Hard drive data recovery is a necessary skill in working with computers. I have been repairing computers for many years, and during this time I have learned to recover data, and I have saved many many files, including pictures from a friend who happens to be a photographer. Her computer was infected by a JPEG virus,  and it deleted tons of her photos from clients. I managed to recover all of them.  I have lost a lot of data more than just once myself. It’s like, you get up in the morning and try to turn on the computer – nothing happens. The worst thing has happened – you are facing a hard drive failure with loss of data because you did not back it up. It sucks! That’s why it is so important to have a good back up system. We will talk about this option a little bit later (scroll down).

What is Hard Drive Data Recovery?

Hard Drive data recovery is a method of saving non-accessible and lost files and folders that are stored in the hard drive. Lots of data recovery services and data recovery software programs are intended to assist users to restore files when their PC becomes infected by a virus.

Today, almost nobody can do without computer technology. Computer crash or failure is happening daily. Since everything is electronic within computers, there is no way to predict a crash or failure. The hard drives have mechanical parts as well, which makes the hard drive pretty vulnerable. In the future, all hard drives with mechanical parts will be replaced with solid state drives, which are without rotating parts. Solid state drive is just like a flash drive. The data will be just dropped onto it.

Hard drive data recovery – The ultimate solution to regain your data

Hard drive data recovery can be used to restore a crashed hard drive victimized by a virus.

Remember, every file and folder will stay forever on a hard drive – visible or not visible. Hard drive data recovery is helpful for finding lost files, e.g., through a virus attack, as well as locating data you

probably didn’t want to be deleted. The fact is that deleted files and folders will still be on your hard drive – each and every one – and can be recovered.

Is Hard Drive Data Recovery possible after deleting?

If all data were gone forever, it would be impossible to recover. You think the files and folders you lost are gone forever. But, most data on your hard drive can still be regained even in case of a hard drive failure or hard drive crash. There are good programs which are capable of recovering your data even after a complete reformat. All it takes is someone knowledgeable about data recovery or a data recovery program with an easy user interface.

Since all data are still on a hard drive, personal sensitive information is still kept as well. Hackers, if they are experienced enough, can access your computer’s hard drive and steal your private information, even if it has been deleted already. We always have to keep this fact in mind.

Hard drive data recovery works by rebuilding the lost data on your hard drive bit by bit. It doesn’t matter if your files were deleted by accident or through a crash. Most data can be recovered and brought back. Despite the fact that most crashes result from a PC failure or a virus attack, there are some instances caused by hardware disaster, such as, the actuator arm or platters no longer working properly. The hard drive in such a circumstance is unusable, although hard drive recovery can fix the problem but should be performed by a professional. If you discover this, to avoid more damage, do not try to do anything. Shut down your computer. Do not turn it back on: look for professional help.

Back up is better than Hard Drive Data Recovery!

No matter what your problems are with your hard drive, a hard drive data recovery is always possible. It might not be 100% successful all the time.  But to avoid a real data loss, an earlier data backup would be a very clever action. Remember, data recovery can be very expensive, if you have to bring it to a specialist. So why not back up your sensitive data in the first place?

Why should I back up my data?

• Today, too many hackers have access to hard drive data through insufficient network protection.
• Natural disasters can happen every day, destroying crucial data if you do not back it up.
• Even though you have virus protection in place, you are still vulnerable to new viruses, which are capable of deleting entire hard drives.
• Hard Drive Failure can happen through the wear and tear of mechanical parts, like the hard drive,  head, or spinning parts of the drive inside. Electronic elements like the circuit board can get an electric shock or overheat. All this damage leaves you no option besides sending your hard drive to a costly  hard drive data recovery professional.
• Even if you  protected your computer through an uninterrupted power supply or surge protector,  your PC and  all electronic sensitive parts (hard drive included) can be damaged through a power failure.

How do I back up my data?

1. External Device

To back up your data, you first need an external storage device like an external hard drive or a thumb drive.

Windows has its own backup system

In our example we are using Windows 7. In the following, we will guide you step by step through the windows back up function.

• Go to “Start” and type “backup” into the search box. Click on “Backup And Restore“.  A window will pop up.
• Now, on the right, click on “Set up backup“.
• After “Starting Windows Backup” is finished you will be in the “Select where you want to save your backup” window and you can see 2 options for a backup: 1. Your DVD device and 2. Your external hard drive or thumb drive. You will now select your device. In our case it is a thumb drive. “Click “Next“.
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• Now choose whether you let Windows decide, or if you choose what to back up. In our case we say “Let me choose” and click next.
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• In the next window we choose the folders we want to back up. We navigate to the “Users” folder. Click on the arrow next to each section and make a check mark on the desired folders for backup and click next.
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• The next window is a review of your backup settings. All you have to do is click on “Save settings and run backup“.
• Last Window
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Another backup option is to use a third party program. It will backup your entire system to an external device. Since we have used it already for years, we recommend Acronis True Image. We love it. Get it here. Click on the image below.

Having data saved on a thumb drive or external hard drive is not the ultimate solution when it comes to a long term storage. The drive can get corrupted through age, from constant data transfer, temperature influence, corrupted file system, power failure and more….

A more sophisticated solution is:

2. Online Backup Service

We recommend a service called Remote Data Backups. With this service you will get an easy to use tool with which you will perform backups on a regular schedule. Here are a few of the main features:

• Automatic file backup
• Easy file restore
• Fast backups
• Manage multiple backups
• Excellent hard drive data recovery security
• and more…

Remember: Data backup is better than hard drive data recovery.

Hard Drive Data Recovery options

Now the most curious question you might have is probably:

“How can I perform a Hard Drive Data Recovery after losing my data?”

There are two ways that Hard Drive Data Recovery can be done:

1. Using a Data Software. With data recovery software, you can restore the data that were previously lost.

If you cannot find the files or folders you wanted to recover, we have to go a step further and go with a more professional program.

Here is a free option called WinUtilities. It can be downloaded for no charge, and we ask you to Google it. It will include a feature called “File Undelete”.

WinUtilities is an easy to install and easy to use program for a hard drive data recovery. Regardless of the limited options, it is still a powerful tool to recover some deleted documents from your hard drive or pictures from a formatted digital-camera memory card.

2. Using a Hard Drive Date Recovery Software or Service. Data recovery service can offer lots of services, though they are quite pricey.  The value of your lost data will determine if you want to pay the price. In case you do have valuable data, do not try to recover your data yourself. Let the Pros deal with it!

See a video about a pro showing how to do a hard drive data recovery HERE: Look for the section Head Swap and Hard Drive Data Recovery On A Western Digital Hard Drive

So how does Hard Drive Data Recovery work?

Before looking for the services of the experts in hard drive data recovery and eventually employing them, it is a must to understand a hard drive and the failure of it. A hard drive is a pile of numerous discs layered with substrate that have thin layers alongside magnetic components. The material found over it is the drive head. Discs from a hard drive create a breeze while they spin that makes way for an air cushion for the head. As a rule, the drive head should not touch the discs, otherwise something happens to the air cushion beneath it. However, if the head gains contact with the disc, it will surge down through magnetic layers and there will be cuts on the surface of the discs. The result will be for the aluminum substrate to be ground, and it will spray dust into all the layers of the discs. As a result, hard drive failure will occur.

Hard drive recovery technicians follow these steps when working to recover data:  The first and most important step is the analysis of the severity of the loss and the evaluation of whether or not any data can still be recovered — a complicated procedure which can potentially take many hours to complete. Then, the experts duplicate the media that can still be used and saved onto a working hard drive, which requires very specific and expensive equipment.

Using data recovery services brought about by the experts should be your last resort.  Data recovery experts can charge fees ranging from $250 up to $3,500. By comparison, data recovery software such as that of Symantec146 will cost around $39.95.

Every hard drive data recovery situation calls for an entirely unique method when it comes to solving the problem. In my experience, most of the time, the process works and the data is recovered by using the procedure explained above. Nonetheless, an immense crash in the hard drive can mean that the data will be only restored with the use of an advanced hard drive data recovery technician.