How To Recover Lost Data - Don't give up too early!

How to recover lost data in a particular situation depends on several factors: the cause of the problem (if known), whether the files reside on an internal drive or external device, and whether files desired to be recovered are restricted to a specific type (e.g. emails, text documents, pictures). With a little thought, it is possible to devise a successful strategy to recover lost data.

The best place to start is the cause of the problem – often this is known but occasionally it is not. The most common known causes of file loss are: files were accidentally deleted, password was lost for password-protected files, corrupted mailboxes/lost email, CD/DVD data not formatted appropriately, hard disk partition problems. Fortunately, for each of these problems, there is a file recovery software package to match. For example, if the only problem is accidentally deleted files, it would be overkill to use a software package which can recover files from all types of causes; a cheaper, easier-to-use software package designed especially for recovery of deleted files is the simplest and fastest solution for this problem. To select the appropriate software, it helps to have as much information as possible even when the cause is known. For example, for disk partition problems, it is particularly important to find out the type of file system used on the drive in question and ensure that the chosen software can deal with this file system, for example FAT, NTSF, ext2fs or MacOS.

When to use a recovery software

In the case where the cause of the problem is not known, it is best to employ a recovery software package especially designed to fix a wide range of problems. Usually, software which is capable of recovering files from the most difficult of causes (such as corrupted hard drives and broken file systems) will prove ideal, because such software is also usually capable of fixing numerous smaller issues such as recovering deleted files.

Whether files reside on an internal drive or external device is another important consideration in determining the appropriate software to use. Most recovery software (unless otherwise stated) is aimed toward files residing on an internal hard drive. It is therefore particularly important in the case of recovering files from an external device, to employ file recovery software that is specifically stated as being capable of doing so with the appropriate device (external hard drive, USB drive, memory card, etc).

In the case of needing specific types of files recovered, it will generally be faster and easier to use software designed to recover only those types of files.  This sort of approach is typically used when, for example, the problem is restricted to one or more databases becoming corrupted, for example MS Access or FoxPro DBF.  A similar approach is used for corrupted email recovery, and such software is available for commonly used email applications, such as Eudora, Microsoft Exchange, Outlook Express, Vista Windows Mail, The Bat! and more. 

One important data recovery rule is never to write to the disk that files were recovered from, because this may overwrite space used by other files that had been recovered.  Instead, recovered files should be saved in another safe place, such as an external hard drive or a USB drive.  After they are all safely saved there, they may then be transferred to the disk they were recovered from.

When it comes to recovering lost data, there is no one-size-fits-all approach.  With a little thought and care, the appropriate software can be successfully identified to recover lost data in the particular situation at hand.