The Hard Truth About Data Recovery Software

By Matt Brennan

When data is lost, it’s normal to want to take whatever measures are at your disposal to get it back. The problem is that using free data recovery software can complicate your problems and make it harder to accomplish your objectives.

It’s normal for people to want to handle major projects themselves. With the assistance of YouTube, Google, and other online knowledge repositories, the DIY mentality can thrive. It is often possible for people and organizations to save money this way. But with a project as critical as data recovery, you can also make things significantly worse.

There is Little Protection with Software

Downloading a free or cheap piece of software may give you peace of mind. It may help you to feel like you’ve done what you could about a situation. The reality is that you’re still exposed to a host of problems starting with that missing data.

The simple act of downloading software onto your system increases the chances of overwriting, corrupting, or destroying any missing data that you were looking to recover. In fact, some of these software packages include a message in their fine print that suggests you should only use it if there is another copy of the data available to you. In most cases, you’re likely using the software because there is no other version of it available.

Downloading Software Could Be the Very Thing That Leaves the Data Unrecoverable

Your missing data may be exactly where you left it. Data is typically only erased from the drive’s table of contents, meaning it’s actually right where you left it, but there is no visible path for access. At the point that it’s missing, it’s often not yet overwritten.

When you install software, or add additional data to your hard drive, that is when existing data could be overwritten.

You Can Worsen the Condition of a Failing Drive

Adding and running utilities on a failing drive can make it fail faster. The more a drive spins and tries to read bad sectors, the worse the condition will be. Software won’t be able to read data off a drive that has physical failures – that is a mechanical issue. Drives need to be imaged before a recovery is attempted. That way recovery efforts don’t damage existing data.

Software Can’t Diagnose Your Problem

If something is truly wrong with your drive, software won’t be able to tell you. A corrupt drive, or any type of physical failure will be undetectable. A cheap utility software can’t read what is actually going on.

If You’re Panicked About Losing Data, It’s Worth Making an Important Investment

The truth is that no data recovery company would work directly on the original media. If they can’t make a copy and work from that copy, the likelihood of recovery would likely shrink. They understand that running software degrades the drive while reducing your ability to recover.

If you value your data, there is a better, more likely way to recover it. You can contact a data recovery company such as We Recover Data to recover files from your drive. Call us today at (866) 400-DATA.