There are times when a disaster will affect a system that is still in use. Traditional recovery mechanisms mean that the affected system has to be taken offline, some backup files are installed, and then the system is brought back online. There are some organizations that have systems that cannot enjoy the luxury of being taken offline for recovery to be done. There are other systems that are structurally built in a way that they cannot be brought down for recovery. In both instances, a live recovery has to be done. A live recovery can be done in two ways. The first involves a clean system with the right configurations and uncorrupted backup files being installed on top of the faulty system. The end result is that the faulty system is gotten rid of, together with its files, and a new one takes over.
The second type of live recovery is where data recovery tools are...