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Data Recovery Resource

First Steps in dealing with data loss

The first priority is to ensure that data is not written to the affected drive. Unless there has been physical damage to the disk, data which appears to be lost may still be on the disk. Therefore, if you accidentally delete a file you have an excellent chance of being able to restore it. However, the system may overwrite files marked as deleted when it needs to store more data on the drive. Consequently: don't save or install anything on the drive and don't restore data onto the same drive.

The next priority is to back up as much data as possible. If the operating system is on the disk and it is not booting, the solution will depend on which file system you have installed. If the disk is formatted with the FAT file system, you should be able to boot from a floppy and access the drive. If the file system is NTFS there is software available, freeware and commercial, that will allow you to at least read from the disk after you have booted from floppy or CD-ROM. If the drive proves to be inaccessible, it may be time to call in a specialist.

The final priority is to assess the condition of the media and decide whether or not self-recovery is an option. Storage media are sometimes subject to catastrophic failure. Clues that may lead up to this type of failure are: intermittent error messages concerning reading or writing of data, very slow data access at times, having to reboot a few times before the computer starts up, files mysteriously disappearing, and so on. If this sounds familiar and the media is now inaccessible, media failure should be suspected and you should contact a data recovery specialist. Attempting to recover data in these situations may only make things worse.