
Data Recovery Tips and Tricks
Data loss is a plague that can hit anyone and anytime, regardless of
technical prowess, handling care, operating system or hardware
configuration. In many cases, data loss is caused by factors that
are out of our reach and unfortunately, in some of these cases data
recovery is impossible. A burnt out hard disk is the clearest
example that comes to mind. It’s often not your fault that it breaks
down and data recovery is impossible. This is a rare case still and
most data loss problems can be fixed with the help of data recovery
tools, professional software, some technical knowledge and a bit of
common sense. Let’s go through a few data recovery tips and tricks
that might help you recover those accidentally deleted files and
keep you from deleting them again.
Backup, backup and more backup!
Constant and organized backup is the only way you can save some data
that would be otherwise impossible to recover, due to a physical
problem like the one described above. But backing up data is not as
easy as it seems at first glance. First of all, you need to organize
a backup system, like copying your essential data from your hard
disk to CDs, flash disks, DVDs or another external destination.
One thing that will prove very useful is keeping all your data on a
small number of different external destinations. If you burn each
document or excel file you create on a different disk as backup and
you’ll need it later on, there’s two things that can go wrong: A.
You won’t find the specific disk within the sea of disks where you
keep your backup and B. The disk may get physically damaged itself
after a while. Try keeping everything on a single DVD (you can burn
data on a disk and leave it open for future burning), assuming 4.7
GB are enough for what most people consider essential data on their
computers. Also make a backup for the backup, just in case something
bad happens to it, like a spilt can of coffee on the DVD drawer (way
more common than you might think!)
Using data recovery software vs. using the services of a
professional data recovery company
The decision is yours to make, but unless you absolutely know what
you’re doing and know how to use the data recovery software by
yourself, it’s best if you employ a professional company to do it
for you. Don’t build a technical ego just because you managed to
install Windows by yourself, with data recovery, you’ll be dealing
with much more sensitive matters. If you fumble up your Windows
installation process, you can simply start over. If you accidentally
remove every chance of recovering a bunch of files, there’s no
turning back.
Use your operating system’s data recovery options
Both Mac and PC operating systems such as OS/X or Windows have
built-in data recovery tools that can be helpful in case of logical
or human error-related data loss. Sometimes you’ll find them easier
to use than professional data recovery software, mainly because
they’re built under the same structure as the operating system, so
you’re already familiar with the interface. However, in what regards
recovery options and efficiency, you can’t compare the standard
operating system tools with a professional data recovery program so
if your data loss issue is more complex, you’re probably better off
using the latter.
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