www.gedency.com

Data recovery is a process whereby you can save data and
files you accidentally deleted, had eaten by malicious
software or viruses, hardware failures, corporate espionage
and many more scenarios. Most people believe that when the
hard drive crashes their world ends also, but that’s not
usually the case. In fact 85% of the time the data is
recoverable, and at far less trouble and expense than you
might fear at first.

It’s a wonder something that spins at thousands of times a
minute doesn’t crash more often than they do, what with all
the abuse we heap upon them. When’s the last time you did a
dust patrol near your drive ports? Hard drives aren’t the
only data that can be saved too. Zip drives, floppies,
DVD’s, CD-ROM’s and more can be rescued. And sometimes the
worst of disasters will yield up results. Technicians
regularly extract data from computers that are burned to a
crisp. Admittedly this is trickier and more expensive, but
it can be done. On woman had her Apple Powerbook sink to the
bottom of the Amazon, whereupon tiring of waiting for the
salvage operation, she promptly donned her scuba gear, swam
down to the sunken boat and retrieved her precious files.
She then mailed the whole mess to DriveSavers and they
managed to save most of her data, despite being submerged
for three days!

Most recoveries aren’t nearly as sexy, and can usually be
resolved with a software solution, usually by the client his
or herself. Off the rack data recovery software is quite
good and relatively inexpensive, especially when you
compared to the cost of dealing with replacing the lost
files. Most data recovery issues stem from human error,
roughly 25%. A software solution can run you anywhere from
$75-$400, whereas if the problem is too difficult and you
have to box it up and send it out, expect to pay between
$500-$2000, with the average price of $1000.

The key to remember is that deleted data is usually not gone
forever, just maddeningly misplaced. The good news is that
recovery can be a mouse click away!

Keith Thompson is the Webmaster of Data Recovery Service offering fast and easy solutions for data recovery.

Share This

Let’s get to the important part first - if you’ve just lost your data, skip past this introduction and go directly to our first tip, so you can start your rescue operation. If not, a few minutes spent now might help you a lot in the future. Pay special attention to our third tip.

I always thought of myself as a reliable guy with reliable data. I never deleted my files accidentally, I made regular backups and had a power supply for my computer to protect me against surges and outages. However last year I experienced two cases of data loss where I needed to use recovery software. The first was a dead hard drive that’d hardly served a year. Subsequently, I accidentally deleted a large project file that was too big for the Recycle Bin. Happily I’ve got all my data back, thanks to good advice and a little preparation.

These handy tips will help you stay confident in the face of data loss, no matter how it occurs.

Tip #1: Use your system as little as possible until you recover all of your lost files. The more activity taking place on your hard disk, the greater the chance that some of your lost data might be written over.

- Don’t copy any files to the disk containing your lost data;
- Avoid browsing the web, because your web browser saves cache files on the disk;
- Don’t launch any unnecessary programs, because they can also use your disk;
- Don’t restart your computer.

Tip #2: Before you go further, take steps to free up some space on the disk containing your lost files. The more free space your system has, the less chance of overwriting any lost files with new ones. You can do one or more of the following things.

- Delete old files that you don’t need anymore (you can also move them to another source, like a USB flash drive, instead of deleting);
- Empty your Recycle Bin - making sure that you haven’t put any important files in there by mistake;
- Empty your browser cache. For Internet Explorer, click on the “Tools” menu, then select “Internet Options”. Then, on the “General” tab, click the “Delete Files…” button.

Tip #3: To install any software after data damage increases the risk of your data being overwritten, so if you haven’t had any data problems yet, consider installing a data recovery program just in case. Prevention is always better than cure, and a recovery program is good insurance for your data. However, if you don’t yet have a recovery program, find one and - if possible - avoid installing it to the disk where your lost files are located.

Most recovery programs work fairly similarly. You need to select the disk where the lost files are located, let the program analyze the content of the disk - this can take a while - and then select the file you want to recover. Then, provide a location where you want to save that file. You should try to avoid recovering files to the same disk. You could use another hard drive, a network or removable media like a floppy disk or USB flash drive.

After you recover your files, check that they are correct. If you’ve recovered applications, check that they still run, or if you’ve recovered documents, check that your words are still there. Even the best recovery software can’t guarantee 100% results. If some parts of your files were overwritten - meaning that other data was saved to their location on your disk - after recovery they might contain invalid information. Depending on the type of file involved, partially recovered files like this can be mended by special utilities.

http://www.softwaretalks.com/first-aid/

Share This

Data recovery is a tricky thing, and if you’ve somehow
deleted or had your important files corrupted or lost due to
human error, business espionage, faulty hardware or software
or any other reason; the good news is that your lost data
is probably recoverable. This article will show you a few
things NOT to do when an event such as this occurs.

Don’t run the drive anymore, or use the device. (MP3,
portable storage, camera card, whatever) If you think it
won’t hurt to even just poke around the internet for a
solution to this mess you’ve made/found, you’re wrong!
Don’t install or run anything on the drive you hope to
recover data from. Only access this drive again from a
healthy PC with the software solution you’re going to use.
Since files are overwritten in the order they’ve been
deleted, the last files that have been excised from your
drive will be the first to be lost permanently. Even just
surfing, with all the cookies and temporary internet files
that are always being generated will often doom the process
without you even knowing about it.

Don’t use tools that may reside on your computer, such as
Scandisk, or a boot record utility, as these will probably
overwrite exactly the files you’re seeking to get back.

In short, be careful! Your data may very well be
recoverable, as long as you don’t do something to erase it
forever! Find a good data recovery software solution, and
then follow the instructions to the letter, and you’ll more
than likely live to see your lost data return!

Keith Thompson is the webmaster at Data Recovery Service a site cenetered around helping you get back your lost data!

Share This