Ally Web Directory: Free Articles » Computers » Clean Room - Why it’s Essential for Data Recovery Companies to Have it

Imagine a patient recovering post surgery in a regular hospital room instead of an intensive care unit. The chances of infections and set backs in such a scenario are very high. Therefore, as a precautionary measure the patient is kept in a highly sanitised environment. Similarly, the process of data recovery is treated as a process that requires a very precise lab environment ensuring that highly sensitive data/samples/technology is not contaminated. The primary objective of a clean room in a data recovery company is to create air that is as pure as possible with the minimum contaminants. This means there has to be a constant clearing of the air and cleaning it of air-borne particles that could be due to the presence of human beings, machinery etc. The first clean rooms as we know them now were introduced in aerospace industries in the early 60's when the need for a highly sanitised environment was felt. Cut to the present day when digitised data makes the world go round and one can get a fair idea of the importance of clean rooms in data recovery companies. Clean room recovery refers to the recovery of storage media of different media and not just hard disk drives. Data recovery in a clean room may be required because of a faulty hard disk drive, virus attacks or even mishandling of the media. They are then brought to the clean room to be dismantled and then “recovered”. Sometimes, a hard disk may be beyond repair but highly specialized processes performed in the clean room are used to read magnetic patterns and thus enable data recovery. Data forensics is another specialized field that requires a clean room to unravel mysteries and solve crimes of different natures. With the increasing need of data storage and recovery and the importance of this data to the very functioning of a company, clean rooms have grown in importance. With every notable data recovery company introducing a clean room, there were also companies that didn't pay too much heed to this concept or the need for it. Slowly, standards have been established so companies can be monitored and the quality of their work rated accordingly. The importance that a data recovery company gives to its clean room is a reflection of how professional the company is about the service it provides. The Federal Standard 209 was set in 1963 in the US and is universally been considered as a benchmark of sorts. The standards set defines the maximum number of particles that is permitted in the air of a clean room beyond which is considered non certifiable. The standards set for a clean room when compared to the regular environment of an office room, is very high indeed. The UK set its own clean room standard in the late 1990's called the British Standard 5295 and this has been followed by several other countries establishing their own standards. Typically, a clean room has walls and ceilings made of plastic or polymer with special filter vents that control air-borne particles to the maximum extent. Apart from the cleanliness factor, these clean rooms take into consideration the monitoring of humidity, pressure and temperature control. Negligence in these areas could result irretrievable damage of data. The costs incurred by companies to construct clean room facilities are very high. In fact, the clean rooms can cost in excess of £175,000. This rather high cost makes it very difficult for smaller data recovery units to invest in. Therefore, companies that belong to the first and second service models i.e. catering to home users or small businesses may not find it viable to invest in a clean room. Also, while the data of smaller clients is indeed important the ramifications of a possible loss are definitely less than large company data. A clean room may not necessarily be an absolute necessity in this case. However, with regards data recovery companies catering to large organizations, the clean room is almost mandatory. The stakes are very high for both, the companies offering data recovery as a service and the companies that require this service. Data recovery is a million dollar business that if goes wrong can be disastrous. Therefore, most serious players don't take their service lightly and make sure that their clean room offers the best environment for the best possible service. Of course there are companies that don't abide by standards and look for maximum gain from minimum investment. However, it wouldn't be completely wrong to say that companies like this lose out in the long run. A clean room as part of a data recovery company's infrastructure is as important as an Intensive Care Unit in a hospital!