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Given this increased dependency on computer systems, coupled with the rate at which data loss is experienced, it is important to dispel and clarify the many myths that abound related to data recovery. For instance, many users believe that once data is lost, it is gone forever. This is hardly the case; almost all lost data is, with some caveats, recoverable. However, the type of recovery depends on the type of media being used, the extent of the damage, and several other case-specific factors.
In today's IT-centric and dependent world, we use several types of media to store our data on. We shall discuss these chronologically, as well as mention the problems specific and endemic to each kind of media. One of the oldest and most error- and loss-prone types of storage media is magnetic tape drives; spools of these typically were the lifeblood of most accounting systems. Thankfully, these are mostly obsolete, as they had extremely low storage capacity and were extremely easy to destroy; all that was needed to scramble data stored on magnetic tapes was a reasonably strong magnetic field. The next storage innovation was floppy discs; these also relied on magnetic fields to store data and thus, by definition, were prone to the same methods of failure. However, these stored far more data in far less physical space, and were thus more efficient. Recent innovations in the portable storage sector include compact discs, digital video discs, flash-based memory, memory cards (flash-based, SD-based or Sony Memory Stick technology-based) and most recently, high-definition video discs and Blu-Ray technology. All these are far more robust dorms of data storage; it is extremely hard to destroy all the data on a CD unless one tries very hard–the entire CD surface must be scratched in order to accomplish this. Some modicum of recovery is still possible by reconstituting the data based on the information left on the disc. Flash-based storage devices (the USB 'keys' or 'drives') that have become ubiquitous in modern computing environments are rather safe, as flash uses a static (no moving parts) memory approach.
Hard drives, on the other, hand, are far more prone to data loss as they involve a 'dynamic' approach to memory. They typically consist of a 'platter' and a 'drive head', with the latter positioned above the former. Hard drives are used because of their tremendous storage capacities and blazingly fast access and write speeds; they are suited for the storage of files that must be accessed at fast speeds, such as for those in an operating system. Hard drives suffer from several common types of failures that lead to data loss.
One fairly common reason for data loss is physical; dropped laptops, for instance, often manifest data loss or corruption. New technologies, for example, the newest generation of mobile hard drives, attempt to defeat this flaw by featuring hard drive heads that retract as soon as they sense a rapid acceleration, thus anticipating a fall, and avoiding damage to the 'platter', or actual disk. Another serious, but rather innocuous, cause of data loss is logical failures. Drives that experience a logical failure 'forget' where all their data is stored and thus appear to exhibit data loss; the data still exists, but is slightly more complicated to retrieve and salvage.
The US FBI has a thumb rule: there are two ways to completely erase data. One is to delete it, and then rewrite fresh data in its place, and repeat this process at least five times. Another is to physically destroy, i.e. shred a drive. It is important to consider this while remembering the most important fact for anyone experiencing possibly data loss: most, if not all, lost data is entirely recoverable. In cases in which the actual data itself is not recoverable, a 'roadmap', or description of the data can be recovered by data recovery experts, assisting the afflicted organisation or user in reconstructing or reconstituting that data.
Given how hard it is to erase data, it should be heartening for those affected by data loss to learn that all is rarely, if at all, ever lost.