A data recovery technique is a method/process used to retrieve data that has been erased or corrupted from formatted, destroyed or deleted storage devices. These techniques are used to salvage data by solving both the physical and logical errors in storage facilities. Additionally, specific software and hardware are required to access, repair and reconstruct the damaged storage device. There are automatic and non-automatic methods of recovering data and backing it up from failure scenarios. There are two major categories of data recovery techniques depending on the loss of accessibility as well as the type of damage inflicted on a storage device: logical data recovery and physical data recovery. In more serious scenarios, expertise intervention is critical as the files may be irrecoverable using relatively simple techniques, for instance, remote data recovery technique.
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Logical data recovery
In this category, the error is a “none-hardware” related problem and the data can be salvaged using software-related solutions. Logical damage causes corruption of information and/or inaccessibility of data in hard drive devices. Formatted, deleted or Damaged partitions and overwritten data are significant examples of logical damage scenarios.
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Formatted, Deleted or Damaged partitions
Scenarios where the hard drive device cannot be read often caused by a damaged partition table. In this case, where data is deleted and/or the hard disk is damaged, the hard drive is ejected from the old system then connected to a new system – preferably in read-only mode. The same technique is applied in other storage devices like Secure Digital (SD) cards. The Stellar Data Recovery Professional for Windows is a standard and reliable recovery tool used to recover lost data. With this tool, it is easy to salvage damaged, deleted, inaccessible, corrupted, or formatted storage device. Moreover, the tool allows the recovery of data from scratched optical storage devices like Compact Discs, DVD, Blu-ray, et al.
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Overwritten Data
By deleting a file from Windows OS, the system considers the deleted file as “free space.” So, by installing a program or copying another file to the system overwrites this deleted file making recovery impossible. Therefore, to recover lost data from deleted files, it is advised to stop using the system/hard disk. However, this works differently in SSDs where data recovery in these devices is easy provided that the system is not TRIM-enabled.
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Physical Data Recovery
Data loss due to human errors can inflict physical damage on storage devices and cause data loss. Since most storage media are fragile devices, a slight shock can cause malfunctioning or permanent loss of data. This implies that the devices must be handled with utmost care. Several methods can be used to salvage data from a physically damaged hard drive. One of them is repairing the hard disk by replacing the broken parts. This technique alone can make the hard drive usable. Also, the specialized disk-imaging process is another example used to retrieve all the readable bits from the surface of the disk.
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Remote data recovery
It is not always necessary for data recovery specialists to access the damaged hardware physically. Instead, they can employ software technique to salvage lost data with the help of internet-enabled remote access software, LAN, or various connections to the physical location of the damaged storage device. Most importantly of this process is that it requires a strong connection.
In a scenario where data has been lost from either your smartphone or computer hard drive, it is advisable to apply the appropriate recovery technique. It is advisable to use the right software or consult a data recovery expert to avoid causing further damage to the files.
