This week’s post aims to give you a few real life experiences on what it costs to get your backup back when your hard drive fails.

Our first story comes from Temora Computers who know a thing or two about helping people out with their computers. They quoted an interesting report produced by Google and Carnegie Mellon which found typical failure rates of 2 to 4 percent and a high of 13 percent, in contrast to the less than 1 percent you’d expect based on vendor. You can read the whole report here.

For most of us, these reports simply reemphasize the need for smart practices. Keep your drives cool and, most important, backed up so that if failure occurs, it’s merely an inconvenience and not a financial or emotional disaster.

In their experience it can cost well over $1000 to get your data back and they believe that the more desperate you are for the data, the more it potentially cost you.

One particular customer I remember speaking to had recently purchased a new PC. It was actually designed specifically for her. She had had the PC for just over 12 months when it had died on her. It cost her $1200 to get her data back and 2 weeks of waiting. I think there is another post on this website about it.

My personal experience has been a lot more tame and less expensive. I had had my current laptop for about 4 months when Vista came out with its first major update. Must admit I was on dialup then and it took me a while to get the download. I had waited up all night or this. The download started running but I was so tired that I turned the laptop off to get some sleep.  Next day when I went to start it, it wouldn’t start.  Cost me $50 to get my data back and about 48hrs of waiting. I got it all back other than my email.

I had taken it back to where I bought the laptop and I think they just felt sorry for me.

Here is another story I found on Flying Solo

I lost everything with the failure of an external hard drive that was 3mths old. Paid $2500, experience was ok but sickening wait for six weeks to see if it was retrievable. I’m now protected by Carbonite

Six weeks is steep and it could knock your business right out. And paying what is probably the 2 X cost of the PC can hurt a lot, let alone the impact it can have on a businesses cashflow. This particular customers moved on to Carbonite, and is now happy and backed up.

Another Flying Solo user wrote:

I heard the DJ’s talking about this on the radio the other day. One of the jocks was quoted $1250+ Gst to retrieve his data.

My external crapped out once also, but luckily my flatmate worked at a computer shop and fixed it at home for nothing. Only took a couple of hours from memory.

This guy was lucky enough to have assistance from a friend. I wonder if he got it all back if what he did after wards in terms of getting some ongoing protection.

For business users who have servers, the following message from Google’s finding is worth reading:

Google’s findings do support one tip: If you encounter a scan error during a routine error check (by running Scandisk, for example), your drive is 39 times more likely to fail within 60 days than drives that don’t show such errors. IT pros recommend replacing a drive with scan errors.

In summary, no matter how much you spend on your hardware, there are never any guarantees. Even though you have warranty on the hardware, the data is not covered and it is most likely that if the hard drive is salvageable, the repair centre will simply wipe it and start again, deleting everything from it. Alternatively, they will call you and advise that if you want the data it will be an extra $xxxx.

Personally I would prefer to be in some control of how I can get my data back.

Following some discussions with one of the 2nd tier banks in Australia, I was advised that they offered their members a software tool called Virtual Safe which enables the user to store a list as well as photo’s of all of their valuables for insurance purposes should they get stolen or the house be damaged by fire or water etc.

Keeping a list, whether it is in soft form or simply on paper is a great idea, because what are the chances you will remember every piece of jewellery you own and how much its costs or is valued for. What about all of your other valuables, equipment and even important documents eg Property Titles.

What occurred to me though, is what good is a list if it is stuck within your house if the house burnt down or on your PC if your laptop was stolen.

Not much good at all.

There are several services available in both Australia and New Zealand that can assist businesses and the every day public to create a register of their valuables. In some cases, they come out and do it for you, sometimes software is involved and for a little extra, they can also store a copy of the list for you. After some further digging, I found plenty of free software that does this thing and several online services as well. One online service enabled you to create an almost anonymous account that you could then use to store details and photo’s of your belongings. Not sure if I would trust it though. The idea was right. Maybe if it was offered by the insurance company I would be a little less suspicious.

As mentioned earlier, keeping the list in the house or on the PC is one thing, being smart enough to keep the list outside of the home is another. Cost effective services such as Carbonite enable you to not only backup your key documents online, they can also assist you to backup any software you are using to create your insurance investory list or register. This is as simple as backing up the database which would include all descriptions and photos. Best of all, with the encryption methods Carbonite implements to secure your precious data, you would know there would not be any funny businesses going on.

If you are looking for a free online storage solution, then start with the Carbonite 30 day no obligations free trial. Backup your entire hard drive via our online storage service free for 30 days. Test our restore capability as well as our remote access service that enables you to access your files over the internet.

If at the end of the 30 days you are happy then we welcome you to join us buy purchasing online. If Carbonite doesn’t meet your needs, then thank you for visiting us and you can simply uninstall Carbonite via your Windows control panel.

Carbonite’s free online storage trial doesn’t ask you for any personal details, simply register and try with an email address and password. No credit card required.

Most Australian users of Carbonite, are small businesses that are looking for an simple and cost effective automated backup solution. In most cases, they are using an external hard drive or have never been diligent in backing up before and have decided that they should start.

Hard drives fail. It’s a fact of computing life. It’s not a matter of whether or not your computer’s disk will fry, it’s a matter of when. The question is how much it will it cost you to restore it all again, not just in IT costs but yours and your employee’s time.

You can’t expect to remember to back up your data. This should be an automated process. Why? Because computers and software are here to make our lives easier, not messier. So how does Carbonite offer automated backup?

Once a file has been selected to be backed up with Carbonite, Carbonite will perform an initial backup of that entire file and then it will constantly (automatically) look for changes in that file to back them up for you (only the changes not the entire file again). So if you have an excel spreadsheet that you are constantly maintaining and can’t afford to lose, Carbonite will back it up and all of the changes you make to that file on a regular basis, automatically for you.

Most hard drives these days come with software to “automatically backup your files” but you still have to remember to plug the hard drive in. With an automated backup solution such as Carbonite, once the file has been selected, the backup process is automatic forever. Carbonite will also keep versions of that file for you. A daily version for a week, a weekly version for a month and a monthly version for 3 months.

With Carbonite you can also create a Backup Schedule. The options available include:

• Backup automatically – meaning it will backup up all changes throughout the course of the day.
• Backup at a certain time of the day eg 11pm at night, or set it to not backup during certain times of the day eg between 9am – 5pm (ie whilst I am working).
• You can also set your automated backup schedule to run on certain days and at certain times of the day. Eg backup only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 5am and 8am.

By using the Carbonite automated backup schedule, you can take control of when Carbonite goes to work. This can be particularly useful if your ISP plan enables you to upload unlimited amounts of files in “off peak” times.

In a more constricted economic environment such as what we are experiencing today, all businesses need to look for ways to be more efficient. That means doing more of the things that generate business and improve client relations and reducing the time spent on processes that are manual, time consuming and don’t generate revenue. Small businesses around are Australia are looking at automated backup solutions such as Carbonite as a way to eliminate what is in most cases a manual process of transferring files from the PC to a hard drive each night and placing the hard drive in the boot of your car or putting it in the safe.

Over the weekend I noticed an advertisement that has been on TV lately about not leaving valuables in the car.  How many of us are guilty of leaving a laptop on the backseat or on the floor of the car? Most I would say.

In Australia, it is estimated that over 50,000 laptops get stolen each year, that’s one every 10 minutes.  The value of a laptop today is probably about $2000 for the hardware alone, but when you consider the information held on it, its highly likely to be about 8 times that figure.

The most recent survey undertaken by AUSCERT (Australian Computer Crime & Security Survey) found that 69% of respondents (389 surveyed) had suffered financial loss due to a stolen laptop. The value of that loss was estimated to be almost $16,000.

The research also showed that organisations big and small were not putting enough effort into educating their staff about security practises with mobile technology.

A Risk Update issued by the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority states that atleast 5% of laptops are stolen within a year of being purchased and 41% of laptops are actually stolen from the office. It goes on to say that the biggest exposure for a company is not the property that is lost, it’s the company information that is now public.

Although the title of this article refers to theft, it’s not only theft that is an issue.  Protecsure, one of the leading equipment insurance specialists in Australia, has found that over the last 10 years, a high proportion of their claims have come directly because of accidental damage as opposed to theft. This is probably a person dropping the laptop at work or at home. Protecsure has paid out over 45,000 claims since 1990.

Australian organisations are increasingly spending more on mobile technologies, and with the growing accessibility of data for these technologies, the risk for organisations is growing.

An article posted in May 2007 in AustralianIT, talked specifically about the corporate risk associated with mobile devises. It specifically stated that most organisations don’t understand the risk they place themselves under when they place such sensitive information on these mobile devices. When we talk about sensitive information we talk about financial records, access to client databases, access to sensitive planning documents. Information, if in the hands of the wrong people could result in financial loss as well as breaches of privacy and many other laws.

It stated that small and medium businesses are considered at particular risk, as most don’t have an IT department to employ security procedures.

So what can we do to protect ourselves? Below is a concise list of tips that every laptop (mobile device) owner should consider:

• Never leave your laptop in an unlocked car (even if it’s just for a few minutes).
• If you are going to leave your laptop in the car, ensure if is well hidden (preferably in the boot).
• If you are at a restaurant or bar with your laptop bag, keep it next to you at all times. Everyone knows what’s inside the bag.
• When travelling, always take the laptop with you as hand luggage. You might want to consider storing it in a bag other than the laptop bag (laptop bags are very obvious).
• At work, use a docking station that will keep the laptop locked or a cable lock (see Choice review).
• Regular backup of your data. If you are self employed or a small business you may want to consider an online backup service like Carbonite to protect your critical information.
• Disable the guest account on Windows.
• Ensure regular password changes.
• Don’t save your passwords on the laptop.
• Disable the infrared port on the laptop, as it provides access to files even without touching the laptop.
• Use data encryption when possible.