3 Traits of a Reliable IT Partner for Data Recovery

Data recovery is the process of salvaging and handling data through damaged, failed, corrupted, or inaccessible storage media when it cannot be normally accessed. Since machines, software, networks, applications, and sometimes, even people fail, it is critical for any business to have proper measures set by data recovery experts to get back up after occurrence of any potential IT disasters.

To get the best external help on the matter, here are the most important traits you should bear in mind when searching for a data recovery partner.

Prioritizes backup quality and backup methods.

Every IT professional recognizes that the best way of recovering data is restoration via backups. However, a reliable IT partner knows that successful recovery of information will depend on the status of the backup.

True data recovery experts know that a failed or incomplete backup of information may prove to be useless in times where a complete data recovery is required due to a non-working storage media. Moreover, each restoration procedure would require a system to not be available (or down), so that restored information cannot be accessible to users until a thorough restoration has been completed.

Reliable IT partners in data recovery make a system available to users during restoration processes to address this, and also eliminate certain risks like overwriting of information or data corruption.

Has full capacity to employ fault tolerant infrastructure

Most IT providers rely on clustering or mirroring technology, where data is replicated to a separate server or a storage device during updates. But, the clustering method often requires extensive and regular validation and test processes because these clusters may also fail. This backup technology also needs a full-time systems administrator to check for and fix any configuration errors.

A reliable IT partner in data recovery knows the limitations of clustering, therefore, uses fault tolerant infrastructure instead. Fault tolerant infrastructure is known to be failure-proof and guarantees a 99.9999% availability on an annual basis, or equating to around 60 seconds per year only—compared to around 3 hours of downtime from clustering.

Fault tolerant infrastructure does not require a full-time expertise of a systems administrator for each information, as the system does mirroring in real time—on an active-active basis. This means that no manual interventions are required should a fault tolerant infrastructure component fails.

Puts emphasis on disaster recovery and business contingency planning

Disaster recovery planning is all about how fast you can recover your IT infrastructure in case of failures, which affects your business operations, your financials, and your customers. A great disaster recovery plan should focus on the IT infrastructure.

It is most beneficial for a business to be ready for any unexpected scenarios, as to protect what your information technology infrastructure delivers. The quicker the system recovers, the less impact it will have on the business.

Data and systems availability is crucial to successful operations these days, so companies should ensure that redundancy and recovery safeguards are in place. After all, such safeguards could mean the difference between a quick response and recuperation, and a downtime that drags for hours or days—resulting in huge losses, not only in terms of finances but on the reputation too.