Easy Data Recovery

There are many specialist data recovery companies in operation today due to the wide & complex nature of data recovery. Data recovery involves a vast range of media types and a wide variety of circumstances. Because data recovery is such a complex and delicate operation, often where you only have one chance at recovering your critical data, we should start these data recovery tips with the most important one… If you are in any uncertainty what so ever, seek the service of a data recovery specialist who will be able to recover your data in the safest possible way.

Another very important tip and strangely one that may seem to not actually be concerning data recovery, is backing up your data. Backing up your data is extremely important and hugely related to data recovery because ‘restoring’ is often used in recovering data. Even though data backup is so important there is an alarming number of individuals who do not have a solid backup plan in place; either because they are unaware of the need or feel it is to expensive to implement. Data backup can be expensive but unless you are a multinational conglomerate you probably only need a relatively small & inexpensive solution. What ever backup solution you choose you must follow two rules to make it worth while: Backup three times on three different sets of media and do so regularly.

Try to make a complete copy of as much of the data as you can. This may not be feasible if you are experiencing hardware failure. However if you are working with file corruption you should usually be able to create a duplicate of the file(s) which are as good/bad as the original.

You must implement some kind of virus protection as well as a firewall if you PCs are connected to the internet. It has been estimated that a computer as soon as it is connected to the internet for the first time, when using broadband in particular, will receive its first attack within just 20 minutes.

If you are running an in-place data recovery, make sure you utilize data recovery applications that are able to run from external media types or drives to the problematic drive itself. This includes media types such as floppy discs or CD-ROMs. You must absolutely never install software or copy data onto the disk which you are trying to recovery data from. Doing so can make the data recovery process harder and even impossible.

The process of recovering the data from a hard drive can often be made much easier by removing the physical hard drive and placing it in another computer which is able to read the file-system used on the hard drive and preferably which is also has the same operating system installed. When you have the hard drive accessible via another computer system you can copy data through and intact file system without greatly affecting the problem hard drive.

Before you start the data recovery process you need to analyze the costs and benefits of recovering your data yourself or in-house. You must know accurately the time and resources required to complete the data recovery process because you may find that it is more cost-effective to either create the data from scratch or use the services of a data recovery specialist.

I recently had trouble with some cross-linked folders on my office computer running Windows XP. When ever I clicked on the folder windows simply couldn’t access the folder and a windows dialogue box appeared stating the folder may be corrupt. I had a whole host of data in the folder I did not want to loose and this was turning in to another one of those situations reminding you that you should back up your data more frequently!

I initially tried running various software programs to diagnose the problem and each time got a fairly ambiguous error stating possible corruption, however, one program gave a more specific possibility of cross-linked files or folders. This seemed likely as I had recently re-sized & moved some of the partitions on the hard drive which seemed like the possible culprit as the first partition adjusting resulted in a error and I had to redo it again. Luckily I found out that more often than not the solution as to how to fix cross-linked files or folders in windows be it Windows XP or an earlier version is to simply run the inbuilt ScanDisk utility in Windows. Windows XP users note that ScanDisk is called CheckDisk in Windows XP. It is in fact recommended that you run ScanDisk/CheckDisk every 30 days or so on your computer as it can help with the performance of your PC.

ScanDisk is a Windows utility program which scans and checks your computers hard drive for physical damage and can fix file system problems such as the crossed-linked folders issue mentioned here. Damaged, invalid file names and disassociated file names can also be fixed by Windows ScanDisk.

For earlier version of Windows you can access ScanDisk through the Start Menu:

Start > Programs > Accessories >System Tools > ScanDisk

For Windows XP you will need to first click on ‘My Computer’ then right click on the drive you wish to perform the ScanDisk test on. From the drop down menu select ‘Properties’. Now click on the ‘Tools’ Tab at the top and then click the ‘Check Now…’ button.

When you start ScanDisk you select the hard drive you want to scan (normally C:) and then pick the type of test to perform:

1. Standard - This test examines the hard drive for lost chains or clusters which is the hard drives map for finding files. The standard ScanDisk test will usually only require a few minutes.
2. Thorough - The thorough test performs the same actions as the standard test but in addition also check s the hard drive for bad sectors. When a bad sector is found by ScanDisk, the sector is marked as bad and avoid using it moving your data to a good area of the hard drive. The thorough ScanDisk test will need a lot longer to complete than the standard ScanDisk test.

Before running ScanDisk you should be aware of a couple of things. ScanDisk requires a totally uninterrupted run in order to complete a test. If anything else tried to access the hard drive while ScanDisk is running it will reset and start again. This can be very frustrating so to make sure ScanDisk runs with no interruptions you can do the following to help:

• Close all open programs
• Turn your screen saver off
• Temporarily disable your antivirus software
• Unplug any network connections you may have, completely pull out any network cables or disable any wireless network cards
• Check for programs running in the background and close any still running. To do this you need to access the Task Manager (simultaneously press < Ctrl > < Alt > < Del > keys). On the Task Manager click the ‘Applications’ tab and close (End Task) all programs except Explorer and Systray.

After running ScanDisk it is also recommended you run the Windows ‘Defragmenter’ Utility. Windows disk Defragmenter is a tool that essentially reorganizes the data on your hard drive so that it becomes more organised. This means you computers hard drive access and use becomes more efficient and helps the performance of your PC. It can also help towards preventing future issues. This is another tool you should ideally run every 30 days or so on all your hard drives and partitions. You can access the Windows Defragmenter from the same locations as specified before for the ScanDisk utility program.

So you should now know how to fix cross-linked folders or files and should be able to fix them in a second and help avoid a lot of panic, stress and expense on Data Recovery software you probably didn’t need!! (However, do note that if this solution does not fix your cross-linked folders and files error you may have a different kind of problem and should definitely look in to other data recovery services or software).

Choose A Customized Data Recovery Solution From DiskDoctors:
               

Data recovery can be expensive and so when most people are faced with a data loss scenario where their data is only semi-precious to them they often wonder if they can recover their data themselves. However attempting data recovery yourself does come with risks, especially if you are unfamiliar with the territory you will need to tread. You should ask yourself if it is worth it for saving a little cash. How important is your data to you?

DIY data recovery… do you dare?!

Specialized data recovery service companies rely on their dedicated data recovery equipment, applications and know-how. You must realise before attempting a spot of DIY data recovery that if you do not have a good understanding of the required knowledge in data recovery you will likely make the data loss situation worse and more severe. If your data is truly irreplaceable and of high importance, you really need to use the services of a data recovery specialist. However, these specialist data recovery services can be very expensive and in fact many data loss predicaments can be resolved by yourself.

Before you attempt any DIY data recovery you should at least have an understanding of what is involved in the data recovery process. Even if you do not opt for DIY data recovery understanding the general processes involved will help prepare you should you need to use a data recovery specialist. Below are the three key procedures involved in data recovery:

1. Backup/Duplicate Your Data
   This is very important to help prevent the possibility of further data loss or damage; backup or duplicate you data to another drive or media source. This may be difficult to achieve if the computer operating system is unable to recognise the data source. If you do not have any of the required tools to enable you to read the raw data this is probably when you should employ the services of a data recovery specialist. It is not recommended to do so but if you do choose operate on the original media, your must be sure to create copies of all the readable files and make backups of all other data.
2. Test and Analyze Your Data Drive
   You need to perform diagnostic tests on your media drives to establish if the disk drive/removable media is mechanically reliable or whether it is the file system that is having problems. If your disk drive has a mechanical failure you should usually be able to tell because it will emanate strange noises when accessing the disk or when the drive starts up. This specifically applies to drives with moving parts such as hard drives, if your storage media is solid state such as a memory stick it is often much harder to diagnose the problem as a drive issue or a file system issue. If you do believe the source of the error to be the physical storage drive rather than the file system this would again be the time to elicit data recovery specialists rather than attempt DIY data recovery.
3. Attempt To Recover Your Lost Data
   Data recovery is often a very lengthy process and can occupy days or even weeks of your time when you are faced with extensive data loss. Extensive data recovery can drain vital resources and often necessitate further investment in computer equipment and software applications. When data recovery takes a long time to complete you may find it more cost-effective and possibly even quicker simply recreate the data again… however this is obviously not going to be applicable to all data loss situations. If the data loss is widespread and your data is of high value to you and irreplaceable then DIY data recovery simply should not be an option, you must consider the services of data recovery specialists who have dedicated tools and expertise for the job.