By STEPHEN FENECH - Sydney Daily Telegraph
January 25, 2006
Twenty years ago, files would have been stored in a metal cabinet in the middle of an office which is a lot harder to lose than a file stored on a computer's hard drive.
With most of our data now in the digital domain pictures, documents, music and video there is no physical file which can be locked in a safe for protection. Today information stored on our computers has to be safeguarded so it is not only stored safely but also kept away from prying eyes.
Those who have accidentally deleted a file can relate to the frustration and inconvenience it can cause. It is also possible to lose files if your PC has been exposed to a virus or if you are the victim of a hacker.
If you can identify with any of these situations, the good news is that there is a way to retrieve files which have been deleted.
GetData, a Sydney-based software development company, has a range of products that can recover deleted files, organise data and plug security holes in your system.
Two of the three company founders used their knowledge as former police computer forensic corporate investigators to develop the powerful software.
Graham Henley and John Hunter were at the forefront of data recovery technology, which was developed to assist their investigations into the collapse of One-Tel and HIH.
Henley spent 11 years in law enforcement with the Australian Federal Police, five of those in the Computer Crime Unit.
Hunter, meanwhile, brings nine years' experience as a NSW police officer to the table, including a stint as a senior computer forensics examiner.
"Computer forensics is about finding the IT evidence that no-one knew was there," says Hunter. "We always believed our data recovery techniques had commercial possibilities. As long as a deleted file has not been overwritten it can be recovered. We have developed a unique approach that means our data recovery engine can find deleted files conventional programs would never know existed."
GetData's five main products are Recover My Files, Recover My Photos, Computer Security Tool, Explorer View and Burn My Files.
Anyone who's ever lost an important file has probably proclaimed they'd give anything to get it back. All they need to pay is the price of this application.
It can retrieve deleted files or lost files whether it was done accidentally, as a result of a virus, hard-drive reformatting or a software failure. More than 150 files types used in imaging, graphics, databases and gaming are recoverable including pdf, jpeg, wav, avi, doc and swf just to name a few. The application can recover files not only from your hard disk but also from removable media such as floppy disks and zip drives, as well as all types of memory cards.
With so many digital cameras being used today there is bound to be a time when users will accidentally wipe their precious memories either off the camera itself or from a memory card.
If you've accidentally zapped your holiday snaps into the next dimension, Recover My Photos can easily restore them.
The application lets you preview the shots it has recovered and lets you choose the ones you'd like to save again. It can also recapture mpeg and avi movie files.
Security is just as important as care when it comes to protecting data. GetData's Computer Security Tool constantly scans your system for weaknesses and vulnerabilities in Microsoft software. These weaknesses are exploited by hackers if they are not protected by the user. Intrusions can result in lost data which might include sensitive personal or financial information.
This application gives you easy access to the many files in your computer by utilising Windows Explorer as a search tool. This way you can access information in files without having to open separate applications.
When users want to create back ups of their files, or simply share some information with others, Burn My Files is a one-click way of getting them on to CD or DVD. This allows you to select files using Windows Explorer and burn them on to disc. It's a great way to archive digital media content such as pictures, video and music.