Losing important data is easy. Getting it back is not. Skipping the talk on why and how your data gets lost, let’s go straight to the ‘getting it back’ part!
Now, wait a minute! How can we even talk about recovering lost data while we don’t know how it was lost and why? In fact, we can. Leaving aside the rare chance of a mechanical failure in a hard disk (the beasts are pretty reliable these days), your data can be corrupted because of a system crash, a software malfunction, malware or, putting it mildly, end-user actions. No matter what was the reason of data corruption, in the end of the day you get just that: missing, inconsistent, or corrupted files, or even corrupted, inaccessible or unbootable disks.
Sounds scary? Not really. Sad, time-consuming, maybe costly if you turn yourself to expensive data recovery specialists, but not scary. No need to panic. Calm down. You can get your data back easily and relatively quickly yourself for almost free. It’s just a matter of using proper tools.
Remember I said it doesn’t matter why and how your data has been lost? Good data recovery tools don’t care; they just do their job, namely – recovering your files, fixing your disk partitions and giving you access to all that. But there are few things you must know BEFORE you get the tools in your hands that apply to any data recovery products you may choose.
Rule number one: never download, save or store anything onto the corrupted disk you are about to recover. Don’t ever write, store or download any files onto a disk that contains the deleted files you want to undelete with the recovery tool. If you don’t follow this simple rule, you might seamlessly overwrite the erased files or make the corruption much worse. Never write anything onto the corrupt disk! Instead, use another disk letter, a different partition or even a USB flash drive to store the data recovery program.
Rule number two: do not install the data recovery product onto the corrupted partition or onto a disk that contains the files to recover. While similar to the first rule, this one is a bit more difficult to observe as Windows will offer to install files into default location; it is up to you to use caution and choose a different drive letter for the installation.
Rule number three: do not recover, undelete or unerase files onto the same disk where they were originally stored. While it may be tempting to just click “Recover!” and forget about the thing, it is not that simple. If you restore a file onto its original disk, you’ll freeze any fragments that may have been belonging to other files but were mistakenly assigned to the one you recovered. If you used a different drive letter (or an external flash drive), you will have a second (third, fourth etc.) attempt in getting it right. If you used the same drive letter to hold the recovered file, you’re stuck with whatever the recovery program gives you.
Rule number four: use quality data recovery software. Don’t search Internet looking for cheapest or free tools. Instead, download and purchase data recovery software from a reliable source.
This word of advice is brought to you by data recovery specialists from www.wizardrecovery.com, a reliable source of data recovery software. Download our software and try it for free – but remember the rules of wisdom before you click the link!