How to Perform a Windows Data Recovery

Hard drive failure is not pretty. It can cause hours of anguish and pain if you have not performed backups.

Here are some steps can you do to retrieve the data that is on your failing drive.

The initial thing you should do when you are doing windows data recovery is to shut down the PC you need to do this on. The most important thing you can do is find another PC that is running Windows 2000 or XP. 

You would then download your PC recovery software onto the second PC, and go back to the PC you were on and remove the hard drive from it. Take that hard drive and install it on the second PC as a data drive. 

A laptop PC hard drive can be connected to your desktop PC with an adapter that is readily available at most PC stores you go to. You will then want to make sure that your windows program does not use the Check Disk utility to repair the drive. Use your data recovery program to do your windows data recovery on the second PC you are using.

What If You Do Not Have a Second PC?

If you do not have a second PC, make sure you shut down your PC right away. With the second step of your windows data recovery, you are still going to have to remove the hard drive of this PC. You will then need to install a new drive, reinstall windows and use your recovery software on it. 

Once you have done this, you can install a new drive on your PC. Then you need to reinstall the drive back in the PC as a data drive. You have to make sure that the Windows Check Disk utility program does not try to repair the drive when it is booted. Then you use your recovery software to restore the data to your new hard disk. This is how you do your windows data recovery.

How can I plan for a loss of data

If you would like your windows data recovery to go as easily as possible you want to make sure that you preserve your file by following this procedure. You will want to download and install your recovery program onto your PC. 

Once you have this program downloaded and installed, you can use it to search for files that you can't find and recover them to another drive that is on your PC. 

You can also move the files to a network-shared folder, USB external drive, memory stick or any other spot that you can temporarily store your files. Now you will have your windows data recovery accomplished.

A.B. Newland is a Microsoft Certified Professional and has been working with data backup systems for over 15 years. Learn about the 10 biggest backup mistakes at the Data Recovery website

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