Data Recovery: Retrieving Lost Information

Most people, especially those who are not technically minded, consider a data file to be deleted when the Delete button is pressed on a computer system.

In most cases, data deleted by normal methods can be easily recovered, depending on how exactly the data in question has been erased.

There are typically three ways that data can be deleted from a computer system, these are as follows:
Delete to Recycle Bin (Windows operating systems only)'Permanent deletion'Secure erasure by overwriting data

Deleting data by using the first method does not actually delete files at all, it just moves them to a different part of a hard disk, in a folder called the Recycle Bin. These files can be restored by going into the Recycle Bin, right-clicking on the relevant file, and choosing the Restore File option.

Files that have been 'permanently deleted' are actually just marked as deleted by the operating system, with the space that the file occupies being marked as available for use by other files.

This means that files deleted in this fashion are actually still there until overwritten by the operating system. To recover these files, you need to use a data recovery software program.

It is vital that this program is ran from a different device to the one that you are recovering lost data from, i.e. a software solution could run from a USB device or CD-ROM drive.

Also, in order to prevent data corruption on the device being analysed, it is equally important that any files recovered are saved to a different device as well.

Most data recovery programs have different options for recovering data, which means that in some cases you may need to manually select the most thorough scanning mode in order to get your files back. In most programs of this type, this mode is usually labelled as Deep Scan.

Files that have been deleted by secure erasure, which is where the data is overwritten in addition to files being marked as deleted, cannot usually be recovered. This is unless any automated backup copies of files exist within the device.

An example of such backups are sometimes taken automatically by the System Restore application (on Windows operating systems), if the computer in question has this setting enabled.

Such backups can also be created by the automatic file save feature in Microsoft Office. This only applies to files created using this application, however, for those files, this can be invaluable when it comes to recovering lost data.

By default, applications within this suite of programs save recovery backups every 10 minutes or so, meaning that at the most, users would lose a minimal amount of work should they encounter a system failure.

If such a document is accidentally deleted, it can sometimes be recovered by opening the relevant application and following the on-screen prompts. This is possible because when an automatic recovery file exists, the relevant application detects and prompts the user automatically.

Data recovery using specialist hardware can sometimes recover a few bytes of information, however it is rare to be able to recover enough information to be able to reconstruct a file, as hardware recovery can only normally get a few bytes of data back at the most.

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Deleting Data: Is Your Information Really Gone?

Many people believe that by simply deleting files from a hard disk will forever remove the content that was previously there. While this removes the data on a a visible level, traces still remain of the intact file and can be recovered using special methods. Thus, this puts at risk many people's personal information when they give their computer away exposing them to all sorts of trouble. So, what should you do in order to avoid the loss of personal information and worse yet access to your financial data? There are few things you can do:

1. Format the hard disk using a military grade wipe method that makes it extremely hard to recover the information. Most backyard hackers would have trouble recovering the information stored on hard disk which has been formatted in the following method, however those with access to advanced data recovery equipment or who are forensic personal would be able to recover the information.

2. Use encryption to avoid unwanted access. This process is somewhat safer than the above method in that the only way to gain access to the information is by using a password. Banks themselves use AES-256bit encryption which is simply unable to be penetrated.

3. Physically destroy the hard disk. Yes, that's right, smash the hard disk to pieces. While this isn't the most graceful approach, this is a guaranteed way of ensuring data stored on your hard disk is not readable. Large corporations when information becomes irreverent actually use specific shredding machine on sensitive data, so it is nothing new but safe.

Therefore, using any of the above methods is going to stop potential thieves from using your personal information and will give you peace of mind. Do not ever think that the delete button is the be all end all; it is quite the contrary.

John spends his time recovering information on computers that have become corrupted and takes an interest in network security. He also has a interest in honda insurance. You can visit his website at http://www.hondainsuranceonline.org/.

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