Data Recovery Blog » Backup http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog We recover data. And blog about it. Tue, 31 Jan 2012 14:39:00 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Apple Mac Time Machine Back Up http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2012/01/27/apple-mac-time-machine-back-up/ http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2012/01/27/apple-mac-time-machine-back-up/#comments Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:18:20 +0000 John Wilson http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/?p=614 Continue reading →]]> I have lost count on the amount of times we have received hard drives for data recovery from Mac customers, who are not aware of the Time Machine back software. Time Machine has been preinstalled in every version of OS X since 10.5. This software is easy to setup, and once the first backup of the internal hard drive is complete, it will then carry on backing up as you create new data.

As a small business or personal user it is ideal for your everyday backup needs.

 

]]> http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2012/01/27/apple-mac-time-machine-back-up/feed/ 0 ST9320421ASG Head Crash http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2012/01/27/st9320421asg-head-crash/ http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2012/01/27/st9320421asg-head-crash/#comments Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:59:46 +0000 John Wilson http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/?p=609 This hard drive was out of a customers Macbook Pro. As you can see in the image, loss of data caused by a severe head crash. Another good reason why Mac users should make sure they back up regularly.

ST9320421ASG Head Crash

ST9320421ASG Head Crash

]]> http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2012/01/27/st9320421asg-head-crash/feed/ 0 What’s The Best / Most Reliable Hard Drive? http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2012/01/23/whats-the-best-most-reliable-hard-drive/ http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2012/01/23/whats-the-best-most-reliable-hard-drive/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:18:17 +0000 Dan Bennett http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/?p=591 Continue reading →]]> We get asked this question a lot. The simple answer is that there is no such thing as a reliable hard drive. This is nothing against the hard drive manufacturers, but all drives will fail eventually. Hard drives are delicate machines and must be treated with care. They are not designed to be the one and only storage for all your work, photos and videos. Imagine your computer never booting up again, and then imagine it happening during the most important job you have ever done. That’s how bad it could be, and often is for a lot of people.

A good lifespan for a hard drive is now probably around 3-5 years. In reality we often see hard drives that are only a few months old. If you’re a gambler then maybe you have got away with it so far, but is it really worth the risk?

Backup your data. Maybe then you won’t need to find out how good we are at recovering it.

Read more about backing up your data here

]]> http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2012/01/23/whats-the-best-most-reliable-hard-drive/feed/ 0 Seagate Head Crash http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/12/16/seagate-head-crash/ http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/12/16/seagate-head-crash/#comments Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:40:47 +0000 John Wilson http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/?p=561 Continue reading →]]> This Seagate ST31000333AS 1TB drive suffered a head crash resulting in severe media damage. The contamination caused by the damage can be seen on the disc surface as well as the internal filter. The filter is usually white but is now silver metallic in colour as a result of the contamination. The customer did not have any indication that this was going to happen.

Seagate Head Crash ST31000333AS

Seagate Head Crash ST31000333AS

 

Seagate Head Crash ST31000333AS

Seagate ST31000333AS Filter

]]> http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/12/16/seagate-head-crash/feed/ 0 Mac Data Migration http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/11/09/mac-data-migration/ http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/11/09/mac-data-migration/#comments Wed, 09 Nov 2011 13:21:39 +0000 Dan Bennett http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/?p=519 Continue reading →]]> If we recover a good amount of your data, then the easiest way to get your Mac running again is using the Migration Assistant – a standard Apple utility included with all modern versions of Mac OS X.

The process for restoration varies a little bit depending upon how your Mac is currently set up.

Best Case Scenario:

If you have a new hard drive with a fresh system installed, and have not yet clicked through the Setup Assistant screens follow this guide. >>>

2nd Best Case Scenario:

If you have a new hard drive and have set it up with a username you will need to follow this slightly more complicated guide. >>>

]]> http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/11/09/mac-data-migration/feed/ 0 Mac migration to a previously setup system http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/11/09/mac-migration-to-a-previously-setup-system/ http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/11/09/mac-migration-to-a-previously-setup-system/#comments Wed, 09 Nov 2011 13:17:57 +0000 Dan Bennett http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/?p=517 Continue reading →]]>
Migration Assistant

Migration Assistant

So you have a Mac which boots up to a desktop as normal, but without your recovered data. This is not quite ideal, and gives us a few things to sort out before the migration.

Arrange.

You will first have to backup any newly created data. If something goes wrong with migration then you don’t want to lose your new data. If this new system has been created with the same username as the old one, you will not be able to import the old user without renaming which is not advised. After you have backed up your files, you could open “System Preferences / Users & Groups,” (“Accounts” in pre Lion systems) and rename the current user to something else. This will allow you to transfer your original user account and Applications into the correct locations on the new system. If your system is set to automatically login to a user account (ie. doesn’t require a password when you boot) then you will need to turn off “Automatic Login” setting under Users & Groups to allow you to access the old user account.

Fingers crossed you should be ready to migrate.

Connect.

Connect the new hard drive to your Mac. If it’s a desktop 3.5” drive then plug in the power adapter and switch it on. If you are restoring to a laptop then it would be a good idea to have the AC adapter plugged in, as this can take a while.

Migrate.

Go to “Applications / Utilities” and launch “Migration Assistant”. Choose “From another Mac, PC, Time Machine Backup or other disk.” Then choose the second option; “From Time Machine Backup or other disk.” You should see the orange icon for the external drive, labelled with your job number. Click on it and then click continue.

Select.

You can choose to migrate everything, or be a bit selective. You cannot choose individual files to migrate, only whole user accounts, Applications, Settings, and other files. Make your choice and click next.

Wait.

The migration itself can take a while depending how much data you have. Once complete you can boot into the Mac and it will feel very familiar. As if nothing ever failed. If you backed up any files from the new system then now would be a good time to load them back on.

Migration Assistant generally does a good job of transferring your data and software. If any software installs files into the Mac system in unusual locations it may need to be reinstalled, but most Applications like Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop will be transferred correctly.

]]> http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/11/09/mac-migration-to-a-previously-setup-system/feed/ 0 4K Sectors & RAID http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/09/07/4k-sectors-raid/ http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/09/07/4k-sectors-raid/#comments Wed, 07 Sep 2011 11:51:13 +0000 Dan Bennett http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/?p=461 Continue reading →]]> ZDNet has an interesting article about 4K sectors (Advanced Format), however what was more interesting was the bit about large SATA drives.

 Today’s large SATA drives shouldn’t be used in 4 drive RAID 5 arrays due to the high likelihood of a read error after a drive failure, which will abort the RAID rebuild.

It is a common misconception that if you run a RAID system then you can avoid keeping backups. Although fault tolerant to a point, there are plenty of issues with RAIDs that can at best cause lengthy downtime and at worst prevent any recovery at all.

More info on RAID Recovery

]]> http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/09/07/4k-sectors-raid/feed/ 0 Apple iMac 1TB Seagate Hard Drive Replacement Program http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/07/23/apple-imac-1tb-seagate-hard-drive-replacement-program/ http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/07/23/apple-imac-1tb-seagate-hard-drive-replacement-program/#comments Sat, 23 Jul 2011 14:15:38 +0000 John Wilson http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/?p=444 Continue reading →]]> We at Dataquest have been aware of the problem with 1TB Seagate drives for some time. It is pleasing to see that Apple are also recognising the problem and are offering their customers a free swap out. These drives are mainly seen in iMacs, but you may also get them in the Mac Pro so make sure your back ups are up to date.

]]> http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/07/23/apple-imac-1tb-seagate-hard-drive-replacement-program/feed/ 0 Pogo Plug Remote Access Device http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/04/08/pogo-plug-remote-access-device-2/ http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/04/08/pogo-plug-remote-access-device-2/#comments Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:52:20 +0000 John Wilson http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/?p=429 Continue reading →]]> We often have requests from small business customers as to which is the best backup solution when having more than one user, and also when the users are located in different geographical locations. Well Pogo Plug may be the answer to this problem. It allows you to attach and share as many storage devices as you wish and also allows users to drag and drop files, making moving files across a remote network straight forward. Therefore you could have a large central storage unit for your users to access and back up their files.

Pogo Plug

]]> http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/04/08/pogo-plug-remote-access-device-2/feed/ 0 Apple Time Machine & iPhoto http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/04/08/apple-time-machine-iphoto/ http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/04/08/apple-time-machine-iphoto/#comments Fri, 08 Apr 2011 15:34:06 +0000 John Wilson http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/?p=423 Continue reading →]]> There appears to be a quirk with Time Machine on Macs, where iPhoto library is not being backed up. So I recommend that customers check their backups to make sure that Time Machine has backed up correctly. If they find that the backup does not contain the iPhoto library, then in future you need to make sure the iPhoto application is closed before Time Machine starts.

]]> http://www.dq-int.co.uk/blog/2011/04/08/apple-time-machine-iphoto/feed/ 0