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Overview
When your computer gets bogged down and it just doesn't seem to be running as efficiently as before, one of the most common solutions is to format the hard disk. But, what happens if you forgot to back up your computer? Are all of your baby pictures lost forever? What about that business proposal you've been slaving over? Don't worry. Many of you may be surprised to learn that formatting a hard disk doesn't really erase all of your old data and there are measures you can take to save your data.
How Formatting Works
When you format a hard disk, or hard drive, the data remains on the disc. The only thing that changes are the allocation tables that point to that data. This is important to know if you have sensitive data you want to delete. Formatting does not permanently eliminate the data. The only way to get rid of the data is to use specialized software that sanitizes the disc or have the disc physically destroyed by an IT asset management company.
Hard Disk Recovery Tools
There are a broad range of hard disk recovery tools available to home and business consumers. Some of the more common ones, which can easily be found online using your favorite search engine include:
EASEUS Data Recovery Wizard
Recover My Files Data Recovery Software
Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery Software
Nucleus Data Recovery
Runtime Software's Data Recovery
R-Studio Data Recovery
Considerations
It is extremely important that your data recovery efforts begin as soon after the partition format as possible. If the format type used was a quick format, you have a good chance of recovering the data unaltered. But, if you chose a full format and newer files were written in place of the older data, the original data is still there, but the older files may be corrupt.
Features
When choosing a hard disk data recovery solution, look for one that features support for both FAT and NTFS file types. You also want to find a program that will work on Windows, Novell, Linux, Macintosh, Sun Solaris and SCO hard drives.
Some may offer additional features like tools for repairing corrupted Microsoft Office files, email mailboxes or databases. Other features of interest include:
Raw file recovery;
Multiple OS supports;
Interactive user-friendly interface;
Photo-file support;
Multiple media support (CD, DVD, floppy, USB).
Prevention/Solution
If the thought of recovering your lost data seems overwhelming, there are many companies that offer data retrieval services. If you choose this route, look for a company that ensures quality of service and customer confidentiality that's backed by a guarantee and a signed agreement. Use a company that utilizes the latest data recovery technology and employs qualified personnel to administer those methods.
