Searching, downloading, and running a file recovery tool is like pulling teeth out for most people.

The fact that you even have to use a file recovery tool creates discomfort, because in most cases, it means you first have to admit a mistake was made. Then the waiting process begins: 'Is my data going to be there?, What if it's not?, What am I going to do?'. While these concerns are valid, let's stop worrying and start addressing the best file recovery processes.

If this is your first time to use a file recovery tool, understand that there are a multitude of possibilities to choose from. Widelling this many choices to a couple of useful ones is your first challenge if you haven't recognized this yet. But before we start searching for the best file recovery tool, we need to be certain that you are not taking actions that can harm you data from being recovered.

First, safety...

Don't reboot again! Most of time people think that by restarting the computer, their files will somehow reappear. This is definitely not how to recover files and folders. In fact, each time you do this your chances of utilizing a file recovery tool to recover data becomes slimmer. Why? While the file may still exist, it has been marked as empty space. This means, the file system may write-over some files you are attempting to recover as the computer starts - and this point also goes for when the computer is being shut down too, which brings up my second point.

Don't turn off your computer, Unplug it! Under normal circumstances shutting off your computer is the right thing to do. But, when we are talking about data recovery and running a file recovery tool, don't even think about it. What's the difference? One, you are letting the computer interact with the file system; the other, you are instantly cutting off all power sources, connections and interaction within the computer, increasing the probability of seeing your files again.

By the way: Do you know that an idling computer can over-write data that you are trying to recover, even if you do not touch the keyboard? I'm hearing voices in my head saying, 'No way. That's not possible.' It is a real possibility. Pull the power supply out of the wall, and if you are using a laptop also kill the battery supply at the bottom of the computer. Otherwise, a file recovery tool has little meaning.

What all this means is that if you are reading this information from the computer you are going to use a file recovery tool on, print this information to read offline, close any files that are open, and cut the power source (as in now!).

I almost forgot to tell you

Don't use the recovery CD provided with your computer from the manufacturer as a file recovery tool. While it will get your system up and running in a short time, it kills data. So, your computer will be fine, but unless you have a backup of your data on another drive, you will not have any data to work with again. In other words, using a file recovery tool to recover your data after using a system recovery disk, means you recovery chances are minimal to none.

Choosing a file recovery tool

One last point before we get to the task of finding a file recovery tool: Don't install or run any utility on your computer (not even on a separate partition), because this too can write on top of the data you want back. You must - read the word must again - download, run, and recover data to a drive other than the one that you want to recover data from (Note: Some file recovery tools allow you to run them from the CD or diskette, without having a second drive. But you still have to recover your files somewhere. So, get a second hard drive.).

What file recovery tool do you need? It depends what situation are you up against:

1. Is it file deletion? Search for "File Undelete".
2. Lost or currupt files? You need "Data Recovery Software".
3. Damaged files? "file repair"
4. Can't even access your files? Find a file recovery tool or data recovery software that self-boots; or, use a boot diskette to boot the failing hard drive, and then run file recovery tool from the second drive that you are going to recover the data to.

"I don't know"...

If you haven't got a clue what your problem is, call a company for advice that promotes services and their own file recovery tool. If not, you will probably hear the dreaded story that any file recovery tool is dangerous (which is not the case), and that you should send them the hard drive to recover. If the file recovery tool fails, then you can send your media to a firm that specializes in data recovery.   

The moral of the story...

As soon as you think, or know that you have lost important data, stop using your computer as soon as possible, and then find a file recovery tool to do the data recovery for you. You might even try a free file recovery software if you have the time to go through a few of them. If all this fails or sounds like a daunting task, you might want to use in-lab services.

As soon as you think or know that you have lost important data, stop using your computer as soon as possible, and then find a file recovery tool to do the data recovery for you. You might even try a free file recovery software. If you have the time to go through a few of them. Finally, if all this fails or sounds like a daunting task, consider in-lab services.