Smartest Details for the Best Data Recovery Process

The loss of information on a hard disk can occur within two possible scenarios: the user can still access the hard disk, and the operating system is operating normally, the computer froze, does not restart and may even hear strange noises coming from the disk. For that, you would need the best hard drive recovery software.

After a data loss, never write to the hard drive.

When information is lost on the disk, the first rule to follow is a simple common sense rule: Do not write anything else to the hard drive before you recover what was lost.

There is a very simple reason for this: when you delete something on the disk, the operating system Windows, Mac OS or Linux, for example, does not permanently erase the information. Instead, it only tells the user that there is more free space on the drive, but that space is still occupied by deleted information, only changes from “state” to the user, from busy to free. One thing is always true, as far as information on your disk is concerned: what you see is not always everything you have.

This is true for lost files, but also for lost partitions. If you delete a partition, leave it blank. You may not be able to see it, but specialized data recovery software will do it. The same applies to formatted disks – it is perfectly possible to recover from full formatting.

Restore your backups

If you did your homework, you should have updated backups of all the vital information stored on your hard drive. Now is the right time to query these backups, and eventually restore them, to recover the lost data.

If you do not have up-to-date backups, you must begin a data recovery process, as explained in the following steps. But keep in mind that in the future, updated backups are always your best chance to protect vital and irreplaceable information. So make backup copies at regular intervals and store them in a safe place.

Do not install data recovery software on the same drive where data loss occurred

If you install software on the same hard drive where you initially lost your data, you may run the serious risk of writing over the information you want to recover, forfeiting it permanently.

Turn off your computer

To play safe, immediately after a loss of information, you must immediately turn off the computer. Just start the operating system to have read and write operations to the hard drive, and space where your lost information is can be rewritten in one of them.

Protect your hard drive

Remove the drive from your computer and connect another drive, even if it is an old drive, provided you have an operating system installed so that you are able to restart your computer and then look at the drive where the information was lost. Alternatively, you can install your hard drive on another computer, such as a secondary drive, to access it without the risk of writing data on it. If you have lost data due to a virus attack, install anti-virus software on the disk that you will use to restart your computer. Emergency Rescue Disks: If you are afraid to disassemble your computer, and have a prepared emergency disk, you can restart your computer with it (be it a floppy disk, CD or DVD) and follow the process from there.