A data loss situation can be a significant problem for companies. If information is suddenly no longer available, unproductive working hours are a comparatively mild consequence. Things get worse when essential, much-needed data is lost. Then a data loss can even assume existential dimensions. If it comes to an emergency, you don’t have to despair immediately. Data recovery is possible in most cases with little effort and luck.
Data recovery: this is how you can effectively prevent a Data Loss situation.
There are a number of reasons for data loss:
- Hardware failure
- Accidents of all kinds
- Software problems
- human error
- sabotage
There is no such thing as perfect protection against data loss. The good news: By taking appropriate precautionary measures, you can at least minimize the risks. The possibilities to prevent data loss range from the purchase of high-quality hardware to regular checks and the use of an uninterruptible power supply to training measures for your employees.
You can do a lot in advance to ensure that data recovery is as easy as possible in the worst-case scenario. Data recovery on SSD storage, for example, is much more difficult than with conventional magnetic hard drives. With these, data can often still be reconstructed after accidental deletion by data recovery programs. SSDs are less fault-tolerant in this regard: data can usually no longer be restored immediately after deletion.
TIP: Data recovery: 3 tips in case of data loss
If, despite all protective measures, if a loss of data occurs, there are basically 3 ways to carry out a data recovery:
- You are trying to use a data recovery software to restore the data yourself.
- You hire a specialized data recovery company to do this.
- You replace the lost data with up-to-date copies. A backup strategy is definitely the easiest and best option.
Recovering (Deleted) Data: A Plan for Disaster
In the event of a data crash, it is important not to panic. Instead, act as quickly and specifically as possible to rescue your lost data. An emergency plan can help you here.
The data recovery plan is an elementary building block of any good data security concept. First of all, this includes the definition: What is an emergency? Not every damaged hard drive is a data disaster. Often, computer or network failures can be prevented by planned measures, such as B. replacement procurement, resolve in a short time. Then your data can usually be restored very quickly and easily.
The real emergency in data security only occurs when your data cannot be restored within the required time, which results in measurable damage. Your security concept should describe this critical limit so that the necessary measures (procurement of replacements, requesting backups, notifying important customers or business partners, etc.) can be taken and the damage kept within limits if an event occurs that could lead to an emergency.
Data recovery with the help of software
There are many programs for data recovery. In general, however, you shouldn’t expect miracles from these tools. These tools are very basic in the ability to perform hard tasks. The chances of success are greatest only if data is accidentally deleted and that is not for sure either.
Practical tip: use the trash can function
The deleted data is still completely intact in the recycle bin on your computer in the best-case scenario. To perform data recovery, all you need is a simple click of the mouse.
Therefore, it is advisable not to tighten the Windows default setting for deletion so that data is deleted directly without going through the recycle bin. Keep the standard settings of your Windows computer. This is the only way files end up in the trash after deletion. Here you can restore them if necessary or delete them permanently.
But even after the final deletion, i.e. removal from the recycle bin, the data does not immediately disappear from the data carrier. In these cases in particular, with a good data recovery tool, you have a very good chance of recovering the lost data.
Increase the chances of your data recovery
You shouldn’t wait long to use data recovery tools. The sooner you start the rescue attempt after accidental deletion or after the occurrence of the defect, the greater the chances of success. In this way, especially in the event of accidental deletion, you prevent the data that is still present from being overwritten. This is important as no other method will rescue and restore the data on your hard drive. The same applies if, for example, a complete partition was accidentally deleted or the hard disk was formatted by mistake. Therefore, it is advisable to use a data recovery software directly from an emergency USB stick out to increase the success rate.
In the event of physical damage to the data carrier, it is even more important that you start the data recovery as quickly as possible and not wait unnecessarily, (although much caution in this situation, as stressing a drive with mechanical issues can cause further harm and potential permanent data loss. The result: even simple read access threatens further damage. In these cases, you could try to image the drive directly, which can then be analyzed in order to restore your data. Some of the data recovery tools already include such image software.
TIP: Use a proven data recovery program
Some of the recommended data recovery tools for hard drives and computers include:
- Easy Recovery, the powerful solution from the renowned data recovery specialist Kroll Ontrack
- Data Recovery Wizard, the easy-to-use tool from EaseUS
- Recuva, Piriform’s affordable data recovery program
With these tools, you have a good chance of recovering and saving your data.
