Tips to Avoid Data Loss in Large Storage Systems

Nowadays, large storage systems such as SAN, NAS, and RAID servers have become quite common in Small and Medium-sized businesses (SMBs) as well as big enterprises. The reason being, such storage systems can store a significant amount of data that is one of the most valuable assets of SMBs and enterprises. If these data gets lost, which is indeed possible, it leads to a chaotic situation. Thus, the database administrators (DBAs) who manage such big storage systems and the stored data, should employ tips to avoid data loss situations. Also, if data loss situation occurs, you should be able to overcome it.

This blog takes you through the modern day large storage systems, as well as shares tips that you should follow to avoid data loss in large Storage Systems as well as several data recovery solutions. In doing so, you will be able to fight back data loss situations – as data loss situations can only be minimised and not completely avoided.

Today’s large storage systems include Write Once Read Many (WORM) systems, virtual tape library systems, tape library systems, etc. In the recent past, SAN and NAS systems – containing redundant hard drives have emerged as excellent data storage systems because of the reliability, capacity, and performance they offer. They are an example of ever-changing storage system technology. In the section below, you can know about them in brief.

Storage Area Network (SAN) – The SAN units are usually huge cabinets –

some come embedded with 240 hard drives in them. With 50+ Terabytes of data storage capacity, these storage systems are doing much more than simply powering up hundreds of drives. These systems function as robust data warehouses that have handy utilities behind them for the purpose of managing multiple arrays, providing various storage architecture configurations, and also for monitoring the system regularly. Earlier, such large-scale storage systems were out of reach for small and medium-sized businesses. Now, Serial ATA (SATA) hard disk drive-based SAN systems have become one of the most cost-effective ways of providing a large amount of storage space.

NAS (Network Attached Storage) – The NAS systems are self-contained and have their operating system and file system. Also, they manage the hard drives that are attached to them. These units come in different sizes to match the needs of the most and operate as file servers.

Other Storage Technologies – Other storage technologies such as DAS (Direct Attached Storage), Near-Line Storage (data that is attached to removable media), iSCSI, and CAS (Content Attached Storage) are storage systems for providing maximum data availability. These have come up and become widespread because data storage architects know that simply having a backup of the data is not enough.

Causes of Data Loss in Large Storage Systems

The two leading causes of data loss in data storage systems are system failures and virus attack – in particular by the Trojan virus.

Storage System Failure – The failure of large data storage systems is one of the primary cause of data loss from them. This can happen due to electrical issues such as power outage, mechanical issues such as failure in the hardware and software of the system, improper handling due to lack of knowledge, etc.

Attack by Trojan Virus – Trojans are a class of malware or malicious code that try to trick you to install them on your data storage systems. Once installed, they hide within the programs present in the storage systems. They yield their name from the way they infect data storage systems and contribute to data loss. However, they do not reproduce by infecting other files or computers.

As storage system failure and Trojan attack are the chief causes for data loss situations in large storage systems, you should prevent their failure as well as attack by these viruses. Know the preventive methods in details to avoid Data Loss in Large Storage Systems:

Ways to Prevent Data Loss Causes

Prevent Storage System Failures – By preventing failure of the data storage systems, you can avoid data loss, and there are many ways to do so. For instance, you can add redundancy to your primary storage systems by including duplicate storage systems or identical servers that are called mirror sites. Also, you can add elaborate backup processes or snapshots of filesystems that always have a checkpoint to restore. Although costly, it provides an extra level of data protection.

Prevent Trojan Virus Attack – At the first instance, you should install some powerful antivirus program on your data storage system so as to keep Trojan virus at bay. However, if you still face the attack, you should remove the Trojan Virus from your infected storage system(s) and recover data from it.

Well! Preventing storage system failures and attack by Trojan virus are the best way to avoid Data Loss in Large Storage Systems. But what, if the data storage systems still fail. In such a situation of data loss, you should know the means to recover the lost data.

Tips to Recover Lost Data

Below are the tips to retrieve your lost data:

Restore Backup – Restoring backup is one way to recover data loss in large storage systems. However, it requires a thorough knowledge of the data recovery process as well takes quite long for the process to complete.

Use Data Recovery Software – The use of a comprehensive and proven data recovery software is another way to recover the lost data. However, you need to perform an extensive research to be able to get a suitable data recovery software that can recover complete data in short duration.

Go For Data Recovery Service – The other way to recover data from large storage systems is by obtaining data recovery services from a reputed data recovery service provider. Stellar Data Recovery is an industry expert in Data Recovery, Data Migration, and Data Erasure which has several Service Centers across the country and expert professionals to its credit.

Conclusion

The methods that have been explained above are the three ways by which you can recover data from large data storage systems. You can use any of these for the desired result. However, you can restore backup only if you have one. Plus, it consumes a lot of your precious time and involves having a thorough knowledge of the recovery process. Next, all data recovery utilities are not capable of recovering intact data. Even if some are, you need to know how to use it so that it gives the desired results. On the other hand, obtaining data recovery services from Stellar Data Recovery is within easy reach as its branches are stationed in prime areas across the country. With this, your data recovery is just a call away!