Monday, June 20, 2011

Data Recovery from SQL Databases

Once upon a time, businesses kept track of orders, customers and other data by entering them into ledger books in longhand. Computers have changed all that. Today, there’s a very good chance that your company tracks its data in a relational database using some flavor of SQL. If the hard drive holding your SQL databases and tables is damaged, data recovery can be considerably trickier than trying to recover lost text or spreadsheet files. If your SQL databases are important to your company and can’t be restored from a backup, it’s vital that you call in a professional database recovery company like Fields Data Recovery for the best chance at restoring your databases intact.

Why Database Servers Fail

Your database server is no different than any other hard drive. No matter how well you’ve configured your SQL database, your system can fail for many reasons, including a corrupted database, deleted data, an I/O error in your SQL server, a deleted or corrupted log file or a page detection error. Like any other hard drive, your SQL server hard drive may fail because of physical damage to the hard drive, or you may be unable to restore your database from a corrupted backup file.

Database Data Recovery

If your failed hard drive holds database files, simple data recovery tools aren’t enough to restore your database to usability. Often, those tools can access and recover the data, but not the underlying logical attachments that make your data usable. Essentially, data recovery for a database is a two part process – first accessing and finding the data, then reassembling the database.

What Will Fields Data Recovery Need from Me to Recover My Data?

First, it’s important that you don’t attempt to recover the files yourself with a third party data recovery utility. Those programs often cause further damage and make it impossible for your database to be restored. Usually, the data recovery company will need the original media, which includes your hard drive, tape backup or whatever media you’ve stored it on. If the issue isn’t file system corruption or hard drive failure, they may be able to work from a copy of your drive. It may also be helpful if you include an empty database with the appropriate structure to assist the data recovery folks in finding and restoring your data in the correct format and structure.

What Are the Chances for Success?

Most database failures are recoverable as long as you are careful not to damage the files further by attempting a DIY data recovery solution. Depending on the extent of the work required, many data recovery companies will have your database pieced back together and back in your hands within 2 to 5 business days.

No comments:

Post a Comment