Tallyn's Professional Photographic Presents
"Digital Data Loss Prevention & Recovery"

By Scott M. Tallyn
Tallyn's President and CEO

Being a professional photographer, I've built my reputation and livelihood on capturing quality images for my clientele. Like many other photographers, I was hesitant to make the switch from film to digital, but digital photography has revolutionized and revitalized my outlook and increased my creativity, and I will never go back to film. But while digital photography is a very powerful tool, I have experienced a few glitches that all digital photographers should be aware of.

My first experience happened when I opened a media card through my reader only to find, to my dismay, that there was absolutely nothing on it. My heart sank down into my shoes, sheer panic set in…. my images were gone! These pictures were not something I could re-shoot or reschedule, and they were nowhere to be found. This was the start of my research into data recovery.

What is Data Recovery?
Data recovery is a process that retrieves lost or reformatted data from electric storage media. Even after data has been deleted, reformatted or corrupted, in most cases the original file still exists on the storage media, it simply is not visible to the user. Data recovery locates and extracts the lost information.

Through my experiences in data recovery, I've been able to narrow down what causes a majority of data loss or corruption, and how these problems may be avoided.

Six Simple Steps to Prevent Data Loss:
Here are the six most common human errors that may cause data loss and corruption:

1. Sharing the same media card between two different cameras
Never write data to a particular card and interchange it between cameras of different make or model. Each camera writes information to the card in a different way, so using the card in different cameras will alter the file allocation table, thus making the information not accessible. If you wish to use a card in a different camera, make certain you have your data saved to your computer or an alternate storage device, and then reformat the card in the camera you wish to use.

2. Turning off the camera before it is done writing information to the card.
When you turn the camera off before it is done writing information to the card, part of that picture will be corrupted. This may also corrupt part or all of the other files on the card. Never turn the power off while data is being written to the card.

3. Neglecting to change batteries when they get low
When your batteries begin to get low, stop immediately, turn off the camera and replace them. When the camera does not have enough power to write to the card, it may corrupt the current file, and act as a domino effect, corrupting every other file on the card.

4. Pushing the preview button before the camera has finished writing information to the card
If you are a "preview puncher" and hit the preview button frequently please beware not to push the button while data is being written to the card. This may corrupt your data. I have encountered this numerous times, and even been guilty of doing this myself.

5. Opening the access door or trying to eject the media
Never open the access door to your media card or attempt to eject the card while data is being written to it.

6. Breaking communication between the computer and the media card (PC Users)
This is a frequent mistake that many photographers are not aware of. As a safety precaution I highly recommend on all operating systems, to double click on "My Computer", find the letter drive associated to your card/reader (ex. E Drive). Right click on that letter drive and select "Eject" from the menu. This line of defense does not physically eject the card from the reader, but it breaks communication between the computer and card. If you simply physically eject the card from the reader and put in a new card, the computer believes it is still talking to the first card, and may corrupt data on the second card.

What To Do When You Experience Data Loss:

1. Do not continue using the device. (This is the most important step!)
If you continue to use your storage device after discovering missing information, there's a good chance you will be writing over the lost data. Once the data has been written over, it is completely gone, there is no chance of a full recovery.

2. Use A Data Recovery Software Program
You can find many low cost data recovery software programs online. However, a word to the wise - you get what you pay for! Just remember that most of what you find online may not recover all of your data, and some may cause more harm than good. I have attempted many recoveries that were beyond my help because the data was irreparable due to amateur attempts with poorly designed software. If your data is extremely important or irreplaceable, I would highly recommend referring the recovery to a data recovery firm that specializes in this area.

3. Consult A Professional Recovery Service
When your information is of the utmost importance, there are many companies that offer data recovery services, but be forewarned that many of them are extremely expensive. This is why I have formed a new division (Data Recovery Services) of my business to offer an affordable solution for amateur and professional photographers. For all the details about Tallyn's Professional Data Recovery Services, you may visit our web site at www.tallyns.com/DataRecovery.htm or call us at 1-800-433-8685 (for U.S. only) or at 1-309-692-5005 (for Overseas or U.S.) and ask for Scott Tallyn.

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