Repair MS Access Database File

What could be more disastrous than receiving an error message while attempting to mount your Access database? Unmountability of the access database primarily results into inaccessibility of all its stored records. The most obvious reason for the occurrence of the error message could be corruption of Access file. Damage in the file can be caused due to various reasons, such as improper system shutdown, application malfunction, malicious software, simultaneous modification of same database records. All the hazards created after the error message can be easily surmounted by restoring the records from an updated database backup. However, unavailability of an updated backup does not leaves you with any other option, but to use an advanced Access Database Repair utility.

Consider a practical case, where you receive the below error message while attempting to open an MS Access database file:

"Microsoft Office Access was unable to open the file '|'. The file may not be an Access file, the path or filename specified may be incorrect, or the file can not be opened exclusively. To repair the file manually, on the File menu, point to Manage Database, and then click Compact and Repair Database"

As the file could not be opened, the records stored in it becomes inaccessible. In addition, the error message appears repeatedly every time you attempt to open the Access file.

Cause
Corruption of Access database file.

Resolution
An easy solution (as suggested in the above error message) is to Compact and Repair the database. To do so, follow the underneath steps:

1. Go to Toolbar menu and click 'Tools'
2. In the drop down list, choose 'Database Utilities' and click 'Compact and Repair Database'.
3. Choose Access file that needs to be repaired in 'Database to Compact From'.
4. The compact and repair process can be started by clicking on 'Compact'.
5. Select a destination where you will need to save the database file.
6. Click 'Save'.

The resolution suggested in the error message repairs your database in most cases. However, if the resolution is unable to accomplish the desired results, then you will need to use advanced repair mdb tools to repair your damaged database file. Such third-party Access Repair applications use advanced scanning methods to repair the corrupt database file.

Access Recovery is a reliable mdb repair tool used world-wide by both technical and non-technical users. The tool is easy to understand without any prior technical understanding. It supports Access 2007, 2003, XP (2002), and 2000. The repair tool is compatible with Windows 7, Vista, 2003, XP, and 2000.

How to Recover Deleted Files on Your Computer

Computer is becoming necessary in our everyday life, not just a toy or accessories anymore. As we put more time on it, sometimes you accidentally delete your important files from your hard drive, but you don't have to panic as it is easy to recover deleted files yourself. You can undo the deletion and restore files for sure as long as you have the best undelete software installed and act immediately once you realize that your files are gone. Here is how to restore deleted files using Windows PCs or Mac OS.

What are the chances of recovery?

A deleted file can be undeleted or recovered right after it has been gone and for some time afterwards, because the operating system will not reuse space from the deleted files immediately. But the chances of perfect data recovery will decrease the longer you leave the situation, as some or all of the space will be reused by the system eventually. The chances of data recovery will also depend on how full the hard drive is. Windows operating system will try to avoid reusing disk space that has been recently freed, in order to give recovery software a better chance of performing its task. But as the drive gets near to its full capacity, there will be better chance of free space gets reused by other files sooner. If you happen to defragment the hard drive since the file was deleted, then this will seriously affect the chances of a file recovery process. The free space left by deleted files will be occupied by current files due to fragmentation process, making it much less likely that undelete software could find anything useful.

Recover deleted files effectively

No operating system will provide any tool to recover deleted files as a standard, so you would need to use 3rd party undelete software.

Undelete software will understand the internals of the operating system that was used to store files on a disk and find exact location of the disk space that was occupied once by a deleted file. As the space won't be reused immediately after the file was deleted, there is still a very good chance of successful data recovery using this software. If you are a Microsoft Windows user, there are third party tools available such as Uneraser and Data Recovery Wizard. They are reported to use thorough search mechanism and the most sophisticated data recovery algorithms to provide best possible recovery rates. It can even restore files from lost or corrupted partitions.

Saving the recovered data

One thing you must remember is that you should not write to the disk that contains the files that you would like to recover, because if you do so the space will be overwritten and the data will be lost. Instead, you should save the files to a separate drive such as external drive, network share or USB memory stick. And always be cautious not to drop or lose it as it might contain your security data that other people can easily get an access to.

The Use of IT Support Services

The actual meaning of the term 'IT' is information technology. One can surely understand that it is something related to computers. The IT companies offer their best services to big companies and assist them in handling all the automated functions which can be carried out with the help of the computer. The services are offered on a yearly basis for a small amount of fee which is solely dependent on the number of users and the functions they need. The IT support services can be obtained through e-mail or the telephone or even by accessing that particular IT Companies website.

The support and assistance offered by different IT companies is naturally different. Hence deciding on the right IT Company to invest in is a very important job. As in today's world the demand for use of computers has increased tremendously, the competition in this field is vast and it can be rather confusing for any first-timer. The help which one can get from such companies is quite different than any other external source of help as it does not depend on the monetary success or loss of the company. The owners of the big companies do not have any slightest form of contact with the technicians of the IT Company as the technical faculty of the big companies only deals with them.

The main job for an IT company in any multinational company is to prepare the operating systems, security systems and such other things which are completely dependent on computers. Running such systems is the multinational companies job but servicing and maintenance of all the main computer systems of the company is the IT engineers job. It is a very complicated job and therefore the pay in such IT companies is also very good. Preparing profiles of the entire staff for security reasons is one of the important jobs of such an IT corporation. The overall success of the deal between the IT companies and the big companies is seen if the returns are good and the company is consistently into profits.

Machines are meant to be spoilt at a later stage as the various and innumerable parts of any machine wear out after prolonged use and also lack of maintenance. This results into complete havoc in the daily life of the people who work there. This is where the role of the IT Company comes in. The IT companies have many trained computer experts who know the methods of repairing the computer systems and making it work smooth as always without any other glitches. A big operating system can face many problems such as a breakdown or system downtime. Thus IT companies help the big companies by securing all their programs in huge hard drives and external memory disks in case of an emergency so that no data is lost and the working of the company can resume as it was before.

Linux Data Recovery Using 'Myrescue' Utility

In Linux operating system, myrescue is an utility to retrieve still-readable information from damaged hard drive. This Linux Data Recovery tool is similar to the dd_rescue, however it attempts to quickly get out of corrupted area to handle undamaged part first. After extracting data from the undamaged area, the utility then returns to the damaged area and tries to fix it.

The myrescue utility attempts to copy your hard drive block-wise to the file and creates a block bitmap (table) remarking whether the block is successfully copied, not handled yet or it has errors. The block bitmap or table can be employed in the successive runs for concentrating on unresolved blocks.

This Data Recovery Linux utility effectively handles the read errors, through its special skip way. General the hard drive surface blemishes cover more than simply one data block and uninterrupted reading data from the defected areas may damage the hard drive surface, the hard drive mechanisms, and read/write heads.

When it occurs, the possibilities of retrieving the remaining and undamaged data decreased dramatically. Therefore in the skip mode of myrescue, it attempts to escape the damaged area quickly by exponentially incrementing the step size. It marks the skipped blocks as un-handled in block bitmap table and they may be retrieved at later stage.

Ultimately, the utility has an advanced option to multiply attempt for reading data from a data block, before believing it is damaged.

However, you should bear in mind that the this utility is not a replacement for third-party data recovery utilities. When you have a second option, do not even try to use myrescue, as the tool may cause more damage to your hard drive.

The myrescue utility is available only for the situation that you're completely desperate and cannot afford any professional Linux Recovery utility. If your data is highly significant for your business, it is worth to go for professional recovery applications.

The Linux Data Recovery software are able to handle all types of data loss situations, ranging from simple deletion to the most severe file system corruption. The applications carry out in-depth scan of entire Linux hard drive and extract all lost, missing, and inaccessible data from it. The come equipped with simple and rich graphical user interface, to allow you to carry out Do It Yourself recovery.

Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery is the most familiar and powerful program that ensures absolute recovery of all your lost data. The software recovers data from Ext4, Ext3, Ext2, FAT12, FAT16, and FAT 32 file system volumes. It is compatible with all major distributions of Linux operating systems including SUSE, Debian, Red Hat, and Fedora.

Tips to Solve Inbox Repair Tool Error - An Unexpected Error Prevented Access to This File

The Inbox Repair Tool is the Microsoft provided utility that is designed to repair corrupted PST files of Microsoft Outlook. The tool resides at a typical location, which is decided by the Outlook version in use. In Outlook 2007, it is disk drive - Program Files-Microsoft Office - Office12. But the application comes with limited repair functionalities and thus, sometimes fails in situations when the degree of PST corruption is high. Such problems make it imperative you to use a third-party PST file repair tool that can act more powerfully than this Microsoft tool.

The tool is associated with a program file called 'Scanpst.exe'. So, to run the utility, you need to locate this file first. At times, when you try to run an Outlook 2007 PST Repair Tool in order to repair a corrupted PST, it may prove unsuccessful with the following error on screen:

"An unexpected error prevented access to this file. Use ScanDisk to check the disk for errors, and then try using the Inbox Repair tool again."

The error suggests that for some reasons, Scanpst could not be accessed.

Cause

Scanpst might fail to be accessed due to disk errors or related problems. It can also happen if PST is severely corrupted and the repair is beyond the capabilities of Scanpst tool.

Solution

To troubleshoot the described problem, you need to apply these solutions:

A) Run chkdsk to determine and correct disk related problems. Try to run the tool again.

B) If this doesn't help, you should recover the PST data as follows:

(i) If you can open the PST, create a new data file with Outlook and import all the data to it

(ii) If you cannot open the PST, restore from a backup or use a third-party PST repair utility

The third-party repair outlook inbox products are empowered by suitable scanning algorithms that can repair a corrupted or damaged Outlook Inbox easily and efficiently. The software are easy to install and can be operated even without any prior knowledge. These are commercial Inbox Repair Tool with interactive design and competency to work while each level of damage.

Outlook Inbox Repair is a reliable and featured tool to repair a corrupted PST. The software restores the data in a new, Outlook-importable PST. The Inbox Repair Tool supports MS Outlook 2007, 2003, 2002, and 2000. The software has a 3-pane display that includes direct buttons to view e-mails, calendar etc., similar to Outlook.

Photo Data Recovery - Don't Panic If You Lose Photos, Just Go For Data Recovery

I am an adventure lover and traveling is in my blood. I travel far and wide, cover great distances on foot, climb tree tops, and high mountains, and travel almost anywhere and everywhere. In fact, I love skiing, hiking, biking, rafting, diving, parachuting, para-gliding and every other outdoor activity. I love being close to nature and admiring its beauty in full swing. That is why, when I had to choose my career, I chose photography, without a second thought. Being a lover of nature, I have become a nature photographer and landscaping (in my opinion) is by far the most fascinating of them all. I love to capture the fury of the clouds, brewing up of storm, beauty of a placid sea, silence of the mountains, or the serenity of a full moon night with all the stars shining bright.

I love my camera. In fact, I married it, long ago. Today, no matter where I go, I have my camera, right next to me, always ready for action. I carry my memory card, laptop and external hard drive with me, apart from spare batteries, cleaning brushes, a tripod, compass, flashlights, rubber boots, rugged clothings etc.

There was a time when I used to carry my film camera and loads of negatives that turned out to be far more expensive. The rolls had to be bought and pictures scanned and developed, all for a price, of course. But digital cameras are more or less one time investment and far easier to edit using various photo editing software.

Digital cameras have simplified things, to a great extent. But, there is still a risk, of losing them. Nothing lasts for ever. And the same is true for cameras (digital or film), memory cards, films, and storage systems of analog (bulky photo albums and negatives) and digital pictures(hard drives, computer and digital storage media). Here again, digital pictures have an upper hand. Many copies of digital pictures can be stored in different storage media easily, and conveniently, at no extra cost. So they are not lost easily, and even if lost, due to deletion or corruption, they can be recovered easily.

Today, the technology has advanced so much, that all the lost things can be found (only true for digital objects; the same is still not true for things with flesh and blood). Today, all the data stored on any digital media can be recovered using Data Recovery Services.

Data recovery is the process of extracting all the lost, deleted and corrupt content from any storage media, like, internal and external hard drive, iPod, USB drives, memory cards, RAID arrays, servers, laptops etc. This process is carried out in class 100 Cleanrooms, and requires knowledge and ability to extract data and high-end tools. Data recovery services should be sought from experts as it is a technically complex job (far more complex than developing photos using negatives in the labs) and if the storage media is not handled properly then might lead to complete loss of data.

HD Recovery - Here Are the Reasons Why You Should Have Data Recovery Software in Your Hand

After losing important data due to a system failure or a virus attack, it is never a wise move to keep waiting because the longer you wait, the more difficult it becomes to recover the lost data and achieve hard disk or hd recovery.

Instead of wasting time and money on other solutions, you can seek assistance from a reliable software tool that can help you to recover data in very little time. Fortunately, there are plenty of options that can be considered while choosing the most appropriate software application.

Those of you who seek professional assistance from recovery experts, there are a number of reasons why you should go for these software tools which have gained considerable popularity in recent times. Some of the key factors that work in favor of the software tools designed for hd recovery are as follows:

1. Cost

You would agree that seeking an expert's service every time your system crashes or the operating system gets affected by a virus attack comes for a price. You would be shelling out at least a few hundred dollars on this. However, investing in a data recovery application entails just a one time expenditure after which you will not be required to spend extra.

2. Convenience

Your system may crash at any point of time and it may not always be feasible to consult a data recovery expert for hd recovery at all times. Instead, if you have a good software recovery tool downloaded in the system, it is convenient for you to regain access to the lost data.

3. Time

If you search properly you will come across a number of software tools that have been proven to be effective in recovering the data within a few minutes. This makes the entire process of hd recovery fast and simple even for a novice.

4. Multi-utility

The software programs designed for recovering lost data and files are developed to suit all kinds of requirements. With just one software program you can retrieve all your lost files, folders, pictures, emails and even partitions. This makes the decision to purchase a software tool a smart one.

Word of caution

There is however a word of caution for all the new users. Don't be misled by the attractive offers that you see around. Irrespective of the price factor, you should make sure that the software tool is easy to use and operate. For this you can select a program after going through a demo or a trial version.

Data Backup - How to Tornado Proof Your Mission Critical Data

Data backup or data protection is critical to your company's success. Think about what would happen to your business if you lost your valuable data today? How long would your business survive? How much would it cost you to recover your data? How long will your clients and customers stay loyal to you while you scramble to recover your data? These are hard questions but there is an easy solution.

Here is a grim fact: if you lose your data you may lose your business. A study completed by Price Waterhouse Coopers in 2004 found that 7 out of 10 small business owners that experienced a major data loss went out of business within one year. Given the current recession, this is not the best time to take any chances on your business or your customers.

The primarily factors that cause data loss can include: computer viruses, power failures, hard drives that crash, disgruntled employees that sabotage computers, and theft. You may also experience data loss from heat, moisture, damage from sunlight and dust.

There are basically two options available for backing up your data. One option consists of manual backup methods. These methods include tapes, CD, DVD, Zip Drives, External Drives, NAS Drives, San Drives and Raid Drives. They require someone to do the work manually in order for backups to get done. They can be very expensive and unreliable. For example: tapes will cost you hundreds if not thousands of dollars to buy, install, and maintain. And unless you take them offsite to a secure location every night, your data is not really safe.

Option two is a popular alternative to manual backup methods. Option two consists of subscribing to an online remote data backup service. By utilizing an online remote data backup service your data will be backed up automatically. With this type of service, your backups can easily be accomplished for laptops, desktops or your entire company data servers. Using an online data backup service is so simple that you can easily backup your files in about the same amount of time as it takes you to check your email every day. In just a few minutes, your data and files are safe and secure.

Online data backup services are very cost effective. You simply pay a monthly subscription that costs a fraction of the price you would pay for manual data backups. The service is easy to use. Perfect for people all kinds of people, especially those who are non-technical. Your data is extremely safe. Do not let the risk of data loss expose your business, customers or clients to failure. Regardless of what type of data backup method you choose, the most important thing is to get started protecting your data today!

Lost Partition Recovery From Slave Hard Drive

I am a home computer user. I use computer to store my critical personal data as well as some office documents, financial reports, and project data. I have a WD400 (Western Digital) ATA hard drive. The drive was accidentally installed as the Slave in Microsoft Windows operating system-based computer. The drive was installed as Slave through EZBIOS. But my system had died due to power outage and did not boot up. All of the Windows partitions become inaccessible and needed Partition Recovery to be extracted.

The EZBIOS was installed to remove the restriction of selecting the hard drive settings. I was not able to perform Logical block addressing and multi sector transfers, which were required to increase the overall performance of hard drive in all Microsoft Windows versions. I installed it through a simple boot tool from Western Digital.

My system was completely unbootable or dead. I was only able to enter the system through DOS mode and read "C" partition, but the WD400 drive was still inaccessible. The Slave drive had two partitions and critical data, which I had to preserve.

In order to overcome this problem, I had attached the drive to a new ZT system with Windows XP Professional and tried to access partitions/data from it. But, after booting the ZT system, I could not see the Slave drive in Windows Explorer. The drive was detected in Windows BIOS and BIOS displayed all the statistics of it. However, the hard drive partitions and stored data were still inaccessible.

Earlier I needed to perform what the Western Digital names "Restore the Overlay", for enabling my Windows computer to recognize my hard drive. That was done in DOS mode through "DLGEZ\MBR" command. I think that this file was installed on Microsoft Windows computer by EZBIOS.

The ultimate result of this entire behavior was the inaccessibility of all the hard drive partitions. The hard drive partitions contained valuable data and it was essential for me to retrieve them. I read somewhere on Internet that lost data remains intact on the drive and can be retrieve using appropriate Partition Recovery Software.

Thus, I searched to find out an effective and reliable Partition Recovery Software on Internet and came across Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery. I installed the free demo version of the software on my system and attached affected Slave drive to it. After scanning the drive through demo version, it enlisted both of my lost partitions and their data. Then I activated the demo version by purchasing activation key and got all my data recovered. This Windows Partition Recovery tool recovered all my data in a quick, safe, and easy way.

Recovering Lost Digital Images

The digital technology today permits us to capture one-time memories and retain them for a lifetime. With more and more photographers adopting this technology, various data loss cases are also stepping in. In this digital era, the term 'image loss' is taken as equivalent to an instant loss that can root from accidental deletion, media reformatting or the like instances. As soon as any of these events occurs, the stored images seem to be gone- but not for always. All thanks to Image Recovery applications that can recover and restore lost or deleted digital images in a moment of click.

Before the use of digital photography, issues like opening the film door were more frequent to cause digital images loss. However, with the digital technology, the scenes are different. Most of the digital cameras use a specific memory card that is formatted to a specific file system. So, the chances of losing photos and images rise if this digital media becomes a victim. The typical instances that can corrupt a digital media or cause image loss are:

• Switching off the camera while an ongoing read/write process
• Accidental reformatting of the digital media
• Pulling the memory card out unexpectedly
• Unintentional file deletion

As a result of the above instances, the stored images become inaccessible or digital camera fails to recognize the media. The Image Recovery Software can recover these lost images in no time, however, you need to consider the following suggestions to avoid permanent data loss that can occur if data gets overwritten:

• Do not store more data once you realize that image loss has occurred
• Do not run any disk scanning or repair utility
• Switch off the camera or eject the memory card immediately

Image Recovery has a limitation of not recovering the overwritten data. But in rest of the cases, when data in intact and you cannot access it because you have corrupted or deleted its reference from file system (that is what exactly happens when an image is deleted), the third-party image data recovery applications can recover them safely and easily.

Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery is an advanced recovery tool equipped with safe technology to recover lost or deleted images, photos, videos, audios, and the like digital data. The Image Recovery Software can recover data from almost all types of digital cameras, digital memory cards, hard drives etc. The tool is available for Windows and Macintosh operating systems.

How Do You Go About Finding the Best Ways of Outlook PST Repair

You know how beneficial Outlook is especially at work. In most reputed organizations this is used primarily as an e-mail procedure, but it provides so many additional features like web browsing, Calendar, Contact manager, Task Manager, Journal, Notes and a lot more which are most popular. The data that is stored in the outlook is in the.pst format and when there is any corruption to this file there appear errors and you need to use the best methods of outlook PST repair to get rid of the issue.

There can be many reasons why your files are behaving in a weird manner and the reasons can include virus attacks or even unexpected power shut downs. What ever be the reason, losing data from this source is indeed very annoying especially when it is connected with work. Most times there can be cases where important e-mails or contact details are missing from your personal folder and you just do not know what to do next. The only solution to your problem is to find Outlook PST repair that works.

Sometimes there is data from a particular file that becomes missing partially and you need to follow few simple steps to get the outlook PST repair process started off. There is several outlook PST repair software that is available in the market which scans the damaged PST files and replaces all the missing and corrupt information by retrieving it back thereby giving you all the details that you just want.

Once the outlook PST repair software scans the file that has problems it restores it completely and saves it as a new file with all the details. And the best part is that these files are completely usable in the present situation like how you used the one that got corrupted as all information gets updated.

How to Go About the Process of PST File Repair

Most of us who use the Microsoft Outlook have often faced this problem of the personal folders file which is of the PST extension being damaged and there is an error that states that the data cannot be retrieved as there is a problem with the expansion of the folder. It will also give a path to where the folder is present. If you want to get rid of this problem the only solution is to use a PST file repair solution that gives a reliable result.

Microsoft itself provides the inbox repair tool which can be found in the options of the tool bar. You need to look for the Scanpst.exe file and run it if you want to get rid of the problem. Now this becomes difficult for an amateur computer user who relies of outlook to get most of his work done. The best way would be to find a PST file repair program that will do the work on its own.

This PST file repair process will make sure that you are out of the trouble of actually doing all the work manually. Instead the software takes care of everything from recovering mails, contacts, tasks and all other data that is stored. These are sensitive data and even one minute data getting lost will have problems that will cause repercussions that are just not manageable.

The beauty of the whole PST file repair procedure is that not only does it deals with the corrupt file but makes sure that the data that is lost is recovered and you have a completely fresh set of files with all the data that you stored so far.

There is one thing that you need to keep in mind when you are in the process of selecting PST file repair software. Make sure that the one you select is actually compatible with your operating system and the version of outlook that you are using. Once you are sure of this you can purchase this software and all your issues are solved in a jiffy.

Do PST Repair Tools Actually Help in Retrieving All Your Lost Data?

It gets very annoying to realize that your outlook files are lost or having some problem in retrieving the data that you stored in it. Now if the data is very important especially when you are working in an organization and data that you are in charge of actually gets lost you do not know what to do. The only solution to your problem is the fact that you need to use PST repair tools.

You might argue that there is the inbox repair tool which can be seen as the scanpst.exe file provided by Microsoft itself. When such a tool is present what is the necessity of using PST repair tools from outside? There is a huge necessity as these are only used for small tit bit problems that occur to your data. In case of larger issues you need to get the PST repair tools that can be downloaded onto your system.

For instance if the error is concerned with an up gradation issue, like when you upgrade the version to 2007, the problems caused in this case can be sorted out by the inbox repair tool. But if the content itself is damaged then this tool will probably delete the complete file and make the content unintelligible. Thus you need to find other PST repair tools.

The main reason why this sort of problem arises is that there is a file size limit that is present. In most cases when the file size exceeds about 2GB such problems crop up because when more data is getting cramped into this space the complete content gets corrupted and damaged.

The idea of centralized storage is what is used in case of the Microsoft outlook which is why there are such problems that arise. You need to make sure that you lay your hands on the best PST repair tools to find the best results.

Solution to Repair PST Files Damaged Because of the Anti Virus Software

The main reason for those PST files not responding can be your anti virus software. You may find this explanation unacceptable, but the fact remains that this can happen. Most of the times you may have found an error which states that the anti virus software on your computer was the reason why your outlook file has been blocked and is not able to open. This is because there is some compatibility issue that is present between your antivirus software and the Microsoft outlook version you are using. To solve these issues you need to repair the outlook files that are damaged actually.

Another reason why your software is preventing the opening of the file can be the presence of a virus which it has not been able to quarantine or take care of. If this opens there can be an infestation on your system and you will have to do much more than just finding ways to repair the PST files.

There are several ways you can get to repair outlook files and they are given hereunder.

• Make sure that your anti virus software database is updated as often as possible. The vendors of your software actually gets the details about the latest viruses that have entered the scene and unless your software is aware of there it will not know how to handle them and when such a virus attacks your outlook software you are in such trouble and need to find how to repair outlook files

• If your antivirus is still unable to get rid of the viruses then make sure you delete the file completely and use software that repair PST files by restoring the information from a back up that is created

Using this software that can repair PST files is the best option that is available. Not only does it clear all your present problems but also makes sure that there can be no more infestations.

Getting Your Data Back From Your Online Backup

Backing up your data to an online backup service is only one part of how to keep your data safe in the event of a hard drive failure or other major catastrophe. Restoring your data from your backup is the second major part. How you restore your data from your service is an important feature that people need to know before signing up for a service.

The majority of online backup services offer several ways to restore your data: client restore, web restore and in some cases a DVD or hard drive restore. The more options you have to restore your files the better. It provides you with more ways to make sure you recover all of your files.

The majority of services offer a client restore feature. Where you would install the software client on your new computer with your existing user name and password. Once this is done you then have access to the files that are backed up. You can choose which files to restore and the software client will download them for you. This is an easy and convenient way to restore your files, but it does have some problems. If you are restoring a large amount of data your restore can take a very long time depending on your Internet connection. If your ISP has bandwidth caps you can also run into problems of going over your bandwidth limits.

Web restores are similar to a client restore, except you would login to your services web control panel and request a file restore. Depending on the service your request can take some time to process and you will then be able to download your files. Like a client restore if you are restoring all of your files this can be time consuming, bandwidth hogging and difficult to download all of your data.

If you have lost all of your data and need to restore all of it ordering a DVD or hard drive restore is a great option. There are not many online backup services that offer this type of restore, Mozy and Backblaze are the only two currently. While it might cost a little extra to order this type of restore the cost is minor compared to losing all of your data. Combined with doing a client or web restore to get your most precious files back immediately and a DVD or hard drive restore you can be up and running again quickly. This will also not cause any issues with downloading large multiple files, or and bandwidth issues.

If you are investigating using online backup for your personal or business needs be sure to look into not only how your files are backed up to the service, but how you will get them back. If you are limited to only a software client and web restore be ready to spend time downloading your files and the problems that can create for large data restores.