What is Data Recovery?

Data recovery attempts to restore a hard drive’s damaged or lost programs and files. And it’s a tool that’s often applied in the event of hard drive failure (although many people may simply prefer hard drive replacement).  Almost anything can cause hard drive failure ranging from human error to viruses to flood or water damage. But our resources are limited when it comes to correcting that failure. We can usually only try data restoration.

Can all data be recovered?

Almost. It really depends on how badly damaged the hard drive is. Obviously a hard drive that has been burnt or smashed can not be restored. But the data on a hard drive that seemingly responds to a computer’s prompts can be restored with some sort of software program. Even if software doesn’t help, a technician can rebuild a hard drive’s aperture arm or platters so that software restoration is eventually possible.

Is my hard drive too big for data recovery?

Data recovery can work on hard drives of any size. Some data recovery programs limit the size of the hard drives they can handle, or they limit the amount of data that’s restored. But many other programs have no limits at all and can restore more than 300 GB data!

My hard drive is petitioned. Can its data be recovered?

All of the high quality data recovery programs attempt to recover data from all parts of a hard drive – including the recycle bin, partitioned sections, and parts of a hard drive that were never meant to be accessed.

I have a Mac. What are my options?

Data recovery works on both Windows and Mac computers, but each system requires different tools. You can’t for instance, attempt data recovery on a Mac with a Windows program and vice versa. The different drive structures and formats necessitate system appropriate programs.

Is data recovery possible on multiple hard drives?

Data recovery is certainly possible on multiple hard drives through the use of RAID configurations. If a RAID configuration is corrupted however, data cannot be recovered without the restoring key hardware and software.

When should I consult a technician?

The easy answer is when regular data recovery software doesn’t work. The difficult answer depends on your computer skills. If you have little to no experience working with the delicate parts of a hard drive, you shouldn’t attempt data recovery that needs hardware restoration. Improperly fiddling around with a hard drive’s sensitive parts will only make data recovery more difficulty.