Data loss reason | Description | Solution |
---|---|---|
🥺 Human error | All people make mistakes, and some mistakes lead to data loss. The good news is that such mistakes can usually be recovered from using special data recovery software or native recovery solutions, such as File History in Windows or Time Machine in macOS. | Data recovery software |
✂️ Formatting | A lot can go wrong when you click the “Format” button without double- or triple-checking which storage device you’re about to format. While the instant loss of hundreds or even thousands of files can seem utterly devastating, their recovery usually isn’t any more difficult than the recovery of a single lost file. | Data recovery software |
🔨 Physical damage | Out of all common types of data loss, physical damage is the most difficult to recover from. Why? Because it requires special tools and advanced skills—something most regular users don’t have. | Data recovery service |
🦠 Malware | Experts estimate that thousands of new strains of malware are released every day. While some malware is relatively innocent and more annoying than dangerous, you may also encounter sophisticated ransomware capable of completely blocking access to important files or deleting them altogether. | Data recovery software |
💽 Hardware failure | Storage devices have advanced leaps and bounds during the last decade alone, but they’re still far from perfect, especially when it comes to their reliability. A single faulty resistor can cause your entire hard drive to become unreadable and impossible to recover at home. | Data recovery service |
⚙️ Software corruption | Modern software applications can do all kinds of wonderful things, but they are far from perfect. In fact, the more complex software applications become, the more bugs they can hide. In extreme cases, software bugs may even corrupt important files and make them inaccessible. | Data recovery software |
😈 Theft | As far as data loss threats go, computer or device theft assumes a special status because you can’t really recover data from a device you no longer have. That’s why the prevention of data loss using local or cloud backups is so important. | Local or cloud backups |
Likewise, it’s impossible to recover permanently deleted files that have already been overwritten even though some shady websites promise free online data recovery from USB drives and other storage devices regardless of whether they’ve been overwritten or not. In fact, online data recovery websites should be avoided at all cost since it’s very dangerous to let an unknown person remotely access your device.
Free evaluation: The last thing you want is to spend hundreds of dollars just to learn that your storage device is impossible to recover, so avoid data recovery services that don’t offer a free evaluation. Better yet, choose a data recovery service that charges its customers only for recovered data. | |
Success rate: The reality is that not all data recovery jobs have a happy ending. Sometimes, the lost data are simply too corrupted to be recoverable, or there is some unlucky turn of events that causes the data recovery attempt to go south. The best data recovery services have a success rate of around 98 percent, so that’s the number you should look for. | |
Shipping options: Unless you’re lucky enough to live close to one of the best data recovery companies in the country, you should look for services that let you ship your storage device to them via mail. | |
Technology: Naturally, you want to select a data recovery service with best-in-class equipment, clean facilities, and expertly trained professionals capable of addressing even the most complicated cases of data loss. When in doubt, don’t be afraid to call the data recovery center and ask them for more information about their tools and processes. | |
Customer reviews: Online reviews can tell you a lot about the performance and attitude of a data recovery service, so read them whenever you get a chance. Just know that fake positive reviews are just as common as exaggerated negative ones, so don’t blindly trust everything you read. |
The best way to recover lost, deleted, or corrupted data is to install a top-tier data recovery program and have it scan and retrieve the files for you. Not only are these kinds of software streamlined for the average computer user, but they’re also designed to dig deep into your storage medium to even recover data that has been lost for a very long time.
While most data recovery programs require purchase or a subscription, a lot of them offer a free version that allows you to save a limited number of files.
RAID is short for “Redundant Array of Independent Disks” and is a method of storage that involves making multiple copies of data across various drives as a way of preventing data loss. RAID data recovery pertains to the retrieval and restoration of information from a RAID setup.
It often involves the use of both manual and automated processes to recover data from other RAID drives and potentially other storage media. There are a few reasons that RAID arrays may require data recovery, including failing hard drives, overwritten information, data corruption, and formatting.
A data recovery specialist is a legitimate profession that requires a high level of technical expertise related to computer hardware, software, and everything in between. As such, one would need a bachelor’s or even a master’s degree in the relative field, along with additional certifications to further bolster their knowledge.
Furthermore, one would have to take a particular interest in backup methods, file systems, storage media, and the different recovery methods available. It’s not uncommon for data recovery specialists to perform hardware and software maintenance duties as well, so that knowledge would come in handy.
Data recovery is the process of retrieving information from a storage medium that has been deleted, compromised, lost or rendered inaccessible. Data loss can strike anytime and for various reasons, including faulty power, premature formatting, device damage, virus attacks, etc.
That being said, data recovery methods are crucial for rescuing important information, whether it’s for personal or business use. Data recovery programs are a great way of getting back files through a DIY why method, while data recovery services are the way to go for more critical scenarios that apps can’t handle.
Quality data recovery services often offer two different ways for you to send your drives for data recovery. If there’s a good one located within your area, you can simply drop by their location and hand them your hard drive for inspection.
Otherwise, you can mail your hard drive to the service’s provided address, and they’ll diagnose its state and provide you with a cost estimation for the data retrieval process. If you agree and the service is able to recover the data, they’ll store it for you on another drive and mail it back.
With the best paid and free data recovery solutions, the recovery of multiple gigabytes of data can take just a few minutes—it all depends on the size of your storage device, its speed, and the kinds and number of files you want to recover.
Data recovery services are, understandably, much slower. Even if you pay extra for expedited recovery, the whole process will most likely take at least a few days since you can’t really speed up shipment times too much.
Data recovery services specialize in the retrieval of lost, deleted or corrupted data from a variety of storage media. They deal with a host of different data loss scenarios, including formatting, accidental deletion, physical damage, failing drives, data corruption, and more.
Data recovery services may differ in how they do things, but the gist of it is that you either drop off your drive at their store or mail it to them. Then, they diagnose it and provide you with an estimate as to the cost of recovery. Finally, they recover your files and store them in a new storage medium that they send back your way.