This article takes you through the process of data recovery on lost files and gives some helpful tips for selecting data recovery solutions.
Statistics show that data loss is costly and can lead to the collapse of a business. Up to 70% of small businesses that suffer major data loss incidents close shop within one year. Some of the common causes of data loss include human error, software corruption, and physical damage to drives. Data loss cases associated with human errors include accidental formatting of drives and permanent deletion of files.
If you encounter corrupt files, you are likely a victim of malware attack or corrupt software. For instance, forcing a computer to shut down may seem harmless but it may corrupt your files. Also, computers are susceptible to hardware and software errors which can make the machines inoperable.
While the best practices to protect against data loss include frequent data backups, staff training, and the use of ant-virus software, achieving 100% protection is a tall order. This is where data recovery solutions come in. For instance, tools such as DataNumen Data Recovery and DataNumen NTFS Undelete make the recovery of permanently deleted files and lost data from formatted drives a breeze.
When shopping for a data recovery solution, there are important considerations to make. For instance, the best data recovery solutions in the market are designed to allow non-expert users the ability to recover data with minimal or no assistance. Such tools feature a friendly user interface and simple steps that are easy to follow.
Such tools should also support a wide range of hard drive file systems such as NTFS, FAT, and FAT32. This enables you to recover data on various hard drives. It should also support the recovery of any known file format including text documents, images, and videos. This way, you won’t worry about acquiring a recovery tool for each file format.
The Data Recovery Process Explained
Whether your hard drive file system is NTFS, FAT32, or FAT, data storage follows a similar structure. Drives have a Master File Table that lists file entries and for each file entry, there are associated data clusters. Therefore, when recovering lost data, you’ll need recovery software to scan the drive’s Master File Table for deleted entries. You’ll then define the data clusters chain. This involves assembling the clusters and composing the deleted files. The files are then read and copied, ready for transfer to a new location. This completes the file recovery process.
Common Hindrances to Data Recovery
Although data recovery tools have a high success rate, sometimes it is impossible to recover lost data. This happens when a disk is extensively damaged due to exposure to extreme heat or humidity. For instance, fires and natural disasters such as floods can expose computers to these conditions. Moreover, overwriting deleted file entries and data clusters on the affected hard drive diminishes the possibility of recovering the lost data. Therefore, if you accidentally format a disk, avoid writing new files on it as this will make it hard to recover all deleted data. Sometimes the operating system of a computer can damage the file entries as soon as they are deleted. This is common with FAT32 drives running on Windows XP.
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