Recover information from hard drive. Recover lost data from hard drive

The loss of information stored on a hard disk drive (HDD) is a sad event, but most often not fatal. Accidentally deleted documents, folders and even entire partitions can be restored if nothing happened that could prevent this.

How to recover data from hard drive, in which cases this can be done on your own and when it is better not to take risks, but to turn to specialists, I will tell you further.

How to recover data from a hard drive

When Lost Files Can Be Recovered

The main condition for successful data recovery is the physical health of the hard drive.

You will most likely be able to return data that:

• were deleted bypassing the Recycle Bin;
• destroyed by the virus
• disappeared due to failure file system(with such problems, entire directories and partitions are usually lost);
• were in the partition that was formatted (when formatting, part of the information about the location of files on the hard drive is erased, but they themselves remain in place).

But in which cases it will not be possible to recover information:

• if the area of ​​the hard drive where the data was stored was overwritten (for example, when reinstalling operating system with volume formatting, all objects of the old OS are permanently destroyed);
• if the objects were deleted using a shredder program (shredders also overwrite the storage areas of deleted objects, and many times over);
• in case of damage to the magnetic surface of the “pancakes” of the hard drive.

When You Shouldn't Rebuild Yourself

If there is no confidence in the serviceability of the drive, and the information is very valuable, it is better to refrain from experiments and contact a specialized service for restoration. The service is not cheap, and the specialists working there are not all-powerful, so the less you torment the “sick” disk, the lower the price will be and the higher the chances of success.

The following symptoms indicate a hard drive failure:

• Unnatural noise during operation (clunk, clicks, clatter, whistle, etc.).
• HDD from time to time ceases to be detected by the computer - then it disappears, then it appears.
• The operating system is very slow, the hard drive is loaded at 100% all the time without a high load on RAM.
• Various errors occur when writing and reading files.
• The operating system or programs that monitor the HDD status in real time (if installed) inform about a drive failure.
• The computer stops booting from the hard drive (provided that it boots normally from other media).
• Often there are "blue screens of death" indicating errors specific to disk problems (INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE, NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM, KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED).

The four most important rules for information recovery

How and with what help they recover data on hard drives, I will tell you a little later, but now a couple of words, what needs to be done before that and how to properly perform the recovery procedure.

1. The recovered data can be dumped to another partition of the same hard drive or to another physical medium, but not to the same place from which they were read. Therefore, if your HDD is not partitioned, prepare a USB flash drive or another hard drive of suitable capacity.
2. As soon as you notice the loss of important data, stop all operations with the HDD and start recovery immediately. This will avoid accidental overwriting.
3. Try to restore everything you need in one session without stopping the program. Especially without rebooting the computer.
4. If one program does not help, use others until all information is recreated.

Three popular HDD data recovery programs

R-studio

R-studio from the Canadian company R-Tools Technology is the most powerful software package recovery of information from media of different types. It is aimed at professional service engineers, but can be used by non-specialists as well, as it is easy to operate and intuitive. Translated into many languages ​​of the world, including Russian.

The main features of R-studio

• Supports all major file systems: FAT12-FAT32, NTFS, exFAT, ReFS, NTFS5 (encrypted), HFS, HFS+, Ext2-Ext4, UFS1 and UFS.
• Capable of determining object types from file signatures. This helps to pull information from damaged drives, on which the file system is defined as RAW (unknown).
• Supports RAID arrays and dynamic disks. It has a RAID reconstruction function.
• Can create images physical drives, their sections and individual directories, from which it then reads data. After creating such an image, the media from which you are recovering can be disconnected.
• Allows you to view the contents of read objects, even if the computer does not have a program associated with them.
• Recreates service records MBR, GPT and BCD.
• Contains a hex editor for manually fixing corrupted files.
• Displays the S.M.A.R.T. – the results of self-test of the current state of the HDD, as well as the SSD ( solid state drives), diagnoses the condition of the reading heads, corrects surface defects.

How to use

• Run R-studio with administrator rights.
• Select the drive you want to read information from.

• Specify scan options. In particular, mark the types of files to be recovered.

• After the reading is completed, select the option "Restore all files" in the "Disk" menu.

• Specify the save options - location, structure, attributes, and more.

• Wait until the end of the operation.

R-studio, as a rule, manages to restore what other programs cannot. This complex is good for everything, except for the price: the cost of a license starts at $ 79.99. Available in versions for Windows, OS X and Linux.

Ontrack EasyRecovery

From Polish developer Kroll Ontrack is another lost file recovery software package that can be used by professionals and novices alike. Available in several versions different set functions, translated into Russian.

Features EasyRecovery

• Recognizes over 250 file types.
• Works with media of different types, including damaged ones.
• Creates drive images.
• Equipped with tools for analyzing the current state of the HDD.
• It has a built-in hexadecimal editor, as well as a shredder for permanent destruction of file system objects.
• Allows you to create emergency bootable media with EasyRecovery in case the operating system stops loading.
• Can connect to other computers over the network.
• Capable of reading information from VMware virtual environments.

How to use

• Run the program as an administrator. Click the Continue button.

• Select the media type you lost data on and click Continue again. This button must be pressed after each step, so I will not repeat myself.

• Specify the section you want to scan.

• Select a recovery scenario (we are particularly interested in deleted or formatted data).

• Wait for the end of the reading process.

• The found documents will be displayed in the EasyRecovery window. You can view them as a list or as thumbnails.

• To save a file, right-click on it. Select "Save As" or, as elsewhere, press Ctrl+S.

In order to become a legal user of Ontrack EasyRecovery, you will also have to fork out. The license price starts from 89 EUR. Versions for Windows and OS X are available.

Recuva

- a product of the British developer Piriform Limited - one of the most popular free data restorers. The utility is very easy to use and very effective. It has a high scanning speed.

Recuva Features

• Can work without installation (has an official portable version).
• Supports FAT16-FAT32, NTFS and ExFAT file systems.
• Works with damaged media.
• Has a file shredder.
• Capable of restoring directory structures, mail messages, documents Microsoft Word, texts, music, images, saved web pages, video files and system objects, including hidden and zero-size objects.

Compared to the two previously reviewed programs, Recuva's capabilities are much more modest. This applies to both restorative functions and additional tools. So, Recuva best of all restores recently deleted objects, and although it detects old ones, it often cannot read, despite the fact that they have definitely not been overwritten. And yet we will not find fault with her much, because “they don’t look a gift (free) horse in the mouth.”

Incidentally, in addition to free version there is a paid utility - Recuva Pro (costs $ 24.95). Its differences are advanced recovery functions, automatic installation of updates, support for virtual media and the ability to contact Support.

How to use

• Run the utility. If it opened in the English version, go to the "Options" menu and select the Russian language on the "General" tab.

• From the drop-down list on the left side of the window, select the scan area.

• After the scan is completed, the utility window will display a list of found objects, some of which are marked with green circles, some are red, and some are yellow. A green mark indicates a good chance to restore the object, yellow indicates a weak one, and red indicates the complete absence of any chance.
• To restore something found, mark it in the list and click the button of the same name at the bottom right of the window.

Each of the three considered applications is good in its own way. Recuva is convenient to keep on hand for everyday use - despite the limited functionality, it does its job well, but most importantly - quickly. And if something fails, we use EasyRecovery and R-Studio - "heavy tools" for the most intractable situations. For 90% of users, this set is enough for almost all occasions.

Data recovery from a hard disk is performed in cases where it is necessary to obtain all the information that was previously located on it.

Its loss can occur due to various reasons, the establishment of which is carried out by diagnosing and running special programs.

List of reasons for losing information from a disk

In a number of reasons that lead to the deletion of data, four groups can be distinguished:

1. Consequence of wrong human actions:

• Accidental formatting or deletion of information.
• Incorrect layout of the storage area

However, very often, in order to solve this kind of problem, you can try using special data recovery programs.

Advice! With a competent approach, this will not have any risk for the further recovery process, and therefore, if nothing works out for you, then specialized firms will still be able to help you. Next, we will look at the best of the data recovery programs.

Information becomes inaccessible due to physical damage on the hard disk and its individual components, namely on the read-write head or the electric motor.

To recover data in such a situation, you will need the help of repair specialists. hard drives.

Voltage fluctuations, surges or drops, as well as complete shutdown power supply can harm devices that store data.

According to research by Bell Labs, 80-86 percent of data loss is due to unstable voltage.

Windows users very often experience problems with the operating system, after which it stops starting.

In such cases, most users think that all data from the hard drive is being erased and the only way out of this situation is to contact a specialized service center.

But in fact, all data remains on the hard drive, and the failure of the operating system has nothing to do with it.

Helpful information:

Programs for data recovery from a disk

Utility for damaged disk is a great way to recover data yourself. These include the following programs:

• . This program provided absolutely free. It is characterized by ease of installation and use, as well as fast recovery data.
  However, the software also has its drawbacks: when reconfiguring a digital media, images and documentation have no chance of being restored.

• Undelete Plus. Such a program does not cope with all information custodians. However, it is quite effective in recovering data from the hard drive.
  Downloading and installing does not cause problems, and the utility brings back to life up to 90 percent of the lost information. UndeletePlus is provided in Russian, which allows it to be used by a wide mass of the population.

• R-studio. The utility does an excellent job with the main reasons for deleting data, but is only available in paid access. So, she copes with such tasks as: returning data from disks, flash drives, memory cards and the like.
  In addition, the software helps to recover deleted data from damaged and re-registered media. The program is offered from a disk or from the Internet.

• recovery software. Despite the single name, this program is a set of programs for each individual case. They are the most efficient. This happens thanks to each individual disk.

So, here you can highlight:

1. Utility for working with all file systems.
2. Program for working with NTFS partition.
3. Applications for activities with FAT32.
4. A program with two components: File and Photo.
5. Utility for working with files.
6. File Repair is a program that restores and edits distorted images and documents.

Helpful information:

Pay attention to the program. It is a tool for recovering deleted, lost and damaged files. The program recognizes all common types of documents, the number of which exceeds 550 pieces.

• The program is ideal when you need to recover files and pictures. It can also be used in case of damage to individual areas.

• Stellar Phoenix. Such a program provides each user with excellent opportunities for recovering data, photos and videos. Its advantage is a pre-compiled menu with a list of all deleted data.
  Thanks to him, the user can restore only what he needs.

• Data Rescue PC. This program allows you not only to recover lost data, but also to recover RAID. It boots from a disk, which allows you not to worry about the impossibility of starting when the operating system is hung.

• Seagate File Recovery for Windows. An old, but very effective program that restores not only general data, but also a clear picture of each image.
  In addition, it is able to extract information even after re-registration of the entire system and its individual components.

• HDD Regenerator. This application is easy to manage and restores hard drives efficiently. With a complete failure, the program will not cope with the repair, but will quickly diagnose and correct errors present on the disk.

• The program returns and reassembles data even after severe damage and shifting of departments on the disk.
  Its use consists of a series of sequential actions that will be understandable even to an inexperienced user of the Internet and special programs.

You should not worry about the impossibility of recovering information on the disk. In the absence of formatting, any utility will easily bring any file back to life.

A file that has disappeared from the hard disk is present on the disk before formatting.

However, when viewing programs in the HDD, such a file is considered to have disappeared, which means that new files and folders can take its place.

When such an action is performed, the file disappears completely.

Based on the foregoing, we can conclude: first you should try to restore at least part of the deleted data, and only then “write” something new.

On the additional programs and ways to recover information can be seen in this video:

How to recover data from a hard drive

Data recovery on hard drives, flash drives or flash cards is a very popular topic.

Read about causes of hard drive damage. 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.

With high processing speed, powerful GPUs, voluminous information storages and high overall performance, their help is invaluable when 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 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 life 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 drive may become unusable, especially if there are warning signs that we will describe below, you need to take care of creating backup disk, for example external device storage. 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.

When storing a backup copy of data in the cloud, there is always a risk of access to them by third parties, 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 signs occur, you can know in advance about a future hard drive failure and prepare for it by securing your data by backing up 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 you should think about rescuing 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 it resets during boot, this may indicate a problem with the drive.

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 the disk. 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 provide 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 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 come to terms with their loss, or use a professional software data recovery 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, with the help of professional data recovery software, you can extract all the necessary information back for later use. You can additionally study possible ways, if you do not have access to a personal computer or laptop, if you have problems loading and operating the 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 content: 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 boot record in place useful information, 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: deleted hard section disk, 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 set of powerful algorithms that can recover additional file attributes and correct any errors in the logical structure of the hard drive.

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 recover 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: "Recovery of deleted files in 2018 Hetman program Partition Recovery"

Conclusion

Information is of the utmost importance for each user and its safety is given paramount attention.

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 the possible causes of hard drive 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, use 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.

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! Make anyone possible way to 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 from a flash drive or memory card a very important information, 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 hard drives. But even if you decide to buy a paid program, this 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 a completely understandable interface, though on 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.

And now let's look at another option for a complete recovery of 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.

Most often, all the most important information of the user is stored on the hard drives of the computer for which he constantly works. This provides quick access to data, which is especially useful when files are required for daily work. However, any information stored on a working hard drive is the least secure. It can be corrupted by viruses, destroyed by an attacker, lost due to a program or hardware failure of the computer, deleted by an attacker who gained access to the computer, and even by a user accidentally pressing the wrong button.

But the cost of lost files often exceeds the price of the computer itself and the software installed on it, since they can contain years of painstaking work.

Causes of “loss” of files

Most often, the necessary data is not available as a result of a computer hardware error or user carelessness.

And new solid state drives SSD, and hard magnetic HDD can cause file system crash, resulting in bad sectors, which cannot be read, or due to the fact that during the recording of information there was unexpected error, associated with an unexpected power outage or disconnecting the disk “hot”, that is, turning off the computer without stopping the operating system.

Often, users themselves delete their files by mistakenly clicking on the Delete button. In this case, first of all, you need to look into the Recycle Bin, but it also happens that it has already been cleared.

Do deleted files completely disappear?

Some users believe that deleting files from the hard drive using the Delete command causes them to disappear completely (except when they are temporarily transferred to the Recycle Bin). Actually, it is not. Neither Dos nor any Windows version never permanently erase files immediately after pressing the Delete button. This is due to the fact that a complete removal would require a considerable amount of time from the operating system, which would lead to user inconvenience.

The next time you delete a file of several 100 megabytes in size (for example, a movie), notice that it disappears almost instantly. If the OS were to completely overwrite all clusters of this file, it would take much longer.

In reality, the operating system simply renames the file, marks it as deleted, and hides it from the user's view.

How is a deleted file different from a normal one?

Data remote file also continue to be stored in the same place on the hard disk, but the system notes for itself that now this place is free to write new information to it.

So if you accidentally delete desired file, you can easily return it to its place using special utilities. However, if other data has been written to the place of the deleted file, it will not be possible to return it. Therefore, in no case do not write new data to the hard disk with the “deleted” information stored on it.

Even formatting a disk is not so dangerous, since in this case the system simply creates new table file location, which indicates that the hard disk surface is clean. The only option complete removal information is low-level formatting when the entire surface of the hard disk is zeroed.

What to do if you have lost important information?

As you understand, the most dangerous action that can lead to the final loss of data is re-writing other information to the hard drive. Therefore, if you accidentally deleted important information, in no case do not write new files to it. It is best to disconnect the hard drive from the computer, as many programs and the operating system itself often make various service records on the hard drive. The system drive C is especially dangerous in this respect.

However, even if you didn't just accidentally delete important file, but faced with a hard drive hardware failure, no need to worry ahead of time. Most likely, all the necessary information remained intact, since the actions of viruses are usually superficial and do not affect the entire surface of the hard disk, and a software or hardware failure is often associated with FAT damage, while information clusters remain intact.

To recover data, you should use one of several specialized programs.

Free PC Inspector File Recovery utility

The main advantages of PC Inspector File Recovery are its ease of use and free of charge. You can download the program from the developer's website www.pcinspector.de. Compared to the work of other utilities, which we will discuss below, the efficiency of PC Inspector File Recovery is not very high, as it simply does not see some files that other software successfully recovers.

PC Inspector File Recovery includes three types of search for lost data. After starting the program, a window will appear in front of the user where you can select one of the search mechanisms.

Recovered deleted files - recovering files deleted using the operating system tools (the very case when the user accidentally clicks on Delete and finds that the Recycle Bin is disabled). Find lost data - data recovery after file system damage or disk formatting. Find lost drive - data recovery of logical drives invisible in the system.

Working with the program Recovered deleted files

After the user has chosen a data recovery method, the program starts scanning the system, after which the program will open a window indicating what information can be recovered.

The presence of two lists of logical drives repeating each other is due to the fact that first the program specifies a list of logical drives for each physical disk "on fixed disk ...", and then a list of logical drives, as Windows sees them, "on Windows drive ...".

Most often, these two lists completely repeat each other, especially if there is only one HDD in the system. But in the case of multiple hard drives, the lists may vary slightly.

Select one of the logical drives where the information you are looking for is located and double-click on it to start scanning it. After 10-20 minutes, depending on the size of the disk and the power of the computer, a window will appear in front of the user, where a list of information available for recovery will be indicated.

To restore any file, just right-click on it and, selecting Save to, specify where to save the restored file.

Please note that even after completing all the steps described above, you may encounter the fact that the restored file will work or open incorrectly.

Paid file recovery software Ontrack Easy Recovery

Ontrack Easy Recovery is one of the most effective recovery software from a well-known developer. Distributed on a commercial basis, the cost of an annual license ranges from 466 to 2900 dollars, depending on the version. The official website of the program is www.ontrack.com.

The program can be installed on Windows or run from a pre-created boot floppy. A boot floppy allows you to recover information on a hard drive without an operating system installed.

Compared to Recovered deleted files, Ontrack Easy Recovery works much more efficiently, it can even recover files that Recovered deleted files can't even see.

Ontrack Easy Recovery is very easy to use and features very convenient and clear interface. When you start the program immediately starts step mode wizard, the first stage of which is scanning the system and then displaying the structure of drives and logical drives.

The program immediately marks deleted information and partitions invisible to the operating system that can be restored. Select a disk with information contained on it that is inaccessible to the system, and start scanning it. After that, the program will display a list of files that can be recovered.

The names of files and directories will be shortened to eight characters, and those that have names written in Russian letters will be displayed as unreadable characters. To specify the data to be restored, just check the box next to it.

After recovery, the file names in Russian will most likely be replaced with dashes, but the data itself will retain its performance.

Creating a Windows Easy Recovery Boot Disk

In order to create a boot floppy, you will need to go to the Make Emergency Boot Diskette program item. A boot floppy will help you save your data if the FAT on your hard drive is corrupted or the operating system won't start. The boot interface is no different from a program running in a Windows environment, only the names of files and directories will be shortened to eight characters.

The Windows Easy Recovery boot floppy allows you to recover data to a second hard drive, to a working partition of the hard drive where the lost information is stored, and to a floppy disk. In the latter case, you need to remove Windows Easy Recovery from the drive and replace it with a blank floppy disk and save the data to it. Windows Easy Recovery at this time will already be in random access memory computer, so the program will not be stopped.

Preparing to work with Power Quest Lost & Found

Another effective data recovery utility is Power Quest Lost & Found. Working with this program requires the presence of two drives: the first containing the lost data and the second, designed to save the recovered files. For this purpose, two hard drives or a hard drive and a floppy drive can be used. The program does not allow you to save information to the same logical drive from which it was restored.

This is due to the fact that any write to the same hard drive where the deleted information is located can lead to the fact that its recovery will be completely impossible. The program runs from a boot floppy, so it does not require an operating system to run. Installation file Power Quest Lost & Found is designed to create a boot floppy that will contain a DOS-like OS. After the floppy disk is created, you need to boot a computer from it, where there are two hard disks, one of which contains lost files.

Data recovery with Power Quest Lost

After launching, the program immediately starts scanning the system. Its performance is quite high. The surface of all hard drives is checked, and if damaged unreadable sectors are found on them, then after several checks the program will offer to skip them and continue working. After the scan is completed, the user will be able to specify the drive where the lost data is stored.

Next, you need to specify the drive where the program will write the recovered data. If you choose to specify a floppy drive as your drive, you will need to remove the Power Quest Lost & Found boot floppy and insert a blank one. In this case, recovery of files larger than 1.44 MB will not be possible.

After scanning a disk with lost data, the program will display a tree structure of all directories and files stored in them on the hard disk.

The color indicates the probability of recovering files:

• light green - possible;
• yellow - possible;
• red - unlikely;
• gray - not possible.

The program is controlled exclusively from the keyboard, so you will need to know various key combinations to work. To do this, press F1 to access help. The most commonly used key assignments are indicated at the bottom of the window: Enter - go inside the directory, Space - select files and directories, Esc - go up a level from a subdirectory or start recovery of selected files (Start Recovery). Data recovery can take several hours.

R-Studio is an efficient and fast data recovery utility

An excellent solution for those who need not only to restore the files themselves, but also the directory structure, as well as file names in Russian, is R-Studio software working with file FAT systems 12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, Ext2FS. R-Studio is a commercial program that runs under Windows. There is a demo version of the program, the limitation of which is the inability to recover files larger than 64 kb.

An additional option of the program is to create disk images and restore them in case of problems. The main window of the program contains a list of hard drives with their logical partitions.

In order to start searching for information for recovery, you need to select the logical drive or the entire drive of interest and select Scan. To start recovery, mark the necessary files with checkboxes and click Recover. You can also select the desired item in context menu across right button mice.

Restorer 2000 data recovery utility

The functionality and interface of Restorer 2000 is very similar to that of R-Studio. Restorer 2000 can also recognize Cyrillic files and only supports small files in the demo version. The program works with FAT and NTFS file systems and allows you to create backup disk image files.

After starting the program, the main window appears with a list of hard drives and logical partitions. The scan starts after selecting the required disk or partition and pressing the Scan button. Detected areas that can be restored are displayed in the right part of the window and are named using question marks. To find out what data is in this area, you need to double-click to expand the contents of the area and view its contents.

GetDataBack is a commercial program that has versions for FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS file systems. There is a free version of the program that allows you to individually restore different types files by opening them in their respective applications. The commercial version allows saving from the program itself. The disadvantages of the program include the fact that GetDataBack does not see orphaned sections, so set full recovery data from them is not possible, but it is possible to specify the entire area of ​​the hard disk for scanning. The program does not work with file names in Russian.

Stages of working with GetDataBack

The data recovery process with GetDataBack consists of several steps. At the first stage, you need to select from the list of FDD drives, HDDs, logical drives and image files the one with which the program will work. In the next window, select the desired area of ​​the hard disk and after the scanning process is completed, go to the third stage, where you can agree with the parameters proposed by the program (the area of ​​\u200b\u200bthe disk or set its entire volume, specify the type of file system) or specify them manually. After scanning the selected area, the program will show the result in the form of a directory structure. Names in Cyrillic will be changed to character set. You can open recovered files directly from the program window.

The efficiency of GetDataBack is much lower compared to the programs mentioned above. The utility is practically unable to recover files with names in Russian and violates the directory structure, as a result of which it is much more difficult to find the necessary data after recovery.

Restoring logical partitions using Acronis Recovery Expert

Most data recovery programs work in the same way: they do not have any effect on hard drives and, extracting data from them, copy them to another medium. As a result, the user has to create a partition again and transfer lost data there, while often affecting other sections of the hard drive.

It is much more convenient for the user to restore the lost partition, along with the data stored there, to the same place where it was. This will return the system to a working state, as it was before the loss of files. Lost logical drives can be recovered by Acronis Recovery Expert.

How Acronis Recovery Expert works

When Acronis Recovery Expert finds a lost logical drive, it restores it, along with all the data that was stored on it. However, due to the fact that the program, when restoring a logical disk, simultaneously writes to it, there is no guarantee that all files will be restored correctly.

As already mentioned, files that are invisible to the system are most at risk when they are rewritten to disk. Therefore, a situation is very likely when Acronis Recovery Expert will not only be unable to recover the lost partition, but will further damage the state of the lost data and make it impossible to retrieve it using other programs.

Therefore, the best solution would be to initially try to recover data using other programs and save them on another medium. And only then try to recover the logical drive using Acronis Recovery Expert.

Acronis Recovery Expert features a very intuitive interface. Before the scanning process, the user will be prompted to select automatic or manual mode. In the first case, the program will do everything necessary by itself, presenting the user with a list of lost logical drives that can be tried to be restored.

In manual mode, you can view the disk structure and specify the search location yourself.

Conclusion

Anyone, even the most experienced and attentive user, may face the need to restore files. To prevent the loss of access to information from becoming a serious problem for you, you must first install the most effective data recovery program on your computer, and also create a bootable floppy disk using it.

It would not be superfluous to purchase two hard drives, or at least split the HDD into two parts - 40-50 GB for the operating system and the remaining space for data storage. In this case, the risk of data loss in the event of an OS crash will be minimal.