4 Common Mistakes Made with Data Recovery Software

Many users that lose data attempt to use data recovery software without a clear knowledge of how it works or what situations it's designed for. You definitely don't want to make a mistake when your data's in trouble, so here's a quick guide to avoiding common errors for anyone considering software for their data issues.

1. Only Use Data Recovery Software on Non-Physical Issues.
First of all, the most common mistake people make: if your hard drive is clicking, won't spin up, or shows any other sign of physical failure, it can't be fixed by software. Data recovery software is only useful on a fully functional drive with a logical (non-physical) issue, particularly formats, unintentional deletion, overwritten files, and virus damaged files. If you try to use data recovery software on a drive with physical damage, you'll just waste your money and possibly harm your data.

2. Data recovery software also can't be installed on the same drive that it's recovering files from.
The reason is that writing any file at all--in fact, simply leaving a computer running--after a file deletion or any logical problem can cause permanent data loss by writing over the files you're looking for. Obviously, you don't want this to happen, so you'll have to load up the drive in question as a secondary drive and access it with a working drive with the software installed.

3. Make sure you use a name brand piece of software.
Crappy software can cause as much damage as anything else. My pick is Data Rescue II from Prosoft, which is easy to use and completely secure and safe for your data. There are other great data recovery programs out there, just make sure that they've got name recognition by searching for them in Google Groups or other user-based forums and read about other users' experiences before you try the programs out yourself. Post a topic explaining your situation and asking if anyone has had any luck with the software you're considering. Do whatever you can to make sure that the software you're looking at is easy to use, secure, and safe for your data.

4. If you're unsure about anything, forget it.
Remember that if you have a data recovery issue that you're not comfortable in dealing with yourself, you can always contact a professional data recovery and arrange to have them deal with it. If you're on a budget and have a fairly decent knowledge of the data problem you're dealing with, though, data recovery software might be the perfect low-cost solution to your problem.