Damaged hard drive heads, bad sectors, PCB damage, raid failures, fire and flood damage, viruses, accidental file deletions, reformatting, encryption attacks… There are no shortage of ways to lose important files, and once you do the panic can be blinding. However, it’s important that you don’t make critical mistakes that can put your data out of reach. When disaster strikes, there are steps that can be taken, and depending on the type, the media involved, and the value of the data you are attempting to recover, your problem may be more or less easily solved with a little help from the data recovery experts here at Grundig IT.
But, in the meantime, here are some steps to take, and more to avoid:
1. Stop Using The Computer/Drive!
If your data has been overwritten or formatted, it is still probably recoverable and will remain so until the computer writes new information onto the physical drive in the location where the old data is stored. Stopping what you are working on makes sure that the information you need isn’t overwritten. Power things down and use a second computer to research solutions.
2. Listen to the Computer
If your file loss is accompanied by clicking noises or other strange sounds it may mean that the hard drive is physically broken, and its continued operation puts your data at great risk. Turn it off, shut it down, and be prepared to take the hard drive to the experts where it can be taken apart and repaired in a sterile environment so that the data can be recovered.
3. Do Not Try To Disassemble a Drive Yourself
Drives are complex and sensitive, and anything from a dust particle to a single slip with your screwdriver can permanently destroy them.
4. Do Not Format the Drive
This outdated solution will only compound your problems.
5. Do Not De-fragment or Run Recovery Software
If you do so, the inaccessible part of the drive may be registered and ignored as faulty sectors by the system, leading to permanent loss of data from those regions. Alternatively, these locations may be overwritten due to rewriting and moving of system files.
6. Do Not Put the Drive in the Freezer
This is an urban legend and the cold and moisture will probably cause irreparable damage to your hardware.
7. Do Not Heat the Drive
Another urban legend that will likely ruin your hardware.
8. Do Not Install Recovery Software to the Drive You Are Attempting To Recover
This may, ironically, destroy the very data you are trying to bring back. Instead, use a second device to host the recovery program and scan the hard drive to retrieve the desired files.
9. Don’t Deliberately Whack the Hard Drive
Impacts (especially those born of frustration) may displace the drive head, resulting in a head crash and a more complex case of data loss.
10. Do Not Wait To Attempt to Recover Your Files
The longer the files remain deleted, the less you are to be able to complete a successful recovery. Seek help from data recovery experts promptly.
11. Do Not Try to Reinstall an Operating System to a Hard Drive That Will Not Boot
This will not solve the underlying problem and might to destroy your data, while also wasting your time.
Remember, thanks to modern data recovery procedures your data may be saved! So, if you need data recovery in the Bay Area of California, call the experts at Grundig IT, 925-528-9081, and let us help you get your files back.
