Data Recovery

Data is information or statistics, numbers or records that are important and are worth being preserved for future use. Data can be stored in various forms and in different sources depending on the type of data, its importance and volume.

These days, data is preferred to be stored in computers and memory storage devices like hard disks, compact discs (CDs), inbuilt memories in computers like Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM) or in magnetic tapes. The advantages of storing data in these places are that it is in a uniform manner and it is easily accessible and legible. There are various benefits in storing data in this manner, but certain measures of care are to be taken to safeguard the data that is stored in these specialized memories.

Whenever these memory gadgets are subjected to damage because of extensive heat or any natural calamities, physical tension, accidental damage by computer users, viral infections, accidental reformats or deletions, broken or damaged hard disk drives, the data stored in these systems get corrupted or damaged. Data recovery deals with the restoration of such damaged or lost files in the systems.

Data recovery can be done in two ways depending on the type of damage done to the system or file. The first method of data recovery is physical data recovery wherein the damage is due to external dirt or grim that gets deposited on the memory storage devices.

Another type of data recovery is logical data recovery, where the data is lost due to accidental reformatting of the existing files, accidental deletions or viral infections. Data recovery starts by implementing special software to check and remove any virus present in the affected system. Then data recovery software is used to screen the system and a sector by sector analysis is done. Wherever damage is detected, the data recovery software repairs the damage.

The various types of data recovery are disk data recovery where data is retrieved from damaged disks, hard drive data recovery wherein data is recovered from hard drives and tape data recovery that repairs damaged tapes. Data recovery can be done on different platforms like UNIX based systems like Solaris, Linux and file systems with windows. Data recovery helps overcome the fear of losing important information and data.