How to recover data from hard drives yourself. The best programs to recover data from a hard drive

Read about the causes of damage hard drive. How to recover data from a disk that has received physical or logical damage. Any failure in work hard disk may damage it and lose all information stored on it. However, even such a catastrophic situation is not hopeless. In some cases, the user can repair the hard drive and restore data, in part or in full, from a damaged or non-working hard drive. In our guide, we will describe the main reasons that can lead to hard drive damage and present effective ways to get your data back.

The most common devices used by users on a daily basis that help us to carry out various kinds activities are personal computers and laptops.

Thanks to their high processing speed, powerful GPUs, massive data storage and high overall performance, they are invaluable in performing various high-cost activities.

But their main function is the processing, exchange and secure storage of important information, as well as providing access to it, at any time at the request of the user.

For control over a computer device, its full functioning, as well as for safe use and information management, special software is responsible. The most widely used software in the world today is the operating system. Windows from a corporation Microsoft, which easily provides full control of the device, processes and protects any user information.

The main element of a personal computer or laptop responsible for the safe storage of any user data is a hard drive. HDD. Whether you are using external hard drives or internal, they have the largest storage capacity of any other storage device, making them extremely popular and widely used.

It is not surprising that in the event of damage, malfunction or failure of the hard drive, all the information on it becomes inaccessible to the user. Critical user data, which took a lot of time and effort to collect, may be lost, and it is not possible to recreate it (for example, personal photos and video chronicles). However, despite the tragedy of the situation, it is not critical, and user data can be restored. In our guide below, we will note the main causes of hard drive corruption and present ways to get user data back.

A Brief Overview of the Hard Drive

Before proceeding to a description of the possible causes that can lead to a breakdown or damage to the hard drive, it is necessary to dwell on the description of the disk device for a more complete understanding of the essence of the problems.

The main components of a hard disk are glass or aluminum hard plates (magnetic disks), covered with a layer of special material, designed directly for data storage. Recording and reading of any information occurs through special reading heads, which do not touch the plates during operation, thereby increasing the durability of the hard drive. And administration and full control over all the main functions of the hard disk is carried out by the electronic control board.

The combination of these basic elements allows the disk to store, write and read any data, at the request of the user, for a long time.

Have a backup copy of your data

Hard drives are quite reliable, but they have a certain resource. And the closer it comes to an end, the higher the chance that the hard drive will deteriorate or stop working. However, even in such a situation where the drive stops functioning, there are ways to recover the data stored on it.

Therefore, given that your disk may become unusable, especially in the presence of warning signs, which we will describe below, you need to take care of creating backup disk, such as an external storage device. Or use any of the possible ways to create a backup in the cloud storage. This method is quite convenient, because it allows you to save a lot of time in case of an unexpected failure of the main hard drive, and at the same time, gives you access to your data at any time and from any computer device.

Despite the positive outcome of creating a backup, such methods may have some disadvantages. When storing data on another device, there is a risk that it may also fail, like the main storage. But the chance that both devices will become unusable at the same time is very small. Also, the device used as a backup storage must have a significant internal volume, because the amount of data used by the user is growing daily.

At cloud storage there is always a risk of third-party access to a backup copy of data, loss as a result of a virus attack or hacking. Therefore, this method is suitable only if the user is completely confident in the safety of his data or is not afraid that they can be stolen by fraudsters.

Learn more about backup in the operating system Windows, restore your system, create a system image and a recovery disc, and see the benefits cloud storage and its configuration for backup data storage can be found on our video channel in the following video guide: "Reserve Windows copy(OneDrive, File History, System Image, Recovery Drive)"

Based on their own preferences, users choose one way or another for themselves. Reserve copy. However, the main conclusion remains that such copying is necessary.

Possible Signs of Imminent Hard Drive Damage

If certain symptoms occur, you can know in advance about a future hard drive failure and prepare for it by securing your data by creating a backup copy or transferring them to another storage device. Here are some of the main signs that you should pay attention to:

strange noises– sometimes users can hear strange noises, which may signal that your disk is damaged and you need to urgently repair it. In this case, further use of such a disk is unacceptable.

Disappearing Data- when data disappears on a personal computer or the user cannot save documents, this may mean that your disk is trying to repair damage, and it is worth considering saving all the data before it completely deteriorates. Or there may be other reasons, such as exposure to malware (viruses), which can also cause the drive to fail.

Computer crashes– if your computer regularly encounters blue screen, or during bootstrap it resets, this may indicate a problem with the disk.

Slow access time- modern computers have ultra-fast processors, so it doesn't take long to open a folder or delete certain files. If the processes on the computer are running slowly and the performance of the computer has dropped, then there is a good chance that your disk is becoming unusable.

As soon as you encounter any signs that indicate that your hard drive is about to fail, there are a number of steps you need to take to reduce the risk of permanent loss of data stored on that drive.

The first step is to determine if it is indeed a hard drive failure that the user is experiencing. Therefore, you must stop using the computer and turn it off. Even if the user does not directly access the disk, the operating system can independently perform various actions and write various data to system disk: temporary files, separate fragments of the paging file, registry data, accounting log, etc., which can overwrite information that needs to be restored. Sometimes, even very small changes can be enough to lose the necessary data forever.

The next step is to remove the problematic hard drive and connect it to another alternative personal computer as an additional drive. Try to connect the hard drive with a separate cable or use a universal adapter. If there is no other computer, then take a spare working hard drive that you are sure is working and insert it in place of your drive, the health of which you want to check. Set to new disk operating system and use it as the main one, and then additionally connect your drive to be checked.

If the computer can confirm that the hard drive is healthy and give full access to its contents, then the problem is probably with other hardware - with cables or ports on your computer. Then replace the damaged cables with new ones and reconnect your hard drive to a different connector. In rare cases, a hard drive that does not work on your particular computer (but is fully functional on others) may indicate a malfunction. motherboard. In any case, it will be necessary to perform a technical check of the personal computer as a whole.

Causes of Hard Drive Damage and Possible Fixes

There are many situations that result in disk corruption. Your personal computer is working fine, but one day it suddenly stops starting, there is no download or there is no access to files. However, no matter what happens, there are two main reasons that can lead to a hard drive failure: mechanical damage or malfunction due to a logical failure. Each of the reasons combines several types of breakdowns, which we will consider further.

Mechanical damage

This general damage includes three main types of faults:

Damage to the electronic control board: Such a malfunction results in loss of access to the hard disk. In this case, all data will be completely safe, or only a small part of all information may be damaged. It is possible to repair a damaged board (for example, replace swollen capacitors) or completely replace it with another working board. However, it must be taken into account that the electronic control board must be compatible with the disk, that is, match the main parameters (for example, model, series and firmware version) and satisfy the adaptive settings of a particular instance. After the steps have been taken, the disk can be used again.

Hardware mechanical failures inside the HDA: Mainly accompanied by separation or chipping of heads, destruction of bearings and motors, which in turn can lead to damage to the plates. Sometimes, the head unit can get stuck in the parking zone, or head damage blocks access to certain sectors. With such a malfunction, the hard drive, as a rule, does not start and is not detected. basic system "BIOS" computer. Fix the problem yourself ordinary user It will be practically impossible, because even microparticles of dust that get into the drive when it is opened can lead to its final failure.

Damage to the internal magnetic platters of the hard drive: It is both an independent type of damage, and a consequence of the hardware problems described in the previous section. The main damage is manifested in the appearance of scratches or "BAD blocks"– damaged areas inaccessible for data collection. As a result, the possibilities of hidden reassignment of sectors come to an end. Therefore, if information about the structure falls on the damaged sector, then the corresponding level of the logical structure of the disk disappears, if the file, then the file becomes inaccessible.

With mechanical types of damage, if you are not confident in your abilities and do not have sufficient knowledge to perform repair work on a damaged or inaccessible hard drive, the best choice You will contact a specialized laboratory to recover lost data and repair damaged disks. Any careless action can lead to a complete loss of data without the possibility of recovering it back.

Each laboratory has specialized equipment, the necessary sterile, dust-free hard drive enclosure, laboratory facilities, and has enough qualified personnel to recover information from damaged, damaged or completely non-working drives.

A significant disadvantage of applying to such a laboratory is its unusually high final cost of services. Despite all their capabilities, the laboratory specialists do not give any guarantees that user information from such damaged disks can be restored in full. However, the user will still have to financially compensate for the full cost of the work performed, even if they did not lead to a positive result.

Therefore, before contacting the laboratory, the user needs to compare the amount of data stored on a damaged hard drive with the cost of extracting them, and decide whether they are worth such costs. And either accept losing them or use professional data recovery software to get your information back.

A logical failure occurs at the software level when, for some reason, user data is erased or inside information responsible for the full functioning of the system. With this kind of problem, the hard drive won't make any extra noise, but it won't boot up and won't allow you to access the data stored there. However, you can independently, with the help of a professional software For data recovery, extract all the necessary information back for later use. Additionally, study possible ways, in the absence of access to a personal computer or laptop, problems with loading and working operating system, you can from the video review: How to recover data if windows computer or the laptop does not boot, freezes, crashes"

The main causes of hard drive logical failure are:

Accidental corruption of sector contents: This problem is quite rare, but it does happen in some situations. Random distortion of sector data may be an indicator of an imminent mechanical failure, a consequence harmful impact malicious programs, or turn out to be an accidental entry due to power surges. Such defects can cause the hard drive to be inoperable.

Master Boot Record (MBR) corruption: This kind of logical failure can lead to a situation where the partitions are either not found by the operating system, or their parameters are defined incorrectly. The simplest consequence of such a failure would be signature corruption, in which the operating system decides that there is no useful information in place of the boot record, and the disk is not partitioned at all.

If the bootloader code is corrupted, the operating system fails when trying to boot from such a disk, causing the computer to freeze. In this case, the logical structure of the disk can be preserved and no data loss will occur.

The most difficult consequence of a logical failure can be corruption of the contents of the master boot record, which can lead to the destruction of the partition table and the loss of access to the information stored in the partitions. The contents of the table can have varying degrees of damage, which will affect the final amount of data recovered.

File system corruption: Such a failure is very similar in its characteristics to damage to the contents of the master boot record, with the only difference being that access to the partition will be denied, or the system will determine it as unallocated. Accordingly, all the contents of such a section will not be available. Sometimes fixing file system problems does not solve the problem, and some of the data appears as lost logical chains.

The method of recovering data from a logical form of hard disk damage is reduced to the use of professional data recovery software. The leading position among many similar programs is occupied by the program « Hetman Partition recovery" from company Hetman Software, fully capable of recovering any information after various types of failures: a hard disk partition is deleted, data is lost after formatting or deleting a logical partition, data is inaccessible due to a virus attack, file system failure, etc.

The program combines a complex of powerful algorithms capable of restoring additional file attributes and correcting any errors in the logical structure of a hard disk.

Hetman Partition Recovery analyzes all data on the disk, even if the tables are erased or missing, restoring lost data using a signature search method. The program also performs deep Scan hard disk, which allows it to recover information after system or mechanical failures, in the absence of access to the disk, and return data from damaged, unreadable, inaccessible and non-working disks almost in full.

The program has a pleasant user-friendly interface, similar to the operating system Windows, the way files are presented, and with powerful internal functionality, is quite easy to use and will be understandable to everyone, even novice users.

A huge advantage of the program is the implementation of a step-by-step recovery assistant, with the help of which any user can determine the analysis parameters and restore their data in a few steps. Depending on the selected type of analysis, the program will be able to recover lost files and completely restore the disk structure, organizing them by type of file format.

An equally important feature that greatly facilitates the use of users Hetman Partition Recovery, there is an option to preview the recovery results, which reflects the contents of each file when you click on it (for example, the user can view text documents, tables, photos, videos, listen to music, etc.).

After viewing the contents of each file and selecting the necessary ones, the user will be able to save them using various ways offered by the program by default: write to optical media information "CD/DVD disc", create "ISO Image", upload files to a remote server using "FTP protocol" or save data to any storage of your choice (for example, hard disk, memory card, "USB Flash Drive").

Now the user's files have been restored and stored in a secure, healthy data store. Learn more about the features of the program Hetman Partition Recovery, its methods and all the advantages can be found on our video channel in the review: "Recovering deleted files in 2018 with Hetman Partition Recovery"

Conclusion

Information has for each user essential and its safety are given top priority.

However, no matter how reliable storage devices users use, there is always the possibility of their failure for various reasons.

Sooner or later, this can happen to everyone and we must be prepared for such a situation. Knowing possible reasons hard disk damage, users can react in time to the signs of its failure and protect their data from irretrievable loss.

And even if the drive is damaged, inaccessible or out of order, there are effective ways to recover the information stored on it, for example, using professional data recovery software Hetman Partition Recovery.

If you have any questions or suggestions on the topic of disk repair HDD and data recovery from a damaged or non-working hard drive, then write to us in the comments, and we will definitely answer them.

The hard drive is one of the main components of a PC, because it stores all the information and files of the operating system that ensure its launch.

Sometimes the HDD may fail, which can make the data stored on it inaccessible. In this case, it is too early to despair - it is often still possible to restore them. In this article, we will look at the causes of mechanical and logical problems with hard drives and the process of their recovery.

Mechanical problems

Mechanical or physical problems with the HDD are caused by damage or failure of some of its components. Let's consider some of them.

The appearance of bad sectors of the hard drive

This is one of the common problems that occurs due to the appearance of "broken" sectors.

• errors that appear when working with some files;
• increase in HDD loading time;
• the appearance of a rattle during disk operation.

This issue is not critical. Its solution uses specialized utilities, for example: HDDScan - to determine the presence of bad sectors, HDD Regenerator- to restore their performance. If data errors remain after applying them, you can try to recover them using special software. In this case, any data recovery program is suitable - Recuva, R-studio and others.

PCB failure

This problem occurs when there is a power problem with the drive. It is quite simple to determine it - the hard drive either does not start, or gives out characteristic tapping. This failure may be caused by incorrect HDD connection to PC.

In this situation, you need:

• check the correctness of the connection;
• replace the board;
• repair it.

Important! For replacement or repair printed circuit board You will most likely need professional help.

Problems with the block of magnetic heads

This problem is quite serious.

Its "symptoms" are:

• unstable operation of the hard drive;
• the appearance of characteristic knocks and clicks.

A BMG malfunction can lead to data loss, so repairs to this component must be done with particular care. The solution to the problem is to replace the block, which is desirable to entrust to professionals.

Logic problems

The second group of malfunctions are software failures that lead to certain errors. More about the most common of them below.

Formatting a disk drive

One of the most common problems of this kind. If formatting is accidental or caused by a failure, all previously recorded data will be lost from the HDD. You can return them using special software.

Important! After formatting, it is necessary to ensure complete isolation of the hard drive. When new data is written to it, the previous files will be permanently lost.

Hard drive boot block failure

In this case, it becomes impossible to start the installed operating system. The error occurs during serious OS failures, as well as as a result of viruses. This problem is not very serious and the data can be recovered.

Video: Failed hard drive

Preparing to recover data from a damaged hard drive

In the event of logical (software) failures, when the files on the hard drive remain in a recoverable state, you can begin the process of their “treatment” and saving. Before using the programs designed for this, you need to prepare the hard drive for connecting to another PC, because you won’t be able to install and use them on a damaged device.

Using the External Hard Drive Pocket

A hard drive pocket is a special device that allows you to connect it and run it using another PC.

Note! Pockets are available for different models HDD, so before buying, make sure it is fully compatible with your device.

Process connecting hard disk will look like this:

Connecting a hard drive to a computer system unit

You can also start data recovery from a damaged hard drive by connecting it directly to the system unit of a working computer. If you use a hard drive from a laptop, you will need a special adapter, which can be purchased at specialized stores.

• we go into the BIOS by holding down the "Del" key at system startup (may differ for different models);
• find the section "Standard CMOS Settings" or "IDE Config";
• in setting up disks in "master" and "slave" modes, set all options to the "auto-detection" position;
• save the changes and reboot the system.

1. after restarting, go to "My Computer", where a new device should be determined;
2. view, copy or restore files.

R-Studio software

When the problematic hard drive is connected and identified by another computer, you can start restoring data on it.

We will consider this process using the R-Studio utility as an example:

After the data becomes available again and saved, bad drive you can either format it and install a new operating system on it, or (if there are serious problems) take it in for repair.

Now you know that in case of problems with the hard drive and the inaccessibility of files on it, it is too early to sound the alarm. Depending on the severity of the problem, the data can be saved by yourself or with the help of a professional.

The hard drive of any computer or laptop is one of the most important devices, but it, like any other "iron" equipment, is subject to aging, mechanical damage and software failures. But the information stored on it is in many cases very important. And this is not about the files of the operating system, without which it will simply be impossible to work on a computer in normal mode. Recovery without data loss, even if it, as they say, “fell down”, in most cases is a very time-consuming process. However, if you have the appropriate software, you can perform such actions yourself without resorting to the help of specialists. service centers. Despite the fact that many procedures are greatly simplified, you still have to tinker a little.

The main situations that may require data recovery

To begin with, let's look at the specific cases in which manual intervention in the operation of the hard drive may be required. Repairing a damaged hard drive at home is almost impossible on your own, so in most cases, unless we are talking about critical damage, you must use software methods. But here it is necessary to clearly distinguish between possible cases when it is required to recover data from a hard disk. Whether it will be files damaged due to failures of the hard drive itself, or information that has been accidentally deleted (including due to formatting). Depending on this and will be applied completely different types software.

Is it possible to recover data using Windows tools?

It is quite natural that many users who are far from carrying out such actions are interested in whether the operating system itself has an opportunity or some means that allows you to restore the necessary information or return the hard drive to operational state. Alas, such tools are not provided in any known system of this entire family. However, despite their absence, you can perform diagnostics of the device (stationary or external), as well as fix the errors of the OS itself in order to further access disks in a functioning software environment.

What to do to restore system files and bootloader?

Before recovering data from a damaged hard drive, you should take several steps to resuscitate the operating system, critically important files which may be damaged due to some hardware or software failures. If the system does not start at all, it is necessary to use removable media with the installation distribution of the system or special recovery disks, when booting from which it is possible to call command line(usually a combination of Shift keys+ F10 in boot recovery mode). Please note that now we are talking exclusively about deleted or damaged system files and hard drive software errors in the absence of mechanical damage, in which case it is not recommended to use the above method under any pretext.

First, you need to check the hard disk for errors and bad sectors by running a diagnostic tool in the command console with automatic correction (chkdsk N: / x / f / r, where N is the letter of the drive or logical partition). After that, you should check and restore system files using the sfc /scannow command.

If no solution has any effect, it makes sense to restore or even rewrite the bootloader using the Bootrec.exe toolkit with additional attributes entered through a space after the main command ("/fixmbr" and "/fixboot" - for recovery, "/rebuildbsd" - for a complete overwrite). It is quite possible that this method will be able to bring the operating system to life, after which it will be possible to directly “pull out” damaged or deleted information from the hard drive itself or external media.

Categories of programs used for information recovery

But the situation with the hard drive does not always develop in such a favorable way. At mechanical damage it is unlikely that the operating system will be restored to working order. That is why, in order to recover data from a damaged hard drive, you will have to use additional utilities, which can be rather conditionally divided into the following areas of action:

• direct recovery of damaged information on a problem disk;
• creating an image for further file recovery;
• recovering deleted data after formatting;
• HDD resuscitation in case of critical failures of both mechanical and software nature.

What conditions must be met before data recovery from a damaged hard drive is mandatory?

Now a little more attention! If we are talking specifically about damage to the hard drive itself, it is strictly forbidden to perform any manipulations with it, and the software used must be installed on another hard drive or external USB-HDD. In addition, to recover data from damaged disk it is desirable to extract it from system block or laptop, place in a special external pocket and connect to another computer. The exception is situations if one of the disks belongs to a RAID array or is external. If you use applications for normal recovery of deleted files, say, after formatting, you can install them on your hard drive (preferably to a logical partition), but you should not copy information to the partition that you intend to work with in the future before starting the scan (recover some files may not work due to overwriting the sectors in which their parts were saved).

Recovering data from a damaged hard drive: ZAR program

Now let's go directly to "pulling out" the necessary information and use the Zero Assumption Recovery utility for this, which should not be downloaded or installed on the problematic HDD (as mentioned above, we initially assume that the disk is connected to another PC). For the application to work correctly, you must immediately disable the antivirus (the utility will inform you about the need to deactivate it).

V running program you must first click the "Data Recovery for Windows and Linux" button so that it can find all the media connected to the computer, and then mark your media and initiate the start of the scanning process. The found folders will appear in the results, which should be ticked.

The last step in the data recovery process external hard disk will come down to copying the content found to another location, to which you need to specify the path and click the start recording button (“Start copying the selected files”). At the end of the process, the saved information can be used.

Operations with Hiren's BootCD bootable media

Another technique used when it is impossible to boot from a problematic hard drive is to use Hiren's BootCD external bootloader. It is quite easy to create such media from an image in advance in any convenient program like UltraISO (for optical discs) or Rufus (for flash drives).

After loading the utility’s own interface with the choice of a Windows-like graphical mode (moreover, when starting it on a computer with a problematic HDD), in the main menu, use the Recovery item (Recovery), specify the type of action (for example, recover deleted data from a hard drive, split into sections, etc.) with a choice of one of the tools presented in the submenu. Please note that you should not use the built-in Recuva applet (it will not give any effect anyway). It is better to use the DiskDigger utility, photo recovery (PhotoRec) or system objects (Restoration).

Rewriting the contents of the HDD to other media in the DataRescue DD program

Data recovery after hard formatting disk programs related to the class of the utility described above allow you to produce quite simply. However, their use is not always possible, since with obvious damage to the hard drive, it can be very problematic to “fetch” information. Sometimes files can be found, but they will be marked as those that cannot be recovered. In this case, data recovery from the hard drive after formatting is unlikely to be possible, but it is precisely when the hard drive is damaged that it is much more convenient to restore data with the DataRescue DD program.

The essence of her work is to select a problematic HDD, and then, using one of the tools, create a disk image and save it on another medium (for example, on an external one). The advantage of this approach is that absolutely all files are included in the image, regardless of the degree of damage. The image can then be deployed using the applications designed for this. If it is not possible to restore some important damaged components, you can perform either file-by-file extraction or disinfection of the created image in WinRAR program, which, by the way, can recognize images as ordinary archives.

Hard disk recovery

Finally, the saddest situation is that the hard drive may not show any signs of life at all, for example, due to the fact that it began to “crumble”. According to the vast majority of ordinary users, nothing can be done with such a device. This is not entirely true.

To bring the hard drive to life (at least temporarily), experts recommend using HDD utility Regenerator, which allows you to restore the health of any disk due to the so-called remagnetization of the surface. True, this application works exclusively in DOS mode, but it can be loaded from removable media, and using it is quite simple. Upon completion of all processes, it will be possible to proceed directly to the search for lost information.

How to extract information from a failed HDD using R-Studio?

And here R-Studio comes out on top - the best hard drive data recovery program.

Any ordinary user can use it, because you just need to select desired disk or partition, run a scan, the parameters of which you can configure yourself, and then save the results to a logical partition or to any removable media. And it is this application that allows you to find both deleted and overwritten files as a result of full formatting. It is not surprising that the reviews of users and experts indicate that the utility shows stunning results and finds such old objects that the user does not even know exist.

Brief summary

So, as for the choice of the necessary software, not a single specialist can advise you on anything specific, since everything depends solely on problems with the hard drive. However, for each specific case, the above programs are the best solution and allow you to recover lost data or even restore a very badly damaged hard drive to a working state. It remains to be added that, of course, the Victoria HDD application can be attributed to the most powerful tools, but it was not considered solely because it may be too difficult for an ordinary user to master.

Very often we forget that our computer is not eternal, and any trifle can disable it. Information stored on hard drives is very sensitive. Sometimes, due to a minor glitch, an accidental virus, or some rash user action, really important information can be deleted. When deleting information, your computer does not erase it from the disk, but simply gives the command to write new information to this place, and consider this place free only conditionally.

Therefore, as soon as you have lost data, without which your further existence in this world seems worthless to you, or you “accidentally” deleted it, stop writing down the following information that will lie “on top” of the deleted data. The less you access your hard drive, the more chances you have to recover maximum amount data. It is for this reason that you do not need to install the data recovery program, which will be discussed later, on your hard drive! Do it in any way possible the disk to be restored was accessed from another disk.

Steps to take before recovering data

If you do not want to complicate an already difficult situation that you accidentally got into, then first stop being nervous so as not to aggravate the situation with rash actions, first of all, read the article to the very end, consider your next steps, and only then act. Well, if you suddenly deleted very important information from a flash drive or memory card, that is, quite simple, which will help you quickly restore all data.

More difficult is the situation in which Lost information from hard drive. Not only mechanical a breakdown can be the cause of information loss, the problem may also lie in software failure . In such cases, you can try recover data using special programs.

On the Web you can find a great variety of programs for recovering data from memory cards, or from hard drives. But even if you decide to buy paid program, it gives you absolutely no guarantees that all information will be recovered.

If you are not confident in your abilities, then immediately after the loss of data, turn off the computer and take it to the service, to real professionals. Then your data will be saved by 95%, but you will be charged a certain amount, which is best asked before the repair. If they ask too much, then read the article further!

Data recovery using R-Studio

First, some important information: you should not restore files to the same partition of your hard drive from which they disappeared.

First, download the program on, or. We launch the utility, it has quite clear interface, true to English language. V left side of the main window programs - " device view"we will see all the drives that are in our system, and in right window we will be able to see all the information about the drive that we want to restore.

Now you need to select a disk for recovery ( N), click on the yellow folder at the top, called " OpenDrive Files».

A lot of folders have opened in front of us, now we open all the folder directories in turn. Just do not think that the folders will be called exactly as you called them.

There may be completely incomprehensible scribbles instead of names. Ignoring all this, just put a checkmark everywhere and boldly click on the folder (above), which is called " Recovery».

Waiting for the end of the process...

Now a window may appear in which we will be asked to remove the attribute “ Hidden' from any file. We need to agree and tick the appropriate box. Click " Continue».

And after the process is over, feel free to go to " My documents", it will contain the folder that the program created R-studio entitled R-TT. Here in it lies everything that could be restored.

Now let's look at another option already full recovery all lost files. To do this, we will use the scan function of the entire disk. And it's called " Scan«.

In the window, you need to check the Search for all known file extensions checkbox, and after that - " Detail Scan", and after that - Scan.

Using this function will take us a lot of time, but the result is worth it. In the right window of the program, we can see how the scanning takes place and how much this moment already scanned.

Still waiting for the end. The process is incredibly long, so patience is required.

To be honest, my patience ran out somewhere in the middle of the process. In time, it took almost an hour, and I had to stop the process by clicking on the "Stop" button.

To view all recovered files, click on the Plus button.

In the next window of the program, we will be able to see all the file systems that the program has recognized. And therefore, all the data that can still be returned. Recognized 0, 1 and 2 green - these are the files that will be restored to 100%.

Inscription Extra Found Files in yellow or red - this is the information that the utility could not recognize and understand which file system it belongs to.

This means that most likely it will not be possible to restore this data, and if it does, then the data may well be unreadable and in order to return it to its normal state, you will have to use it, which successfully edits and restores all non-text data presented in hexadecimal system.

Well, now we look and choose what you will restore from everything presented by the program. Required for recovery check the boxes next to the files you need and press Recovery, then you need to specify the address where to write the recovered files and click OK. Leave all recovery settings as default.

Next, a familiar window will appear, in which you will again be asked to remove the hidden attribute from some files that will be restored, and the program also offers to skip or replace the Thumbs files. We boldly skip them and click on Skip.

We are waiting again until the recovery process is completed. This will take some time again, after which we again go to the folder " My documents", then to the folder from the program R-studio called R-TT, and it will already contain all the recovered files. Almost all documents and files will definitely open, there may be minor defects on the video, and photos and text files usually recover almost completely.

Well, in conclusion, I want to say that everything that we have just done is only a small part of the entire arsenal of program functions. This program is successfully used to restore arrays RAID, and you can also use it to find any necessary information inside local network. The utility also has a function in which you can find deleted data by various attributes and by mask, and you can even create an image of a falling propeller! The main thing is not to do rash acts.

Situations where users accidentally permanently deleted some desired file or formatted the flash drive with important information occur quite frequently. But you should not despair in these cases. After all, something was erased from the disk, physically this data is still stored. The main thing is that they are not overwritten. There are several ways to effectively recover data, both on HDD and Flash-drive. We will consider the most effective.

Recovering information from a hard drive using standard Windows tools

First of all, make sure that the items you are looking for are not in the Trash. If they are there, then all you need to do is click on the file right click and select "Restore".

If you did not find the file you are interested in in the Recycle Bin, you should try the following method. Click Start => Control Panel => System and Maintenance => Backup and Restore. Next, select the "Restore system settings or computer" command and follow the prompts of the wizard.

The second option is to click on the Computer component and select the drive or folder where the deleted files. Right-click on this item and click "Restore" old version". This field you will see a list previous versions disk or folder. It will contain the files included in the backup. Here you will also have access to points for their backup.

Recovering data from a hard drive using special utilities

To recover data from a hard drive, go to the "Start" menu and select "Computer". Next, find the drive or folder where the deleted data you were interested in was stored. Right-click on the drive or folder and select Restore Previous Version. After that, a list of files will appear, including those that you are looking for (saved in the backup). Double-click on the object you are looking for and select a version (for example, if you deleted a folder today, select yesterday), and then drag the recovered file (folder) to another location.

Recuva, for example, after launching, prompts you to specify the type of files that need to be found and restored, as well as the place where they were located. After that, scanning will begin - found files that can be completely returned are highlighted in green. The next step is restoration. When scanning, we recommend setting "Deep analysis".

1. Data recovery from a flash drive

It is also possible to recover deleted files on a USB drive. But before using the applications, scan the drive with an antivirus. You can do this with or . The point is that some malware can provoke data hiding - they will not be displayed.

If it turned out that the information on the USB drive was nevertheless deleted, you can reanimate it with the tools, Easy Drive Data Recovery or.
When specifying the location where you want to find the data sent to the unknown, select " Removable drive” (“Memory card”, “Specified location”). Note that some data can only be partially recovered. During the analysis, Recuva marks what is in doubt in yellow or red (as opposed to those that will be restored 100% - they are marked in green).

There is a high probability of "returning everything back to normal" if you did not save anything to the Flash drive after you deleted something there. Flaws free programs, which provide recovery of deleted files - this is either a limitation in the period of use, or a limitation of functionality (here the support of different file systems and different formats of the desired files). Compare utilities from different manufacturers you can in the selection.