needed. For an enterprise in particular, the definition of cost extends beyond the financial and can also include time. Consider: The cost of continuing without the data The cost of recreating the data The cost of notifying users in the event of a compromise Prevention The frequency of data loss and the impact can be greatly mitigated by taking proper precautions, those of which necessary can vary depending on the type of data loss. For example, multiple power circuits with battery backup and a generator only protect against power failures, though using an Uninterruptable Power Supply can protect drive against sudden power spikes. Similarly, using a journaling file system and RAID storage only protect against certain types of software and hardware failure. For hard disk drives, which are a physical storage medium, ensuring minimal vibration and movement will help protect against damaging the components internally, as can maintaining a suitable drive temperature. Regular data backups are an important asset to have when trying to recover after a data loss event, but they do not prevent user errors or system failures. As such, a data backup plan needs to be established and run in unison with a disaster recovery plan in order to lower risk. Data recovery Data recovery is often performed by specialized commercial services that have developed often proprietary methods to recover data from physically damaged media. Service costs at data recovery labs are usually dependent on type of damage and type of storage medium, as well as the required security or cleanroom procedures. File system corruption can frequently be repaired by the user or the system administrator. For example, a deleted file is typically not immediately overwritten on disk, but more often simply has its entry deleted from the file system index. In such a case, the deletion can be easily reversed. Successful recovery from data loss generally requires implementation of an effective backup strategy. Without an implemented backup strategy, recovery requires reinstallation of programs and regeneration of data. Even with an effective backup strategy, restoring a system to the precise state it was in prior to the Data Loss Event is extremely difficult. Some level of compromise between granularity of recoverability and cost is necessary. Furthermore, a Data Loss Event may not be immediately apparent. An effective backup strategy must also consider the cost of maintaining the ability to recover lost data for long periods of time.