Essential Tips on Data Recovery Before Opting for any Data Recovery Software

Your PC’s D:\ drive is inaccessible. What will you do? You require the data saved in that partition of your hard disk drive desperately. Expert advice can help you to recover your data without the need of taking your computer to the service centre, so you are peering for a solution. 

The Scenario

Yesterday, you downloaded some files from the internet and saved them to the hard disk drive of your laptop. Today, you tried opening the drive where your data was saved, but could not do so as the drive throws a message - access denied. You queried Google about the cause and after going through a few of the top-searched websites, you got to know that this could be due to a virus infection after you downloaded files from an unknown website, and you might have unknowingly opened the virus that is causing the problem.

You realized you have your valuable data saved in that drive and wanted to recover it; as well as delete the virus. First of all, scan your drive to remove the virus. Check whether the drive can now be opened, if yes well and good you got your data back, else you need to recover your data prior to formatting the drive in order to resolve the logical failure that is making your drive become inaccessible. So, let’s begin the journey of a recovery process through frequently asked questions that contain several expert tips.

Q: What is the need for data recovery?

Law enforcement bodies from around the world mandate the need for electronic evidence, which can be used for legal purposes. Hence, data recovery is essential to provide security against cybercrime, identity theft, cyber terrorism, and other digital frauds.

Q: Why are we not aware of data recovery software technology?

The vast majority of us are unaware of the data recovery software technology because we have never had a need to recover anything. Admittedly because we have fine-tuned our brain that when we press the Delete key the selected files are removed from the drive and can be restored from the recycle bin. However, if the recycle bin itself has exceeded its set storage limits or the data is deleted using the Shift and Delete keys combination, then the data is permanently removed from the PC; there is no Reverse key to undo the process else Microsoft would have created one for the benefit of PC users.

Q: What allows data recovery software to reverse the permanent deletion process?

Actually, the data is not permanently deleted by the Microsoft operating system. Permanent data deletion though possible entails CPU usage and time, which is avoided so as to maximize the speed of the computer. The data remains intact in the storage device, but the link to access the same is removed. Data recovery software utilizes this fact and searches for the sectors where data is stored to access the inaccessible data. In this way, the data is fetched from the memory pool and is made available to the users. 

Q: Can I work on my PC while the software is recovering the data?

It is advisable not to use your PC while your data is recovered as you could unintentionally save data to the drive of the storage device where the deleted files are stored, thereby resulting in overwriting and destroying of few deleted files which could have been recovered.

Q: Which storage devices come in the purview of data recovery software?

Data recovery software can be used to recover data from storage devices such as a hard disk drive, solid-state, USB drives, and memory cards.

Q: What are the risks of downloading data recovery software from the internet?

If you download the data recovery software from the untrusted site where they provide a crack key of the software then there are chances your computer might get infected with the virus.

Q: How must time does it take to recover?

The data recovery time depends upon the processing power of your computer. Generally, for a 200 GB drive, it may take around half a day to search for the entire drive for the deep scan. Though you can perform a quick scan to get your things done quickly. If the data you are looking for is not previewed using a quick scan then the deep scan is mandatory. Some of the professional software such as Recuva, Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery – Home, Getbackdata, etc. can automatically switch from quick scan to deep scan.

Q: How the data recovery software functions?

Data recovery software scans over two hundred specific file type files using two methods. In the first method, the software reads the Master File Table (MTF) that contains a record for every file on a PC even the deleted files to recover deleted files. In the second method, if the MTF data is corrupted then the software looks for specific file types by scanning the storage drive for a file’s unique structure such as header, footer, and content.

Q: How to use the data recovery software?

I have tried data recovery software and found it quite easy to use. Its intuitive graphical user interface wizard helps you to complete the recovery process. First, you need to select the specific file type such as documents, emails, videos, audios, and photos. Then you need to select the drive that you want to scan. If you cannot see the drive, then there is the option of “Can’t Find Volume” to direct the software to scan the drive at the physical level, which finds the drive starting from the beginning and proceeding to the end disregarding the drive letters. Scan the drive, preview, recover and save the data.

Q: Is the data recovery software reusable?

Yes, you get an activation key, which is valid for installation on a single PC. You can use the software over and over again.

To summarize

These expert tips need to be kept in mind prior to recovering your data. Once you are through with the tips, you can scan the device with the software and preview it. Select the files you are looking for in the preview screen and hit recover. Save the file in a different drive partition. The data that you’ve lost is regained through the software. If you need help in recovering data where your hard disk drive has physical failure rather than logical then you need to send the storage device to a professional data recovery company.