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Measures You Can Take To Prevent Data Loss

It can be very frustrating to lose data on your computer by accidentespecially if those are of importance. For example, photos of your travels over the years. Accidental loss of data can be due to software issues, data corruption, as well as hardware and power failure. Loss of data is not only cumbersome, it is costly, and the cost will come from carrying on with without the data, making the data again, and for businesses, informing consumers about the loss of data. To circumvent loss of computer data, here are some measures you can stick to.

Create backups

Having at least one copy of your original document or file on a separate disk media is still the best way to prevent data loss. If the data is crucial to operations or simply of great importance to you, it is wise to have the backups at an off-site location to protect these from fire or disasters. Although creating backups can be a chore, especially with larger files, but this is a great strategy for avoiding dreadful loss of computer data. Partition your hard drive and don’t encrypt the entire drive By partitioning your hard drive, there is a much higher likelihood of retrieving documents or files should something happen to one of the partitions. Should your computer experience a crash, retrieving data will be difficult, if not impossible, if you encrypted the entire drive. If you need to encrypt for reasons of confidentiality, protect specific files rather than the entire drive.

Good computer-use practices

For example, if you don’t plan to use your computer for a long time , say 2 or 3 days, don't forget to turn it off as not doing so makes your computer susceptible to damage and power surges. Also, keep your antivirus software updated so that your computer is properly shielded against malware that can delete or change data in your computer causing it to crash. On top of that, do not reveal network access to anyone as this can cause data theft and alteration.

Protect against power spikes or surges

Power problems are the leading cause of data loss, 15 times more frequent than losses due to malware. If your data is crucial for your work or business, it would be beneficial to buy an uninterruptible power supply or UPS unit with automatic voltage regulator to protect your computer against power failures and sudden surges in incoming voltage. The spare battery in the UPS gives you enough time to save your documents and turn off the computer properly to avoid data loss and damage to computer hardware during power outages. The voltage stabilizer gives your computer consistent power by regulating the incoming voltage and preventing surges which can be detrimental to components.