Losing data contained in your personal computer or laptop can be a heart-wrenching experience. The pain from losing data can be worsened if the lost files were financially or sentimentally important, such as valuable documents, pictures or videos. You can lose your data by several accidental events, such as your device’s operating system or hard drive crashing, mistakenly deleting the data, or your device being successfully hacked or otherwise compromised.
The following are some tips and methods that you can use to recover as much of your lost data as physically and digitally possible.
- Locating lost data becomes much easier when the file format or extension is already known.
o Audio files will be in one of these formats: .flacc, .wav, .mp3, .m4a, .wma
o Images: .gif, .png, .CR2, .jpg
o In the case of documents: .docx, .doc, .psd, .xls, .pptx, .ppt, .xlxs
o With videos: .mkv, .3gp, .wmv, .mp4
- Knowing the location of the lost data can be a great help in the data recovery process.
- Data that has been deleted within a short span of time is generally easier to retrieve due to that data becoming positioned in a relatively unused and free area of the hard drive.
- There’s a very small chance that all of the lost data can be completely recovered, but you should get a significant portion of it back to you.
Here are a few methods that you could try to retrieve your deleted data.
- Use a Built-In System Restore or Recovery Tool
Most operating systems today have tools that allow the systems to restore certain drives and folders to previous dates in order to undo unwanted changes or to recover data.
Windows has a “System Restore” tool that will restore configurations, program and folder states system-wide. For less-comprehensive restoration needs, you can restore data using the “Restore the previous version” tool.
- Third-Party Programs/Apps
If those restore tools are ineffectual, you could try a third-party program or app. Once you’ve downloaded and installed the software, you just need to select the folder and file format that you want scanned. After the scan, you can simply pick the files that you want to recover and save them to your laptop or PC.
- Data Recovery Agency
Consulting with a data recovery agency in Dallas might be your best bet if your laptop or PC has had a mechanical or physical failure that has made some or all of your data inaccessible. They can repair and clean the hard disk drive and any other components that could be contributing to the data loss, likely retrieving it for you.