One of the most frightening things that can happen to a person is to lose the data off of their hard drive. Many of us store personal and business information on our computers. The thought of losing data due to a crashed or failed hard drive or perhaps a breach of data security sends chills down the spine of every grown man and woman. Once you except that you did not back up your data you need begin the data recovery process.
Here are some tips on how to recover data:
1-Always back up your data routinely. This is virtually the most important step in data recovery. If you can get an automatic program to do it for you, the better. You could also ensure you have “Backups of your Backups.” It is good to always keep a current backup offsite for absolute worst case scenarios.
2- Hardware Crash:
If you have detected that your hardware is at fault and has crashed, by no means try the normal shutting down procedures. Just pull out the plug, and do not wait. Never try to save or recover the data at this time, as you may lose the otherwise safe or recoverable data as well.
3- Pinpoint the trouble in the hard disk:
If you are not sure of the issue, listen to your hard disk for any scratching or unusual sounds. If this is the case, you will need recovery service; something that will cost you money and will take time also.
4- Determine the health of the drive:
If you have determined that the drive is healthy by the above means, you may still be able to recover the data by yourself. Try using the recovery software or using the drives as slaves etc.
5- Server Crash:
If you had been working on a server and it has crashed, never try data recovery on the same server.
6- RAID Drive Crash: Replace the RAID data drive that failed, never ever reuse it.
7- RAID Drives: Label the multiple drives in RAID array.
8- Database files:
In the case of Microsoft Exchange and SQL data failure, you should never do direct operations. Keep a copy of the database files and then start the work on the copies, not on the main files.
9- Utilities:
Do not try to run Volume Defragmenters and Volume Repair Utilities on the suspect drives.
10- Other utilities:
Also avoid the use of Volume Repair utilities if there has been power outage, or if your file system looks corrupted. This must be done only by people who are extremely confident and are technically wise.
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