Data Recovery Using DIY Tools and Software
by James
Walsh
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Data theft became a danger to smaller companies as well as the hackers grew active, adventurous, and addicted to the smell of money. The price of recovery, inevitably, started falling. As cyber crimes increased, the demand for data recovery in various forms grew. Then came the home pc and changed the world forever. Now everyone uses data and no one wants to lose it.
What is DIY Data Recovery Software?
DIY stands for ‘Do It Yourself’. So this is a software that helps a layman recover his own data by guiding him through steps that are easy to follow. Such software is available on the net, can be easily paid for with a credit card, and is usually downloadable, though in some cases, is also couriered. DIY is not equipped to solve all instances of data loss, and this will be discussed in detail below.
How Effective Is It?
There are a lot of complaints floating about on the net on DIY software. Fake software, useless software, half-baked software that works partially, virus masquerading as software -- the list of woes is quite long. To prevent ourselves from a similar fate, we need to choose the software carefully. We need to bear in mind that there are areas where DIY will not work, and it is basically designed to solve relatively simple problems faced by domestic users handling a small amount of data.
Types of Data Loss Tackled by DIY
What are the situations wherein DIY software comes in handy?
- DIY is useful in cases of logical data loss cases. This is the first rule to be remembered.
- If you delete a file accidentally, or format an entire partition, or wipe off files while cleaning a hard disk, optical disk or USB drive, it may recover that data.
- Cases of fragmentation, bad sectors and file corruption can also be rectified.
- Virus infection can be tackled.
- Data loss through OS crash is another area.
- Photos and media files lost from camera, iPods and cell phone SIM cards can also be recovered in the same way.
Types of Data Loss Beyond DIY
Data loss caused by hardware failures, natural disasters, over-heating, electrocution, power surge, dust, moisture, humidity and shock can’t be treated by DIY. The same applies to over-fragmented files and data lost through overwriting.
How to Choose DIY Software
Here are a few tips to bear in mind while choosing your software.
- Is the software made by a reputed company? Don’t go for totally new faces. You may want to trace right up to its office if anything goes wrong or you get stuck while using it, so do not try out someone born yesterday.
- Keeping the same considerations in mind, check out whether the helpline number works, a physical office address exists, and whether the customer service personnel are helpful and prompt. You don’t want your rescuer to disappear precisely when you need to call them.
- Be careful if the software does not download smoothly and stop if it seems to make space for itself by wiping out other programmes from the disk; you might be headed for a raw deal.
- Are the instructions easy to follow? You don’t want a lot of jargon that leads you nowhere and accomplishes nothing.
- Is the software based on a friendly visual interface?
- Does the software match the type of file lost? Yes, there are people who try to rescue files lost from their latest version of Mac by using software dedicated for Windows Vista or try to get back photos using software that can handle only data formats. It’s important to check this point before starting out.
- Try to go for a company that has big clients, and offer data storage solutions as well. They will value their market too much to buy a bad name through shoddy service.
- If the software seems to change file names, it’s best to discontinue. It may be a virus or you may just get hacked by someone trying to gain remote access to your system.
- For all cases of audio visual data loss, bear in mind that your software must have a preview option. Also, try to get a DIY package that has a ready demo loaded for you to do a kind of trial run.
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