05/03/04 – Security Experts Tracking New Sasser Variant
12/05/03 – Storage Vulnerabilities
11/27/03 – Shootout At The Disk Repair Corral
11/26/03 – Bugwatch: Top 10 Disaster Recovery Tips
11/11/03 – Lexar Media annouces Image Rescue 2.0 - image recovery program
10/31/03 – Bye-Bye Data: Glitch in Panther
10/31/03 – Panther Glitch Erases Some Hard Drives
10/29/03 – The Ten Commandments of PC Security
10/29/03 – Scientists Report Data Storage Explosion
10/16/03 – Odd Mishaps Cause Computer Grief
08/16/03 – Maxtor Upgrades Desktop Backup Drives
08/19/03 – Survey: Many Firms Lack Data Recovery Plan
08/19/03 – Corp America Not Fully Prepared For Biz Interruptions
08/29/98 – Backing Up is (not) Hard to Do
08/22/98 – Protect Your Files or You're Going to be Very Sorry Someday...
06/01/98 – Have You Backed Up Today? Part 1
Security Experts Tracking New Sasser Variant
With two variants of the Sasser worm already infecting computers through a recent vulnerability in Windows, security experts now are tracking a third version of the worm and an exploit that attacks the same flaw.
read articleStorage Vulnerabilities
Mario Apicella – InfoWorld.com
December 6, 2003
The subject line of a recent unsolicited e-mail I received read: “Recover your lost data.” In the message body, I was promised guaranteed data recovery from just about any media, even for volumes with completely damaged or missing directory information.
Reading further, I learned that the company has only one office. That office is in India. And yes it offers its service overseas, at the great price of $33, roughly 1,500 rupees.
As I zapped that e-mail I asked myself who would ever send media or computers from here to India for data recovery. Even though the price is very competitive, the shipping costs will probably make it just as expensive as doing it locally.
read moreShootout At The Disk Repair Corral
David Shayer – TidBITS.com
November 27, 2003
Some things are inevitable. Death, taxes, and disk crashes. One day you will try to open an important file, only to receive a dire error message. Or perhaps you'll discover that an entire folder has vanished. Worse yet, maybe your Mac won't even boot, thanks to some sort of disk corruption.
read moreBugwatch: Top 10 Disaster Recovery Tips
Stephen Owen – Vnunet.com
November 26, 2003
Each week vnunet.com asks a different expert to give their views on recent virus and security issues, with advice, warnings and information on the latest threats. This week Stephen Owen, EMEA product manager at Adaptec, runs through the basic steps for ensuring that IT disaster doesn't entail doom for your business.
go to full articleLexar Media Annouces Image Rescue 2.0 - Image Recovery Program
NEW YORK
November 11, 2003
Lexar Media, Inc. (Nasdaq: LEXR), a leading manufacturer and marketer of high-performance digital media and accessories, today introduced Image Rescue 2.0, an enhanced version of its popular image recovery software. With Image Rescue 2.0, Lexar Media has significantly expanded the number of memory cards from which the software can recover data. Image Rescue 2.0 can now recover “lost” or deleted digital images from any memory card, regardless of format or manufacturer. In addition, Image Rescue 2.0 offers expanded reader support and can be used with all mass storage compliant card readers including FireWire and USB 2.0, which enable considerably faster image recovery time.
go to full articleBye-Bye Data: Glitch in Panther
Leander Kahney – Wired News
October 31, 2003
Mac users are roaring in rage because of a nasty installment glitch that erases data on external hard drives.
After upgrading to Mac OS X 10.3, better known as Panther, they are finding external FireWire drives are no longer recognized by the host machine. In many cases, all the data the drives stores are also gone.
The problem appears to be widespread, judging by dozens of posts on forums and websites like MacFixit and Macintouch. Apple's own discussion forums (Apple ID required) had more than 274 postings on the issue by Thursday afternoon, far more than any other issue.
go to full articlePanther Glitch Erases Some Hard Drives
Ina Fried – CNET News.com
October 30, 2003
A problem is causing some of those who install the new version of Mac OS X to lose the data that's stored on their external hard drives.
Apple Computer said the glitch is limited to external hard drives that use a high-speed FireWire connection and a particular chipset Oxford Semiconductor manufactures. The company encouraged those who have a drive that uses the chip to disconnect their drives from Macs that are being upgraded to Mac OS X version 10.3, or Panther.
"Apple has identified an issue with external FireWire hard drives using the Oxford 922 bridge chipset with firmware version 1.02 that can result in the loss of data stored on the disk drive," the company said in a statement provided to CNET News.com. "Apple is working with Oxford Semiconductor and affected drive manufacturers to resolve this issue, which resides in the Oxford 922 chipset."
go to full articleThe Ten Commandments of PC Security
Daniel Tynan (PC World)
October 29, 2003
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
And it was written (by Bill Gates, et al): Thou shalt use a Windows PC to do thy work and it will be good.
But Windows computers are vulnerable to plagues of biblical proportions: viruses that bring down entire networks, e-mail worms that replicate at lightning speed, Trojan horses that hide inside otherwise innocent programs, hackers that take over computers, and more.
Fortunately, archeologists have recently unearthed two stone tablets from a garage near Cupertino, California that can help deliver us from such evils. We present their guidelines here, along with interpretations from our brothers and sisters in the PC security choir.
go to full articleScientists Report Data Storage Explosion
CNN (Reuters)
October 29, 2003
All those e-mails – junk or otherwise – are adding up. In 2002, people around the globe created enough new information to fill 500,000 U.S. Libraries of Congress, according to a study by faculty and students at the University of California at Berkeley.
The 5 billion gigabytes of new data works out to about 800 megabytes per person - the equivalent of a stack of books 30 feet (9 meters) high – the study by the university's School of Information Management and Systems found.
go to full articleOdd Mishaps Cause Computer Grief
BBC News - World Edition
October 16, 2003
A man so angry with his laptop that he shot it has topped an annual league table of the oddest computer mishaps.
Data recovery experts say although machine failure is blamed for the majority of lost files, humans are getting more careless too.
But while ways to rescue files are increasingly sophisticated, people have to do more to protect and back up data.
go to full articleMaxtor Upgrades Desktop Backup Drives
By Pedro Hernandez
August 26, 2003
Maxtor today officially launched the company's upgraded line of external backup drives that feature the OneTouch backup functionality.
This feature, meant to reduce the complexity of backing up data, makes it possible to completely clone the contents of an internal drive onto the portable, external device. Naturally, the drive can be moved and stored off-site for backup and data recovery purposes without the need to muck around a PC's (or Mac's) internals.
go to full article
Survey: Many Firms Lack Data Recovery Plan
Byte & Switch
August 19, 2003
Nearly one in three companies (30 percent) are operating today without a formal disaster recovery (DR) strategy in place, leaving them vulnerable to potential data loss as a result of natural disasters, viruses, employee sabotage and terrorist threats. And, 64% of companies admit that their company’s data backup and disaster recovery plans have significant vulnerabilities. These are some of the findings of a recent national survey, sponsored by Imation Corp.
go to full articleBy Robyn Greenspan
August 6, 2003
C-suite level executives give themselves barely passing grades when it comes to post-9/11 disaster plans, a joint Harris Interactive /SunGard Availability Services finds. The June 2003 survey of 52 top executives of Fortune 1000 companies revealed that while corporate America has made significant strides in information protection, significant vulnerabilities still exist.
The survey found that on average, executives give their companies a grade of "C+" when it comes to its ability to access business-critical information quickly after a disaster, believing it would take their organizations longer than an average business day to restore critical information systems.
go to full articleBacking Up is (not) Hard to Do
Dr. Mac
By Bob LeVitus
August 29, 2003
Last week I talked about backing up and told you that I trust my data backups to Dantz Development’s Retrospect.
Since I realize Retrospect may be more program than you need, either in capability or in price, this week I’ll focus on other, less-expensive and less-complicated backup solutions.
Of course most Macs include an optical disc writer (CD or DVD or both), so you can always just insert a blank disc, copy some files onto it, then burn it, all without the need for any additional software whatsoever. At the very least you should be doing this for files you couldn’t live without. Ideally, you’ll have a second (or third) disc with recent copies of important files stored off site.
read article
Protect Your Files or You're Going to be Very Sorry Someday...
Dr. Mac
By Bob LeVitus
August 22, 2003
There are some things in life you can be sure of, like death and taxes. And there are some things in computing you can be sure of as well, including the harsh reality that your hard disk will cease to function someday.
Today’s episode of Dr. Mac concerns what to do when it happens to you, as it surely will. It happened to me just a few days ago. I walked in one morning to find my Mac totally crashed. I couldn’t move the cursor, force quit, or use the keyboard, so I pressed the reset button and hoped for the best. Alas, it refused to even recognize my internal hard drive much less boot from it.
read article
Have You Backed Up Today? Part 1
by Adam C. Engst
June 1, 1998
Recent popular discussions on the TidBITS Talk list have orbited around the issue of backing up data - what's the best media to use, how often should one back up, what software works well, if backup devices should be built into computers, and how iMac users will back up their data. These are all important questions, and the answers affect literally every computer user today, irrespective of platform.
In the first part of this article, I'll examine backup strategies and some topics to consider when formulating a backup plan. The next part of this article will discuss specific products you can use to back up your data.
read article
By Bob LeVitus
August 29, 2003
Last week I talked about backing up and told you that I trust my data backups to Dantz Development’s Retrospect.
Since I realize Retrospect may be more program than you need, either in capability or in price, this week I’ll focus on other, less-expensive and less-complicated backup solutions.
Of course most Macs include an optical disc writer (CD or DVD or both), so you can always just insert a blank disc, copy some files onto it, then burn it, all without the need for any additional software whatsoever. At the very least you should be doing this for files you couldn’t live without. Ideally, you’ll have a second (or third) disc with recent copies of important files stored off site.
read articleProtect Your Files or You're Going to be Very Sorry Someday...
Dr. Mac
By Bob LeVitus
August 22, 2003
There are some things in life you can be sure of, like death and taxes. And there are some things in computing you can be sure of as well, including the harsh reality that your hard disk will cease to function someday.
Today’s episode of Dr. Mac concerns what to do when it happens to you, as it surely will. It happened to me just a few days ago. I walked in one morning to find my Mac totally crashed. I couldn’t move the cursor, force quit, or use the keyboard, so I pressed the reset button and hoped for the best. Alas, it refused to even recognize my internal hard drive much less boot from it.
read articleHave You Backed Up Today? Part 1
by Adam C. Engst
June 1, 1998
Recent popular discussions on the TidBITS Talk list have orbited around the issue of backing up data - what's the best media to use, how often should one back up, what software works well, if backup devices should be built into computers, and how iMac users will back up their data. These are all important questions, and the answers affect literally every computer user today, irrespective of platform.
In the first part of this article, I'll examine backup strategies and some topics to consider when formulating a backup plan. The next part of this article will discuss specific products you can use to back up your data.
read article
