The Hindu Business Line : Lost... and restored

It's the same old story - only this time it's happened to you. All your precious data seems to have vanished suddenly and your screen blinks helplessly.

And it's small comfort to know that human error/ignorance is the most common cause of data loss, as Alok Gupta, Director-Marketing, of Unistal Systems, points out.

Unistal is a provider of data care, data recovery, anti-virus and Internet security products and services.

However, there's hope round the corner. All data, including digital, is recoverable, assures Gupta. Unistal recently launched its online data recovery services through its Web site www.idatacare.com.

This service initiative is the first of its kind in the country, claims Gupta. Through this, Unistal promises to provide instant solutions to its customers and partners anywhere in the world.

Its proprietary connectivity tools link-up the customer's server or PC. Technicians at Unistal's Central Recovery Lab (CRI) proceed to perform the recovery or repair process. This obviates the need to send the media (hard disk) to the Unistal master labs.

The company is in the process of appointing online partners. The customers can, therefore, recover their data either from their own premises or from the authorised Unistal online partner's facility, says Gupta.

If customers send the media to the data recovery centre of the nearest Unistal online partner, they can also track their data recovery process online. Online recovery services are available for different types of media and operating systems, he says.

Unistal has the expertise to perform data recovery from all versions and types of Windows, Linux, Macintosh, Novell, UNIX, RAID servers, mail servers and database servers. The company claims to have the expertise to recover data from all types of storage media.

Excerpts from a chat eWorld had with Gupta.

Is all data recoverable - including digital - no matter what the circumstance?

Yes, all data, irrespective of type, is recoverable provided it is not damaged due to bad sectors or overwritten by fresh data. In the event of anyone encountering loss of data, he or she will be very strictly advised not to tamper with the system, to not perform self-help recovery processes or get it diagnosed by `quacks.'

Will the customer be allowed access to a directory file that lists data that can and cannot be recovered?

We follow very strict data security and confidentiality procedures. Every disk received is provided a code number; data recovered is enumerated in a directory file and e-mailed to the user. After he confirms that the data recovered is satisfactory, the data is then written on to a DVD/CD and delivered against the work order.

We sign Non Disclosure Agreements with clients. Only authorised persons are allowed access to the Data Recovery Lab.

Which is the most common cause of data loss — human error, computer virus or natural disasters?

THE CALM after the storm - Bijoy Ghosh

The most common cause of data loss is human error/ignorance. We have come across a number of cases where the initial cause was some system error but where human ignorance had led to loss of further data.

We have developed Quick Recovery, a software programme with in-built capability to deal with disparate cases of logical data loss such as viruses, accidental deletion, formatting cases or file system corruption. We have special diagnostic tools and tester boards to analyse electronic or physical problems in disks. This makes our recovery methodology very specific and accurate.

To what extent do hardware problems crop up as a causative factor?

Hardware or physical problems account for almost 40 per cent of the data loss cases reported to us. This can be attributed to mishandling of disks, PCs running without proper UPSs, natural disasters or climate changes.

Does remote data recovery capability enable you to address servers, PCs or laptops through an Internet connection or modem with equal finesse?

Remote data recovery through www.idatacare.com enables us to address any system having an efficient Internet connection. This capability has been fully developed in-house by our R&D and development team. As of today, it is an efficient and full-featured service.

We have the capability to connect and perform disk analysis, recovery and also run tools to repair the file system blocks of RAID servers, so the client's business can go back live in the shortest possible time.

Do you think data disasters need to be considered as part of a company's disaster recovery plan?

Absolutely, a disaster recovery plan is a must for companies, big or small. Data is equally crucial for all of them and only the modalities of the recovery plan will vary.

Track the recovery

eWorld sounded out users of Unistal's service.

Pankaj Mathur, an Investment Advisor based in Mumbai, recalls how his hard disk developed a lot of bad sectors, which he did not take seriously initially - "until one day, an important day for me in terms of business, when the system crashed."

"I did not want to give my hard disk to just any other recovery centre in town because I wanted my data to remain confidential. That's when I looked up the Internet and happened to find Unistal. After an initial exchange of mails, they directed me to their authorised recovery centre in Mumbai."

The technicians at the Unistal data recovery centre connected Mathur's hard disk to the Central Recovery Lab in Delhi and soon they were able to recover almost all data over the Internet.

"All my files were back in the respective folders. This was like a new life to my business for I would have been broke without that data," he says.

Dr Uma Vaidyanathan of the Lokmanya Tilak Municipal Medical College and General Hospital, Sion, Mumbai, had a similar problem.

"All of a sudden, my monitor went blue and showed nothing. It was then that I called my friend who informed me that my hard disk had crashed. The data was important for me."

Dr Vaidyanathan searched the Web for recovery centres and stumbled on Unistal, one of the five top companies listed by Google. "I sent them an e-mail and they were quite prompt in their replies. They asked me to take the hard disk to one of their authorised data recovery centres nearest to my home."

"But I did not know how to take the hard disk out and therefore carried the CPU to the centre. I was told that I could track the data recovery process on the Web as they connected my hard disk to their Central Laboratory in Delhi."

Within a day, the engineers at Delhi retrieved all the data. "Had it not been for them, I would have had to retype my thesis," says Dr Vaidyanathan.

vinson@thehindu.co.in