Is DIY or Professional Recovery the Solution for Retrieving Lost Data?

March 29, 2011 By

All these situations, though desperate, simply indicate the fact that the concerned individual is facing a data loss situation.

In the present day digital environment, a computer is like a premature baby, susceptible to various problems and ailments, if not properly taken care of. Almost all these ailments lead to data loss. Data loss may occur due to a variety of reasons such as a failure to backup data in time, sabotage, a virus attack, accidental deletion of important files or folders, software malfunction, etc. So next time you face a data loss problem, there is no need to get desperate or engage in some complex religious ritual. Be assured that your data is still lying safe inside your hard disk, just like a genie inside a magic lamp. All that needs to be done is to rub your computer on the right side.

In case of a data loss scenario, your line of action should be determined to a great extent by the kind of problem your computer is facing. A computer often loses data owing to two types of problems i.e. logical and physical. If your hard drive is functioning properly, but you have lost data due to accidental deletion of important files and folders, formatting your drive, or any such reason, then the problem is logical. In case the data is lost due to damage to the mechanical or electronic components of a hard drive, then the problem is physical. To recover the lost data, you can choose between two options i.e. either to use a DIY data recovery software or to go for professional help. If your computer has lost data due to a logical error, you are welcome to opt in favor of DIY recovery software. Remember that DIIY data recovery software should not be tried if the problem is physical in nature. Not only will it fail to recover any data, but it may further worsen the situation.

Choosing DIY data recovery software to recover lost data has many advantages:

1) Cost Effective

DIY data recovery options often prove to be cheap and cost effective. You do not need to incur considerable expenditure, so as to salvage your data. There are many free-to-use data recovery software options available on the internet. You can simply download them from the relevant website and follow the simple instructions to execute a successful recovery.

2) Easy Usage

Most of the genuine DIY data recovery software is user friendly. They come with easy to follow instructions and do not demand any special expertise on the part of the end user. In case of any complication, one can always avail the services of the customer care department for appropriate guidelines and advice. You do not need to ship your storage media to an off site location for recovering your data.

3) Multiple Usages

Purchasing DIY data recovery software is mostly a one time investment. They can be used again and again, over a long period of time. You do not need to repurchase them in case you face a similar problem. On the contrary, data recovery services only offer a one time solution and that too at a considerable expense.

4) Recovers Data from Various Types of Media

DIY data recovery software can be used to recover data from various types of media such as hard drives, memory cards and USB drives.

Using DIY data recovery software should only be attempted if you know what you are doing. In case you accidentally install the recovery software on the same media from which you are trying to recover the data, your data may get overwritten and you may lose it forever. Each data loss situation is unique and may not be corrected by the recovery software. In such a case, it will only lead to the wastage of time, money, effort and sometimes data too. Data loss problems caused by physical errors are often complex and indispensably need the services of data recovery professionals.

It is often very tempting to use recovery software and avoid hiring costly data recovery services. However, the main determining factor should be the value of your data. If your data is valuable and you do not intend to lose it, it is better to solicit the services of some authentic recovery firm. So when in doubt, simply go for professional help.

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DIY Recovery Software and Over-writing of Lost Data

March 11, 2011 By

This can be quite a distressing situation for you if the files that went missing were quite important and needed urgently. So the question arises – what to do in such cases?

Sending your hard drive to a professional data-recovery company will consume time – perhaps even weeks – and ultimately come out to be quite expensive. This is also not the option if you lost data in the morning but need it by the evening because an important meeting is coming up. The good news is that there are quite a few self-help (“Do It Yourself” or DIY) data-recovery software widely available online that you can use to recover the missing files.

These software are usually manufactured by companies which already are in professional data-recovery business. There are quite a few competing products out there. Choosing the right one is important. For this, you should get advice from your friends or people who have already used such software for feedback. Reading reviews by technology trade magazines can give you a very good idea about who the leading players are in the market. You should also use a search engine such as Google and Yahoo! to come across some DIY recovery software online.

Once you have made a list of about four or five products, you should search for the websites of their manufacturers. Each of these has details about the price, features and capabilities of the product. You should go through these in detail and finally make a decision about which one to go for. Ideally, you should choose one which allows you to recover data from a variety of situations so that it can be used by you for a long time in future as other data-recovery problems crop up.

Before paying for such software online and downloading it, you should be very sure that the data loss problem you have relates to a software error such as file corruption, virus attack, accidental deletion of a file and emptying of the Recycle Bin or a file simply refusing to open. DIY software will be absolutely of no help in cases of data loss due to hardware errors such as some mechanical or electrical defect in the hard-disk components or physical damage of data-recording surface. In these instances, it would be much better to contact a computer technician than a data-recovery company.

DIY software is specially created for ease of use. Anyone can download it onto their computer, go through the ‘help’ pages as well as follow the easy-to-understand instructions and start using the software right away with a minimum of delay and fuss. For all their benefits though, DIY software do present one terrible danger – over-writing.

Most DIY software are not bought at shops but downloaded from the Internet. Their files get stored on any random location on the hard disk that has been marked as “available” by the operating system. The biggest risk in this case is that due to your bad luck, this location may turn out to be the very same place where your missing data has been stored. Storing some data on an already existing piece of data in a storage device is called over-writing.

Over-writing is actually a sure way of deleting previous data permanently. Once a data has been over-written, it is very difficult to recover it. Even professional data-recovery companies may find it impossible to extract the over-written files. There are many commercially available data-erasing software that use the over-writing method to permanently delete data. They not only remove the original data but also over-write multiple times with garbage the space where it was residing.

What should be done to obviate this risk? As long as you download the DIY software onto your hard drive, the problem will remain. The only solution is to steer clear of your hard drive and instead of downloading the software, you should just order its installation CD. Running the software from the CD drive will not harm your lost data in anyway. If you do not want to do that, you can download the software to your laptop or any other computer, connect it to the computer where the lost data resides and carry recovery operations from there.

Running the software from the CD drive or from another networked computer are the only sure ways to recover your lost data without the danger of it being overwritten by the files of DIY software package.

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DIY Software – Which One to Go For?

March 4, 2011 By

In other words, data recovery could not remain a matter that only elite users could afford. This marked the entry of the DIY software, using which any end user would be able to recover his or her personal data from a laptop or desk top. The uses of DIY software have now expanded, and it can be applied to recover lost information from mobile phones, digital cameras, CD, DVD, USB drives, iPods – basically all things digital.

How Do I Know Who to Rely on?

Choosing a good company is the first duty while trying to locate good recovery software. If you do not choose a good company, you may stand to lose all your data at one go. Let us clarify this matter with a few examples.

  • Reliability of the company is the first factor to be borne in mind. There are some companies that are ‘traditional’ data recovery companies and well-established as market leaders. This includes names like Kroll Ontrack, Linux, and Fields Data Recovery. Seagate, the hard disk manufacturer, is about to launch its own recovery software soon. These names can be trusted since they have all been around for decades now. Experience is wanted here, and you cannot experiment with it if you value your lost data.
  • If the company is a large one, they already have an established market in the same sector. This means that they just cannot afford to have one enraged customer blogging them to death by voicing dissatisfaction over a minor product. You are safe, because making a mistake with your data would cost them more than it is costing you.
  • Check whether the company also has a valid address and phone number. These are important factors in case you need help with the software after buying it. It is also not a good idea to trust someone who happens to be only a net entity.
  • You should also find out whether they receive calls at all times, and whether they have a friendly customer support person in place. This can be the greatest daunting factor at times of need.
  • If the company has other areas of work that are related to data recovery, such as computer forensics, software or hardware production, software development, antivirus software etc, they will probably be a better choice.

  • Check their testimonials. All good companies would happily provide references.
  • Ask your friends or colleagues, as personal recommendation can be really helpful. However, do not trust anyone blindly, as people may be biased or misinformed. Always check up on the information yourself before buying a product.

Properties of a Good DIY Software

A good DIY package would have certain features that you need to check out before entrusting them.

  • It should have a fully playing demo version that you can check out before buying.
  • You need to handle it yourself. Is the software equipped with good visual-based interface? Are the instructions user-friendly?
  • Do not trust free downloads. But you need not spend a fortune on it either. Compare several companies before finalising your choice.
  • Is it downloadable software or will they mail a CD? In case it is the latter, be sure to check the CD before running it. If it is downloadable, try to burn it into a CD rather than dumping it directly on to the affected disk. With the risk of sounding like an alarmist, we need to inform you that there are software in the market right now that are actually virus masquerading as helpful rescue software.
  • If you are unsure about how to follow the instructions, just do not do it yourself, but ask a computer-savvy friend or family member to help you out. You may delete your data permanently if you run it wrong.
  • Does the software open readily? If it takes too long or is not opening properly, once again, it is better not to trust it.
  • Does the software work for all file types that you want to rescue? It would be a classic mistake if you have downloaded a recovery software for Windows and you need to recover data from a system running on Linux!
  • For any audio visual file type recovery, check the demo version and the preview. Do not buy if the software does not have a preview facility.
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