Data Recovery from Hard Drive: What happened to all your data?
Have you ever saved data on your hard disk only to find out they disappeared? You must have been wondering what happened or who deleted them. Well, let it be known to you that even though you store most of your data files on your hard drive that is still no 100% guarantee that your files are stored safely.
Data recovery is a method of getting back lost data from damaged, wrecked or inaccessible data file storage media. Most times, this is because of a physical damage which has affected the file system which prevents it from being loaded by the host operating system. A very good advice to be noted when initially partitioning your disk is to make several partitions on your hard drive. This will be very effective in the long run if you have to perform a file recovery process.
First, you have to find out what part of your hard drive suffered data loss and to do this; you have to know what file system your hard drive uses. A file system is a method a host operating system uses to arrange and store data and free space on a hard drive. The two most commonly file system by the Windows Operating System is the NTFS and the FAT. By default, both file system use the Master Boot Record and a partition table, the better advantage of NTFS is that, it provides a more and efficient method of file storage and stores back copies of essential disk information which helps in data recovery during disasters. This is a part of the hard drive which partition on the hard drive are bootable and if this happens to be damaged, it displays a blank space meaning some information have been erased. So what happens when you find out that some of your files and data have been lost?
A rule of thumb to always take note of when you have lost data is to stop writing anything to the affected hard drive. This includes instances when you mistakenly delete data files from the recycle bin or delete a partition, always take note to stop writing and saving to the affected drive. The Best option to do in a data loss recovery is to transfer your hard drive to another computer preferably one using the same file system; this provides you the benefit of preventing the file from being written and retrieving the lost information by using the Windows Explorer. This way, you can easily retrieve lost data without having to format and loose everything.
You may be tempted to reformat your computer and reinstall a new operation system, but do not loose hope. Another option which is possible especially in cases where you cannot transfer your hard drive is to make use of certain software tools which will enable you to boot your computer with an alternative operating system and retrieve them. There are the Winternal Disk Commander and ERD Commander which will boot your system straight to DOS and then automatically perform the file recovery.
There are a lots of freewares which can help you restore data loss, some of these include PCINSPECTOR and RESTORATION. These are mostly designed for Windows 9x/NT/2K/XP, but the downside of using freewares is that you should not expect a full guaranty of the product, some of them actually do the recovery process and some do not perform as expected, so you might want to look for data recovery softwares which are sold, at least you are 100% assured.
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