File Recovery Made Easy: How to Recover Lost Data

If you've ever found yourself in need of file recovery, you'll realize that not all file recovery options do the same thing. But, the overwhelming array of software available may make choosing difficult. You may wonder why one costs so little, while another can be several hundred dollars. What makes them so different? Before figuring these things out and picking which is the best possible solution for you, make certain your files can indeed be recovered:

Close any documents that you need or are important. Next, unplug your computer without turning it off first. The computer goes through a process when you tell it to shut down, which could further corrupt your files. Don't run the system recovery disk that comes from the manufacturer; while it will fix your computer, all your data will be overwritten and lost. Also, you're going to need a separate, external USB hard drive or other storage device-don't set up the data recovery software on your computer itself. Even when only recovering a single file or partition, you stand an equal chance of having it overwritten by the corrupted system, so it's better to do everything via an external source.

Choosing your recovery software will depend on what your needs are and what happened to the data. Did you accidentally delete it? Was it damaged when you received it? Did something corrupt it upon booting up the system, or do you receive an error message (or the dreaded Windows blue screen of death)? Simple accidental deletion can normally be combated with undeletion software, which is by far the cheapest option. If you still can't find a file after letting the program run, the file system itself may have been damaged. Unfortunately, at this point file undeleting won't work and you need to move on to a more advanced solution. Lost and damaged files especially need a more advanced recovery solution, which can go up to as much as or over a hundred dollars or so. If this still isn't enough and you can't locate a file after running the recovery program, or if your boot attempt failed, a file recovery service may be in order.

If you find yourself in need of such a service, a good thing to keep in mind is: if they work to develop the software they sell, their recovery service should be fairly reliable. Not to mention that recovery companies generally work with both file recovery and computer engineering.

In closing, file recovery is important mostly because the question isn't "will it happen" so much as "when will it happen". Knowing this and staying on top of it will always be your best defense. So, to make sure your files will always be safe, keep the following in mind: back up your important files every day to an external storage system, not the computer where you originally kept them. Learn how to defrag your computer properly at regular intervals; this will aid in the successful recovery of your files should you ever need to. Also, check every month to make sure your backup is working properly. This will avoid any nasty surprises in the future.