It's disgusting when you realize that an important document or irreplaceable photo has disappeared from your computer. But that's no reason to despair. It's possible the data is still available even if you know you've deleted it. Your computer's operating system doesn't know how to find it anymore.
The four most common causes of data loss are:
* Extinguish. You accidentally deleted a file while cleaning your disk or because you don't think you need it anymore. It's not in the trash. However, the data persists until the space is used by another file.
* Overwrite. You save the new file on top of the old one. However, the old data may still be there and can be recovered.
* File system corruption. The disk suddenly becomes empty, or the file and folder names contain gibberish. The file may still be there, but the reference is missing or corrupted, and the operating system cannot find it.
* Physical damage or hardware damage. You get an error message when you try to read the disc, or the computer doesn't recognize it at all. The data will likely remain on the hard drive itself, but the device cannot access it.
However, it is very likely that the data still exists. The computer's operating system cannot see it, but the data recovery software can see it. If the problem is a hardware failure, data recovery services may be able to recover the data using specialized tools.
Prepare for data recovery
There is one basic rule for data recovery: to get the best chance of recovering files, you should never write new data to the hard drive where it is stored. Old data only stays on the hard drive as long as the space it occupies is not used by other files. If the disk is your computer's primary drive, it's being written to all the time. You should immediately shut down your computer and use another computer to find a solution to recover your data. You must move your computer's hard drive to another computer to perform data recovery, or use data recovery performed from a CD or floppy disk, as installing the device's data recovery software may overwrite the device itself.
Choice of data recovery method
Data recovery tools use different methods to try to recover data. Some tools are designed to recover deleted files, others are better at recovering overwritten files or recovering files from physically damaged hard drives. Some data recovery software products are specifically designed to recover photos or documents in Microsoft Word or Excel. Such products can succeed where others fail because they understand what the files look like and can recognize their data when other evidence of their existence is lost.
The smartest way to avoid data recovery completely is to back up your files and keep backing them up. Businesses and those who work with computers should always back them up at least once a day. That way, if your hard drive crashes, or you lose all your data, you'll have a healthy and clean backup of your files. Then, when you take your hard drive to a specialist for recovery, you'll have the files to keep working. Also, at this point you can choose to restore your hard drive or throw it away and get a new one - as all files are backed up and ready to go.
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