Do we have any kind of recovery plan from this? As I understand almost all electronics would be deep fried, including machinery used in factories that make electronics we need to replace.
Would impact be localized to part of the planet facing sun?
What kind of shielding would be required on most sensitive infrastructure to protect it?
How deep data center would need to be to avoid data on hard drives being wiped?
2. "Impact" would be from the sun. The magnetic effect can wrap around the earth to some extent.
3. Most "infrastructure" would require no shielding. The atmosphere does a good job, except for certain circumstances.
4. No hard drives would come close to being wiped by the CME, even it was directed at earth.
This CME was rated about 80 nanoTesla. The "Carrington Event" of 1859 was about 50 percent stronger. This CME is notable primarily because of its speed, not its size or destructive potential (except when used for selling newspapers).
Impacts would be felt on interdependent infrastructures, with, for example, potable water distribution affected within several hours; perishable foods and medications lost in about 12-24 hours; and immediate or eventual loss of heating/air conditioning, sewage disposal, phone service, transportation, fuel resupply, and so on. Kappenman stated that the effects on these interdependent infrastructures could persist for multiple years, with a potential for significant societal impacts and with economic costs that could be measurable in the several-trillion-dollars-per-year range. http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=12507&page=77
Of course, where the former is more of an engineering problem, I'd say the other is far more difficult.