Data Recovery Pen Drive

[Lise Henton]

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My computer has stopped working because the hard disk has broken. I used it to store important data without having a backup, and several files (.xslx, .word, .pdf) could not be recovered or they are corrupt when we use a program to access it. Is there any other way to try to recover them?

If your data has value, go to a pro. Most recoveries, even those requiring clean room work do not exceed say $850 but some labs are in to $300 - $500 range even if clean room is required and if no additional parts need to be sourced.

Many failed DIY attempts may hamper recovery and add to the price. This is true if the data loss has a physical cause and if in-place repairs are attempted (partition table editing, rebuild RAID etc.).

With sudden data loss a physical cause should not be ruled out before hand, even if the damage appears to be at the logical level. For example, a RAW file system can be due to logical corruption, it is however also a common symptom for physical damage. Even just repeated read attempts can further damage a drive or cause firmware damage (g-list overflow).

It does not hurt to use a S.M.A.R.T. utility. Although the information may be overwhelming it can be useful. Treat information as such: If the SMART tool alerts you about problems then assume there are in fact problems. However, absence of alerts does not mean the drive is okay by definition.

If raw values are non zero the drive had, at some point, problems reading sectors. Large values IMO (say > 20) are alarming even if the SMART tools says they are not. An easy to use and free SMART tool is CrystalDiskInfo. In menu Function > Advanced Feature > set RAW values to 10 [DEC]. Most of the file recovery tools I'll recommend later on also can display SMART data.

It is true that SSD's are less prone to mechanical damage of moving parts. Still, sudden disappearance of data can have physical causes such as sudden loss of power. SSD's can and do suddenly fail just like conventional hard drives.

Also SSD's can experience 'bad sectors' although these are of an entirely different nature than bad sectors on spinning disks. Such bad sectors can have cascading effects and SSD's, once they start behaving odd or unstable can deteriorate rapidly. A a lab is not an option and you need more than a few files, skip to cloning.

TRIM is often misunderstood. it's is important to understand that TRIM is a command that is sent by for example the operating system to inform the SSD drive about a range of sectors that can be discarded. TRIM is not file deletion of erasure in itself.

It depends on a specific OS if and when it sends TRIM commands. One OS may send a TRIM command immediately if for example a file is deleted, the other may schedule weekly TRIM commands, or an OS may do both.

For example Windows sends a TRIM command when you format a partition or as soon as you delete a file - if it concerns a NTFS formatted volume. So, in general data recovery from a formatted partition is impossible unless: 'circumstances' (non 'supported' file system, older USB bridge not relaying TRIM commands, etc.).

If you however you can not access the partition because the file system is RAW, this is no reason for Windows to 'TRIM' that partition and in general one can assume the data can be recovered. So in general, an OS will only TRIM data that is purposely deleted.

TRIM =/= erasure, or zero-fill although it may appear that way. In short: Many controllers 'unmap' trimmed LBA addresses. Try reading such LBA addresses and the controller simply returns zeros without even ever reading the drive. A data recovery lab may be able to recover 'trimmed' data while a data recovery lab can not recover data that was truly overwritten, even if only overwritten with zeros.

Can be used to make some in place repairs where it concerns MBR, partition tables and boot sectors. These are a tiny fraction of all things that can be wrong and prevent access to your data, and in general it's a bad idea to make in-place repairs. That said, for a knowledgeable person patching a disk can be the quickest way to recovery with only marginal risks.

Also reason for data loss plays a role: If the known cause is accidental partition deletion, and the layout of the disk is known, picking the correct partitions isn't rocket science and fairly low risk IMO. If on the other hand cause for the data loss is unknown it makes no sense to try TestDisk just for the sake of it.

Partition undelete/recovery only makes sense if partitions are not visible, not if new partitions were already created and formatted. Boot sector repair only makes sense if the issue is actually the boot sector.

Even though these tools are designed for this and good at what they do (specially HDDSuperClone), if cloning/imaging is problematic (drive disappears randomly, extremely slow, noisy) it's wise to stop DIY attempts.

When deciding which data recovery software to download and use, first try to determine how difficult the data might be to recover. For example, some dual-disk RAID configurations mean that recovery isn't going to be a simple process. Additionally, free or budget software options may have built-in limitations on how much data or how many files you can actually recover.

The golden rule of data recovery is never to install the data recovery program onto the same drive from which you want to recover data. The reason for this is that your system will see the space occupied by deleted files as available for new data, which means they could be overwritten.

If your utility supports it, you should also consider creating a disk image of the drive which contains your missing data. This allows you to recover your files safely without risking overwriting the missing data on the original disk. Creating a disk image also means you can make it available for download to professional data recovery services.

If you do decide to go it alone, make sure to download the free version of your chosen data recovery utility first. You can usually 'preview' recovered files within the program, so you can decide if it's worth paying for a monthly or annual subscription.

To test for the best data recovery software we first set up an account with the relevant software platform, whether as a download or as an online service. We then tested the service to see how the software could be used for recovering data using a virtual machine running Windows 11, to which we attached three different drives. This allowed us to benchmark various data loss scenarios, such as trying to recover files from a corrupted drive.

The files we chose for recovery are an album of Mozart's Music available from the Internet Archive. We did this as we wanted to see how the utility performed with a wide variety of files, including both common and more obscure formats.

We do not believe that running data recovery tools in a virtual environment has a significant effect on how they function. Still, if you're considering buying software we encourage you to read all reviews thoroughly and make sure that the developer offers a refund policy.

Losing data to hardware or software failure, accidental deletion, or cybercrime is stressful, but today, businesses prevent this by storing their vast quantities of it on servers stored on company premises, or via cloud backup services. Even in their most rudimentary form, backups can be made routinely to a USB stick or to an external hard drive as well.

Still, if you haven't got a backup system in place ('the best time was yesterday, the second best time is now'), there's any number of data backup software and disk cloning software packages that can make the process of data recovery relatively straightforward, as they automate the process of creating a copy (or, ideally, copies) of your data, according to a 3-2-1 data strategy.

EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is an ideal choice as data recovery software for both Windows and Mac. Powered by AI, it can undelete files from internal or external hard drives, SSDs, memory cards, and formatted USBs. Try it now and get 25% off any license today. Use code TECHRAD25 for your deal.

During all our tests EaseUS ran incredibly quickly. It detected the virtual drives and ran scans in seconds. In our first test, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard lived up to its name, as it was able to retrieve all of the files on the drive which had previously been deleted from the Recycle Bin.

The utility also performed well on our test on a drive which had been formatted after the file had been deleted, recovering 76% of the missing files. We were particularly impressed that EaseUS was able to recover the filenames too.

We also ran a test simulating a damaged drive. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard immediately recognized it as a "lost partition", where we were able to preview all of the deleted files, complete with filenames.

There are various pricing options, from monthly to yearly, or alternatively, a Lifetime upgrades license. Costs start from around $70 a month all the way up to a one-off fee around $150 for lifetime access.

Upgrading to a paid license is expensive on paper, but a one-off lifetime fee could represent great value for money. Plus, just generally, the app's great performance, EaseUS's responsive customer support, and a tidy user interface makes EaseUS' offering a strong contender.

Another important feature of Stellar Data Recovery is its support for all file formats and drives. It is an adaptable provider that will recover data from hard drives (internal and external), memory cards, flash drives, and optical media like CDs and DVDs.

During our tests we found that Stellar was able to recover files that had been deleted from the Recycle Bin without any issue whatsoever. It had less success with drives which had been formatted, only being able to recover around half the files. When we simulated a corrupted hard drive however, Stellar was able to recover 80% of the missing files.

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