What You Need To Know About Android’s ‘Factory Reset’ Function

Upgrading your Android device?

Are you still sporting an HTC Dream (Google G1) or a tablet running Android Honeycomb? Probably not, as technological obsolescence means that as mobile devices have evolved, so has our desire to upgrade to newer models with improved performance and functionality.

So if you do decide to upgrade, what should you do with your old mobile phone or tablet to ensure no-one else will be able to access your personal information? Up until now, users may have chosen to perform a factory reset, with the perception that this will securely erase all data on the device. This is actually not the case; it was recently reported that data may still be recoverable from around 500 million Android smartphones, even after performing a factory reset. It was also found that a recovery is possible even if the device is encrypted, which is concerning for home and business users alike.

Why is the data still recoverable?

In a previous blog post we described how data such as pictures, videos and app information gets stored on Android devices, mostly via the use of internal NAND flash memory. We asked Michal Cieslik, a Mobile Device Recovery Specialist at DataRecoup to explain why data can still be recovered from these types of storage devices when a factory reset has been completed:

“Performing a factory reset on an Android device simply removes the path to the data, making the device appear empty; however the data is actually still there. A recovery is possible by looking at the data structures from a low-level and using specialist tools to recreate the data into a useable format. Also, factory resetting a mobile device only affects the internal memory – any added external storage in the form of micro-SD memory cards would not be touched and the data could be recovered with widely available software recovery tools.”

Hardware rebuild for SSD

After a VRM and NAND flash memory chip replacement we recovered all our clients data despite a 50/50 diagnosis!

Hardware rebuild of solid-state-disk...

After receiving an unresponsive solid-state-disk, our engineers advised the client that it would need a full hardware rebuild. The chances of recovery were only 50% and without the necessary parts this would prove uneconomical. As it stands, we would class this as a no recovery; however where data is extremely important we do offer an alternative where by we ask for the cost of parts upfront. Whilst our library does stock over fourteen thousand hard drives, in less than 5% of instances we need to order specialist components to complete a data recovery.

To attempt the recovery the engineers had to firstly de-solder the VRM and NAND Flash Memory chips from the SSD. Once completed a layer of the surface was removed by a laser and the chips re-soldered and harvested in to an identical donor SSD. The identical SSD was purchased direct from the manufacturer which did delay the process by 10 working days.

Cloud disaster recovery offers data protection at low cost

Cloud disaster recovery and backup offer high availability at low cost. There are plenty of cloud backup options -- and some snags -- to consider.

Cloud disaster recovery and backup options have become more common, and some users say they provide a higher level of protection than traditional solutions -- at lower cost.

Disaster recovery (DR) means different things to different people. One IT pro's definition of DR might be simple file backup, while another might be referring to full standby server farms ready to take over production duties at a moment's notice.

At its most basic level, disaster recovery means storing backup data off-site, which increasingly means the public cloud.

For Prellwitz Chilinski Associates, Inc. (PCA), an architecture firm in Cambridge, Mass., nightly backups are the cornerstone of its disaster recovery plan. The data being backed up are large files architects generate using tools from vendors such as Autodesk Inc. and Adobe Systems Inc.

For many years, PCA replicated its data between a pair of storage appliances provided by a local integrator -- one on-site, the other off-site.

"It was a great solution -- we had the local backups for quick access, plus the safety net of off-site backup," said Dan Carp, systems administrator for the firm.

Then, about two years ago, Carp began exploring whether cloud backup could be more cost-effective. Using the replicated data appliances, PCA paid about $14,000 annually to protect 700 GB of data. After a few fits and starts with various cloud data protection providers, it settled on Zetta.net, which stores almost twice the data it had on the data appliances, for about half as much money.

How to Set Up a Virtualization Server

If there's one technology that can greatly improve computing environments of any size, it's virtualization. By using a single physical server to run many virtual servers, you can decrease operational costs and get far more bang for your buck. Whether your company is a 2-server or 2000-server shop, you can benefit from server virtualization in a variety of ways. The best part? You can do it cheaply and easily.

The reasons to virtualize even a small infrastructure come down to ease of administration and cost reductions. Cost reductions come from cutting down the number of physical servers, thus reducing the power and cooling requirements, but they also come in the form of greatly reduced expansion. Rather than having to purchase new hardware to support a new business application, all you need to do is add a new virtual server.

If your business has only a single server, virtualization isn't likely to buy you much, but if you have more than two servers or if you plan on expanding anytime soon, virtualization can likely make a difference.

VMware Data Recovery - Overview (Part 1)

An overview of VMware’s new backup and recovery application for VMware vSphere (Virtual Infrastructure), dubbed “VMware Data Recovery” or VDR.

Introduction

There is such a tremendous need out there for virtualization-specific backup applications. I know that VDW will be a big hit with VMware admins. Whether you are a new virtualization admin or have years of experience, everyone knows that backup and recovery must be top on the list. If an ESX host fails or a datastore goes down, mission critical VMs that were using those pieces of the virtual infrastructure will need to be restored, quickly. If they cannot be restored, you do not want to be the one who is to blame.

What were our backup options before VMware’s Data Recovery?

Backup and restore of VMware virtual infrastructure, in my opinion, has never been very easy. VMware has never offered its own backup application, and no, VCB is NOT a backup application even though it is called “VMware Consolidated Backup”. VMware Consolidated Backup actually does not backup or restore anything. All VCB really does is to provide you access to the VMFS file system to allow you to use some other method of backup and restore on your virtual machines.

Prior to Data Recovery, every admin out there either;

  1. Wrote some scripts to use with VCB for backup
  2. Kept their traditional backup application running in each guest
  3. Used some interface where that allowed their traditional backup application to backup VMs using VCB
  4. Bought a virtualization-specific backup application like vRanger, esXpress, or Veeam Backup

None of these options were integrated into Virtual Center / vCenter.

Recover after DROP TABLE. Case 1

InnoDB Recovery

Introduction

Human mistakes are inevitable. Wrong “DROP DATABASE” or “DROP TABLE” may destroy critical data on the MySQL server. Backups would help however they’re not always available. This situation is frightening but not hopeless. In many cases it is possible to recover almost all the data that was in the database or table.
Let’s look how we can do it. The recovery plan depends on whether InnoDB kept all data in a single ibdata1 or each table had its own tablespace . In this post we will consider the case innodb_file_per_table=OFF. This option assumes that all tables are stored in a common file, usually located at /var/lib/mysql/ibdata1.

Wrong action – table deletion

For our scenario we will use test database sakila that is shipped together with the tool.
Suppose we drop my mistake table actor:
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