subject: Recover Deleted Data When Backup Goes Haywire [print this page] You ask any computer user about the easiest way to safeguard data and you are sure to get the same answer- backup. In spite of this awareness you often hear about data loss due to a variety of reasons including dysfunctional backup. Even the most systematic users face issues related to data loss even after ensuring backup. It is ironic that backup, a feature meant to ensure security of data becomes the root cause of data loss. Let us explore the reasons and possible scenarios of data loss even after you ensure a backup and how to recover deleted data.
Backup practices- There are different ways to make data backup. You can manually copy the files and other information to another storage device or you could use a software utility to make a copy of your data. The latter can be scheduled to create backups without your input. Whether you backup manually or with the help of a utility you need to store it to a removable storage device such as CD, DVD, external hard drive or to flash drives. Improper copying of the data or abrupt removal of the storage device, power failures or even abrupt system shut down can prevent copying of the data.
Damage to the storage device- If the storage device on which you have stored the data is damaged you will not be able to use the backup.
Virus- If the data you have copied is infected with virus, this could corrupt the back up.
To manage hard drive space, you tend to delete the data that you have backed up. However, if you have deleted the data without checking the usability of the computer backup, you will lose all the data. Though, deleting files makes your data inaccessible, you can still recover it from your hard drive, provided you have not used the hard drive actively or installed programs after you have deleted the files.
Data recovery with Undelete
Recovering deleted files from Recycle Bin is very easy if the data you have not emptied the Recycle Bin. If you delete data using Shift+Delete keys, or if the data size is larger than what the recycle bin could hold, the deleted data will not be available in the Recycle bin. In such cases, one of the reliable ways to recover deleted data is by using undelete software. It will help you recover
files deleted from Recycle Bin, files erased while using Move or Cut command, files deleted via bypassing Recycle Bin, and files erased by virus or other applications
deleted files from different kinds of storage devices such as flash drives, hard drives, ZIP, USB drives, MMC, SD Cards, and Firewire drives
files from FAT, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, NTFS5 file systems
data from Windows 2000 / XP / VISTA / 2003 Server Operating Systems
files with long and localized names and allows you to preview files before recovering.
