, you will be surprised to find out, that your password list doesn’t help you since you forgot to update your record.

Without a doubt, losing access to your computer is disastrous and is near impossible to regain, if you can’t recall your password.

You will lose all your saved work, applications, programs, and whatever you have saved on your computer. You will have to go through a new installation, which is time consuming.

This is assuming you still can locate your original CD-ROM and registration key.

The best solution to this big problem is to prevent it if you can. You may not be able to prevent this problem from happening, that is the loss of access to your Windows XP computer.

However, there is one simple tool you can use right away that will prepare you to regain access to your computer. Even if you lost the password, and unable to recall it at all.

The trick is to use the tool before the problem happens. Once you prepare yourself, and get the toll ready, you will be able to regain access to your computer.

Here is the solution: Creating a reset disk.

When you are logged on you computer, you open the control panel from the Start Menu, and click open the user accounts option. Is is an icon inside the control panel window.

Now, another window will open, with the title user accounts. In the top left side of this window, you will see "Related Tasks". Under the relate tasks, there is a link that says : "prevent a forgotten password".

Once you click on this link, a wizard will open that will guide you in two steps to create a "Password Reset Disk". It will prompt you to enter a formatted floppy disk, and then it will create the disk.

The resulting disk will let you reset the password in case you lost the password. What you do is click on the "?" or help in the login box, so the system will prompt you to enter the Reset password disk you created before.

Once you enter the floppy disk, and hit ok, you will be presented with a box with three inputs. The first is the new password, the second is the password confirmation, and the third is the password hint.

In summary, creating a reset password disk, will save you lots of trouble, time, and loss of data. It is simple, and you can use this method on any Windows Xp computer, whether home, or Pro. edition. Don’t delay it, create your disk once you are done reading this article.

Thanks, George Chamoun

For tips about your Windows XP computer, visit our new website: http://www.ResolveWindowsXpProblems.com

ITS ALL IN THE PLANNING - PREPARING FOR THE UNTHINKABLE

* Make it clear who needs to do what, and who takes responsibility for what.

* Appoint deputies for key roles.

* Use checklists that people can follow easily.

* Include clear, direct instructions for the crucial first hour after an incident.

* Include a list of things that do not need to be considered until after the first hour.

* Agree how often you will check your plan to ensure it is always a “living document”. Update it to reflect changes in personnel and in the risks you may face.

* A good plan will be simple without being simplistic. You can’t plan in detail for every event. Remember that people need to be able to react quickly in an emergency; there will be no time to read lots of detail.

* Plan for worst-case scenarios. If your plan covers how to get back in business if a flood destroys your building, it will also work if just one floor is flooded.

FIVE STEPS TO GET ROUND DISRUPTION

Step 1 Analyse your Business

Step 2 Assess the Risks

Step 3 Develop your Strategy

Step 4 Develop your Plan

Step 5 Rehearse your Plan

People to contact who can give you advice:
Archival Record Management plc: info@armplc.com
AXA Insurance:axa4business.co.uk
Norwich Union: nu-riskservices.co.uk
The Federation of Small Businesses: contact local branch
Institute of Directors: 020 7766 8766

Terry Cohen is a director of Archival Record Management plc who looks after the data that other businesses create; in a controlled & safe environment. He can be contacted on 0207 703 3915 or email:tc@londonweb.net

If You are running an Online Work at home Business it is very critical that you create a well organized directory structure. The Obvious advantage of an organized Directory structure is it makes it easy to find what you need. A Less Obvious but More Important Reason is it makes it easy to back up your Online Business Files if they are all in the Same Place.

A very Simple Directory Structure for an Online Business Mimics a File Cabinet. You would have 3 Level of Directories. Your Top level would be the File Cabinet, Your 2nd Level would be the File Drawers and your 3rd Level would be your File Folders.

Step 1 (File Cabinet)

Decide where to place your Top Level Online Business Directory. I suggest creating a Directory Directly under My Documents called My Online Business. You may want to think of this Top Level Directory as a File Cabinet with many Drawers

Step 2 (File Drawers)

Decide what are your 2nd Level Directories (The Drawers of your File Cabinet). Here are some of my 2nd Level Directories or Drawers

Step 3 (File Folders)

Decide what are the 3rd Level Directories or file Folders Here is what a Finished Directory Structure Might Look Like

• My Documents
• My Online Business

• My Programs
  • My Ad Trackers
  • My Domains
  • My E-mail Accounts
  • My Free Programs
  • My ISP Accounts
  • My Moneymakers
• My Downloads

Now when you want to backup your Business Files all you need to do is copy your Online Business Directory to tape, CD, DVD or some other back-up Device.

About The Author:
Mike Makler has been Marketing Online Since 2001 When he Built an Organization of over 100,000 Members

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Copyright © 2005-2006 Mike Makler the Coolest Guy in the Universe

With Adware, SpyWare, E-Mail Viruses, Java Script Viruses and Hardware failures It isn’t a matter of If you will loose your Data it is a matter of When you will loose your Data! By spending a few extra minutes now using a Simple Back Up Strategy, you can save yourself big headaches later.

You Should Always have a Full Backup of your Online Business Directory and all it’s subdirectories for the Last 4 Weeks as well daily incremental backups for a month or More. In Addition you should have Monthly off site Backups. I actually Backup my Entire My Documents Directory. My Tools are:

1. 5 DVD-RWs
2. Sharpie Permanent Marker
3. A Calendar
4. A Stack of DVD-Rs
5. A Small 64 MB USB Hard Drive

Weekly Rotating Backups

• Get a calendar Pick one day a Week (Tuesday). Number each Tuesday from 1-5 over and over

By Following the Above Weekly Rotating Backups Instructions you will always have 5 Weeks of backup.

Monthly Offsite Backups

On the Last Friday of the Month burn your Entire My Documents folder to a DVD-R and store it Offsite. Use your Sharpie Permanent Marker to wtite the Month and Year of the Backup.

Daily Incremental BAckups

For Daily Incremental Backups use a Small 64Mb USB Hard drive (Lately it seems you can’t buy anything smaller then 256MB I Have seen them on sale for about $15) . A CD-RW or DVD-RW will work just as well as a USB Hard Drive. It just seems easier and faster to copy to the USB hard Drive.

1. create 12 Directories on the USB Hard Drive one for each Month Jan, Feb., …. Dec..
2. Every Time you create a File in your Business Directory place a copy of it in the proper month on the USB Drive.
3. If you run Out of room on the USB drive simply Empty the Directory of the Oldest Month. ( So If you run out of room in September and you have Data in May, June July and August. Simply Delete all the Files in May. If you still need room delete all the Files in June then July. If You still need room buy another USB Hard Drive.

By following the above Backup system you will always be know I am fully protected when that dreaded Disk Crash, Virus, or even Gremlins cause some or all of your data to be lost. For Many people CDRs and CDRWs work just as well. If your Online Business Directory is Small enough you can simply burn a New CD every week. You can use a Similar system with Zip Drives or even Tape. The Key is to do some sort of back up of your critical business files on a regular basis.

About The Author:
Mike Makler has been Marketing Online Since 2001 When he Built an Organization of over 100,000 Members

Get Mike’s Newsletter:
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http://ewguru.com/tips

Permission Based E_Mail Marketing Methods
http://ewguru.com/hbiz/amazingoffer.html

Copyright © 2005-2006 Mike Makler the Coolest Guy in the Universe

Here is a Case study of how Online Business owners affected by Hurricane Katrina got through the crisis. We can all learn from their stories.

Business owner 1 ran a very successful online storefront from his home in the Gulf Coast region. He ran his business off a desktop computer. When he heard the Hurricane Warnings he backed his data up using a DVD Recorder. He also decided to buy that laptop he had wanted for so long. He took his DVD back-up and restored it to his laptop and did a few hours of testing to make sure his laptop was operational. After he was sure he had a good backup copy. He Made 3 Copies of his DVD Backup. He mailed one DVD to a relative in Arizona. He placed the 2nd DVD Backup in a Safe Deposit box in his bank and he left the 3rd DVD backup with his laptop computer. On Sunday when the mandatory evacuation order came he moved his home desktop computer to his attic. He grabbed his Laptop and a suitcase and drove to Safety. Today 2 weeks after the Hurricane Katrina Disaster he is running his online business from his hotel room on his laptop.

Our second business owner lives in the St. Louis Area 700 Miles from the Hurricane Katrina Disaster Area. His online business was hosted by a New Orleans based company. Hearing about the Hurricane he decided to log into his CPanel and backup his web site. He downloaded the backup to his personal computer. A few days later when his Host went down because of the Hurricane Katrina he simply found a new host restore his web page from his backup to his new host. Changed his Name Servers with his registrar and he was back in business a few days later when the new Name Servers Propagated across the Internet.

You got me both business owners are fictional, However the stories they tell are important. You need to be prepared for a disaster. In both cases our business owners were able to recover from Hurricane Katrina by listening to the warnings and doing make the required preparations. What if there had been no warnings? What if this had been a Fire, Earthquake, Theft or Terrorist Attack? Neither of our business owners would have been prepared. Are you prepared? Consider this your warning. Backup your data. Place a copy of that backup in a safe place nearby. Mail a copy of that backup to a trusted friend or associate 1,000 miles or more away.

About The Author:
Mike Makler has been Marketing Online Since 2001 When he Built an Organization of over 100,000 Members

Get Mike’s Newsletter:
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More Articles by Mike:
http://ewguru.com/tips

Permission Based E_Mail Marketing Methods
http://ewguru.com/hbiz/amazingoffer.html

Copyright © 2005-2006 Mike Makler the Coolest Guy in the Universe

Think about it!

When you start a business you create a business plan. When you want to bring a product to market, you create a marketing plan.

Doesn’t it make sense to create a Business Continuity Plan to save your business? Of course it does!

Not every business disruption is caused by a major disaster. In fact, most are caused by everyday problems.

The night maintenance crew accidentally unplugged the server. An employee attempted to access a database that was being upgraded and corrupted the information it contained. Or the transformer down the street blew up during a sudden thunder storm.

In each case, your company could have been negatively impacted!

A solid business resumption plan would have predefined your responses to any of these situations. In fact, it would have helped you avoid the first two and greatly reduced the impact of the last.

Consider these statistics:

• 52% of American companies have had operations seriously interrupted because of computer hardware problems…

• 43% American companies have had operations negatively impacted because of problems with their software…

• 34% have had business operations seriously interrupted because of human error…

• 75% of companies impacted by a serious catastrophic event fail within two to five years…

Yes, a good business resumption plan is a time consuming project. Yes, you do not have enough time for the projects you already have. Much less the time to take on something new!

Ask yourself these simple questions.

1. What would happen to my business if all of my customer data were destroyed?

2. What would happen to my business if my building was flooded or destroyed?

If the answers to questions like these have only negative outcomes, then you need the services of a professional Business Continuity Planner.

Call on now!

Parrott Writing Services, a San Antonio Texas company specializing in web content, ghostwriting, website optimization, online/offline ad copy and technical writing to small businesses.

http://www.rickparrott.com

Send an email to: EBOOK@sasecure.net for a FREE electronic copy of my eBook on Computer Security!

"Disaster preparedness" sounds dry, even dull … until your business takes a major hit from circumstances beyond your control. The sudden devastation shakes you to the core. What do you do?

According to The Gartner Group, an IT industry consulting firm, four out of ten businesses hurt by disaster never get back on their feet. Two out of ten more go out of business within two years after a catastrophic event. The numbers are even more staggering for small and micro-businesses.

Ironically, smaller companies and home-based businesses are in a better position to recover quickly - if they’ve taken a few steps in advance to prepare. You can’t stop the force of nature. But you can keep your business from becoming another statistic!

Here are three fundamentals to greatly increase the odds that your small business will survive a disaster:

1. Back up your data. Computer files and sensitive papers are irreplaceable once they’re destroyed. If you work at home, copy your files daily and place the back ups and important papers in a fire- and water-resistant safe. Most small businesses don’t do this! But you must if you intend to quickly resume operations after the moment passes. If possible, keep your back ups in a separate location from your office.

2. Insure what you can’t afford to lose. This usually elicits a "sure … right!" from home-based business operators, especially early in their new careers. But can you afford to pay the replacement costs yourself? Also, make sure to keep updating your inventory and equipment list so that you can later prove your claim. Keep that list in your safe as well.

3. Network to cover your customers during your down-time. Make friends with other business owners who provide the same services that you do. Contrary to popular belief, you will likely gain your customers’ loyalty by helping them meet their needs elsewhere until you’re back in service. And if you think about it, they’ll have to go elsewhere anyway while you’re putting things back together!

These three steps - backing up your data, insuring what you can’t afford to lose, and networking with other service providers - will protect your business from most unnecessary harm due to disaster. They won’t cover everything but they will get you to "higher ground" if the unthinkable happens.

You can’t plan for everything. But most businesses that succumb to catastrophe do so because they missed the basics. The terrible moments always pass. Will your business still be standing?

(For more information on preparing your business for surviving and recovering from disaster, please see the expanded article series at the website listed below.)

(c) 2005 Michael Riley. All rights reserved.

Michael Riley is a freelance business writer and editor specializing in trade press and association publications. His website includes expanded coverage of this topic, as well as information on marketing your small business and improving customer relations. http://www.bymichaelriley.com