- How-To Booklet
- 1. How to protect your computer from malware and hackers
- 2. How to protect your information from physical threats
- 3. How to create and maintain secure passwords
- 4. How to protect the sensitive files on your computer
- 5. How to recover from information loss
- 6. How to destroy sensitive information
- 7. How to keep your Internet communication private
- 8. How to remain anonymous and bypass censorship on the Internet
- Glossary
- Hands-On Guides
- Avast - anti-virus
- Spybot - anti-spyware
- Comodo - firewall
- KeePass - secure password storage
- TrueCrypt - secure file storage
- Cobian - backup
- Undelete Plus - file recovery
- Eraser - secure file removal
- CCleaner - temporary file removal
- Riseup - secure email service
- Pidgin + OTR - secure instant messaging
- VaultletSuite - secure mail client
- Thunderbird + Enigmail - secure mail client
- Firefox - Web browser
- Tor - anonymity and circumvention
- portable security
5. How to recover from information loss
Submitted by amir on Thu, 11/20/2008 - 12:55.
Each new method of storing or transferring digital information tends to introduce several new ways in which the information in question can be lost, taken or destroyed. Years of work can disappear in an instant, as a result of theft, momentary carelessness, the confiscation of computer hardware, or simply because digital storage technology is inherently fragile. There is a common saying among computer support professionals: "it's not a question of if you will lose your data; it's a question of when." So, when this happens to you, it is extremely important that you already have an up-to-date backup and a well-tested means of restoring it. The day you are reminded about the importance of a backup system is generally the day after you needed to have one in place.
Although it is one of the most basic elements of secure computing, formulating an effective backup policy is not as simple as it sounds. It can be a significant planning hurdle for a number of reasons: the need to store original data and backups in different physical locations, the importance of keeping backups confidential, and the challenge of coordinating among different people who share information with one another using their own portable storage devices. In addition to backup and file-recovery tactics, this chapter addresses two specific tools, Cobian Backup and Undelete Plus.
Background scenario
| Elena is an environmentalist in a Russian-speaking country, where she has begun to create a website that will rely on creative presentation of images, videos, maps and stories to highlight the extent of illegal deforestation in the region. She has been collecting documents, media files and geographic information about logging for years, and most of it is stored on an old Windows computer in the office of the NGO where she works. While designing a website around this information, she has come to realize its importance and to worry about preserving it in the event that her computer should be damaged, especially if it should happen before she gets everything copied up to the website. Other members of her organization sometimes use the computer, so she also wants to learn how to restore her files if someone accidentally deletes the folder containing her work. She asks her nephew Nikolai to help her develop a backup strategy. |
What you can learn from this chapter
- How to organise and back up your information
- Where you should store your backups
- How you can manage your backups securely
- How to recover files that have been deleted accidentally