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For those seeking solutions to recover lost files, there are basically two options:

1.   Choose a professional data recovery lab, see discussions on www.cherrysystems.com/blog posts in late November and December 2009.

2.   Choose a Do-it-Yourself (D.I.Y) data recovery software tool from an ever-increasing array of software tools available, many touting their tool as “the best data recovery tool” you will ever need.   As data loss and data recovery become a mainstream issue, more companies are making an attempt to capitalize on this space.   Therefore we will focus on this subject in the post below and several subsequent ones.

 Clearly not all data recovery tools are the same, so choosing one can be a daunting task for the SMB/home user as well as the IT professional who only comes across this problem a few times a year.  This is partly due to the fact that there are so many variations of operating systems and there are so many ways to loose data on a storage device.

The providers of data recovery software tools can be placed in two major categories:

1.   Software houses selling tools for a wide variety of computing needs including data recovery.  Some of these products are very good but only address a limited scope of data loss problems.  However, many of these software tools are poorly designed and worse yet poorly supported.  Unfortunately, it is not simple to tell the good from the bad based on price alone.  Prices start at $39.95 and up.

2.   Data recovery service providers like Ontrack or MHDD also offer self-directed data recovery tools, in addition to providing a full range of professional data recovery services.  Typically these are well designed professional looking products, but with a hidden motive;  to give the customer a very light version of their in-lab tool, with the hope that should it not recover everything needed, the customer will be inclined to use their in-lab services. Prices start at $79.95

 Users considering D.I.Y. data recovery must keep in mind the following important points:

1.   No one tool, available on the market, solves all data loss problems.  They are typically designed to overcome a limited variety of crashes.  Just like you can’t have only one hammer which works for all jobs requiring hammering

2.   Software tools can only recover data from a fully functioning media.  If the drive is physically failing (which may not be easy to tell) you are at worse risking loosing it all, or at least wasting time and money trying.  (see upcoming blog post on Warning Signs of Physical Failure)

3.   How much time and money do you have, to buy, learn and experiment with the DIY tool?

4.   How important is the data to be recovered?  Truly consider the risk that you could do more harm than good to your irreplaceable data.

 You still have choices of action, but you need to consider them wisely:

1.   First consider your time constraints. Make sure you know how long it will take a pro to recover the data in case the tool you purchased and tried to use has failed.  Add to this the number of days you will allow to experiment with the DIY method, that will enable you to meet your recovery deadline.

2.   Consider the operating system, the type of files you are recovering (all data files are not made equally).

3.    Consider the media type the data is stored on, e.g. hard drive, flash drive, SSD’s etc.  Some tools work better (or not at all) on some of the media types above.

4.    Make sure you have a way to load the software on a system other then the one you have a problem with the data. Make sure you can connect the failed media to that system to perform the recovery. 

5.    NEVER! EVER! install the recovery tool on the failed media.

6.   Have enough available space on the drive you are attaching the failed media, to be able to copy out all the recovered files.

7.    DO NOT reuse the failed media until you have verified and re-verified the critical recovered files.

8.    Make sure that the failed media was not infected with a virus that will be happy to find a new home on the new media.

9.    If all of the above checklist is a go, locate a site that will list and compare data recovery tools, like http://data-recovery-software-review.toptenreviews.com/  (0r others).

10. Be prepared to deal with storage and data-specific unique lingo to be able to use the software. 

Please watch for our next post in this series on this blog “Should professional data recovery service sell data recovery software?”