Data Recovery - What Not to Do!

by Keith Thompson

Data recovery is a tricky thing, and if you've somehow
deleted or had your important files corrupted or lost due to
human error, business espionage, faulty hardware or software
or any other reason; the good news is that your lost data
is probably recoverable. This article will show you a few
things NOT to do when an event such as this occurs.

Don't run the drive anymore, or use the device. (MP3,
portable storage, camera card, whatever) If you think it
won't hurt to even just poke around the internet for a
solution to this mess you've made/found, you're wrong!
Don't install or run anything on the drive you hope to
recover data from. Only access this drive again from a
healthy PC with the software solution you're going to use.
Since files are overwritten in the order they've

Don't use tools that may reside on your computer, such as
Scandisk, or a boot record utility, as these will probably
overwrite exactly the files you're seeking to get back.

In short, be careful! Your data may very well be
recoverable, as long as you don't do something to erase it
forever! Find a good data recovery software solution, and
then follow the instructions to the letter, and you'll more
than likely live to see your lost data return!

Keith Thompson is the Webmaster of Data Recovery Service, a website offering software and hands-on solutions to data recovery issues.