You have over 300 pictures in your digital camera and no way to retrieve them. Don’t panic there are ways to save them. Start by reading this article on corrupted photo recovery.

A while back I inserted my XD media card into the wrong camera. For some reason my two Fuji cameras are not combatable. I went to download the pictures and all I could get was “media card not valid” My heart sunk because we had over 300 wedding photos on it.

I played around with it for a while with no results. After looking around the Internet I found some decent looking free software. I downloaded it and ran it with my corrupted photo card. I then tried to download the pictures again and got “Media is not formatted would you like to format now? I said yes. I know now that was a big mistake. My wife was going to kill me.

I did some more research on the Internet and came across another piece of software for corrupt photo recovery. I downloaded it and ran it with my memory card and it found ALL my pictures. Don’t know how but it worked even after I formatted my card. I was so happy. I gladly paid the fee for the license and restored my wedding pictures.

I did learn a few things about restoring corrupted photos.

1. Whether your pictures are on a memory card or hard drive do not mess around with it any more than you have to. Every time you write to a disk or card the less of a chance you have of recovering your pictures.

2. For memory cards try cleaning the contacts with a pencil eraser. Then clean with rubbing alcohol and a cotton swab. This saved one of my old cards that had corroded contacts and would not read.

3. Find a good program for photo restoration. Some will do more harm than good so do your research.

I did my research and the software I ended up using was recommended on a lot of digital photo forums. I even called a local professional photographer and he suggested the same software. Well that was enough for me. One of the best parts about it was it is a free download and you can see if it will work before you buy. Completely safe for your hard drive or memory card.

So in short if you damaged you photos some how don’t panic 99 percent of the time they are recoverable. Corrupted photo recovery software works great!

By: Mike D Tucker

In today’s technology reliant business world, companies are becoming increasingly responsive to the need to protect and retain valuable business data. One often overlooked means of protecting against data loss and equipment damage is the utilization of quality battery backup device in addition to critical data retention and mainframe disaster recovery software implementation. While battery backup can prevent the loss of valuable data in the event of a power outage or lapse, a quality battery backup solution will furthermore protect expensive electronic equipment such as personal computers and servers from costly damage. Considering the high cost associated with data loss and equipment replacement, not just any battery backup device will suffice. Here we examine some of the factors that should be considered in the selection of a battery backup for business or home use.

First of all, what does battery backup do? A battery backup, also referred to as an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), allows equipment to safely shut down temporarily in the event of a power outage or lapse in service, but a quality backup unit also prevents equipment damage by regulating fluctuations in the flow of electricity to the equipment. Even when electrical service is seemingly reliable and consistent, variations such as spikes and surges alter the voltage level being delivered to sensitive electronic equipment. Battery backups with an automatic voltage regulation feature are recommended due to their ability to prevent such fluctuations from harming equipment in the long term.

A battery backup must be capable of accommodating the amount of energy required to power the equipment for which it is intended without being overworked. A battery backup device must have the appropriate wattage and volt-ampere ratings to support the equipment that will be utilizing it. While a single home computer and monitor may be able to get by with a basic battery backup unit, more demanding applications such as server rooms warrant a more powerful solution. Additionally, a more advanced battery backup unit will incorporate software which performs periodic tests on the device and retains the test results.

Even when an appropriately powered, self testing battery backup device is being utilized, telecommunication equipment connected directly to a computer or server poses a hidden danger. A single lightning strike can easily travel via RJ-11 and RJ-45 cables and wreak havoc on the connected equipment. A battery backup device with RJ-11 and RJ-45 protection provides a necessary layer of defense between valuable equipment and storm related surges or lightning.

Awareness of product features and voltage ratings among various products is critical to selecting a battery backup device that is sufficient for a particular application. All battery backup solutions do not incorporate all of the features outlined herein. Other factors such as whether all or only select outlets on a unit are actually battery backed and whether a device facilitates the ability to “hot swap” a battery when needed may also be considered in the selection of a battery backup device.

By: Stephen Richards

Long ago, the successful sale of whatever widgets a company offered wasn’t much affected one way or another by weather. In today’s electronic business world, though, violent weather can wreak havoc with threats to the data that make possible the successful marketing of a service or product.

Florida is the undisputed Lightning Capitol of the U.S., with hundreds of thousands of strikes recorded each year; Texas ranks #2, but Pennsylvania leads the nation in total lightning damage. In fact, the only places on earth relatively safe from lightning are Arctic, Antarctic and the middle of the oceans.

If a business happens to be located in a state with a high incidence of lightning, one of the first things the business owner learns is the importance of protecting customer and other business data from the mayhem created by a sudden surge in power. Even if you’re not located in a high-risk state, the United States records millions of serious strikes every year … coast to coast to coast to coast. No business, anywhere in the country, is immune to them.

When a lightning strike – or any other form of violent weather – abruptly severs power distribution, there usually is a surge of current that can, in a nanosecond, completely destroy a database and the hardware containing it. The surge might occur during the disturbance, during operation of the equipment, and/or when power is restored. Destructive power surges can occur on any line running into your office – including AC power lines, telephone lines, and coaxial cable lines. One way or another, that means your servers – and all data backed up on them – are at risk.

A simple “surge protector” strip affords only the most minimal protection. For one thing, their effectiveness depends upon human oversight and maintenance – and human beings mean human errors. (Accidentally clicked it off? Whoops!) For another, if the surge protector has been hit once, its efficacy is immediately cut dramatically, affording hardly any protection at all from any subsequent strikes – yet many companies simply hit the re-set switch and continue using the same “protection.”

The safe way to protect your invaluable business data – customer background, ordering and contact information, organizational files, etc. – is to have your data backed up by an online data storage and retrieval service. An online data backup system means that no matter what happens to your physical plant or the tapes, CDs and servers housed therein, your data is safe and you can retrieve it at any time.

Today, a company’s electronic business data is most likely to be its more important, most valuable asset. Protecting it with an online data backup and storage services ensures that come what may – hurricanes, floods, tornados, storms – that data is safe, secure, and the business will go on as usual.

By: Andrew Stratton