File Recovery Rescue

A Backup Article Contributed by Melissa Larose

File Recovery Rescue

Everyone has had one of those moments where you realize you have just deleted or lost an important file and it needs recovery. The panic rises and you start making phone calls looking for a sympathetic ear. Why is it that everyone else thinks it is funny when one of us has lost a file?

File Recovery is Not Repair

Many people treat file recovery needs as if they were repair needs. The computer isn't broken but their thinking sure is. Files, truth be known, don't ever really disappear from a computer they just get relocated. The trick is to find them in the large volume of data located on your computer.

The first rule of file recovery is that once you realize what has happened stop what you are doing. There is a chance that continuing to work or beginning to search around by yourself you can actually cause the operating system to over write the deleted or lost file. This will cause the file to really disappear and possibly not be relocated. Now you are in real trouble. This is where it is okay to panic a bit. Start making those phone calls to locate help.

Not All File Recovery is Created Equal

If you are at work, then contact the IT department immediately and let them take over. You will probably not be able to locate the file on your own since most networks will require you to have administrative privileges in order to do so.

Just because a file disappears and you believe you caused it through deletion it may not be so. Sometimes a file recovery situation explodes and it is discovered that you actually have a hard drive failure, a virus complication, or an application that has corrupted the data. These instances require much more than just relocating the data and file recovery. They require someone with experience and the proper software to take over. At this point the file you lost is not as important as saving your whole system.

For as many different ways that file recovery needs arise there are that many and more ways to recover the files and move forward. Without the correct pointers the operating system may not be able to help you locate the files and it may appear to be a total loss. But with the correct software and an experienced technician to deal with the problem the file recovery has a better chance of being completed successfully.

File Recovery at Home

Planning is really the key to at home file recovery. Inform yourself about the different software available to home users and purchase the one that fits your needs best. Do this before a file recovery event happens. There is nothing worse than being faced with file loss at midnight and needing the file the next morning. If you have the software already installed then the situation becomes a minor blip on your day.

In the case of much more serious file recovery needs, protect yourself by creating and following a backup routine for your home computer. Backing up your important documents to CD or an external, removable drive or disk, is a great way to protect your documents.