Data loss is a critical problem in our era where everything digital is taking precedence over paper and physical media. Hard drive crash, failed formatting, computer hacking... the causes leading to data loss are multiple. When this happens, the first thing to do is not to panic... but to avoid stress, it is important to be well prepared and anticipate accidents! If the causes are difficult to avoid, it is entirely possible to plan for a return to normal.
Some good practices to avoid losing your data
It is always easier to prevent problems than to fix them. It is therefore important to be vigilant with your computer installation to avoid losing all your data: documents, music, photos, etc.
- Protect your computer with a good antivirus and a firewall… but remember that the weak link is always between the chair and the keyboard (that’s you…). So be careful when surfing the web or installing software you don’t know.
- Use software to monitor the status of your hard drives. This software is responsible for monitoring very specific indicators that allow you to anticipate certain failures (read error rate, temperature, etc.). This way, you can anticipate failures that may prove critical.
- Back up your data regularly:
- on a hard drive or external device by simply copying and pasting your important files or using dedicated backup software
- in the cloud using online backup services (Google Drive, Dropbox…). This is probably the most secure solution, because your data will always be recoverable, since it is duplicated multiple times… if your physical backup hard drive crashes… you are at risk.
- Save and save again, you can never be too careful!
- For desktop computers and therefore without a battery, buy a inverter to avoid unexpected power cuts on your computer (you can find them on the web from 50/60€). A sudden shutdown of your machine while you are working can have disastrous consequences if you are unlucky.
- Maintain your computer physically (dust) and software-wise (disk cleaning, defragmentation, etc.)
data recovery software
Once the damage is done and your data is gone, all is not lost! Your hope then lies in trying to recover your data using dedicated software.
Data recovery is not an easy task, but some software does it very well and manages to save the day.
That's because when you delete a file on your computer, it doesn't actually disappear. It's just no longer indexed by your operating system and the space it takes up is therefore marked as free. The space it takes up will then only be freed up when it's overwritten by other files.
These software programs will therefore offer several types of functionalities depending on your needs:
- data recovery: deleted or corrupted files on your hard drive or on external media (USB key, external hard drive, etc.).
- restore deleted, damaged, corrupted, formatted volumes
They will usually scan the media you are interested in to create a list of recoverable deleted files. Then choose the files you are interested in to start the recovery.
However, there is no miracle and it is possible that some files cannot be recovered...
So there's only one watchword: save and save again!
Article updated on January 7, 2025 by Byothe
