Whether it’s your personal files or large-scale business applications, the computer needs to store information. This information, popularly known as data, is stored as bits and bytes on various media.
Data can be stored in many ways, such as removable disks, hard drives, pen drives, DVDs or CDs, etc. While these storage products are reliable, at any time of the day or night, an electronic or mechanical device may not be working properly. Furthermore, the term could also be used for forensic analysis, there are cases where many need to recover inaccessible or lost data, for example a forgotten password or a file intentionally deleted by cybercriminals. Sometimes storage devices become physically unusable due to disasters like fire, flood or any other means. Therefore, the data recovery process is used to recover data in a safe and reliable manner in the event that the normal means of data access fails.
In most cases, data recovery is an easy process, but in some cases, extensive and detailed analysis may be required to recover data. Physical damage sometimes results in data loss and logical damage needs to be fixed as it can result in inaccessible or corrupted files.
Logic corruption usually occurs due to bursting voltage supply spikes or power outage, which will cause your file to be written incompletely. Occasionally hardware issues are also the reason for logical file issues. For example, consider the case that the HDD controller driver fails and data is not written to the file system.
Logical data recovery is much simpler and does not require much skill. Today, most operating systems provide tools to recover and correct logical file problems.
There are two popular methods to recover logical files:
Data consistency check
In case of consistency check, scan the HDD or a storage media to check and make sure there are no CRC errors
data carving
This technique is used for data recovery from a storage medium where there is no information in the file system.
In case of physical recovery, the popular ways to achieve recovery are:
hardware repair
You can replace some parts of the HDD to make the HDD work again in the data recovery process
disc images
With Disk Imaging, you can rebuild the original file system
Thus, it is seen that in the case of physical recovery, you need to take the help of professionals who are well-trained in performing data recovery operations.
You should know that not all data is recoverable.
If you’ve tried using the tools provided by the operating system and still haven’t had success, don’t panic. Try to contact a professional.
You should try to calm down, as the technicians and service representatives who will help you recover your data must have recovered data before and have many years of experience. They will help you gain confidence in recovering your lost data and make sure no further data loss occurs.
Some ways to make sure no data is lost is to back up your data daily. Also, make sure to use surge protectors and UPSs at your facility.
It’s also good to have a recovery plan.