Whether you use your computer for personal or business purposes, you will one day be faced with a situation where your computer has failed in some fashion and your precious files and data are at risk of being lost. There are some circumstances where recovering lost data is easy and well within the grasp of any do it yourself computer technician and there are other instances where recovering your lost data requires special facilities or is simply impossible.

On How to Recover Data we shall discuss some of the various circumstances that may cause your data to become inaccessable and examine the different techniques used to recover data even when it may appear to be lost completely. Many of the procedures we shall describe carry some degree of risk of complete and total loss of the data you are attempting to retrieve. Before you attempt any data recovery consider the value of the files and information you are trying to save.

If the data you are attempting to recover is very important or valuable you may be far better off turning the computer off and calling a professional, either a computer technician or data recovery service as the situation warrants. Is the data you are trying to recover your accountants records or customer database? There is no point in saving a few hundred dollars on a professional data recovery when the information lost is worth far more than that.

Another final word of caution before we take a serious look at how to recover data, there are instances where mechanical or electronic defects on a hard disk drive or other storage devices present a situation where the data you wish to recover may still be intact but is in danger of being lost if the storage device continues to be used. A prime example would be a hard disk drive that spins up intermittantly and makes an audible ticking noise. This ticking noise may be any of a number of things, most of which are not repairable without the correct facilities and knowledge. There are no user servicable parts inside a hard disk drive. In this instance the drive would most likely need to be sent to a data recovery facility with a cleanroom where the drive can safely be repaired to the point where the data can be recovered off it. The longer it is powered up the more likely it is that data will be lost. If you find yourself in this situation turn the computer off, unplug it from the wall and put a warning sign on it cautioning others not to turn it on.