Sunday, March 29, 2009

How To Choose Effective Data Recovery Solutions

By Richard Sachs

Losing data and getting it back isn't just a frustrating process -- it can also be a time consuming and expensive one. This kind of data loss doesn't happen to us on a regular basis in most cases so we don't gain the experience of dealing with data recovery too often. This can make it hard to make informed decisions when it comes to finding a solution to getting back lost data.

It's also worthwhile thinking about your available options before a problem arises so you are ahead of the game. In very basic terms, you have two choices when data recovery is an issue:

#1. Take a Do It Yourself Approach -- some data loss can actually be handled relatively easily by an individual. So, for example, if you accidentally delete a file or an email that you now need from your computer then there are various software programs that you can use to get your files back and working on your system. If you have some technical experience and are comfortable working behind the scenes of your operating system then there are also software packages that can deal with more serious data loss. This could be helpful if you have some form of system failure, for example.

#2. Bring in an expert -- if you have a serious data loss resulting from some form of damage to your computer/a component or a failure within your system then you may not have the skills to actually retrieve your lost data yourself. In this instance you may prefer to bring in outside help either by contacting a computer repair specialist or a specific data recovery firm. Companies offer all kinds of options here from restoring full system failures, to recovering hard drives through to restoring data on a corrupted or damaged floppy disk or CD.

Of course the most effective data recovery solution for both individual computer users and for businesses is to make sure that you back up your data on a regular basis. Then, if you lose data, you won't need to worry so much about finding it and getting it back as you'll have a copy of it on your back up medium.

If you do make regular back ups then you won't be left in the lurch if you lose data and it cannot be recovered. Remember back ups don't have to take up much time and they can even be set up to run automatically in some cases which can make managing them even easier.

Finally, do remember that trying to recover your own data when you do not know what you are doing could cause very serious damage. If you have a major computer breakdown and cannot get your machine to work, for example, then trying to boot it into a safe mode to try and solve the problem yourself is not sensible unless you know what you should do.

So, be sensible here and think about how you will get the most effective data recovery solution. Do it yourself if that is feasible or leave it to an expert if it isn't!

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