Backup And Storage Options We Should All Consider

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Data backup and storage are critical. Most of the time, we overlook them. In worst-case scenarios, we might even ignore and disregard them.

Only when a disaster strikes, do we find ourselves saying, “We should have backed up!” That should never be the case. Regret is never going to get us anywhere.

While data backup and storage probably aren’t the first things that come to mind when looking at your IT strategy for 2019, business owners should understand that they are part of your technology foundation and could be key to your success this year. Storage, for example, is the vital base for your cloud and data center, and backup capabilities are a requirement in today’s interconnected world.

(Via: https://betanews.com/2019/05/02/backup-storage-in-2019/)

These days, natural disasters aren’t the only threats to the workplace. Unfortunately, there are now more as compared to before. While technology has made it easier for businesses, it has also made it more vulnerable to data loss and theft.

We read about it nearly every day: Cyber attacks against businesses of all sizes are on the rise

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The Most Important Thing To Do Before Selling Your Old Computer

Posted on Admin2Leave a commentPosted in Computer Tips, Hard Drive Technology

The excitement sets in. You can’t wait to get a new computer. However, you have to sell your old one first. That’s not a problem because you can always sell it online. Just as soon as you delete all the data in your computer, you can start selling it online. Easy as a pie, right?

Apparently, it’s not that easy. You see, you might be giving more than just a hardware. The data, you thought you deleted, could easily be retrieved by the buyer.

A team of researchers purchased some second-hand hard drives on Ebay that still had some data stored on them.

After applying data recovery tools to those drives, they found that 42% of them had at least some data. Even more concerning, about three out of every 20 of the drives had personally identifiable information, including scanned images of passports and birth certificates, as well as financial records.

Some of the drives also included corporate data. One had 5GB of archived internal email messages from a major travel company, and another, 3GB of shipping details and other

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Cloud Backup Firm Report Shows The Importance Of Data Backup

Posted on Admin2Leave a commentPosted in Hard Drive Technology

Yes, your data should be backed up. It’s very important that all your computer files are backed up. If they’re not, you could lose them forever, whether you’re talking about a Windows, or a Mac system.

Here’s another thing to consider when it comes to data backup. Just because all your data are safely backed up to a hard drive doesn’t mean they’re safe. You need to factor in hard drive failures that can eventually compromise your data. If you’re not factoring in hard drive failures, then your backups are in danger.

Here’s the reason why. Based on a report from a leading cloud backup firm, hard drive failures are on the rise.

The latest hard drive reliability report from Backblaze, a cloud backup company that routinely publicizes failure rates among the drives in its employ, noted some interesting trends in the first quarter. For one, HDD failures as a whole have gone up. At the same time, the reports shows that larger capacity HDDs in the range of 8TB to 14TB are no more prone to failure than

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4 Troubleshooting Tips For Your External Hard Drive

Posted on Admin2Leave a commentPosted in Computer Tips

External hard drives are heaven sent. Even with cloud technology, physical devices, like external hard drives, are still great backup and storage options.

Backing up your data is important, and while storing information on the cloud has become second nature to most, there’s still nothing like having everything saved on a physical device.

(Via: https://sea.pcmag.com/gallery/32439/what-to-do-when-your-external-hard-drive-wont-show-up)

External hard drives are always very easy to use.

You plug them in, they appear on your computer, and you can drag files right on over.

(Via: https://sea.pcmag.com/gallery/32439/what-to-do-when-your-external-hard-drive-wont-show-up)

Unfortunately, no external drive is infallible. No matter what brand, an external hard drive is bound to fail.

If your drive isn’t appearing when you plug it in, you might have a problem. Here are a few troubleshooting steps you can take to remedy the situation.

(Via: https://sea.pcmag.com/gallery/32439/what-to-do-when-your-external-hard-drive-wont-show-up)

The first tip is pretty simple. You just have to make sure that your external hard drive is plugged in and turned on.

While some drives can draw enough power from your computer’s USB port, others—especially larger drives not intended to be portable—may require wall power

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Photographers Share Proven Ways To Organize Digital Photos

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Your photos are priceless. They depict moments that can never be replicated. Thanks to smartphones, it’s so easy to seize the moment. You can take hundreds or maybe even thousands of photos to seize the moment. The only downside is that you’ll have too many photos to organize.

Organizing photos, whether they’re digital or not, could be very time consuming. Unfortunately, deleting some of them could be heartbreaking as well. There really is no easy way to organize all your photos. One thing for sure, you need to back them up. Just in case.

It’s never been easier to take literally thousands of photos every week, whether they’re of your worldly travels or your everyday antics. But then, what do you do with all of those pictures? Unless you’re going to print and then delete them on a regular basis, it’s a good idea to back them up in some way — both for the purpose of freeing up space on your phone or camera, and as a fall-back in case you somehow lose the originals.

(Via: https://www.mic.com/p/the-best-way-to-organize-digital-photos-according-to-professional-photographers-17303526)

The …

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How To Be Productive When You Can’t Connect To The Internet

Posted on Admin2Leave a commentPosted in Computer Tips

It’s frustrating when there’s no internet. You can’t seem to do anything. Everything you do seems to be dependent on the internet. So, when you can’t connect, you can’t work.

It doesn’t have to be that way. You can still stay productive even if you can’t connect to the internet. Here’s a list of things to do when you can’t seem to connect to the internet.

The first on the list of things to do to stay productive is to check out services that aren’t web-based.

When greeted with that dreaded “Unable to Connect” message, you may be tempted to play Google’s Dinosaur Game for the rest of the day. But you can do better. Plenty of online services allow offline access, including Gmail, Google Docs, and Google Calendar. You won’t be able to download new messages or sync new files, obviously, but you’ll be able to see whatever was there the last time your computer was online.

You may, however, be unable to allow offline access while you’re disconnected, so it’s important to plan ahead by checking your settings

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Have You Backed Up Your Mac Computer?

Posted on Admin2Leave a commentPosted in Operating System

Is your  Mac backed up? If it’s not, then back it up. Just because it’s a Mac, doesn’t mean it’s spared from any kind of damage. You have to think ahead. Back up your Mac to protect your data.

Backing up your computer is probably not something you think about every day. But even if it hasn’t been at the top of your mind lately, it will inevitably become important.

Just think about how your computer will work two or three or five years from now — what will happen to all of your data if your Mac suddenly goes black-screen on you?

(Via: https://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-backup-mac)

There’s really no reason for you not to back up your Mac. Considering how easy it is, especially with the new OS, you should just do it.

Even though most people know they should backup their information, the motivation isn’t always strong enough to make it happen. Luckily, Macs are really easy to back up.

In fact, they’re designed to do it, all you have to do is pick a backup method and

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Windows 7: Thanks For The Memories

Posted on Admin2Leave a commentPosted in Computer Tips, Operating System

It’s heartbreaking. The end is near for Windows 7. We have been warned but it’s really hard to accept it. In less than a year, there will be no more support for Windows 7.

Computer expert, Klaus Fuechsel, shares his sentiments on the slow and sad passing of Windows 7. 

You may have seen a “Microsoft courtesy reminder” screen telling you that “support for Windows 7 is nearing the end!” Usually pop-ups with dire warnings and lots of exclamation points are not trustworthy. However, in this case, the message most likely is from Microsoft! Why?

On Oct. 22, 2009, Windows 7 was released to the public and on Jan. 13, 2020, it reaches the end of its extended support from Microsoft. You may continue using it, but there will be no more updates for this Windows version. Unless you are part of an organization that pays Microsoft to get up to three additional years of updates, the security of your system will disintegrate slowly but surely. I have clients who still have Windows XP units (whose support ended in 2014).

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Keep Your Computer Safe From Ransomware

Posted on Admin2Leave a commentPosted in Computer Tips

Ransomware is the latest cyber threat. It silently infects your computer. You won’t be able to  access your files. Don’t become a victim. Read on to learn more about it.

This week on “60 Minutes,” correspondent Scott Pelley reports on the growing cyber threat called ransomware, a type of malware that locks up a victim’s files and denies access to a computer system until money is paid with a digital currency that is hard to trace. While Pelley’s report focuses on the effects of ransomware, the experts he spoke with said most attacks can be prevented.

(Via: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ransomware-prevent-your-computer-from-being-infected-60-minutes-2019-05-05/)

Although it could be prevented, some cities have already been hit by it.

The cities of Newark, Atlanta, and Sarasota have been hit. So have Cleveland’s airport and San Francisco’s transit authority. When the cyberattack targeted Leeds, Alabama, its mayor had no access to email, personnel files, or financial systems.

(Via: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ransomware-prevent-your-computer-from-being-infected-60-minutes-2019-05-05/)

There are ways to prevent a ransom attack. Know more about them so that you could keep your computer safe from ransomware.

The first thing you can do …

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Expert Shares Her Thoughts On Data Recovery And Windows 10

Posted on Admin2Leave a commentPosted in Hard Drive Technology

Windows 10 is very popular these days. Most computer users are using this particular OS. That’s why it is always good to hear from the experts as to what their thoughts are regarding this very popular OS.

Continuing its informative series of blogs surrounding hard drive technology and operating systems, including MacOS, Hard Drive Recovery Group discusses the popularity of Microsoft Corporation’s Windows 10, easily the dominant OS when it comes to PCs.

“It’s really an amazing situation that PCs continue to use Microsoft Windows so long after the OS really made its debut in 1985,” said Maureen Davies, spokesperson for Hard Drive Recovery Group. “There have certainly been a ton of hiccups along the way, but despite some slight moves by Google’s Chrome and Android, we’re still talking about the absolutely most dominant OS that the world has ever seen.”

(Via: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/4276841 )

Let me iterate. Windows is immensely popular among computer users. Now when it comes to smartphones, it’s Android. This might raise a couple of eyebrows out there but come on, it’s true.

While Android did gain

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Tracking Down A Lost Hard Drive Can Be Devastating

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A lost hard drive is bad news. No one wants to lose a hard drive, especially one that’s filled with valuable data like family photos and videos. That would be heartbreaking. Sacred family memories should always be kept private. They should never be handed over to complete strangers. It’s just too dangerous.

A hard drive can be filled with so many kinds of data. For it get lost or stolen just widens the possibility of exposing data to complete strangers. That pretty much explains why a man, in a particular news article dated March 9, 2019, is heartbroken after losing his hard drive filled with family memories.

Tymes Marsh has been documenting his three-year old son, Wes. He started from the day Wes came home from the hospital.

Tymes Marsh says since the day his three-year-old son Wes was born, he’s been documenting every memory. From the trip home from the hospital to his first steps, even swim lessons.

(Via: https://www.abc15.com/news/region-phoenix-metro/central-phoenix/valley-man-trying-to-track-down-cherished-hard-drive-filled-with-family-memories)

There is a very good reason as to why Tymes went on to document the life of his …

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What Does A Hard Drive Do?

Posted on Admin2Leave a commentPosted in Hard Drive Technology

A hard drive stores data. From a layman’s point of view, that is the main function of a hard drive. It stores our precious digital data.

Apparently, the function of a hard drive can get more interesting than that. In the future, a hard drive can do more than just that.

Eggheads at the University of Michigan in the US, and Zhejiang University in China, have found that hard disk drives (HDDs) can be turned into listening devices, using malicious firmware and signal processing calculations.

(Via: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/03/07/hard_drive_eavesdropping/)

So, if you think that only walls have ears; think again. Here’s how two computer scientists are making it possible for hard drives to eavesdrop.

For a study titled “Hard Drive of Hearing: Disks that Eavesdrop with a Synthesized Microphone,” computer scientists Andrew Kwong, Wenyuan Xu, and Kevin Fu describe an acoustic side-channel that can be accessed by measuring how sound waves make hard disk parts vibrate.

“Our research demonstrates that the mechanical components in magnetic hard disk drives behave as microphones with sufficient precision to extract and parse human speech,” their

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Data Analysis Vs. Data Visualization: What’s The Difference?

Posted on Admin2Leave a commentPosted in Enterprise Data Security

We all work with data. Smart decisions can’t be made without data. It’s safe to say that data make the work go around. Just imagine if there weren’t any data. Where would we all be? We’d all be back in the dark ages where our survival was based merely on hunting for food. We have definitely gone a long way since then because our survival now relies on data.

Nowadays, the data industry has grown immensely. From data practitioners to data scientists, several skill sets have been created to deal solely with data.

Numerous job adverts focus on data visualization skills while not necessarily specifying the importance of analytical skills. Job titles reflect this trend with the emergence of new roles such as ‘data artist’, ‘data visualization expert’ and ‘data storyteller’, but organizations are still looking for people who can extract value from their data, so these roles must include analytical skills.

(Via: https://www.forbes.com/sites/evamurray/2019/03/29/what-is-the-difference-between-data-analysis-and-data-visualization/#3d7c8c606411)

In this huge data community, there are two terms that are bit confusing. These two data terms are data analysis and data visualization. What’s the …

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Keeping Online Data Safe With The Latest Tools

Posted on Admin2Leave a commentPosted in Enterprise Data Security

Online data sharing is easy nowadays. As matter of fact, it just takes a click to share data online. Once data is shared online, it automatically reaches a wide range of audiences. As convenient as it may seem, it could get quite dangerous. It’s hard to guarantee the privacy of online data.

Advances in digital technology are challenging our concept of privacy. In today’s world, huge volumes of data are being collected, shared and stored in unprecedented ways and at tremendous speeds. Everything we do with our connected devices generates data that can be used or misused without our knowledge. Controlling when and how our personal data is used by others seems impossible, especially since sharing this information is an integral part of our participation in today’s society.

(Via: https://phys.org/news/2019-04-tools-online-misuse.html)

Technology has made online data sharing inevitable. Even if you refuse to share data online, you will still find bits and pieces of your personal information floating on the world wide web. It’s just the way it is these days and there’s no way you can stop online data …

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Here’s How You Can Transfer Data From One Phone To Another

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It could be pretty tedious. If you have to transfer data from one phone to another, it could take up a lot of your time. It’s for that reason that some folks would rather stick to their old smartphone. Even if they’re tempted to upgrade, they’d rather not.

With the influx of smartphones, it’s a must to upgrade. After all, you wouldn’t want to miss out on the latest features of a leading smartphone, would you? In that case, you would just have to allot some time to transfer data from one phone to another. But if you read on, you’d know that it isn’t so hard to do after all.

Here’s how you can transfer data from android to android.

1. When you turn on your new phone, the first few steps will be the normal Terms and Conditions kinds of screens. As you tap through, you’ll eventually be asked if you want to bring your data over to the new phone, and you’ll be asked to pick where the data should come from.
2. Tap “A Backup from

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Seagate’s Latest 14TB Hard Drives Provide More Business Storage

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It’s time for some good news. Seagate announces their latest 14TB hard drives. Needless to say, they are all suitable for storing a huge amount of business files.

The data storage solutions provider recently launched its advanced range of 14TB hard-discs that includes SkyHawk that can store over 9000 hours of HD video, IronWolf for your NAS needs, and the Barracuda Pro for desktop computing.

(Via: https://smallbiztrends.com/2018/09/seagate-14tb-drives.html)

The first on the list of Seagate’s latest hard drives is the Barracuda Pro. This is a helium-based drive that is very durable. There’s hardly any friction inside this super light-weight drive. That’s a good thing because it lessens the wear and tear of this particular hard drive. Needless to say, the Barracuda Pro has a longer lifespan. It’s perfect for small businesses that deal with a great amount of data.

The Barracuda Pro offers small businesses, IT staff and creative professionals with industry leading 7200 RPM spin speed and transfer rates of up to 250 MB/s are possible. What this simply means is that you can now efficiently transfer large files

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Hard Drive Failure: One Of The Most Annoying Tech Problems

Posted on Admin2Leave a commentPosted in Computer Tips

Tech problems are annoying. While technology is supposed to make things a lot easier for us, it could also lead to a lot of frustrating situations. When technology breaks down, we break down as well. The fact that we can’t get any work done because of an annoying tech problem is enough to drive us nuts.

Of course, there are extreme cases. Some people actually throw a fit when faced with an annoying tech problem, such as a hard drive failure.

One in eight British people have broken their gadgets or tech in a fit of rage, a survey claims.

(Via: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/tech-gadget-break-anger-top-problems-survey-a8840781.html)

The survey should not justify our rage. After all, a hot temper will not solve a problem. The survey just proves that we aren’t the only ones going crazy when faced with a tech problem, such as a hard drive failure.

Commissioned by online mobile and tech supporter Wiztek, the poll of 2,000 adults found that many people have lost patience with their tech devices at some point.

On average, those polled said they will experience 63

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Upgrade Your PC With A Western Digital Solid State Drive

Posted on Admin2Leave a commentPosted in Computer Tips, SSD Drives

Is your PC aging? Does it need more storage space? Well, if your answer is yes to both questions, there’s no need to throw out your aging PC. Yes, you can still keep your PC and save a couple of bucks. Instead, you can upgrade it by  adding a Western Digital solid-state drive.

One of the simplest ways to get extra performance and squeeze more life out of an aging PC is by upgrading the storage to a more spacious or faster solid-state drive. This is especially true if your system relies on a slower hard disk drive. Though solid-state drives, or SSDs, are generally more expensive than their hard drive counterparts, Western Digital is making the upgrade more affordable for consumers with the launch of the WD Blue SN500 NVMe SSD, which starts at $55 and uses the faster NVMe technology, rather than the cheaper SATA-based SSDs.

(Via: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/western-digital-wd-blue-sn500-ssd/)

While the price range of Western Digital’s 500GB WD Blue PC Mobile hard drive is lower than Crucial’s P1 and Samsung’s 970 EVO, it still lacks the main features …

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Defining Data Restore

Posted on Admin2Leave a commentPosted in Computer Tips

Do you know what data restore is? Well, unfortunately, it could mean bad news. If you desperately need to do a data restore, it means that you have lost or damaged some valuable information in your computer. It could also mean that some of your information has been stolen.

Data restore is the process of copying backup data from secondary storage and restoring it to its original location or a new location. A restore is performed to return data that has been lost, stolen or damaged to its original condition or to move data to a new location.

(Via: https://searchdatabackup.techtarget.com/definition/restore)

You wouldn’t want to end up losing some of your valuable data. The thing is, can you avoid it? Probably not. Even if you back up your data regularly, you’re bound to lose some of them in the future. This is not meant to scare you or anything but that’s reality. Considering the possibility of losing data in the future, there’s always the need to do a data restore.

There are several circumstances that lead to the need for

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RAID Vs. NAS: Differentiating These Two Data Storage Technologies

Posted on Admin2Leave a commentPosted in Computer Server, Enterprise Data Security

We all need data storage. All our personal and business files are dependent on it. It’s safe to say that the longevity of all our files rely a lot on which data storage technology we choose to use.

These days, the two most widely used data storage technologies are the redundant array of independent disks (RAID) and the network-attached storage (NAS). So, which data storage technology is better? It’s hard to say without differentiating one from the other first.

Let’s talk about the redundant array of independent disks or RAID first.

RAID, short for redundant array of independent disks, is a method of enhancing disk performance, increasing storage capacity and improving fault tolerance, depending on the RAID level chosen.

RAID enables the same data to be saved across multiple disks while still appearing as a single logical drive using specialized hardware or software called a RAID controller. RAID levels, which are denoted by a number, determine the performance characteristics of a given configuration and how much or little data protection they offer.

(Via: https://www.enterprisestorageforum.com/storage-networking/raid-vs-nas-how-they-differ-and-overlap.html)

There are several RAID levels. …

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Laptop In Check In Baggage Will Finally Be Allowed In U. S. Airports

Posted on Admin2Leave a commentPosted in Enterprise Data Security

Airport security checks can be a hassle. You practically need to strip down to get screened properly. You need to take off your shoes, your belt, your jacket, and accessories.

In U.S airports, you even have to take out your laptop from your carry-on bag. The carry-on bag can’t go through security check with a laptop inside. The laptop has to be taken out and that causes so much stress and hassle in the long cue of passengers.

The good news is, change is coming.

In a press call Friday, the TSA announced that it has signed a $97 million contract for 300 upgraded baggage-scanning machines. As reported by Bloomberg Government, the new technology will roll out this summer, with the recipient airports to be announced.

It’s akin to replacing X-ray machines with CT scanners. While an x-ray creates a single static image, a CT scan can produce a 360-degree image.

(Via: https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/tsa-laptops-in-bags)

These upgraded baggage-scanning machines will surely lessen the chaos in the security check. Finally, your laptop and toiletries stay inside your carry-on baggage. The whole world …

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Experts Share Their Insights On How To Recover Data

Posted on Admin2Leave a commentPosted in Enterprise Data Security

You should know how to recover data. As a matter of fact, everyone should know how to recover data. There’s always going to be a need to do so. Unfortunately, that need comes at a most unexpected time.

Spare yourself the agony of wasting time just to recover data. Instead, take it from the experts. Learn from them. Here are some valuable insights from the experts.

Make data your top priority. Here’s what Alan Conboy, of Scale Computing, has to say.

Mission-critical data fuels the speed of today’s businesses, which is why it’s essential that backup and disaster recovery plans are made a top priority. World Backup Day is an important reminder of this reality, with many organizations forgetting a few essentials to a solid backup plan.

(Via: https://www.dig-in.com/list/insights-on-the-importance-of-data-backup-and-disaster-recovery-strategies)

Have a reliable backup strategy. Make sure it works all the time. Here’s what Neil Barton, the chief technology officer of WhereScape, has to say:

Not only should organizations have a backup strategy, it is also extremely important for IT teams to test it regularly. The first time a business

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Data Loss: It’s Here To Stay

Posted on Admin2Leave a commentPosted in Enterprise Data Security

Can you avoid data loss? Unfortunately, you can’t. No matter how hard you try, there’s just no way you can avoid data loss. The truth is, it’s here to stay. No one is spared from the pain of losing data.

Data loss can happen in so many ways. Accidental deletion is one of the many reasons as to why data loss happens. Who hasn’t deleted data accidentally?

The limited lifespan of a computer is also a valid reason why data loss happens. Computers don’t last forever. As they become outdated or infected with a virus, they begin to fail. When computers begin to fail, data could get corrupted or lost.

Aside from reasons such as accidental deletion and computer failure, natural disasters could also lead to data loss. These are just a few of the many threats to data. Obviously, there’s no way anyone could ever avoid data loss. To make matters worse, there is an increasing number of people who are losing data.

65.1 percent of consumers or their family member lost data as a result of an accidental

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Windows 10 Domination

Posted on adminLeave a commentPosted in Operating System

Millions of people use a computer on a daily basis for various reasons. With the digital age, it also means that most of our data have also gone digital and you need to keep up or else you will stagnate. It is common knowledge that the majority of computer users use a Windows PC and not Mac devices from Apple mainly because they are more cost-effective and still offer all if not the same functions as what you can usually find in an Apple device.

Over the past few years, Microsoft has been raising awareness for the public to make the switch to Windows 10 from its older operating systems. Many have already made the switch and if the estimates are correct, over half of companies are now using Windows 10 on their computers. This growth has been observed despite the slump in PC sales in the last year. It is especially true among enterprise computers or the ones used by big businesses and corporations in their day-to-day operation. This speaks a lot about the trust placed by these corporations …

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The Power Of Data Recovery

Posted on adminLeave a commentPosted in Hard Drive Technology, Server Recovery

To say that data is the new oil is an understatement. It certainly makes the world go round on a virtual level and runs almost all businesses and organizations in every part of the globe. Rarely would you come across a person who does not contribute to this pool of data with the popularity of social networking sites and even with the conversion of most human data into digital format for ease of access and distribution into various channels and platforms.

It is especially helpful among businessmen who can easily expand their business by having access to a big pool of data of their target customers online. There are different ways to utilize this data for marketing and it has proven effective over the years especially with ads popping now and then on social media and video-sharing platforms that the public often frequent.

There is one big problem, though, and it involves data privacy and security especially that many people have access to the private information of individuals even without their consent.

‘Data is the new oil’ was rightly stated

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