Adventures in Hard Drive Recovery

Hard Drive Recovery Solutions

They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and no where is that more true than with hard drive recovery. Below you will find some tips for safeguarding your data, as well as solutions for retrieving it.

1. Properly Shutting Down

Although it may be tempting to turn off your computer manually, and bypass the whole rigmarole of shutting down, it is not a very good idea. During the shut down process, files are closed, unnecessary files are deleted, and copies of important files such as the system registry files are written to the hard disk. Your computer keeps track of the location of all files and clusters in the File Allocation Table. When a program is terminated abnormally -- usually because of a power failure, a system crash, or a hurried user -- important file information can become lost or damaged. If a file was written to a specific cluster and this information was not recorded in the FAT, you could end up with corrupt data.

Next time you boot up your computer, Windows will run ScanDisk. If ScanDisk finds the lost fragments, it will delete them for you. Before doing this however, it asks if you want to save them as files. Unfortunately, it does not tell you where it puts them or what the new files are called.

Here is how to find them:

Click on the Start Menu > Search > For Files or Folders, and search the root directory for files with an .CHK extension. To do this, search for "*.CHK". Typically, the files are named FILE0000.CHK, FILE0001.CHK, FILE0002.CHK and so on. If you are looking to free up disk space, you can delete any old files you find. If you suspect one of these files contains critical data however, open it in a text editor. If you see anything that looks important, copy and paste into a new document for safekeeping.

2. Regularly Check for Viruses

Every time you download a file over the Internet, open an e-mail, or run a program, you may be exposing yourself to a virus. While some viruses are relatively benign, others are much more virulent and can overwrite files and corrupt your hard drive.

Here are a few guidelines to help you avoid the headaches of hard drive recovery:

• Install antivirus software on your computer such as Norton Antivirus or McAfee, and keep it up-to-date.
• Download the latest Windows updates and security patches for your computer, especially those for Internet Explorer, and Outlook Express.
• Do not open e-mail attachments. Even if they are from a person you know, be very wary. A virus may take the address book from an infected computer and send out new messages with the virus attached. Always scan an attached file for viruses before you open it, and unless it is a file or an image you are expecting, delete it.
• Do not execute software that is downloaded from the Internet unless it has been scanned for viruses. Simply visiting a compromised Web site can cause infection if certain browser vulnerabilities are not patched. (more on computer viruses)

3. Scan Your Hard Drive

It is a good idea to scan your hard drive occasionally, to ensure that it is in top working order. Utilities such as ScanDisk and Norton Disk Doctor can detect and automatically fix disk problems.

4. Backup Important Data

Everyone knows how important it is to backup critical data, however, many people put off doing it until it is too late, or forget to verify that the backup was successful. Fortunately, utilities such as Norton Ghost or Power Quest Drive Image can help make backing up your hard drive easy.

Whatever utility you use, you should always backup your files to a secondary medium such as a tape or CD-ROM in case your primary medium fails. Just how often you chose to backup your files depends on the nature of the data. In some cases, daily backups may be necessary, in others, weekly backups may be more appropriate.

5. Use File Recovery Software

Losing data is easy, recovering it is the hard part. Fortunately there are some file recovery utilities out there such as Undelete, and Software Shelf File Rescue, which can help you recover accidentally deleted files.

Keep in mind however, that these utilities can generally only restore deleted files that have not yet been overwritten, and cannot recover files from physically damaged hard drives.

6. Consult a Hard Drive Recovery Specialist

If all else fails, it may be time to consult a hard drive recovery specialist. Hard drive recovery specialists are experts who know the ins and outs of hard drives. Frequently in contact with hard drive manufacturers, they have special tools in their recovery arsenals, that can help recover files from hard drives that have been physically damaged.

In many cases, it may be advisable to consult a hard drive recovery specialist first, because an unsuccessful attempt at retrieving the data might mean it is lost forever.