What Is Data Recovery?

Data recovery is the process of restoring files that you may have lost because of an accidental deletion, system crash, a hardware malfunction or any other reason. It is usually an option for those who have no backups and need to get their crucial data back in a hurry. Data recovery can be achieved in two ways: physical and logical. Logical data recovery deals with a functioning but damaged hard drive that lost data through user actions, application crashes, OS error or partitioning. Physical data recovery is more difficult and covers a broad variety of physical damages to storage media, such as CDs which lose their metallic substrate or dye layer; hard disks that suffer from many mechanical issues such as head crashes or PCB malfunctions; and tapes that could break.

No matter the type of data loss, if the file system isn’t damaged it is likely to retrieve files using a software-based method. The program searches the data portion of the disk for “file signatures,” which are common patterns that indicate a particular file type. If a file’s signature is discovered, it can then be assigned a placeholder filename and the entire file structure could be rebuilt if it is needed.

If a file is found in the first place, you should avoid writing new content on the device that suffered data loss as this can overwrite any previously recovered files. It’s essential to disconnect your device from your computer immediately whenever you notice problems. The faster you take care of this the better your https://franking-machine.com/what-is-data-recovery-and-how-does-it-work/ chance of recovering all or most of your data.