How to Plan and Organise Data Destruction
December 15, 2011 | 
Author Data is useful, not only to you, but also to your competitors. When you’re done using data and have no further need for it, you have to make sure that no trace of important information remains on your computer media. You have to organise a systematic plan for data destruction to prevent the data from ending up in the hands of those who will make ill use of it.
First step in your plan is to classify your data, by importance and by sensitivity. This classification will determine which path of destruction is appropriate for which data.
Second step is encryption. If all important data in your organisation is encrypted, then the data is as good as destroyed if the media containing that data passes out of your control. There are limits to what encryption can do, but it’s a good first step.
The third step in the plan is to delete important data that is no longer of use. But, data remains on computer media even after you think you’ve deleted it. So, the next steps in the plan are an escalating set of methods to make the data more and more inaccessible.
When data is deleted, what actually happens is that the indicator of the file’s location is removed from the system’s file directory. The data itself still remains, accessible by software system utilities. When data is removed in such a way that these normal utilities cannot recover the data, the data is considered to be cleared from the system.
The next step after clearing data is purging, whose intent is to destroy important and sensitive data in such a way that it cannot be reconstructed. There are two methods of purging data: overwriting and degaussing.
Overwriting a storage medium involves writing patterns of identical data, such as all zeros, over the entire physical location of the data on the medium. Overwriting is not suitable for write-once optical media, such as DVD-R or CD-R. Read-write optical media, such as DVD-RW or CD-RW, however, may be overwritten.
Degaussing works on magnetic media. A device called a degausser emits a pulse of energy that scrambles the magnetic organisation of the storage media. A degausser has no effect on optical media because such media is non-magnetic. Degaussing will destroy a computer hard drive because the low-level formatting necessary to run the device is also destroyed — however, a degaussed hard drive can be restored to service as a blank drive. Degaussed floppy disks can be re-formatted on any computer.
Thorough physical destruction is the last step in the plan. Though labor-intensive and time-consuming, such a method will guarantee none of the data on that media will be accessible. There are several methods:
- Incineration with intense heat
- Brute force by pounding, sawing or grinding
- Corrosion with acid or another corrosive chemical
So, in summary, start with data classification and encryption. Delete all important data when done using it. For data deemed sensitive, use degaussing or overwriting to destroy accessibility. For data deemed most sensitive, physically destroy the storage media.
CD Dvd Copiers
CD DVD copiers or CD DVD duplicators copy DVDs from an original master CD. Copies are made onto previously empty DVDs, called blanks. DVD copiers can be PC attached, or they may be standalone.
PC attached DVD copiers can be connected to a computer. This helps in customizing the DVD such as providing a title, author’s name, date, etc. Graphic programs can also be used to enhance the visuals and to create special effects. DVD copiers have a hard disc or a memory card of their own, which makes it much possible to copy the CD even when the master CD is unavailable. The hard disc has a higher memory capacity-as much as 160 GB.
DVD copiers can be manual or operated. In manual DVD copiers, an operator is necessary to physically open the shutter of the copier machine and keep loading and unloading the DVDs as they are copied. They have low speeds and their output per hour is less.
Standalone DVD copiers are automated. They are operated by a robotic arm, which loads and unloads DVDs. They are designed in a tower format. One standalone copier is actually a combination of several unitary DVD copiers-as many as one to 16. Industrial DVD copiers can have as many as 60 individual copier units. The number of copiers indicates how many DVDs can be copied at a time. Their copying speeds are generally 16 times for DVDs. For copying CDs, the speed can be as high as 48 times.
Some DVD copiers need a cooling period after each run. This reduces the quantity of the output. However, newer DVD duplicators are working on reducing, or even eliminating, the cooling period so that the process can be continuous.
The quality of a copied DVD depends on the quality of the copier itself. If the copier is of a poor quality, then the copied DVD may have a grainy, washed effect and also garbled sounds. Good quality DVD copiers can give an almost perfect replica of the original.
Automated DVD copiers can cost from $1000 to $4000, depending on how many individual copiers they contain. They are mostly designed in black, white or gray and are designed in a tower format.
Upgrade: From CD-ROM to DVD Burner
My goal, in the short space this article allows, will be to tell you how to upgrade from a CD-ROM, to a DVD burner.
First, unplug your computer, and disconnect all cables leading to the keyboard, mouse, printer, and monitor. Remove the computer’s side panel.
Before reaching inside the computer, discharge your body’s static electricity by touching metal. If you have one, use an anti-static strap that you can attach to your wrist, grounding the other end to an outlet.
Now, look at the back of your CD-ROM. You will see three cables connected to it. There will be a small audio cable, a large ribbon cable, and a power cable.
Unplug these carefully. The ribbon cable, and the power cable will be especially tight.
With the cables unplugged, now turn your attention to the sides of the CD-ROM. You will notice it is held in by two screws on each side. Remove the screws.
Warning: please do not use a magnetic screwdriver while working on a computer. Remember, your computer stores data magnetically. Think of the mischief it could cause.
After the screws are removed, slide the CD-ROM out the front of the case.
Note that on the back of the CD-ROM is a rectangle containing six pins. Two of these pins will be jumpered together. Directly above the jumper will be the letters “CS”, “SL”, or “MA”. Remember this setting!
Take your new DVD burner, and look on the back of it for that jumper. Put the jumper in exactly the same setting as on the back of the old CD-ROM.
If, for instance, it was underneath the letters “MA”, then set the jumper to “MA” on your new DVD burner.
These letters “MA” stand for Master, meaning it is the master device on the ribbon cable. “SL” means Slave, and “CS” stands for Cable Select.
Slide the DVD burner into the front of the case, getting it flush with the front surface. Attach it to the chassis, using the two screws on each side that we removed earlier.
Plug in the audio cable, the ribbon cable, and the power cable. The power cable is keyed so it can only be plugged in one way, and the ribbon cable port has a pin missing that corresponds to a blank spot in the plug, so these are easy to get in right. The audio cable is trickier. You must turn it so the white wire is pointed toward the ribbon cable.
Put the side panel back on and reconnect the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and any other devices you may have. Hook up the power cable, and boot up.
Any Windows operating system 98SE or later will recognize your new equipment and load the appropriate drivers.
You are ready to burn DVD’s!
CD Duplication Explained
It took some 20 years before CD duplication methods became efficient and cost-effective. From a single CD to thousands, better tools and devices have made it possible for anyone to duplicate CDs even in the comforts of their own homes. The end products are not too shabby, either. CDs duplicated using modern software and hardware can boast of top quality and reliability.
Years ago, CDs came mainly as readable discs but as more and more consumers began clamoring for the kind of quality usually only available in digital recordings, manufacturers began producing CDs that could be encoded easily. Called CD-Rs or CD-Recordable discs, these discs made it possible for anyone who can operate a computer to perform CD duplications.
What CD duplication means
CD duplication is, put simply, photocopying, since light (laser) is being used to produce a duplicate. Imagine taking a master disc and making copies of it in a short time. What you have is a number of CDs which are exact replicas of the master, containing the exact files and data that the master disc has.
What you need
For starters, you will need a reliable computer, a CD-writer or burner and a music- or data-management software. Depending on what kind of files you will be copying, you can choose ‘data CD’ or ‘music CD’. Most softwares will also allow you to choose which speed you want to use to burn the CD with. While faster speeds allow you to produce duplicates within a short time, slower speeds are less likely to produce errors.
What a CD burner does
A CD burner essentially functions as a photocopier. It is either a device that’s already built in to the PC or an external writable drive. These days, desktop and notebook computers already come with CD drives or burners as standards. Even music enthusiasts are hooking a separate CD burner to their audio and stereo systems to facilitate faster duplication.
The CD burner uses a moving laser much like a regular CD player, except that it not only has a ‘read laser’, it also has a ‘write laser’. The write laser interacts differently with the blank disc by producing a stronger light to change the disc’s surface and thus alter it.
How CD duplication is done
When people say they ‘burn’ CDs, they mean copying data from a master source – a hard disc, a floppy disc or another CD – to a blank CD. A blank CD is either a CD-R or a CD-RW or re-writable. A CD-R will allow you to copy data on it but not change it. Whatever data you have on the disc will remain unchanged; you cannot make modifications nor delete anything. With a CD-RW, however, you can erase data and copy over and over again.
A blank CD has a flat, smooth surface, made of a reflective metal layer. Another layer underneath this reflective metal is made of photosensitive dye. This dye is translucent when the CD is not yet encoded. But when the CD-writer begins to ‘burn’ data onto the disc, the dye later is heated using a particular frequency. This is where the dye layer turns opaque and this time, will not allow light to pass through.
What the blank CD now has is no longer a smooth, flat surface but a surface that has microscopically darker areas which contain a digital pattern ‘burned’ into them. The altered surface now contains data copied from the master source.
Speed matters
The rate at which CDs are duplicated will depend greatly on several things: the amount of data on the disc, the speed of the copy disc, the speed of the connection between your PC and CD burner and the speed of the CD burner itself. At a 1x speed for example, the disc will spin at the same rate it does when you put it in a CD player. So if you have a CD that contains 120 minutes of recording, you will be able to duplicate that CD in 120 minutes as well.
How to Burn 360 Games Without Mod – No Modding Necessary All You Need is This
The Xbox 360 is probably the most powerful and popular gaming system available today. So it’s no surprise the games for this system are on the cutting edge when it comes to sound quality and graphics.
Since these Xbox 360 games are so advanced and in high demand you can imagine why one game will cost you up to $60.00 plus tax. Even a used Xbox 360 game will cost you atleast $30.00.
So you can imagine if one of these expensive games were to break you would be heart broken. The truth is, these game disks are very fragile so they can break, get scratched up, or get damaged very easily.
This is the biggest reason why Xbox gamers highly interested in making copies of their game so they can play the back up copy while the original copy of their Xbox 360 game is stored away safely. It used to be impossible to burn Xbox 360 games because they have a protection code embedded on them that prevents anyone from burning them.
However, thanks to the advances in technology a unique method developed witch provided a way to get around this protection code. This method is known as modding or mod and it involves using a mod chip to fool the Xbox system into thinking it’s playing the original Xbox 360 game copy. However, this method was expensive and it also requires a bit of tech knowledge in order to successfully carry it out.
These are the two main reasons why gamers wanted to know how to burn 360 games without mod. Just recently a special game copying software was designed to copy and burn games without using a mod chip. This software is cheap, doesn’t require any tech knowledge or skills, and will decode or decrypt the protection code that is embedded on your 360 game.
Once you have this game copying software in your possession you can begin burning your Xbox 360 games. The first thing you are going to have to do is place the original copy of your Xbox 360 game into the DVD/CD drive of your computer.
The next thing you’re going to have to do is start up the game copying software you have already installed onto your computer. Now use this software to rip the data on the original copy of your Xbox 360 game and save it as a file on your computer.
Now that you have the data of your original game saved as a file on a computer you will then insert a quality blank DVD disk into your DVD/CD drive and begin copying the game data you saved as a file onto the blank disk.
To reinsure that you burn your games properly you should choose the best options your game burning software offers. These options will include copying speeds and the very option which will instruct your software to double check everything.
The entire game burning process will take a few minutes and the best part is you won’t have to worry about using a mod chip. Using this software is the best way to burn 360 games without mod and it is also the fastest way burn your 360 games.
Backup-Backup-Backup
Why Do I Need To Backup My Computer?
The question is this. If
your computer happened to up and die one day and you lost all the information on
it, would this affect your mood that day? If your answer was no then you would be
one of the few that doesn’t need to Backup their computer. However, many of us
would look at the same dead computer wondering if by staring at it blankly it might
come back to life by some miracle. The reality would eventually kick in and we
would have to come to terms with the loss each in our own
way.
Unfortunately this is a very common way in which people learn the
value of Backing-Up their computers.
Some Situations Where Computer Data Can Be Lost:
Hard Drive Failure.
Viruses.
Lost or Stolen Computer/Hard Drive.
Accidental deletion of data.
Water and/or Fire damage.
Improper software installation overwriting important Data.
My Dog ate it!
The possibility even for the computer savvy is always present so don’t just
think about it… do it!
Can Lost Data Be Reocvered?
It depends what the reason is
for the lost Data. For example a computer that was lost or stolen would be hard to
recover any information unless the actual computer was recovered and had not been
reformatted or erased. There are also companies that specialize in Data recovery
and can recover Data even from water and fire damaged Hard Drives. This is not an
inexpensive option; it comes down to how important the Data is that needs to be
recovered. You may pay just about anything to get your special moment Photos or
important Business Documents back. Another option is to purchase a program
designed to recover accidentally erased information. This type of recovery must be
done as soon as possible to the initial erasing of the Data before new files have the
chance to overwrite the erased files.
What Backup Options Do I Have?
Some Common Backup Options Are:
Backup to a separate Hard Drive:
This is an
excellent option if you have a lot of Data to Backup and need to Backup often. I
would recommend using an external Hard Drive as opposed to an Internal so that
the Backup Drive can be easily moved or located to a different location as needed
for security.
Backup to a DVD or CD Disk:
Since
most newer computers already have CDR/W and DVDR/W Drives in them this makes
a very economical and convenient way to Backup important Data. The downside is
that there is a limitation of how much Data can go on one of these Disks making
sequential Disk Backups time consuming and not nearly as self sufficient as Backing
up to a Hard Drive. This is still a much better solution then not Backing up at all!
Backup to a Network Drive:
If you are on a Home,
Business or Internet Network that has an available Network Drive to Backup
information to this could be yet another option. Backing up to Network Drives,
especially Internet Network Drives may take some time depending on the speed of
the Network connection. Size limitations can come into effect also.
For
Example: Apple Computers offer an iDisk Network Drive for storing Data to all of
their Dot-Mac account Users. It can store 1 Gigabyte of information and also works
seamlessly with their included Backup software. This is great but limiting as most
people will easily exceed this space. I would recommend using this to Backup
specific files that are very important but not large in size, like Accounting and Data
base info that would be horrendous if lost and time consuming to
reenter.
What Should I Backup?
This is entirely up to you
and may be dependant on what Backup method you choose and how much space is
available. In my opinion items like the Operating System state and installed
Application are not nearly as important as your Home User Directory because your
OS and Programs can always be reinstalled and updated getting you back up and
running in a few hours. This is good but without all of your Contacts, Emails,
Calendar Info, Photos, Movies, Data Base, Bookmarks and Funny Jokes then your
computer is like a blank canvas, you will never get it back to the exact way it was
before your Data loss.
On a Macintosh running OSX, Backing-Up all of
your current User information is as simple as Clicking on your HardDrive, Click on
the folder called Users, Select the account that you are logged in as and drag it to
the Mounted Backup Hard Drive.
On a PC the same can be done by
Clicking on the My Computer Icon, then Click the Documents and Settings Folder,
Select the User that you are currently logged in as and Copy this to the Backup Drive
of your Choice.
Of course there are programs that do this more effectively
and efficiently by daily/weekly Backups that automatically do this for you and only
update any new or updated documents.
Here is a thought to leave you
with when deciding if Backing up your Data is a good idea. How do you feel about
Car insurance, or House Insurance, even Medical Insurance for that matter. Have any
of these come in handy for you and would you even consider not having one or all
of these? Think of a Backup plan for your data like Insurance, it is not mandatory
but some believe would be foolish not to have.
Records, Cassettes, CD’s, & MP3′s – The Evolution of Music
Music media formats have changed quite a bit since recordings were first released to the mass market many decades ago, but is the current favorite, MP3 audio, really the best? In this article we will look at the different standard formats and how they’ve stood the test of time.
It all started with the gramaphone record, which were large platters made of shellac. They ran at a speed of 78 revolutions per minute and required a gramaphone player with a heavy needle to play the record. The records sounded really bad and would break easily no matter how careful you were. The advent of the vinyl record changed all that. Records were now lighter, sounded better, and later when releases came out in stereo, it seemed like there could never be anything better for consumers to listen to music in their own homes. The 33-1/3 rpm vinyl record reigned for decades, throughout the sixties, seventies, and eighties.
Eight track tapes, reel to reel tapes, and other compact cassette formats tried to usurp the record as king, but it could never match the fidelity of a record on a good sound system. However, the cassette tape had a major advantage going for it. It was small, and you could carry a tape practically anywhere. Plus, they were recordable, so it was easy to customize your own “albums” of your favorite tracks. Cassettes were favored by youths in the mid to late eighties, but vinyl records still held it’s place as the preferred format.
Around the mid to late 80′s the compact disc became affordable for the masses, and by 1990, CD’s had firmly taken their place as the preferred format. Vinyl sales dropped off and many pressing factories shut down for good. The CD offered relatively good sound no matter what system it was played on as it was a completely digital medium. The anolog dynamics of a record meant that if you didn’t care for a record or play it on halfway decent equipment, it could sound really bad.
Cassettes soon heard their death knell as well, holding on for dear life in the urban market before being put out of print on a massive scale. The CD was the king of the formats from 1990 until about 2002 when more compact digital formats took over.
The MP3, a compressed audio file, changed everything. Starting off as a way to pirate music over the internet with great quality sound, it later gained acceptance as a viable format for sale and finally in 2003 sales online of MP3 took over CD sales. Mobile devices like the iPod made this change more staggering and record companies scrambled to get a piece of the action as consumers no longer had to buy a full album to get a favorite hit song, they could buy one song for about 99 cents.
The problem with these digital media formats is the quality of the sound. MP3, no matter how good it gets, can sound flat and sterile compared to the warm analog tones of a vinyl record played on good equipment. Enthusiasts have held on to the vinyl format for years, and the proof is in the sales figures. While CD sales steadily drop, vinyl sales are climbing year after year. Used record shops and specialty stores are thriving, while chain CD outlets go out of business. The MP3 and digital format still rules, but it’s not necessarily the best, and the consumer definitely recognizes this.
Cheap CD Duplication and DVD Copying
During CD and DVD duplication, content of a master disk is typically copied onto one or more blank CDs or DVDs without losing data quality. CD duplication services typically use what is, in the simple terms, a scaled up version of a home PC fitted with a CD-RW or DVD-RW drive.
Who needs cheap CD duplication?
Virtually every business and not-for-profit organisation, and many private individuals, can use cheap CD duplication to their advantage. Millions of disks are created by CD and DVD duplication every day: data disks, video disks and audio disks in quantities ranging from a few pieces to hundreds of thousands of items. There’s a place for high quality, cost-effective duplication wherever data needs to be distributed.
How does a typical DVD or CD duplication service work
Commercial duplication uses special manual or automatic duplicators that can handle long and short runs and combine high quality printing. Manual duplicators are ideal for runs of up to ten copies. When larger quantities are required, stack-fed automatic duplicators that can create many copies in a row are capable of handling hundreds of copies at a time.
More than just copying data
CD duplication services usually involve more than just copying digital data from one disk to another. When printed disks are required, sophisticated print-capable duplicators take existing graphics files and print them onto the upper surface of each new CD or DVD.
Typical duplication prices
As of late 2009, leading CD duplicators are offering duplication on silver or white top CD-R from well under £0.40. This is for duplication from a master supplied by the customer and with black print from artwork supplied by the customer. Prices for DVDs or colour print are slightly higher than the entry-level CD-R duplication price.
How to source cost-effective duplication
Data Backup for Beginners
It’s 10pm. Do you know where your data is?
Data. Small bits of information clustered together to make Word files, documents,pictures, MP3s, HTML etc. We work on our computers every single day never sparing a thought for all those millions of chunks of data spread all over our hard disks. The data is there and it does it’s job.
Until of course the data is not there anymore.
72 hours ago I suffered from massive data loss. There were no hackers involved. No power surges or lightning strikes. Just wear and tear on my hard disk. 20 Gigabytes of business and personal information gone forever. Passwords, HTML files, ebooks all gone. I didn’t lose any sleep though. Why? Simply because this was my secondary hard disk that was only used as a backup drive. All my critically important data is safely stored elsewhere.
Picture this scenario. You sit at your computer, turn it on and nothing. Dead. You’ve just lost everything you’ve worked on for the last 12 months. All your Adwords campaigns, website templates, ebooks, Excel files. Everything. How do you feel? How do you go about recovering?
70% of companies who suffer serious data loss go out of business within 12 months.
The truth is that most people never recover from losing all their data.
What can you do to prevent this happening to you? Backup.Backup. Backup. Use a backup system.
How do I backup my data?
You could use a zip drive, a CDR/DVD writer, a USB drive or an secure online storage service. Using any of the above is far better than using nothing at all and hoping for the best.
Data loss cost US businesses in excess of 18 billion dollars in 2003.
How often should I backup my data?
You should backup all important data on your PC at least once a week. An easy way to do this is to use a rotating backup system. Get 4 blank disks . Label these disks Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 and Week 4. At the start of the month make a fresh copy of all your critical data on the Week 1 disk and continue this process on Week 2, 3 and 4. Following this procedure ensures that no matter what happens your stored data will never be more than 1 week old and you’ll also have 3 other copies of your data stored away that are less than a month old. Simple. Effective.
What software do I need?
Microsoft Windows has its own backup software included. Apple Mac users can take advantage of Apples Backup software and iDisk backup service.
How soon should I do this?
Now. Even using floppy disks start the process of backing up your data today. The sooner you start the safer your data is.
Human error and hardware failure account for 76% of all data loss.
The cost of recovering from a major hardware failure such as a hard disk crash can be massively reduced by keeping a backup of your data.
You’re worked hard to build up your business. Don’t throw all that hard work away by not taking the proper steps to safeguard your critical information.
Buy a Cheap Turntable CD Recorder
If you are an audiophile, you need a turntable CD recorder. If you’re wondering why, this is because it is considered to be the Swiss knife of all audio freaks.
If you get the turntable CD recorder, you probably have the CD player and recorder as well. It’s like a collection and you want to have every single one.
If you are getting one, get the unit that supports CD/CD-R/CD-RW. This will definitely let you play the CD even if you merely recorded these.
This is a very efficient system because it turns out that a lot of countries are also developing their own versions, considering that they know the demand of this system.
If you’re tired of having multiple audio devices, you can just invest in a turntable CD recorder. The whole point of just buying one is to save you from the space and to cut back the expenses of actually having every component so that you can play everything.
At least with it, you could all transfer your audio into CD format and just listen in by playing the system.
One advantage is that it is so easy to use. You can just flip through the manual and get what is actually being said. Just simply load the blank CD-R or CD-RW on your LP then press record.
You can then lower the tone arm and then press play. Next thing you know, it is being recorded and your vinyl albums are transferred to a CD. You could now enjoy those classic recordings.
You can also record the entire album or just choose the tracks that you want from one album and some from the other. Imagine the space that you can save in your cabinet because you won’t have to stock up on your LPs.
Finally, the whole point of having the turntable CD recorder is that it gives off a nice finishing touch. The digitals tuners and the shiny panels can support any wooden cabinet or manual dials.
If you are going to invest in a gadget at home, you sometimes look into how it would look in your living room.
That is practical. We suggest that you get the model of the turntable CD recorder that will really look good in your home. You will definitely enjoy music with this gadget.