It is a sad reality for any computer user that there will be times when you need to recover accidentally deleted data. Files, folders, documents and attachments can all occasionally be victims of a mistaken keystroke or icon move. Depending on the way that the data was removed, the chances of recovering it may vary, but in all cases there are at least a few things to try. Power surges and outages, program and system failures, and human error all result in lost, or at least misplaced, files.
If you think, or know, that you accidentally deleted a file, first check the Recycle Bin to see if you can find it and drag it back on to the desktop. Some programs, such as Microsoft Word, are designed with built in back up strategies that automatically save secondary files to the same folder as the original (if enabled). So if you have a power loss or system crash while working, you can check for the file and, using the Word example, change the extension from .bkp to .doc to open it.
If you were faced with a blue screen of death while computing and your whole system crashed, there might be a loss of recently saved, or unsaved data. Before we go any further, the most important lesson to learn when it comes to data recovery is to not lose any in the first place. Always back up and save copies of important files and folders on disks other than the one that your hard drive is on. Put another way, if your hard drive is the C: drive, and the operating system runs on the C: drive and crashes, then any other files stored here are at risk. Instead, save your data on removable, external drives like USB sticks, flash drives and CDs. Then, if your system does fail, all you have to worry about is reinstalling the operating system and restoring your data and preferences.
Back to the system crash… if you have data loss following an unexpected shutdown, the first thing to do is run any disk recovery software that was included with your computer system, Apple and Microsoft include these disks with their operating systems. The repair disk might be able to repair damage and restore lost data. If you have no luck with the repair disk, there are several data recovery software utilities on the web, such as ParetoLogic Data Recovery Pro. Data recovery software can bring back lost files, accidentally deleted emails and attachments and even get files back from formatted hard drives.
In the interest of saving your files and folders from harm, it is also a good idea to revisit your security software and ensure that all your programs are up to date. Viruses and other forms of malware can infect your computer, corrupt and delete your files. If a virus has damaged any of your files, a good virus scan is sometimes able to recover them.
Kate Dubensky | August 8th, 2008
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