What to Do When You Lose Computer Data

If you are experiencing data loss, the first step you can take is to not panic. There are still a few options you can try to recover your data by going through a professional data recovery service. 

Don't Try It at Home

When dealing with a data loss, it can make the problem worse if you attempt to fix corrupted files and hardware yourself. In order to have the best chance at salvaging your data, take the computer to a professional right away, so that they can use the latest tools and software to work on your data recovery. 

Repair Hard Drive

If your hard drive experiences some damage, such as a spill or an impact collision, it still may be possible to save your data. Your data recovery technician can sometimes take apart the hard drive and retrieve the data platter, which is protected inside the hard drive. With this piece of the hard drive, they may be able to recover your stored data. 

Cleaning Up Viral Infections

Another thing that your technician can try is cleaning up viruses and restoring virus-infected files. The most up-to-date antivirus tools will be needed to retrieve files that are corrupted by a virus. 

Recover Deleted Files

Another thing that a data recovery specialist can do is to find files that you've accidentally deleted or overwritten. Take your computer to a professional so that they can search for the most recent version of your files on the hard drive. 

Protect Yourself for the Future

While computers are becoming more reliable all the time, there are always ways that you can back up your data to prevent future losses. A simple hard drive is a great tool for backing up your most important files. You could also send some of your files to a time capsule if you own a mac; this built-in program allows you to save some files and settings in case of a future crash. Many cloud services will also let you back up files to a remote server, so that you can access them from another computer if yours crashes.

Finally, if you are a business, you can choose to have several backup servers with complete copies of your file directories. By keeping them in sync on a daily or weekly basis and keeping at least one copy off-site, you can ensure that you don't lose too much information in case of a problem with your computer system. A data loss is never a fun experience, but it may prompt you to take action to protect yourself against even bigger data losses in the future. Talk to a data recovery professional for more information.