Wednesday, February 10, 2010

How to Choose the Best Data Recovery Software

Losing data is a very frustrating and costly experience. Your computer could suffer from hard drive malfunction, corrupted operating system, Malware, and system crashes. These are common problems that could result to permanent data loss. That is why you need data retrieval software in order to protect yourself from data loss.

The use of software is a cost effective solution to recover and rescue your data. However, this option may not be suitable if your computer is suffering from physical problems. Data recovery software is ideal for retrieving corrupted files, locating missing files, and for accessing problematic hard drive. If you do not have enough technical experience, the best choice is to bring your defective hard drive to a data recovery service. But if you insist on using software for data retrieval, then here are some of the functionalities that you have to look for.

Choose Software That Can Be Loaded From Optical Media

The data recovery software should have the capability to start and load from a CD or DVD. Most applications must be installed on your hard drive before you can use them. Installing new software could overwrite missing files that you want to recover. You can lose your data permanently if the software will overwrite them. That is why it is best if the software can load independently from a separate media device in order to minimize risks of permanent file overwrite.

Buy Recovery Software from Known Vendors

Because your data is important, you need to buy software from reliable vendors and developers. Although there are good freeware apps, most free data recovery applications are unstable and could further worsen your problem. As much as possible, you have to avoid using freeware data retrieval applications. Go for supported and proprietary software so you can get technical support and more functionality.

Lastly, the data recovery tool should work on most data loss scenarios caused by faulty hard drive, corrupted OS, virus attack, or corrupted boot sector. Your software should also recover all known file types and format. Most importantly, you have to choose a data recovery application that is compatible with your operating system.

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