When speaking about hard drive data recovery, it is important to make the distinction between a logical and a physical data recovery scenario. If you have lost data due to deleting a file by mistake, reformatting the wrong drive, or files seem to disappear from your system, you will be able to perform a logical data recovery through the use of data recovery software. However if you have dropped your hard drive, or are hearing a clicking or grinding noise coming from the drive you will need a physical recovery performed by a certified data recovery lab. This post will help point you in the right direction in choosing the recovery option that works best for your scenario.
Logical Recovery
Prosoft Engineering has one of the simplest to use do-it-yourself software recovery tools for both Mac and Windows Data Recovery, streamlining the recovery process. Their software, Data Rescue PC, searches through the free and used space for known file patterns.
When you accidently delete your data, the files will still be present on the drive, however the name of the file will be removed from the file list on the drive. This will cause your hard drive to recognize the file’s location as open free space to write new data to. At this point your data should still be recoverable, until new data is written on top of the deleted files. This is why it is vital to keep computer usage to a minimum before starting the recovery process. Tasks as simple as browsing the internet can save temporary cache files to your system, which can cause your missing data to become unrecoverable from being overwritten.
Data Rescue offers a free demo of the software that has the full functionality of the scan engine. Using the demo you will be able to scan your drive, look through the scan results and open a preview of your files to ensure your data was recovered successfully. In the data recovery industry no one can guarantee your files will be recoverable; this is why it is highly recommended to use the demo of the software to determine if your files are recoverable.
Physical Recovery
If while running the scan the software warns you of physical damage on your drive, or you hear a clicking or grinding noise coming from the drive, your data is most likely beyond the capabilities of a software recovery. The best course of action after noticing any physical damage would be to reach out to a certified data recovery facility to have them physically retrieve your missing files.
If your hard drive is suffering from physical damage, Prosoft Engineering recommends reaching out to their sister company, The Data Rescue Center, who specialize in physical data recovery on all types of hard drives. They specialize in recovering from all kinds of media devices including SSDs and Camera Cards, as well as offering JBOD and RAID Data Recovery services. The Data Rescue Center service includes: a free diagnosis and quote of your hard drive in order to determine whether your data is recoverable, what they will need to do to recover your data, as well as a full price breakdown for the recovery.
For most people, performing a data recovery is a new experience and no one ever expects to have their data go missing. But when it does happen, you want to know of an easy, effective, and fast way to recover your data. No matter the data loss scenario you are in, Prosoft Engineering has the personnel and tools to recover your precious data.
