When a user upgrades, reinstalls or repairs Windows XP operating system, data loss might occur. This data loss generally occurs due to overwriting of files (as in My Documents, Desktop, Local Settings etc. folders), file system issues and more.
Posts Tagged ‘Operating System’
Windows XP Upgradation, Reinstallation Or Repairing Results in Data Loss
Wednesday, July 22nd, 2009Tags: Data Loss, Desktop, Folders, Local Settings, Operating System, Windows System, Windows Xp
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Compare Linux and Unix
Saturday, July 18th, 2009There are many operating systems available in the market today. Two very similar operating system that we can find is the Linux and Unix systems. However, there is a big deal of knowledge for you to choose the one which is more suitable for you. A clear comparison must be made in order to know which is more appropriate is.
Tags: Linux, Linux Systems, Linux Unix, Operating System, Operating Systems, Unix, Unix Systems
Posted in Personal Tech Stuff | No Comments »
The Principles of File Recovery
Tuesday, July 7th, 2009Andrew Whitehead is a contributor at Free-backup.info — the home of the popular tool for windows online backup — Back2zip. This article can be found at http://free-backup.info/the-principles-of-file-recovery.html
Why File Recovery is Possible
File recovery is nearly always possible, if you spot the mistake and do something about it fast enough. Luckily, if you do mistakenly delete a file, the file has not been physically removed, the operating system just doesn’t know where it is anymore. This is easier to understand once you realize that there is more to storing a file on your hard drive than just finding space for the information and writing it there.
The operating system must also keep track of where it put the file, without this it would be unable to find it again. When a file gets deleted, this record is altered and the disk area containing the information is marked as free space. The information itself remains intact until some other information is written over it.
The effect is similar to rubbing out the name of a video tape – you know you can use that tape now, but the original film is still on there until you do it, and should you change your mind you can do your own ‘file recovery‘ by writing the name on the box again. Commercial file recovery programs do exactly the same trick with computer files.
File Recovery Programs
There is no shortage of file recovery software to help you out if you delete the wrong file. There are numerous commercial file recovery programs, DOS has its own ‘Undelete’ command, and Windows has the familiar Recycle Bin. Except for Recycle Bin, they all work on the same principle of searching the hard drive for files that have recently been marked for overwriting. More advanced ones will also tell you how much of the file is recoverable by checking how much has been written over.
The seemingly simple Recycle Bin has one advantage over any third party file recovery program: it doesn’t allow any overwriting of deleted files stored in there. This means that files from here are recovered in their entirety, and will function exactly as before once they are restored.
Obstacles to File Recovery
The biggest obstacle by far is time. The longer you wait, the higher the chance of a deleted file being written over, unless it is safely in the Recycle Bin. Once this has happened file recovery is still possible but it will take a lot more than a bit of commercial software to do it.
Operating systems are continuously creating files, every web page you visit does the same, and so does every application you open. With this in mind, the time to start your file recovery process is the instant that you realize you needed that file.
If you are extremely security conscious enough to be running encryption software this will also reduce your chances of file recovery, as the majority of file recovery programs need to read the file to know it is there. If the encryption utility doesn’t offer its own built-in undelete function then file recovery is going to be very difficult and very expensive.
Tags: Backup Info, Computer Files, Computer Programs, Contributor, Delete File, File Recovery Program, File Recovery Software, Free Backup, Free Space, Hard Drive, Mistake, Operating System, Principle, Recycle Bin, Software Help, Third Party, Tool, Undelete Command, Video Tape, Whitehead
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Initial Steps in Hard Drive Recovery
Wednesday, July 1st, 2009Andrew Whitehead is a contributor at Free-backup.info — the home of the popular Amazon S3 based tool for online file backup — Back2zip. This article can be found at http://free-backup.info/initial-steps-in-hard-drive-recovery.html
First Steps in Hard Drive Recovery
If you find that your hard drive is no longer functioning, remember that a hard drive recovery is nearly always possible, so there is no need for panic. Data loss is not unusual and in nearly all cases the data can be recovered. Only in severe severe cases involving platter damage, magnetic degradation, or over-write of a file will the data be practically unrecoverable, and even in these cases a hard drive recovery by MFM photography may be possible if the data is valuable enough to justify huge expense.
Having said that, there are steps you can take to minimize further data loss and greatly increase your chances of successful hard drive recovery
Initial Steps in Hard Drive Recovery after a ‘crash’
If you find that you are unable to boot to the operating system, and you can no longer see the hard drive in the BIOS, there is a strong possibility that your hard drive has crashed. In this case you should shut the whole system down immediately. If there is some physical problem with the hard drive, it will be made a lot worse if you run power through the hard drive attempting to reboot the system.
If the head stack inside your drive is damaged, trying to run it will cause additional damage to the surfaces of the platters in your hard drive, and this is where the data you are wanting to recover is stored.
Initial Steps in Hard Drive Recovery after Corruption
If you have accidentally reformatted your hard drive, or accidentally deleted a file or folder, once again you must not write any new information onto your drive. The files you have deleted are still intact somewhere on the drive. Deleting a file simply means removing the location tag for that file, allowing that area of the drive to be over-written. If you add any new data it is possible that it will over-write your lost data effectively losing it forever.
If you believe a partition has become corrupted on your hard drive, it is very important not to try and re-install your operating system or add any new data to the drive.
If you have accidentally deleted a partition, attempting to restore it by formatting the drive will not recover your data, it will only result in the addition of an empty partition.
If you experience a single file corruption, any attempt to create a new file with the same name will partially over-write the file, greatly decreasing your chances of a full recovery.
This is just a short selection of the more common reasons for losing data from your hard drive, and illustrates that some attempts made by you, or even an IT technician, to recover a file or drive could decrease the chances of subsequent professional recovery efforts, or even make a successful recovery impossible. If you have any doubts about what action to take, just ask yourself this question: “Am I prepared to lose that data? “.
Tags: Amazon S3, Backup Info, Bios, Contributor, Corruption, Crash, Degradation, First Steps, Free Backup, Hard Drive Recovery, Initial Steps, Operating System, Photography, Platters, Reboot, Stack, Surfaces, Whitehead
Posted in Computer Help | 1 Comment »
Understanding How Drivers Work
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009Every computer has a number of peripherals and hardware components that give it the natural functionality we have come to expect. This includes a mouse, keyboard, modem, printer and motherboard, among other components. If these devices are not able to communicate with the underlying operating system, they will not function properly.
Tags: Drivers Computer, Functionality, Hardware Components, Modem, Motherboard, Mouse Keyboard, Operating System, Peripherals
Posted in Personal Tech Stuff | No Comments »
