The Hard Truth About Data Recovery Software
When data is lost, it’s normal to want to take whatever measures are at your disposal to get it back. The problem is that using free data recovery software can complicate your problems and make it harder to accomplish your objectives.
It’s normal for people to want to handle major projects themselves. With the assistance of YouTube, Google, and other online knowledge repositories, the DIY mentality can thrive. It is often possible for people and organizations to save money this way. But with a project as critical as data recovery, you can also make things significantly worse.
There is Little Protection with Software
Downloading a free or cheap piece of software may give you peace of mind. It may help you to feel like you’ve done what you could about a situation. The reality is that you’re still exposed to a host of problems starting with that missing data.
The simple act of downloading software onto your system increases the chances of overwriting, corrupting, or destroying any missing data that you were looking to recover. In fact, some of these software packages include a message in their fine print that suggests you should only use it if there is another copy of the data available to you. In most cases, you’re likely using the software because there is no other version of it available.
Downloading Software Could Be the Very Thing That Leaves the Data Unrecoverable
Your missing data may be exactly where you left it. Data is typically only erased from the drive’s table of contents, meaning it’s actually right where you left it, but there is no visible path for access. At the point that it’s missing, it’s often not yet overwritten.
When you install software, or add additional data to your hard drive, that is when existing data could be overwritten.
You Can Worsen the Condition of a Failing Drive
Adding and running utilities on a failing drive can make it fail faster. The more a drive spins and tries to read bad sectors, the worse the condition will be. Software won’t be able to read data off a drive that has physical failures – that is a mechanical issue. Drives need to be imaged before a recovery is attempted. That way recovery efforts don’t damage existing data.
Software Can’t Diagnose Your Problem
If something is truly wrong with your drive, software won’t be able to tell you. A corrupt drive, or any type of physical failure will be undetectable. A cheap utility software can’t read what is actually going on.
If You’re Panicked About Losing Data, It’s Worth Making an Important Investment
The truth is that no data recovery company would work directly on the original media. If they can’t make a copy and work from that copy, the likelihood of recovery would likely shrink. They understand that running software degrades the drive while reducing your ability to recover.
If you value your data, there is a better, more likely way to recover it. You can contact a data recovery company such as We Recover Data to recover files from your drive. Call us today at (866) 400-DATA.
5 Tips to Avoid Catastrophic Data Loss
There’s a feeling of devastation in the moments after you realize you’ve suffered a significant data loss. When you lose valuable information that your business depends on, it can cripple your ability to function. In extreme cases, it can force a company out of business.
Thankfully, there are steps that can be taken to reduce the likelihood of data loss crippling your organization. With some simple steps, you can avoid data loss altogether, or at the minimum, reduce its impact.
Always Back Up Your Data
Backing up your data on a consistent, regular basis is key to avoiding a catastrophic data loss. This is the act of keeping a copy of your original data on a separate disk media. USB drives, removable hard drives, and cloud storage all offer companies a means to back their data up. If the data is critical to your organization, off-site backups may be the way to go.
Backing up data is an act that may require some discipline. You might have to stop working for long enough to make these backups. But it is an act you won’t regret in a worst-case-scenario.
Complete Your Software Updates
The purpose of software updates is often to protect your system from specific vulnerabilities. Many of these perspective vulnerabilities can be damaging to your data. This is why it’s important to keep up with updates as you are notified. You can also run system checks to determine what software has available updates.
Anti-Virus Software is Critical
It’s important to be proactive in protecting your computer from malicious viruses, malware, trojans, and other problems. When viruses operate in the background they can change or delete much-needed data, causing any number of significant problems. A strong anti-virus program with firewalls can help prevent the spread of viruses through the internet. They offer added levels of security and decrease your vulnerability.
Run Disk Defragmentation Programs
As more programs are used, it can cause an internal mess on the back end of your computer’s hard drive. Disk defragmentation cleans up temporary and unused files. It creates a clean working environment that is less stressful to your machine. This ensures data is organized in a more contiguous manner, that is easier to access in the event of a recovery. It’s recommended to run this every few months.
Practice Good Usage Habits
Protect your network from unknown users. It’s the best way to prevent someone with malicious intent from getting in. When you receive emails with attachments from unknown users, it’s best to ignore them. Make sure that your firewalls are set to higher standards.
Past that, it’s important to continuously save your documents as you make changes to them. This prevents data loss if an application unexpectedly quits.
Prevent a Worst-Case Scenario
As technologies progress, so do the many ways that companies can lose their data. The truth is that many of the crises’ that data recovery companies respond to are preventable. Implementing some of the above tips can help you to safeguard data.
The Growing Need for Data Recovery
Ever since businesses and organizations made the transition to storing important data on computers, that data has had the potential to be lost. Important information is vulnerable to being deleted, stolen, or corrupted. Technology has historically acted in unpredictable and nerve-racking ways.
What has changed is the means that we have to deal with these issues. At the beginning of the computer age, any institution that lost data in this way was likely on its own. They either were forced to move on without the data (no matter how critical), or consult someone with the expertise who might have already been on staff. But that has changed with the advancement of the technology companies use.
Complex Data Systems Lead to Complex Data Problems
The information technology industry has changed the way that organizations operate, and put an increasing significance on the data they cultivate. As data storage technologies advance, it has become increasingly difficult for companies to have a person on staff who knows how to recover data in the event of a crisis. Data recovery specialists began to pop up, as a way to help these organizations recover that lost, stolen, or damaged data.
The first data recovery specialists fielded panicked phone calls from companies in all types of data emergencies. These specialists used proprietary software and tools to help their clients recover their much-needed data.
A Constantly Evolving Industry
Entire companies have sprouted up that focus on providing data recovery services based around constantly emerging technologies. This industry is still a tight-knit industry. There are only a small handful of companies that have the technologies available to meet the demands of the world’s largest companies.
Data recovery companies develop tools and enhanced capabilities based on the potential crises’ that companies can face. Despite this effort, it’s not even always possible to anticipate every type of problem that can occur with every type of equipment before these events actually unfold.
Full capabilities in the data recovery industry require a dedication to both software and hardware recovery methods. It requires an intimate understanding of the latest data storage innovations. These products make it easier for companies to store and access their data, but they often add a layer of complexity to the data recovery process.
A Business Built on Trust
Even though the businesses and organizations that require data recovery help are caught in a desperate jam, they must trust the company that they enlist to help them recover their most important data. They’ll want to know that they are dealing with an organization that has likely seen and solved a similar problem before. They’ll want someone capable of providing exemplary customer service and being sympathetic to the situation at hand.
The data recovery industry requires companies to be on the forefront of innovation, while being able to build client-centered relationships. This is a tough combination for businesses in any industry to accomplish. But at We Recover Data, we believe that the future belongs to the companies who can master both facets of this industry.
If you have any questions, or would like to discuss your next project, contact us today!