Hard Drive Data Recovery.

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

4 ways to make sure you don't lose the data:

Eminent Failure

Most hard drives include predictive failure function known as Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T). This feature can easily be enabled through BIOS or System Setup.If the S.M.A.R.T function detects issues on the hard drive during the PC boot up process, a warning will be displayed. Immediately back up your data and replace the hard drive.The event logs on Microsoft Windows based systems can too help in revealing the problems. The most common hard drive related error event log message is "windows has detected a bad block on device." This message is usually accompanied with blue screens, corrupt data and sluggish performance. At this point, backing up your files is critical. Consider using an external hard drive via USB or fire wire for backing up your data if the failing drive is still accessible via the operating system. If the failing drive is no longer accessible then offline access is probably the next best option.

Offline Recovery

If you have another computer available, you could attach the failing hard drive as a secondary drive then copy off the data. Another option would be to install the failing drive into an external hard drive case then pull data via USB or a fire wire connection. If the operating system is unable to copy off your data then try software recovery.

Software Recovery

Data recovery software, assuming the drive is still accessible, scans the failing hard drive, maps and identifies files it determines can be successfully restored. A list of recoverable files is usually generated and presented to the end user for selection and subsequent recovery. The price range can vary from freeware to hundreds of dollars. Data recovery applications are readily available on the web for download and immediate purchase. Professional Data recovery service is the next and usually final option if the drive is longer detected by the pc or is completely nonfunctional.

Professional Data Recovery

If you absolutely cannot part with data on an inaccessible hard drive, then consider using a professional data recovery service. These services have the facilities and technical expertise to recover data from hard drives in almost any condition. The cost of such services can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars depending on the recovery methods used and amount of data.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Crashed Hard Drive Hard Disk Data Recovery Software, Tools and Service

Your laptop hard disk or desktop hard drive crashed and your technician told you it is going to cost you a bomb to recovery/retrieve all the lost data. Don’t be fooled by his sweat talk, and most important of all, don’t panic! When you are not calm, you’re likely to do something you will regret once the incident is over, just like in a car accident.

Just like you, my hard disk crashed when I was busy rushing for my mid term assignment, I stayed clam, took a deep breath and use a hard drive recovery software to retrieve my damaged hard drive. These software are free of charge, unlike paid hard drive recovery software, these software performed the same task minus the expensive price tag of hundred of dollars. I’ve compiled a few possible scenarios with the respective solutions:

Data Disc Recovery (Software)

Data Disc Recovery is a free hard drive recovery software made available by DAGsoft, it can efficiently scan and recover data from crashed hard disk data in FAT and NTFS format. Besides standard hard disk file recovery data, DDR can also:

Recover data lost by ’shift - delete’ on FAT partitions
Recover any data fragments from drive
Search drive through many criterion
Searching data directly on HDD, for example scanning free clusters in search for our file

Download Data Disc Recovery (version: 0.9.9.10)

Hard Drive Hard Disk Data Recovery Software, Tools and Service

PC Inspector File Recovery (Software)

PC Inspector file recovery is a hard drive data recovery software, if DDR failed in recovering your hard drive data, do give PC Inspector a try before you pay for a shareware, some of the key features of this free hard drive crash data recovery tool:

Works even if the boot sector or FAT has been erased
The free hard disk recovery tool has a user friendly GUI - like the Windows Explorer structure
Recovers files with the original date and timestamp
It can find partitions automatically, even if the boot sector or FAT has been erased or damaged.
It can recover files with the orginal time and date stamp.
It can recover files even when the header entry is no longer available.
It supports a variety of formats, including those created by compressed and archiving programs.

Just like DDR, PC INSPECTOR™ File Recovery is free. This means that the software does not cost you a single penny. Download PC Inspector.

If you are not tech savvy, and really want good technical support,in addition to reliable hard disk data recovery and a guarantee results, you should opt for commercial hard disk backup and recovery software.

Crashed Hard Drive Hard Disk Data Recovery Software, Tools and Service

Damaged Hard Drive Data Recovery (Components)

If your hard drive is damaged, for instant, it flew off the table and landed on your floor, causing damage to your precious oak timber floor and some minor damages to your hard drive components, don’t panic! The technician will quote you an inflated price for that tiny component, which doesn’t make any sense when the same new hard disk with the required component cost 1/10 of the price.

Solution? Get yourself a brand new hard drive, if you are tech savvy enough, change the component yourself or pass the new hard drive to the technician, tell him the replacement part needed can be found in the new hard drive.

Data Recovery Boot Disk (Boot Disk)

Active@ Boot Disk is a bootable LiveCD/DVD/USB Flash Disk that allows you to boot up any computer and fix most startup and PC configuration problems. Use Active@ Boot Disk to recover your lost data, manage HDD partitions, reset Windows passwords, make computer system backups [disk images], securely erase data and there is much more.

Active@ Boot Disk (Win Edition)
Active@ Boot Disk (DOS Edition)

This software works when your hard drive partition is healthy, it is advisable to make a system backup of your disk image. Alternatively, you can try TESTDISK, TestDisk is a DOS and Windows tool (also available for Linux) produced by CGsecurity.org that can be used to locate and recover lost partitions (FAT and NTFS) by repairing the partition table or replacing partition boot sectors with the backup copies.

Unbootable Laptop Hard Disk Data Recovery (Boot Disk)

FindNTFS is an effective free hard drive data recovery software to locate and recover NTFS files. It is available in several versions, including one that will run from a DOS boot, and thus can be used when the Windows OS is not bootable.

Alternatively, you can try this method if the above methods does not work, for unbootable laptop or desktop, remove the hard disk and swap it with your external/portable hard drive. Plug the USB to a desktop or laptop, install the hard drive recovery software and perform the necessary task. Usually Windows will detect the hard disk and request that you perform a ‘check disk’ on the hard disk, proceed as advised and chances are, Windows will recover the damaged partition.