This is why it is so incredibly important to know how to recover your files in case your computer encounters a problem and your files disappear.  If you find yourself in this situation it can be very stressful and frustrating.  However, you do not need to stress too much.  There is computer file recovery software available that can restore your files to your computer.  This software has become more popular in recent years.  It has successfully recovered several computer owners’ lost files.

Most the time when an individual cannot find a file it is because they saved it in a different place than they thought.  However, there are certain times where our hard drive can crash and this will lead to several lost files.  Everything you save on your computer is saved on the hard drive system.  When this system fails, all of your files disappear from your computer.  Fortunately, file recovery software can find your lost files and get your computer working properly again.

There are several ways that you can purchase recovery software.  For example, you can buy the software online at a very affordable cost.  You can read reviews about the software online as well.  If you would rather buy the computer file recovery software at a local store, you can do this as well.  This is convenient for individuals who are not familiar with computers.  You can talk to an employee and they can tell you the various options available to you so that your files can be recovered properly and efficiently.  You can also hire a computer specialist to assist you.

The Computer Data Recovery website has additional information that you might find useful.

Windows Will Not Start

If Windows will not boot or start you can recover data or files by booting to a second operating system either on the hard drive or using a Live CD and booting from the CDROM. There are many Live CDs that use Linux and Windows PE (Preinstallation Environment) to operate the computer and recover files even when the normal operating system fails to boot or start.

Live CD To Recover Files

Insert is a Open Source Linux distribution that has many maintenance and recovery tools. It runs on a CD with less than 100 mega bytes. Inserts small size allows it to run very quickly which makes it a powerful troubleshooting tool.

Restoring Files

Restoring files can be done quit easily using several different freeware and shareware applications. When you delete files they are moved to the Recycle Bin. When the Recycle Bin is empted only the names of the files are removed and never the data from the media. So computer data recovery software can locate the files on the media (if they haven’t been over written by new files) and restore them back to directories.

Restoring Partition

Restoring partitions can also be accomplished since the data files are again not deleted from the media. There is data recovery software that will recovery deleted partitions and therefore restore lost data.

Creating Partitions

Partitions can be used to separate important user data from the operating system partition. This technique provides a safer and more convenient place for user files. Since operating system files are prone to problems the user data stored on a separate partition will allow you to reinstall or use imaging software to quickly restore your operating system without damaging or destroying valuable user data. GParted is a free and powerful partitioning utility that can quickly create and even resize partitions without destroying data. Windows hard disk management tools will destroy your data if you need to resize a partition. GParted is an easy to use and my favorite partitioning utility.

Damaged Hard Drive Components

Computer data recovery companies have clean rooms where they can disassemble hard drives and replace failed components. They are able to replace the circuit board, drive heads, and even the platters if necessary to retrieve your data. The costs can be considerable depending on what is required to retrieve the data.

Imaging Hard Drive Partitions

Imaging provides a complete copy of the hard drive partition and can be used to analyze the data and determine what methods to use for data recovery. Imaging can also be used to help prevent data loss by making images of operating systems and data for restoring when needed.

UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply)

UPS are able to provide power to your computer in case of power outages and therefore allow the proper power down sequencing to safe guard important data and files. FAT32 is prone to cross-link and lost cluster file issues during power fluctuations where NTFS has journaling procedures that help recover files after file read or write interruptions.

Consistency checking

The CHKDSK utility can scan and correct file system inconsistency problems. However if the file system is badly damaged CHKDSK will fail and require you to use specialized software data recovery tools.

DVD/CD Restore Disks

Restore disks are now common instead of supplying Windows install CDs. However user data and files are normally stored in the same partition as the operating system so using restore disks will destroy any user data and files. GParted can be used to create a second partition for user data and files to help protect this important information.

Damaged Drive Read/Write Heads

Drives heads are sensitive and can be easily damaged if they come in contact with the drive platters. Replacing the heads needs to be done in a clean environment by a skilled technician.

Data Recovery Techniques

There are many freeware, shareware, and commercial software applications available for computer data recovery. Companies even have software that is able to connect to their labs over the Internet and analyze and recovery data files. The best approach is to backup important data on a daily basis and therefore you will not have to worry about computer data recovery.

Software Utilities

Partimage – open source image utility.

GParted – open source partition utility.

PhotoREC – free camera card data recovery utility.

Advanced File Recovery – file and data recovery utility.

Active Undelete – file and data recovery utility.

VirtualLab Data Recovery – file and data recover uitility.