Resources

Foolishly, I put my SDHC class 6 memory card (which I use with my Canon H100 HD camcorder) into a Mac in a shop and tried to open the files to view the video. I didn't know how to safely remove it and pulled it straight out without exiting properly, damaging the files as a result. My Canon can't read them and neither can my Panasonic TV with its card slot. A technician in the shop did some surgery and discovered the files were still there. We opened them on a Sony VAIO. I need to back them up on my PC but my camera, TV, and my laptop do not recognize the files. Any help out there?

Damaged SDHC Cards

Sounds like you learned a hard lesson about removing media from a computer without properly closing it out. While removing a memory card without first going through the motions of closing it doesn't always result in corruption, it often does. This doesn't mean that the entire contents of the card are damaged. Your card may not be recognizable because its master boot record or file allocation table is damaged. Fortunately, it sounds as though the underlying files, or at least some of them, are still intact. The challenge here is getting to those underlying files.

Data Recovery Software

Data recovery software is designed to bypass typical routes to a storage device's contents and go directly to the data. It doesn't need a "table of contents" so to speak in order to see files. That's why data recovery software is so effective at recover deleted files and files from reformatted drives. After all, the files are not instantly erased when deleted or when the drive has been reformatted; rather, the master indexes referencing those files is altered.

ParetoLogic Data Recovery Trial Software

ParetoLogic Software has a data recovery program, aptly named Data Recovery, that it makes available as a free trial. The trial version won't recover your files, but it should be able to tell you if it sees them. If it does, then you can upgrade to the fully functional commercial version with confidence. The program recognizes portable storage devices that can be read as drive letters and can recover all types of files including video files. Try the trial version and scan your card. If the trial version lists your video files, consider buying the product and recovering the videos once and for all. Note that a "pro" version is also available. For your needs, the standard version will do the trick.

I recently tried to use the recovery disc that came with my laptop to recover files I lost through a software upgrade. All it did was erase the whole disk and nothing was restored. What happened?

The Purpose for Recovery Discs

Recovery discs are often provided by computer manufacturers as a means of resetting your computer to its factory condition. They often contain tools for partial recoveries as well as full recoveries. When using the recovery discs, it's crucial to pay attention to all prompts and understand the consequences of each action.

When using the recovery disc to reset the computer to its factory condition, all of the data and programs as well as all system updates and personal settings currently on your computer will be removed. In their place will be all the original operating system and any preinstalled programs that came with the computer. Your computer will look just as it did when you originally purchased it. However, if you've since changed out any hardware, your new hardware may not be recognized as the drivers for the new equipment is not pre-loaded on the recovery disc.

After Using Recovery Discs

When a recovery goes well, there's still a lot of work to be done. For example, the operating system will need to be updated with the latest updates, security software installed, network configured, email configured, programs installed, data restored from backups (if any), recently added hardware reinstalled with the appropriate drivers, and so on. When a recovery goes bad as yours did, there's even more work involved.

It sounds as though perhaps the hard disc was reformatted which could have been one of the options presented by the recovery disc. However, if you're using a different video card or monitor than the computer originally came with, it's possible that the recovery went well but you can't see that because nothing is appearing on your screen. When you can't see what's on screen, it's hard to troubleshoot or even install the appropriate drivers. If you think that the video card or monitor may be the issue, try inserting the disc for the new hardware and then rebooting the computer. Upon reboot, the computer may search for drivers for the "new hardware discovered" and may find the drivers if the disc is installed.

If you don't think the video card or monitor is to blame and you believe that the disc has been wiped completely clean, you may be able to use the recovery disc to at least install the operating system and original programs. Place the disc in the drive and reboot. You should be prompted with choices for recovering the system to its original state.

Recovering Data

If your computer has been restored to factory condition, your data will no longer be accessible - unless you use data recovery software. Even with data recovery software, some data may have been overwritten. However, for about $50 or so, you can use a data recovery product such as ParetoLogic's Data Recovery to get most of it back. This program has a free scanner that will tell you what data is available for recovery. If you decide recovering that lost data is worthwhile, you'll need to purchase the full version in order to recover it.  

Can I get my deleted emails back?

Deleted Emails

Yes! There's a good possibility that you can recover your emails, especially if you use an email client such as Outlook or Windows Live Mail rather than a Web-based email program. This is because email clients store the messages locally on your computer's hard drive where you may be able to perform a data recovery. If you are using a Web-based email program, recovering deleted emails is limited to checking the Deleted Items or Trash folders.

Recover Deleted Emails

Let's start with the basics for recovery deleted emails. When you delete an email message from within the email program, the message is sent to the Deleted Items folder where it will remain until you (or the email program) empty that folder. Depending on the email program's settings, the Deleted Items folder may be set to empty itself every time you close the program. If so, you may not be able to find your deleted emails here. It's worth checking though, so click on the Deleted Items folder and see if you can find the messages that you want to restore. Once found, simply drag the messages into the Inbox.

Data Recovery Software

If it's too late and your Deleted Items folder has been emptied, another option exists: data recovery software. Data recovery software can recover files that have been deleted or even wiped clean from formatting because when a file is deleted or the drive formatted, the file hasn't really been deleted and the formatting doesn't actually erase data. Instead, deletions and formatting cause changes to the master file system index. When a file is deleted, the index is modified so that the file no longer is displayed. The space that the file occupies is then marked as "free space" which can later be overwritten. Formatting makes similar changes though on a much larger scale.

Data recovery software ignores the index and looks for the actual file. If found, you can easily recover it. Not that not just any data recovery utility will do. Email files are complex with different recovery processes than standard files. Use a product specifically designed to recover email files. We recommend Data Recovery Pro which is capable of recovering Outlook and Outlook Express files. Try the free download first to see if the emails are good candidates for recovery. If so, you will need to purchase the full version in order to extract the messages.

I have an ‘07 Sony VAIO laptop VGNFE880e. It has a Fujitsu 160GB SATA 4200RPM HDD that has to be replaced. It ran a check disk earlier and I fear that many files have been deleted. First, I'd like to know if I can upgrade the HDD and/or use any brand. Second, is it worth trying to recover files from the bad HDD?

Replacing a Laptop's Hard Drive

You should be able to replace your VAIO's hard drive with another brand hard drive without much difficulty. Look for a SATA drive of the same dimensions as your current drive. You current drive is most likely a 2.5-inch drive which is pretty standard for today's laptops. You'll need to open the laptop's case, remove the old hard drive and replace it with the new drive and then either install Windows or restore your system from a bootable backup disc or disc image that you will need to create before the swap.

Inside My Laptop has some good information about how to remove a hard drive from the Sony VAIO VGNFE series of laptops.

Recovering Files from a Bad Hard Drive

Recovering deleted files is worth doing if the files are important to you. Data recovery programs cost about $40 to $50 and are quite easy to use, so if you have lost files that you're willing to spend some money on getting back, by all means, give data recovery a try. For example, if you've lost all of your Quicken or QuickBook files for your business, $40 or $50 to get that information back may be well worth doing. The same is true if you lost your only copies of family photos or videos. On the other hand, if the lost data is just some old joke e-mail messages or old homework assignments that you've already turned in and will never need again, then data recovery is probably not worth attempting.

We recommend ParetoLogic Data Recovery which offers a free scanner that will show you what is recoverable for free. This way, you don't have to spend money only to find out that data recovery isn't possible. If the software finds recoverable files, you can then decide whether or not the data is worth the price of the software. If so, purchase the full version of Data Recovery and quickly recover the deleted files.

Several days ago, I took some family pictures in my camera and then downloaded them to my PC. Soon after, they were overwritten by some other photographs by mistake. Can I recover my earlier photos back?

Searching for Lost Photos

My first question is about the overwritten photos. I assume you mean that the photos on the PC are no longer there and were replaced by a new set of photos? Or do you mean the photos in the camera were overwritten when you took newer photos? The first thing I would do is double check the photo folder on your computer to be sure that they aren't really there. For example, did you know that you can sort your images by date rather than name? Since you know the photos were taken a few days ago, it should be fairly easy to sort the photo folder by date and then scan through the list to see if they appear. Here's how:

• Right-click the Start button and choose Explore
• Navigate to the photo storage folder, typically labeled My Pictures or Pictures (if you store your photos elsewhere, navigate to that folder)
• Click the dropdown arrow next to View and select the view that you prefer. For example, if you want to see a small preview of the image, select medium icon.
• Now, click the Date Taken box, this will sort all images in the file based on date. Clicking it again toggles it from ascending to descending order. If you know the exact date, click the dropdown box next to Date Taken and select the date on the calendar. This will filter the images to only those that were taken on the selected date.

Any luck?  

Recovering Photos

Once you confirm that the photos are not there, the next step is to check your digital camera. Many photo transfer programs delete the photos from the camera once downloaded, so they may be deleted. Not to worry! It is possible to recover your earlier photos with data recovery software. Data recovery software works on hard drives as well as peripheral devices such as digital cameras so long as you can connect the camera or its memory card to your computer and view its contents as a drive letter such as the E:\ drive.

Data recovery software typically costs about $30-$40, so you'll need to weigh the value of the photos against the cost of the software. We recommend ParetoLogic Data Recovery software. In this case, you do not need the "Pro" version as the standard version does a fine job of recovering photos. What's neat about this software is that you can download a free scanner version to find out if your photos are recoverable from either your digital camera or your hard drive. If the scanner finds the photos, you will then need to purchase the full version to recover them. On the other hand, if the photos are not recoverable, you will not have spent any money on a fruitless search.

The software is easy to use. I would start with scanning the digital camera. If the photos aren't found there, then try the hard drive. Data recovery works on a basic principle: when data is deleted, it isn't deleted until new data occupies its address on the disk or media; only the entry to the file and graphical pointers to it are removed. It's like tearing out the table of contents of a book. Just because the table of contents page is gone, the chapters remain.

My computer was recently "fixed" by a friend who said he could not recover my Word documents or any files on the hard drive. He said it was a "partition" problem. Can files be retrieved from a corrupted or crashed hard drive? I'm a church pastor and lost all my sermons. Any help you can offer is appreciated!

The short answer to your question is that yes, in many cases you will be able to recover Word documents and files from a corrupted or crash hard drive. You'll just need some special software. Read on to discover what you need to do to retrieve your sermons.

Data Recovery Software

Data recovery software is designed to recover lost or missing data from computer hard drives. In particular, this type of software can retrieve documents and files of many types provided they have not been overwritten with new data. This includes Word documents, emails, images, music, folders, applications, and more.

Overwritten Documents

Each time you write new documents, they take up space on the storage media. If you have deleted any documents, it is possible that they will be written over with the new data. If the document that you want to retrieve has been written over with new data, then it will no longer exist and you won't be able to retrieve it.

How Does Data Recovery Software Work?

Once you download and install data recovery software, you can use it to scan your computer to recover Word documents, files, images, videos, and other data. In many instances, you are able to select the type of data that you wish to recover. You can also recover previously deleted documents and files as long as they haven't been overwritten with new data. Therefore, not only should you be able to retrieve any files that you have stored on the hard drive, but you should also be able to recover files that you might have recently deleted or accidentally lost. Not only can you recover files individually, you can also recover entire folders and partitions.

ParetoLogic Data Recovery Pro

One data recovery application that I have personally used and can recommend is Data Recovery by ParetoLogic Software. This link will take you to a free trial scanner that will provide you with a list recoverable files found on your computer. If the scanner finds your lost sermons, in order to recover them, you will need to purchase the fully featured product. It's about $40 or $50 depending on which version you choose. ParetoLogic Data Recovery is designed to recover hard drives that have crashed, lost partitions, the emptied contents of the Recycle Bin, formatted media, and more. The Pro version adds e-mail recovery.

You can choose to recover only those documents that you need or you can recover everything. It's important that you have sufficient room to save your recovered work as well. One tip that I might add is to make a back up copy of all of your sermons on CDs so that you have them should you experience another problem with your computer's hard drive.