The Ultimate Guide to Your Data Security

The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security LSoft TechnologiesSoft Technologies L Page 1

The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Welcome to LSoft's mailing A simple hyperlink. list! As a welcoming token we are awarding you with a one time 30% discount on all of our products. Use code SIGNUP-30SIGNUP-30 at the checkout Redeem discount Redeem discount The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 2

Heading Data Studio Introducing Active@ Data Studio all LSoft's apps in one Suite Use code SIGNUP-30SIGNUP-30 at the checkout to receive a 30% discount. Active@ File Recovery Active@ KillDisk Active@ Partition Recovery Active@ Disk Image Active@ UNDELETE Active@ ISO Manager Active@ Partition Manager Active@ Data Burner Active@ Password Changer Active@ Boot Disk Creator Active@ Disk Editor Active@ Boot Disk Active@ BCD Editor Active@ Disk Monitor Get Data Studio Get Data Studio The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 3

Introduction Realizing the challenges of the digital era when it comes to security, privacy, and overall integrity of your personal information, we at LSoft have recognized that only timely and appropriate actions can remedy many of the problems or prevent them from even happening. With this in mind, we have decided to create this very handy Ebook for all of those who are not sure about the how to approach these issues, especially in this day an age where every day is a struggle in securing their privacy. In this guide we will be covering four distinct categories and tools in dealing with data preservation: BBoooott DDiisskk -- perform system maintenance, recover and backup outside resident OS DDaattaa RReeccoovveerryy -- recover files, folders, partitions, fix Master Boot Records DDaattaa SSeeccuurriittyy -- securel erase data and rese Admin/User Account passwords DDaattaa BBaacckkuupp -- backup your system and files The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 4

Boot Disk Introduction Boot Disk is a term that we will be using frequently throughout this guide, so it will be the best to introduce ourselves with it: A boot disk is a removable digital data storage medium from which a computer can load and run (boot) an operating system or utility program. In situations when OS is not accessible (OS failure, virus, etc) or when it is required to perform certain operations outside of it (data recovery, password recovery, data erasure or system restoration) boot disk is a very useful utility. Since it can be installed on portable drives (USB, DVD/CD) it also offers a flexibility for PC technicians to have a ready at hand tool when performing computer repair on site. In our portfolio we offer two distinct boot disks: Active@ Boot Disk - available on Windows Active@ LiveCD - available on Windows and Linux The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 5

Boot Disk Creating a bootable drive To create a bootable drive whether it is Active@ Boot Disk or LiveCD, run Boot Disk Creator and choose the drive where you want to install it. Boot disk creator features the same interface in both of the mentioned boot disks. If required initialize the disk and click Next. Next you can choose which OS you want to install, Windows PE 5.1 or DOS (with LiveCD you will see openSUSE). Here you can add drivers that you might need for the task as well as custom scripts in case you want automate some application to start running as soon as the system boots. For example, you can make KillDisk start automatically deleting drives at the startup. The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 6

Boot Disk After reviewing the settings click on Create. This will start the installation process which should be over in a couple of minutes. Once the bootable disk has been successfully created its ready for use. Restart your computer, press Del to enter your BIOS and select the drive on which you have installed boot disk. The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 7

Boot Disk Active@ BootDisk Active@ Boot Disk is an operating system based on Windows PE 5.1 (lighter W10 version). it accompanies Professional and Ultimate versions of LSoft applications such as Active@ KillDisk, Active@ Undelete, Active@ Disk Image, and many more. As a standalone product, applications that come with Active@ Boot Disk can only be used in Windows PE environment (booted from a CD/DVD or USB) and not in the resident Windows OS. Active@ Boot Disk enables you to recover your OS and deleted data, permanently delete it, as well as back up and restore it. The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 8

Boot Disk Active@ LiveCD Active@ LiveCD is an operating system based on Linux (openSUSE). As with Active@ Boot Disk, Active@ LiveCD is also a standalone product that comes with all of the data recovery, data security and backup applications developed by LSoft Technologies. Those applications can only be used within LiveCD environment; once LiveCD has been booted from the bootable drive created by the BootDisk Creator. Although based on Linux kernel, Active@ LiveCD can perform data recovery, destruction or imaging on other file systems not related to Linux (Windows, Unix, OS X). LiveCD’s Boot Disk Creator is available on Windows and Linux platforms. However, licenses for both of those platforms are sold separately. The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 9

Boot Disk Get Active@ Boot Disk & LiveCD at 30% OFF! Use code SIGNUP-30SIGNUP-30 at the checkout to receive a 30% discount F Features:eatures: Full access to non-bootable PC Recover deleted data and partitions Securely erase data and wipe free space Reset local Admin and User account passwords Backup and restore data Start from a CD. DVD or USB flash drive Get Boot Disk/LiveCD Get Boot Disk/LiveCD The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 10

Data Recovery \"Happens to the best of us...\" One of the most common problems that PC users encounter are accidentally deleted files. What to do and how to recover? It is important to know that although your files have been deleted; those files, technically speaking, are still where they were. Operating system keeps track of the data stored on the HDD using so called 'pointers'. All files and folders on your HDD have pointers that show Windows where a file begins and where it ends. After deleting a file, Windows removes the pointer and marks the sectors that contain file data as available or empty. With this in mind it is imperative to follow certain rules when performing a recovery: Your data is still on your drive and can be recovered Do not write/save anything on the partition or a drive where you have deleted your data Create a disk image of the drive/partition where your files have been deleted D DO NOTO NOT recover files at the same drive/partition that previously stored them. Something could go wrong the files could be permanently lost The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 11

Data Recovery Active@ Undelete To show the process of data recovery we will use our Premium data recovery product - Active@ Undelete Professional. Main features: Recover files and partitions Create Disk Images Fix Master Boot Records (Pro version) Active@ Boot Disk - recover files outside resident OS (Pro) Partition Manager Recover RAIDs (Ultimate) LiveCD & Active@ Boot Disk (Ultimate) The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 12

Data Recovery Recovering Data Creating Disk Image Select the drive or a partition that which you want to create an image from and then choose the destination path where you want to save a Disk Image. Make sure to save the disk image on the partition different than the one where you deleted data is still stored. Click on Open Disk Image in the left menu (under Disk Image Wizards) and click on Open Disk Image.Open Disk Image Wizard will be launched asking you to click on the destination path of the image you have previously created. If you have created the image using Undelete, then the wizard will find your previously saved image by default. From this point on, the process will continue as you are scanning for files on a regular partition or a drive. From the context menu click on Scan. The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 13

Data Recovery Scanning files Select the file systems you are about to scan in Detect partitions tab (Windows file systems are checked by default). Click on the Detect files by their signatures tab and choose the file types you want to recover. In our case, we are looking for Photos and images. Click on Scan. Undelete supports a variety of file types and file signatures from standard Photos & Images (.jpeg, .png ), Camera & Video files, Audio files, Microsoft Open Office files, Adobe files and many more. To find our more about supported File Types and File Signatures please visit Active@ Undelete page. The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 14

Data Recovery After the scanning is finished, you should be able to see files based on their le, Undelete willfile signatures in Local Drive View. By just clicking on the fi lefiautomatically show it in the File Preview (right pane). Right click on the willopen the context menu where you can recover it immediately or add it les later and recover them allfito File Organizer, where you can add more at once. Success! The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 15

Data Recovery Recovering Master Boot Record (MBR) At least once we in our lifetime we are bound to see this message when we turn on our computer. There is a plethora of reasons why MBR corruption came to be: virus, your Windows did not shut down properly, Windows decided to go 'nuts', combination of all three. Luckily there is a fix for that, enter Active@ Undelete Professional. First you will need to have a drive where you have previously installed Active@ Boot Disk that comes with Undelete Professional. Boot the computer from the drive and run Undelete. Select the drive with the corrupt Master Boot Record and in the context menu click on Edit Boot Records. The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 16

Data Security In the next window you should be able to see on the left side if your MBR is corrupt, as it is in our example. To fix MBR you need to do is to click on the Reset button. After Active@ Undelete fixes the MBR all check marks should be green. After that, click OK and you can restart your computer. The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 17

Data Security Get Active@ Undelete at 30% OFF Use code SSIIGGNNUUPP--3300 at the checkout to receive a 30% discount. FFeeaattuurreess:: Recover deleted files Restore deleted or damaged partition Easy to use recovery wizards Recover files by their signatures Partition Manager (PRO version) Fix Master Boot Records (PRO Version) Active@ Boot Disk- run from CD/DVD or USB (PRO version) RAID arrays reconstruction & data recovery (Ultimate) G Ge et t U Un nd de el le et te e The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 18

Data Security \"I spy...\" Today, more than ever data security has been the prevalent topic in the cyber world, and will continue to be in the future. Sensitive data stored on your computer is always at risk in getting affected by an unwanted intruder. From our Data Recovery section we have already learned that data although deleted still can be recovered. Therefore, if you plan on selling/giving away your old HDD you should make sure that all of your old data has been securely erased/deleted. Integrity of your system can also be exposed by an intruder who gets a hold of your Administrator password or you have simply forgot about it. In this section we will be covering a couple of tools that can help you in dealing with two distinct problems: - Secure Data sanitation with Active@ KillDisk - Password recovery of your Local User/Administrator account with Active@ Password Changer The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 19

Data Security Active@ KillDisk Active@ KillDisk is a data security application that permanently deletes any data on physical disk drives without any chance of recovering it. If you have ever found yourself in the situation where you want to delete multiple drives, whether it is because of some confidential data you want to get rid of or maybe some nasty virus has plagued your drives and you have no ways of removing it, then Active@ KillDisk might be the best solution for you. Main features Erases partitions, logical drives and even not used disk space Parallel erasing/wiping of several disks at the same time Support for wiping Apple HFS+ & exFAT Erasing/Wiping Certificate can be saved as PDF Supports more than 20 security standards Bootable Disk Creator - run from a bootable floppy, CD or USB Flash The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 20

Data Security Choosing the Sanitation method Before we begin with the deletion, it is required that we choose a suitable sanitation method. Active@ KillDisk supports 24 sanitation standards. For the purpose of this guide we will be using US DoD 5220.22-M (3 passes). Of course if you want to go an extra mile in erasing data there are standards that support far more than 3 passes, such as Gutmann (35 passes). After choosing the sanitation method click on Start.Start. Before the start of the erasure process you will need to input ERASE-ALL-ERASE-ALL- DATAATA to confirm the action. Click OKOK. D The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 21

Data Security Sanitation The deletion process will commence, depending on the size and speed of your HDD/SSD and your computer it will take some time before it's finished. In our example it took us 40 minutes to delete a 240GB SSD while for the 1TB HDD around 8 hours. Of course your mileage might vary. As Active@ KillDisk finishes deleting your drives it will display sanitation certificates, showing whether the process has been successful or not. You can save these certificates, print them or email them to an interested party using our SMTP server. The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 22

Data Security Certificates The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 23

Data Security Get 30% OFF of Active@ KillDisk Use code SIGNUP-30SIGNUP-30 at the checkout to receive a 30% discount Get KillDisk Get KillDisk Got a Big Data Center or a refurbishment business? Check out our KillDiskKillDisk I Industrialndustrial and KillDisk DesktopKillDisk Desktop below! The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 24

Data Security Password Recovery One of the more annoying things that we are forced to change frequently and therefore forget about them on regular basis are passwords of our user accounts, email accounts, web site accounts, etc. Web based accounts can be recovered if you have access to your email or if you've put a secondary email as a recovery option. But what do you do when you forget a password on your local computer account that isn't cloud based? You might have heard that some users ended up reinstalling their OS out of sheer desperation but don't worry we got you covered! LSoft Technologies has designed a special application - Active@ Password Changer, enabling you to reset your User or Administrator in a matter of minutes. The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 25

Data Security Active@ Password Changer Main features: Resets passwords from multiple partitions and hard disk drives Resets Admin and User account passwords Detects and displays all Microsoft Security Databases (SAM) Displays full account information for any local user Sets \"Password Never Expires\" flag for user's account The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 26

Data Security Booting Windows PE 5.1 After making a bootable drive, insert it into the computer whose password you have forgotten (or just don't know). When initializing the system, press Del or F2 when you see the BIOS loading screen. Find Boot Menu and in there choose the bootable drive that you created for this recovery. Once Win PE 5.1 loads click on the LSoft button at the left bottom of the screen, click on Programs and choose Active@ Password ChangerActive@ Password Changer The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 27

Data Security Password Reset Further use is pretty straightforward: click Next and check on \"Search all volumes…\" if you are not sure where the locked OS is placed. Otherwise, you can do it manually. Select the locked user account and once again click NextNext, The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 28

Data Security Check \"Clear this User's Password\" at the bottom, and \"Password never expires\", so you wouldn't have problems in the future with a new password. If you have done everything accordingly, you have successfully reset your password. The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 29

Data Security Get Active@ Password Changer at 30% OFF! Use code SIGNUP-30SIGNUP-30 at the checkout to receive a 30% discount. Features:eatures: F Recovers passwords from multiple partitions and hard disk drives Detects and displays all Microsoft Security Databases (SAM) Displays full account information for any local user Resets User and Administrator password Sets \"Password Never Expires\" flag for user's account Can run from bootable floppy, CD or USB Flash Get Password Changer Get Password Changer The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 30

Data Backup \"Do you ever back-up?\" Any PC user knows that the first thing after installing the fresh operating system is to back it up, either by creating its image or cloning it. Those who had trouble with persistent and indestructible malware or a system drive failure know how much painful it can be when the only solution is to install operating system all over again. Although with modern operating systems and hardware, OS installation takes around 10-15 minutes it is still a great headache when you need to reinstall all of your programs from scratch and this can last a lot longer than a mere OS reinstall. If you take into account possible loss of very important files, you are facing a serious problem. Same rule can be appied if you plan to install the same OS and applications on your second computer which, as you may imagine, can take forever. Having in mind all the intricacies and potential problems in data backup Lsoft Technologies has developed a powerful and versatile software suitable for any situation when it comes to backing your data - Active@ Disk Image. The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 31

Data Backup Active@ Disk Image Tools Disk to Imageisk to Image - creates a regular type disk image archive of an entire D disk I Image to Diskmage to Disk - restores data from a disk image archive. Create Raw Imagereate Raw Image - creates a raw type disk image of only one C partition or the entire disk Verify Imageerify Image - check the integrity of a disk image archive file V Clone Disklone Disk - transfer a sector-by-sector copy from one disk (partition) C to another. Copy Disk to Disk - copy a single partition or a whole disk to another disk or partition. In contrast to Clone Disk partition size can be increased or decreased, also only data sectors are copied resulting in faster operation. Explore Imagexplore Image - browse through folders and files in a disk image as E thoughit was a hard drive. You may select folders or individual files and restore them Mount Image ount Image - mount images as virtual drives and access them from M Windows Explorer or any application as normal drive. The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 32

Data Backup Types of backups Full backupull backup , a simple ordinary backup that will be used by the most. At F the beginning it doesn't matter which backup you exactly choose since the first backup will always be the Full backupFull backup. I Incremental backupncremental backup is based on the full backup or the other incremental erences and changes between thoseffbackup and it contains only the di two backups. Incremental backup does not require a lot of space and it requires the information from all of the previous incremental backups in order to be functional. rstfiDifferential backupifferential backup on the other hand requires only two backups the D erenceffone (Full backup)(Full backup) and the last one. In smaller scales there is no di erential backup since there are only twoffbetween Incremental and Di backups in either case, the difference is visible after a period of time. er you which drive you would like to backup, whereffThe wizard will later o ering the option offfdo you want to store your backup as well as o encrypting it. There are also options of splitting the image into equal sized parts as well as creating multiple copies of the image you are about to create. The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 33

Data Backup Get Active@ Disk Image at 30% OFF! Use code SIGNUP-30SIGNUP-30 at the checkout to receive a 30% discount. Features:eatures: F Disk to Image Image to Disk Create Raw Image Verify Image Copy Disk to Disk Clone Disk Explore Image Mount Image Bootable Disk Creator - - run from a bootable floppy, CD or USB Flash (PRO Version) Get Disk Image Get Disk Image The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 34

Conclusion Thank you for reading our guide! We live in unparalleled times. Modern man in just one day gets in contact and creates such amounts of data that it would take his peer from previous generations months if not years to do the same. We are dependent on computers to run our lives but the comfort comes at the potentially heavy price. In such conditions, errors are bound to happen and it is necessary to have appropriate tools in combating such dangers and limiting the risk to a minimum. We hope that with this small guide we have managed to show how some problems are not unsolvable, and how some problems are lurking beneath just waiting to happen. It's best to always be ready. Best, LSoft Team The Ultimate Guide to your Data Security Page 35