What is Data Recovery and How It is Helpful for You? An In-depth Analysis

Data recovery refers to the process of obtaining data from any storage media that is suffering from severe data loss. Data recovery comes in the limelight when data loss takes place due to certain factors which includes, accidental deletion of data, partition loss, Windows reinstallation Accidental formatting of the hard drive, Failure of system booting, and much more.

As a result, the information stored in the storage device becomes inaccessible due to logical or physical damage of the device. This article will give you a more clear concept of what is data recovery and why is it useful in the current scenario. 

Data Recovery: An Overview

Every storage device has one common factor that it carries a set of electronic equipment that abruptly fails, gets damaged or stops working. Thus, the data contained in it is being compromised. Recovery of lost data depends on the verity of the storage media including a USB, laptop or desktop’s internal hard drive, hard disk drive, solid state drive, memory, flash drive, etc. Therefore, data recovery will inspect the storage area of the affected storage device for the desired files. Then the data recovery software will recover the hard to access data even if the storage device has stopped working. 

What Do You Mean by Data Loss?

Data loss is such a term that is often misunderstood by the users and thus, recovery of data becomes more critical. Sometimes, the application of wrong techniques of recovering data leads to unsuccessful recovery or permanent deletion of data. Data accidentally deleted from the storage device doesn’t mean a permanent data loss. The data remains in the Recycle Bin of the computer from where it can be easily restored. Hence you access the Recycle Bin folder, right-click on the required files and choose the ‘Restore’ option. 

Whereas, data loss means that the files are no longer available on the problematic storage device. Logical or physical corruption of the drive carrying the data are most obvious reasons for data loss. Not only the data but the drive of the storage device also become inaccessible. Hope, the concept of data loss is now clear to you. 

Know the Sources of Data Loss:

Unless you are aware of the factors that can cause data loss, you won’t be able to prevent it in the future. Hence we have discussed the possible ways of losing data. 

1. Logical Failure of Hard Drive

Both traditional and modern hard drives can experience logical failure or damages. As a result, you can’t access the drive though it is visible on BIOS or under Disk Management. Corruption of the file system, damages to registry or failure of the Operating System is the contributing factor in logical hard drive failure. Thus, it becomes difficult to normally access the stored contents. 

Still, there is a good hope of complete data recovery as the internal structure of the affected dive is intact or undamaged. Besides this, recovery programs or data recovery experts are the alternatives to recover data from an inaccessible storage device. 

2. Physical Failure of Hard Drive

Physical failure is the permanent failure of a storage drive that is physically damaged by an external factor. In such a situation, only data recovery experts can assist you in getting back your valuable files. 

The Process of Data Recovery:

The hard drive platters spin at a rate of 800 to 15000 RPM and stores data. The read writes actuator arms of data recovery software reads or writes data on the hard drive platters. If arms or platters fail, then there will be permanent damage to the stored data. Hence, the data will become permanently non-recoverable. Moreover, as the demand for storing capacity has increased, manufacturers try to compress more data within the smaller hard drive surface. As a result, the data recovery process becomes a complex and time-consuming affair. 

When the data is deleted from storage devices, it resides around the device and is recoverable. Hence you require data recovery tools or services to restore the data from the storage device. Data recovery uses a powerful algorithm to scan the storage area of the device and determine the deleted or formatted data. Then the tool collects pieces of deleted data in order to preview it before the actual recovery. 

If files are severely damaged by any virus or trojan, then most advanced recovery software won’t be able to recover the data. Hence data recovery experts will be the last resort. 

Have a Look at Some of the Supported Storage Devices:

It is possible to get back data from any of the following storage devices:

• Hard disk drive
• USB
• Solid state drive
• External hard drive
• Flash Drive
• SD or Memory Cards
• iPhones
• Smartphones
• Tablets
• Laptops
• Digital Camera
• Android OS
• CDs or DVDs
• Backup Drive

It is possible to restore data from the above-mentioned storage devices by different data recovery methods. Each of these storage devices requires a particular data recovery operation. For example, say you want to recover data from your Android device. Then your device requires rooting to prepare it for recovering data. 

Effective Tips to Avoid Data Loss and Prevent Disaster

Here are the following ways to mitigate the risk of losing data. 

1. Creating a Backup

The advancement of technologies has led to the invention of robust tools to minimize the chances of losing data. Cloud space, inbuilt OS utility or storing files, backup drive, etc are some of the examples of these tools. Virtual cloud space can store a huge amount of data so that you can access it from any part of the world. That’s why more and more enterprises are resorting to virtual cloud space to access the data throughout various servers. You can even copy the data to a backup drive, CDS or DVDs so that the data is accessible even if the primary source is corrupted. To implement this method, you will need to check the backup source at least once a week if a regular analysis is not possible. You can thereby ensure the consistency of the backup created. If the backup source itself gets corrupted or damaged, then it will be easier for you to restore the data.  

2. Avoid Freezing Method

Even you have deleted your data accidentally, do not make unwanted attempts to get them back. Otherwise, wrong attempts can worsen the situation and bring new challenges for data recovery. The same goes for recovering data from non-functional or physically failed storage devices. This is for your knowledge, that many users make the mistake of putting the failed storage device into a freezer. They try to retrieve their important files in this manner but increases the risk of recovering data. 

Furthermore, people try to retrieve their data by opening the case of the storage device. Even they connect the drive directly to the motherboard and apply hard drive repairs utility. Instead of fixing the logical hard drive corruption, this method affects the quality of data. Major data recovery industry leaders have reported that incorrect attempts by the end users have resulted in permanent loss of data. Therefore, approach a professional data recovery in Dubai who is concerned about user data safety. 

3. Data Recovery and Repair are Not Same

It is a big mistake to mix data recovery with data repair. Though these two are closely related words, they relate to absolutely different operations. Data recovery comes into the picture when the user loses his files due to accidental deletion or formatting of data. Hence the data is no more present in the location where it was stored previously. Data recovery is the only procedure to recover these lost or permanently deleted files.  

On the other hand, data repair or file repair is necessary to fix the file that has been damaged due to malicious programs. As a result, it becomes impossible to read or open these files by subsequent programs. Here, we need a file repair utility that comes with a rebuilding mechanism to rebuild the structure of corrupted files. Thus, you will be able to read these files and use them in an expected manner. 

Sometimes users fail to open the recovered files as they are severely damaged or the header content is overwritten. Hence the recovery program is unable to recover the lost files completely. 

Therefore, users can’t access the files even when the recovery process is successful according to the recovery tool. 

Know the Drawbacks of Data Recovery:

Though data recovery is the last resort to get back your data, it has some limitations which are as follows:

• Data recovery cannot always guarantee the retention of data as it depends on the situation when the files were lost or deleted. 
• Data recovery can recover simply deleted or formatted files if a virus or Trojan programs haven’t overwritten it yet. 
• Moreover, data recovery becomes unsuccessful when the storage device is severely damaged. 
• Data recovery fails if the recovery programs can’t locate the missing stored location. 
• It is almost impossible to recover lost files that are too old. 
• You can not recover the data from the damaged magnetic area of a physically failed storage device 
• Some dangerous programs can infect your files and folders. Hence the data recovery programs can't access the files header information.

Scope of Data Recovery

Data recovery make use of powerful mechanisms and rich capability to address the most typical data loss circumstances. Thus, data recovery can retain data from complex storage devices like SSDs and other devices of various sizes. Today it is possible to recover data from storage drives with a capacity of 2 TB’s or higher. 

Reasons Behind the Failures of Data Recovery:

Data recovery is not successful when an external element overwrites the lost data. It, in turn, entirely removes all information about the recently deleted or formatted files. Hence the data recovery program can’t recognize the overwritten files and your data is gone forever. 

But, it is possible to make your data recovery a successful one. Thus, stop using the faulty driver or storage device once you have lost the data. Then remove the drive and connect it as an external device to another PC using SATA or USB adapter. So, no read/write operation takes place on the affected device and adds to the success of data recovery. 

The Final Takeaway…

Valuable information on storage drives can become inaccessible at any point in time without leaving any clue of how to get back the lost stuff. Thus, you will need to be prepared beforehand in order to find a solution. Be aware of renowned data recovery in Dubai that you can avail in those contingencies. 

Some sorts of data recovery do not require the involvement of tech-savvy. You can meet your purpose with basic computer skills and preventive measures. Many easy and intuitive data recovery programs are available in the market to help beginners. Before applying any solutions, it is always recommended to consult with data recovery experts available online. If you are downloading a free recovery software, then carefully analyze its pros and cons. Remember the success of data recovery largely depends on how you wisely you choose the data recovery software.