Three Key Mistakes That Lead to Data Loss

The results from a recent Ontrack study showed that many IT departments are massively overloaded, which can lead to disruptions and data loss. With 77% of the respondents in the study describing themselves as overloaded, it is no wonder that 84% of companies report that they have experienced data loss due to avoidable errors.

Below are the three most common mistakes made by companies that led to data loss:

Lack of time

Lack of time is one of the main reasons behind data loss. According to the study conducted, every second IT employee lacks the time to regularly document procedures and processes. However, this behavior can cause fatal errors in the long run. It is vital to know what data is stored where and when. This is especially important if data needs to be recovered. As if you don’t understand exactly what happened, the recovery process can become very complex and expensive.

Continue to work on an affected server after data deletion occurs

As soon as an IT employee notices that data is missing on a server, the server should be directly locked, isolated and the current database frozen. However, this is often not done because shutting a server down can mean business has to stop. If the server continues to be used, important areas on the server that are necessary for the recovery of the lost data are overwritten. This can cause irreversible data loss. Companies should therefore not shy away from the financial expense of installing sufficient manpower, replacement servers and backups. The data backup processes are outdated

A lot of the time, companies have backups, but they are outdated. This means that often, the wrong data is in the backup and the right data has gone missing. According to the study, every 10th IT department forgets to create or verify their backup. Even more worryingly, 21% of companies have no emergency plan in place if data loss occurs. With no emergency plan in place, it is almost inevitable that permanent data loss will occur.

Conclusion

All of the three common mistakes above are very easy to solve.

1. Ensure employees have enough time to ensure they are backing up data 2. Never work on an affected server where data deletion has occurred 3. Ensure all backup processes are up to date and have an emergency data loss plan in place

If you need any data recovery assistance, please visit www.ontrack.com/services/data-recovery/

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