When you are looking at getting data recovered, sticker shock can set in pretty quickly. An inaccessible Quickbooks file, family photos, or important business documents can quickly cost hundreds or thousands of dollars to recover. You may at this point think you’re better off recovering the data yourself. There are cases where we think it makes sense to try data recovery yourself, and we believe in dealing honestly with our clients, so here’s the skinny:
If the data is worth paying to have recovered professionally, and you would regret losing the data permanently because you didn’t pursue that option, do not attempt recovery yourself.
There are a number of reasons we say this:
- Every time you plug a damaged device or filesystem into your machine, you increase the chance that the data you want will be unrecoverable. This is because:
- Most operating systems will attempt to “repair” damaged filesystems, which can quickly overwrite data on the device
- If the device is malfunctioning, it may attempt to repair damaged data structures itself
- If the device is physically damaged, continued use can exacerbate the damage. For example, just a few seconds of a hard drive with crashed heads being plugged in can be enough to scrape all your valuable data off the drive’s platters!
- Without write-blocking hardware and software, there is no way to insure that you (or your computer or data recovery software) aren’t going to accidentally over-write the data you’re looking to recover
- Professional data recovery tools really are much more powerful and safe than tools available to consumers.
Here are some scenarios where DIY data recovery is worth pursuing:
- If the data is valuable, but not valuable enough to pay for professional recovery
- You can create the data again, but doing so would require time and effort you’d rather not spend. For example, re-entering all your receipts into an accounting program.
If this sounds like something you’d like to do, there are a number of online forums and guides to help you along with some powerful tools. Best of luck!