If you are a business owner and find that you have suffered some computer virus that has resulted in massive loss of data, then you would be well advised to take immediate action to recover as much of it as possible. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to retrieve lost information. You could be looking at months or even years of lost data, never to be seen again. It is therefore essential for businesses to take extreme measures to prevent this from happening to their data. When you enlist the services of professional data recovery specialists, they can accurately assess the extent of the data loss, taking the appropriate steps to get your information back.
Damaged Storage Media
Most data recovery can be done after a certain amount of time has elapsed without any problems. However, it is not always the case. Viruses and damaged hardware can cause files to become corrupt or accidentally damaged. When this happens, the operating system and other programs can no longer function correctly, resulting in corrupted and damaged storage media. File types can become corrupt, causing problems when trying to open files or share them with other people.
One of the main ways you can retrieve your lost information is by first restoring your logical drives. This is achieved by installing operating system disk images on the relevant storage devices and then reinstalling your operating system on them. Many good data recovery software programs out there can help you restore your logical drives and make them functional once more.
Data Recovery
On the other hand, some physical data recovery can be achieved by defragging your operating system and using system tools such as disk cloning and CD-R copying to create a backup copy of all data that has been lost. An excellent example of this would be if you accidentally deleted a file from your USB drive. You could then perform defragmentation on the disk to locate the file location and compress it to a smaller size. Once you have discovered the file, you could then attempt to reformat the hard disk drives. Data recovery software tools can then locate and restore the damaged partition to its original state. Data duplication is another method of physical data recovery. You use a particular software program that attempts to compress data into small data fragments so that the actual file does not take up as much space as needed.
Data Recovery Programs
The other method of recovering lost data is through core services. Core services are executed by specific operating system service packs, which can be found in your computer’s control panel’s “Program and features”. These services are designed to run when specific critical operating system errors occur automatically. The data recovery programs used by these service packs are specifically designed to scan and repair sectors of bad sectors on hard drives.
Open-Source Services
The most effective data recovery programs employ both methods. They analyze the files and then attempt to defragment and compress them to reduce the total space required to store them. This reduces the overall time the data recovery program will take to repair the files to usable levels. While there are some disadvantages to using open-source services for disk drives recovery such as the fact that the user is responsible for making sure the disk drive or storage devices are properly degaussed (ties off), the potential for losing data is still present.
Data recovery services that utilize open-source recovery software programs are still not as effective as those that use specialized tools and recovery programs. In cases where the actual file has been corrupted or if the drive has been physically damaged, the ability of a user to recover lost data is almost impossible. The potential for human error is also reduced since the program checks for corrupt files before proceeding to the recovery process. Most professionals would say this type of data recovery is more than ninety per cent effective.
Last Words:
When it comes to using computer forensics professionals to recover data, open-source or free tools will not cut it. Computer forensics professionals are well-versed in the recovery of data from both physical and virtual media. These professionals utilize the tools that best suit their investigations and the information required for successful data recovery. Their specialty is in leveraging what is available to them and the skills of users to make sure the job gets done correctly. Utilizing recovery tools such as undelete programs is not enough; computer forensics professionals must also know how to effectively and efficiently defragment and compress the recovered files to ensure the most excellent chance of success.
