Tag Archives: cloud
When Software Cant Help: SSD, Cloud and Online Services
In the first part of the article, we took a look at programs for recovering data from traditional hard drives. In this second part of the series “When Software Cant Help” well talk about flash-based (solid-state) storage, cloud storage systems and online storage services.
Solid-State Drives (SSD)
Solid-state drives are often used in place of traditional hard disks. SSD drives offer smaller capacities but much higher speed, especially when random access speed is concerned. With no moving parts, SSD drives are more robust mechanically. They can withstand higher shocks, which makes them particularly great for portable applications. Another laptop-friendly feature is a much lower power consumption compared to magnetic hard drives.
SSD drives do come with their share of issues affecting data loss and data recovery situations. These issues are highly dependent on the ways SSD drives record information. With SSD drives, recovering a file deleted a few minutes ago is far from a given. Same goes for formatted disks; however surprisingly, corrupted SSDs may be recovered just as well as traditional hard drives. But lets elaborate.
Why Recovering Deleted Files from SSD Drives May Not Work
All fairly recent SSD drives implement a special set of procedures allowing them to optimize their writing performance. These procedures include background garbage collection and TRIM.
Why do SSD drives need garbage collections and magnetic hard disks dont? Because flash chips have much faster clear writes compared to erase-then-write times. In other words, flash cells that contain information need to be erased (emptied) before new information can be written in, and that erase process is very slow compared to plain write operation. In order to speed up the writes, solid-state disks erase flash cells occupied with deleted information in background. When the system needs to write anything on the disk, the write operation then has enough empty cells to complete quickly.
How does the disk know a particular sector becomes available? The operating system tells the drive via the TRIM command. The TRIM command is issued every time the system deletes a file or formats a volume. The drive will then add released sectors into the garbage collection queue, wiping their content with zeroes slowly but inevitably.
Remember why data recovery works? Windows itself does not wipe or erase the content of a file being deleted, but simply marks its disk space available. Well, this is not the case with SSD drives anymore: SSD drives will wipe available disk sectors in just a few minutes after a file is deleted.
When SSDs Can Be Recovered
SSD recovery may still work if the TRIM command was not issued. This could be the case if any one (or more) of the following is true:
Old version of Windows. Windows versions before Vista did not support TRIM, so SSDs behave pretty much like magnetic hard drives, and can be recovered.
Corrupted data. In a case of corrupted data, damaged file system and similar things, the TRIM command is not issued, and the files remain recoverable.
External SSD drive. SSD drives connected via a USB, FireWire or Ethernet port do not support the TRIM command, and can be recovered with data recovery software.
RAID arrays. TRIM is not supported in RAID configurations.
File system other than NTFS. At this time, Windows only supports TRIM on NTFS-formatted SSD drives. If your SSD drive uses a different file system, the TRIM command is not issued, and the drive remains recoverable.
Tools for Recovering Data from SSD Drives
In order to recover information from an SSD drive, you can use data recovery tools such as Hetman Uneraser, Hetman Partition Recovery, or Hetman Photo Recovery depending on your exact needs. Try Hetman Uneraser if youre recovering from a healthy drive that has not been formatted or repartitioned. If you did format or repartition your SSD drive, or if you have an inaccessible device with corrupted file system, use Hetman Partition Recovery.
Cloud Storage and Online Services
Cloud storage systems are gaining popularity among all kinds of users. Online backups, online photo albums (Flickr, Picasa), online file sharing and online document processing (Google Docs) are all over the place.
They are great as “Desktop”, “Mobile phone” or “My Documents” backups, perfect as redundant storage, and absolutely irreplaceable for sharing information and socializing. However, cloud storage systems are not exactly great as your primary storage. In other words, if you want to replace a big hard drive with an Amazon cloud storage account take a second look.
Granted, cloud storage systems are not susceptible (or much less susceptible than single-hard-drive solutions) to hardware faults and virus attacks. They are usually quite redundant and have excellent self-backup facilities. Your data may be safe there for a while.
Relying exclusively onto a cloud-based storage means giving up complete control over your information. Your data will be subject to someone elses policies (which may change without notice). The amount of storage space available may be limited, while plans allowing larger than a single hard drives worth storage space may cost you more than the cost of a similarly sized hard drive, per month.
Finally, if you delete a file, or if your entire account is compromised and wiped by a hacker, there is no recourse. No data recovery tool can restore deleted information from the cloud. This is a classical case where data recovery tools do not help.
How To Future-Proof Your Cloud Deployment
Cloud computing, a type of computing that relies on sharing computing resources rather than local servers to manage applications is an on-demand service model for IT provisioning and is based on virtualization and distributed computing technologies. Cloud computing has radically changed software development and the way enterprises use data and information. It has become a mainstay of the current IT landscape, with the market research firm, IHS, predicting that £142 billion will be spent by enterprises globally on infrastructure and cloud-related services by 2017.
However, when considering an enterprise cloud solution, it is important to note that rather than being a single solution, it is a combination of technologies includingvirtualization, networking andstorage solutions, and hardware – working together, with each of them having their own unique characteristics. These components, and their characteristics, should be adequately understood before enterprises adopt cloud solutions. There are significant benefits to using cloud solutions. The main advantages are rapid go-to-market, business performance resourcing, business agility,and cost reduction. Many companies across the business spectrum are realizing the benefits of cloud and are migrating or will migrate to a private, public or hybrid cloud environment. While there are definite benefits to using cloud solutions, proper planning and diligence can ensure that a companys cloud investments withstand future change or become future-proof.The sections below outline steps to optimize cloud investments.
Data Center Optimization
One of the key steps to perform before a company considers cloud migration is to ensure that its data centers are in order and automate its data center virtualization processes. Data center virtualization and cloud computing are often thought to be the same. However, while virtualization is a fundamental cloud computing element that helps deliver on the value of cloud computing, cloud computing refers to the delivery of shared computing resources, software or data, on-demand and through the Internet. Virtualizing the data center can significantly ease the transition from the data center to the cloud.
Planning and Analysis
The type of cloud environment that a company adopts is largely determined by the corporate demand and existing IT resources. These cloud environments can vary greatly since every companys needs are unique. The IT resources a company adopts should ideally be utilized fully, and for this, planning is critical. Questions such as what is going to be accessed and by whom, how users will connect to the cloud environment, how many users the environment will need to support, and how growth can be accommodated need to be thoroughly analyzed.
Cloud Deployment Strategy
The cloud deployment strategy will differ based on the organizations needs and factors such as which cloud environment (or combination) – whether public, community, private, or hybrid clouds has been chosen. To successfully deploy a cloud environment, the workload type, WAN/LAN bandwidth, current and future resource needs, and user training and accessibility need to be understood in detail. The workload depends on the type and amount of data being deployed to the end user, and will vary depending on whether a small application or full-blown virtual desktops are being deployed. Determining the workload can help in choosing the best cloud environment. An appropriate WAN/LAN bandwidth can mean the difference between a robust cloud environment and one that suffers from detrimental latency issues arising from WAN/LAN congestion. WAN optimization technologies can also be used for efficient bandwidth allocation. Properly understanding a companys needs, both current and future, will help the company respond well to future growth. In addition, an enterprise with a cloud environment needs to address difficulties that end-users may face when using its services through the cloud. Planning for and preparing adequate material to explain the cloud environment and functionality to the end usercan mean the difference between the success and failure of a companys cloud-based offerings. Increasingly more users are looking at the quality of a productssupport, such as easy-to-follow training manuals, webinars, and documentation for easy cloud adoption.
Understanding Application Workloads
There are primarily two types of application workloads: traditional scale-up and cloud-native scale-out application workloads. These two workloads have vastly different characteristics, which need to be understood by enterprises looking to build a cloud environment. Most of todays enterprise applications, such as SAP ERP, Oracle database apps, and Microsoft Exchange, which reside in data centers come under the traditional scale-up category. The workloads are generally client-server or n-tier applications that run on a single server or a group of servers and databases. To scale-up traditional apps, the preferred method is typically to increase the size of the application and database infrastructure, and therefore, the ability to scale-up for traditional apps is somewhat limited by the workload architecture. The new generation of apps generally associated with cloud computing, such as gaming and mobile apps,Big Data, and social apps, fall into the cloud-native scale-out application workloads category. These workload types require a substantial amount of dynamic scaling and elasticitythat would be very expensive or even impossible to achieve with traditional datacenter architectures.
With the development of cloud computing, computing power began to be provided by multiple commodity grade computing, networking and storage nodes rather than increasingly larger and more expensive servers. The load generated by millions of users is cost-effectively handled by internet companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon by running multiple application servers in parallel, utilizing significant caching methods, and replicating data to numerous traditional or distributed database servers. Traditional scale-up and cloud-native scale-out application workloads have many other differences in addition to those stated above and a company looking to deploy a cloud solution has to seriously consider the two options to determine the solution that best fits its needs.A relatively new cloud offering, Citrixs Cloud Platform offering, which is powered by Apache Cloud Stack, is an application-centric cloud that could indeed be used for both traditional scale-up and cloud-native scale-out application workloads would certainly be valuable considering future growth and expansion.
Reliability, Performance, and Security
The public internet serves as the default for accessing cloud applications and is generally adequate for consumer applications. However, for enterprises with critical applications in the cloud, a private network should be considered for reliability, performance, and security.Selecting a cloud solution that offers global reach is also important for companies with global operations or those looking to do so. Providing private, secure access to corporate resources from any location can be critical to an enterprises operations. The flexibility to increase bandwidth when necessary should also be considered when choosing a cloud solution. Companies that require an adequate bandwidth at all times without having to pay for idle capacity should consider on-demand, burstable bandwidth models.
Cloud computing is still developing and will continue to evolve. Further, the needs of a company change constantly, and therefore, there is no one single correct cloud solution – each has its pros and cons. The company whose cloud investments continue to generate returns well into the future will most likely be the one that assesses its needs in depth and chooses a cloud offering or combination that best fulfills its needs.
How To Future-Proof Your Cloud Deployment
Cloud computing, a type of computing that relies on sharing computing resources rather than local servers to manage applications is an on-demand service model for IT provisioning and is based on virtualization and distributed computing technologies. Cloud computing has radically changed software development and the way enterprises use data and information. It has become a mainstay of the current IT landscape, with the market research firm, IHS, predicting that £142 billion will be spent by enterprises globally on infrastructure and cloud-related services by 2017.
However, when considering an enterprise cloud solution, it is important to note that rather than being a single solution, it is a combination of technologies includingvirtualization, networking andstorage solutions, and hardware – working together, with each of them having their own unique characteristics. These components, and their characteristics, should be adequately understood before enterprises adopt cloud solutions. There are significant benefits to using cloud solutions. The main advantages are rapid go-to-market, business performance resourcing, business agility,and cost reduction. Many companies across the business spectrum are realizing the benefits of cloud and are migrating or will migrate to a private, public or hybrid cloud environment. While there are definite benefits to using cloud solutions, proper planning and diligence can ensure that a companys cloud investments withstand future change or become future-proof.The sections below outline steps to optimize cloud investments.
Data Center Optimization
One of the key steps to perform before a company considers cloud migration is to ensure that its data centers are in order and automate its data center virtualization processes. Data center virtualization and cloud computing are often thought to be the same. However, while virtualization is a fundamental cloud computing element that helps deliver on the value of cloud computing, cloud computing refers to the delivery of shared computing resources, software or data, on-demand and through the Internet. Virtualizing the data center can significantly ease the transition from the data center to the cloud.
Planning and Analysis
The type of cloud environment that a company adopts is largely determined by the corporate demand and existing IT resources. These cloud environments can vary greatly since every companys needs are unique. The IT resources a company adopts should ideally be utilized fully, and for this, planning is critical. Questions such as what is going to be accessed and by whom, how users will connect to the cloud environment, how many users the environment will need to support, and how growth can be accommodated need to be thoroughly analyzed.
Cloud Deployment Strategy
The cloud deployment strategy will differ based on the organizations needs and factors such as which cloud environment (or combination) – whether public, community, private, or hybrid clouds has been chosen. To successfully deploy a cloud environment, the workload type, WAN/LAN bandwidth, current and future resource needs, and user training and accessibility need to be understood in detail. The workload depends on the type and amount of data being deployed to the end user, and will vary depending on whether a small application or full-blown virtual desktops are being deployed. Determining the workload can help in choosing the best cloud environment. An appropriate WAN/LAN bandwidth can mean the difference between a robust cloud environment and one that suffers from detrimental latency issues arising from WAN/LAN congestion. WAN optimization technologies can also be used for efficient bandwidth allocation. Properly understanding a companys needs, both current and future, will help the company respond well to future growth. In addition, an enterprise with a cloud environment needs to address difficulties that end-users may face when using its services through the cloud. Planning for and preparing adequate material to explain the cloud environment and functionality to the end usercan mean the difference between the success and failure of a companys cloud-based offerings. Increasingly more users are looking at the quality of a productssupport, such as easy-to-follow training manuals, webinars, and documentation for easy cloud adoption.
Understanding Application Workloads
There are primarily two types of application workloads: traditional scale-up and cloud-native scale-out application workloads. These two workloads have vastly different characteristics, which need to be understood by enterprises looking to build a cloud environment. Most of todays enterprise applications, such as SAP ERP, Oracle database apps, and Microsoft Exchange, which reside in data centers come under the traditional scale-up category. The workloads are generally client-server or n-tier applications that run on a single server or a group of servers and databases. To scale-up traditional apps, the preferred method is typically to increase the size of the application and database infrastructure, and therefore, the ability to scale-up for traditional apps is somewhat limited by the workload architecture. The new generation of apps generally associated with cloud computing, such as gaming and mobile apps,Big Data, and social apps, fall into the cloud-native scale-out application workloads category. These workload types require a substantial amount of dynamic scaling and elasticitythat would be very expensive or even impossible to achieve with traditional datacenter architectures.
With the development of cloud computing, computing power began to be provided by multiple commodity grade computing, networking and storage nodes rather than increasingly larger and more expensive servers. The load generated by millions of users is cost-effectively handled by internet companies like Google, Facebook, and Amazon by running multiple application servers in parallel, utilizing significant caching methods, and replicating data to numerous traditional or distributed database servers. Traditional scale-up and cloud-native scale-out application workloads have many other differences in addition to those stated above and a company looking to deploy a cloud solution has to seriously consider the two options to determine the solution that best fits its needs.A relatively new cloud offering, Citrixs Cloud Platform offering, which is powered by Apache Cloud Stack, is an application-centric cloud that could indeed be used for both traditional scale-up and cloud-native scale-out application workloads would certainly be valuable considering future growth and expansion.
Reliability, Performance, and Security
The public internet serves as the default for accessing cloud applications and is generally adequate for consumer applications. However, for enterprises with critical applications in the cloud, a private network should be considered for reliability, performance, and security.Selecting a cloud solution that offers global reach is also important for companies with global operations or those looking to do so. Providing private, secure access to corporate resources from any location can be critical to an enterprises operations. The flexibility to increase bandwidth when necessary should also be considered when choosing a cloud solution. Companies that require an adequate bandwidth at all times without having to pay for idle capacity should consider on-demand, burstable bandwidth models.
Cloud computing is still developing and will continue to evolve. Further, the needs of a company change constantly, and therefore, there is no one single correct cloud solution – each has its pros and cons. The company whose cloud investments continue to generate returns well into the future will most likely be the one that assesses its needs in depth and chooses a cloud offering or combination that best fulfills its needs.