How to choose professional data recovery software?
Data loss refers to the loss of information from the storage media on which it was stored. There are many scenarios that can lead to data loss including corruption, deletion, and more. However, there are as many solutions and techniques to recover back such lost data.
Why you need Data Recovery Software?
There is no manual mechanism to recover your lost data from your storage device. A lost or deleted file gets permanently inaccessible unless you have made a soft deletion of the files. A soft deletion moves the file to the Recycle bin in case of Windows and Trash in case of Mac. The data present in these locations can be easily restored back to their original location. In addition, if you have created a backup of your data, you can restore the backup file to get back your data. In case you are not able to get back your lost data, you can make use of a data recovery software.
Recovery software makes use of various advanced algorithms to recover data that appear to be lost or deleted from a storage media. Moreover, they prove to be very safe and reliable in getting back the data in its original format. Data recovery software would work of almost all data loss situations due to logical failures. In addition, you need not have to carry your device to any service center, as they can be installed and used easily by anyone sitting at home. Based on the fact, here is the list of checkpoints you should ask yourself before putting your money:
Check Point #1. Have you checked your recovery requirement?
Depending upon the data recovery software you have opted for, there are various requirements that need to be fulfilled. Every recovery software
Home User:
For home users, very basic requirements need to be met. So if you’ve lost your data from your home PC or Mac system, consider asking yourself the below mentioned questions:
- Is the software supported across the version of the operating system (Platform, Windows, Mac or Linux) I’m using?
- Weather my system hardware and software configuration enough to install the software or not?
- Can the software recover different file types including Emails, documents, database etc.?
- Does the company provide a post-sales support in case you need?
Small Company:
If you are running a small company or need to perform recovery on multiple PCs, you may need more advanced and capable software to perform recovery. Including all the home user requirements, asking below questions to yourself can provide more accurate recovery software that you may need:
- Can you use the software on multiple machines?
- Can I use the software without any technical assistance?
- Can multiple users use the software?
- Can the software perform recovery on various advanced data storage techniques such as RAID configurations?
Enterprise or Technician
Technicians or enterprises nearly have thousands if not hundreds of computers and there recovery requirements are big. Either you can elaborate your requirements to any data recovery company or choose data recovery software that allows you to recover data from unlimited number of PCs and while sitting at one remote location. Popular data recovery companies offers Technician licenses for their recovery software to perform unlimited recovery as well as let them recover data from remote PCs.
Check Point #2. How much it’s worth recovering your lost files?
The actions that need to be taken for recovery depends upon the fact that if data recovery is possible or not. If data recovery is possible, you need to be careful while recovering the data as it might hamper the data integrity. Moreover, you also need to see if the data is actually worth the cost of recovery.
Lost data could be in the form of memorable pictures, important office files, favorite collection of audios and videos, etc. Losing such data could be hard to believe, but recovering such files by paying some amount for the software should not bother anyone. In addition, you can even recover data from hard drives that has been burned, flooded, or severely crushed, but at a higher price.
The decision of recovering your lost files also depends upon the kind of data you are going to recover. A recovery process is said to be successful, even if you are able to recover 90% of the lost data.
Check Point #3. Does software support your Storage devices?
Storage devices are the storage media on which the information are stored. Data recovery software supports a number of storage devices including the ones that are internally attached as well as the externally attached storage media. There are various other ways to classify such storage devices. For example, a Windows based drive supports NTFS, FAT, and ExFAT file systems, whereas a Mac based drive supports file systems like HFS and HFS+.
A data recovery software should be able to support a wide range of storage media and file systems as mentioned below. Most of the software supports internally attached drives like magnetic drives or solid state drives. However, in order to recover data from any external media like optical drives, pen drives, or memory cards, you need to ensure that the data recovery software supports them.
It is equally easy to recover data from externally attached drives as it is done from internally attached drives. This is because, almost all storage media whether external or internal uses the same mechanism to store data or delete data. So, the recovery mechanism remains the same. However, the algorithm used to carry out the recovery process might differ from one software to another.
Check Point #4. What Features to Look for?
The primary function of a data recovery software is to recover data from a storage device as it is. However, there are lot many features that a software could offer. For an efficient and reliable recovery of data you should look for the following features in a data recovery software.
#A. Must support different kinds of storage media
Data are ideally stored on a system’s hard drive. However, there are various external drives like pen drive, memory card or optical drives that can be used to store data temporarily or permanently. Data loss can happen on any of the external or internal drives. In such a case, your data recovery software must be able recover data from internal as well as external drives.
#B. Should recover all types of data
A data recovery software should be able to recover all forms of data including documents, images, audios, videos, and more. Each of these forms of data could be again in multiple formats. For example, a photo could be in the form of JPEG, PNG, JPG, etc. The software should be able to recover all such types of data.
#C. Should be easy to install and use
The requirement to install the software might differ from one software to another. A good data recovery software should get installed easily without any fuss. Moreover, it should provide a simple and interactive interface, so that the entire data recovery process could be carried out without any hassle.
#D. Search, Preview, and saving options must be there
Search feature allows you to minimize the recovery time by just locating the files you need to recover. Preview helps in checking the credibility of the software and allows you to ensure about the data you are going to recover. Saving option provides flexibility by allowing you to save the recovered data in a desired location. All these features are very much required for an efficient recovery of the data.
#E. Compatibility across various operating systems
There are multiple platforms on which a system can run. The two most popular platforms that are used are Windows and Mac. A data recovery software should support all the version of Windows operating system including the latest Windows 8 and 8.1. If the data recovery software is meant for Mac, it should support the latest MAC OS X 10.10 (Yosemite Beta) and all the earlier versions.
Note: In addition to the features provided by the software, you must look for a company, which provides a good post-sales support, in case you need any kind of help in the future.
There could be a lot many other features recovery software could provide. However, you should at least look for the above mentioned features while choosing the same.
Check Point #5. How to make sure the lost files can be recovered?
A file gone is gone!
However, there is still a possibility to recover such lost or deleted files through a file rescue software. Such tools make use of various advanced algorithms to ensure that you get back your stuff in the same format.
Compare and Check User Feedback
You may find various expert reviews and user feedback on different technology websites that tends to review data recovery software and rate them based on their results, interface, functionality, advanced options etc. Consider visiting those tech websites such as CNet or Top Ten Reviews where list of data recovery software were already listed and their features explained in detail. This could help you significantly in finding out the right software that you may have needed badly.
Have you already chosen data Recovery Company?
You will find a number of recovery solution and software offering the features already mentioned. But, all of them are not reliable and trustworthy. In addition to the features, you should also look for the reliability and trustworthiness.
If you have not chosen a data recovery company yet, you should look for a company that stands up to user expectations in terms of efficiency and reliability. In addition, you can look for various other factors like a performance review, users’ feedback, post-sales policies, etc.
Does company guarantee for money back if software fails?
Buying a professional software might not always guarantee you a successful recovery of the data you wanted to recover. There are times, when you might not be able to recover what you want, though the software would be good otherwise. In such a case it would be a waste to have a software that is of no use for you.
There are companies that offer money back policy after you have purchased the product. However, there could be variation in the number of days after the purchase. Usually, most of the data recovery companies provide a 30 days money back policy. This proves to be a huge relief for the users who wish to return the product after the purchase.
What’s special about Stellar and why you can trust?
Out of the many companies, Stellar is one of the best data recovery software that addresses all the above mentioned concerns. With over 19 years of experience, Stellar Data Recovery become more popular in providing best recovery solution and services. It has a number of recovery products under its name Stellar data recovery software
Conclusion
Though there are many data recovery companies that promise to offer all features and support, but all of them do not stand up to the user expectations.
You should look for a data recovery software that fulfills your need before as well as after you purchase the software. It must be able to recover data from various devices and file systems. It should be easy to use and widely compatible with the majority of the operating systems. Recovery tools provider should offer post-sales support and other facilities like money back policy.
