How to Recover Data from an External Hard Drive
External drives are basically portable storage devices they are fast and can accommodate large data and like the ordinary hard drives they are also prone to failure. It is lost for different reasons including, but not limited to, operational errors, failed file system, and physical damage. This guide captures an easy, detailed and efficient process to follow when trying to recover data from an external hard drive.
Understanding the Causes of Data Loss
In general, it is necessary to pinpoint the causes that become the base for the further recovery methods. Some of the main causes of data loss include accidental removal, incorrect formatting, software and virus corruption, among others, and physical harm. Understanding the cause enables one to choose the most suitable method of recovery. For instance, software can solve logical errors in computers, while a technician may be required for physical harm.
Initial Precautions
After establishing that data is missing, it becomes necessary to cease the use of the external hard drive. Further usage of the device may overwrite the lost data thus, making the process of data recovery even harder. Then, safely eject the drive and remove it from your computer. Do not perform any writes to the drive while data recovery is ongoing, either.
Utilizing Windows Data Recovery Software
Windows data recovery software is among the best ways through which lost data can be regained. These are tools that are intended to help the user to look for files on the external hard drive that are considered non-working and bring back more data. Some of the highly reviewed recovery programs are Stellar Data Recovery Software, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, Disk Drill. These programs have graphic interfaces popular among users and contain the functions allowing to restore the information in different situations with data loss. Below is mentioned the steps to recover lost data from external hard drive from Stellar Windows data recovery software.
Steps to Recover Data with Windows Data Recovery Software
Download and Install the Software: Choose a good Windows data recovery software and download it into your PC. It should not be run on the external hard drive you want to recover data from so that lost information is not overwritten.
Connect the External Hard Drive: Plug in the external hard drive to your computer using a safe way and ensure the computer recognizes it.
Launch the Recovery Software: Start the recovery of deleted files with the help of the programs you downloaded. It should be able to detect and read labels of all the connected drives.
Initiate a Scan: Choose the external hard drive, and click on ‘Scan’. The software will also be able to hunt missing, deleted, or even damaged files. This process may however take some time particularly if the drive that was used to store the data was large or if a lot of data was lost.
Review the Results: The list of recoverable files will appear when the scan is over, together with the software. These files can’t be previewed to see if they are the ones required or not.
Recover the Files: A safer location on your drive that is advised is to save the recovered files in the internal part of the computer. Do not write them back to the external hard drive so that conditions involving overwriting may not occur.
Handling Physical Damage
If this kind of physical damage was inflicted to the external hard drive, that is it fell, or was planted in water, then data recovery services will be required. These services use utilities on the damaged discs and technical and cleanrooms to reverse the process and bring back the lost data. Though they can be considerably more expensive than software solutions they can, for instance, recover data that could otherwise be lost forever.
Preventing Future Data Loss
To avoid future data loss, consider the following preventive measures:
Regular Backups: This involves copying your data to other locations on a frequent basis, but not the same physical location such as the cloud and another external drive.
Proper Handling: External hard disks should be properly handled in a way that they do not get damaged physically.
Reliable Software: Antivirus and Windows data recovery are important to fight against malicious sites and to recover the lost files in a reliable way.
Conclusion
To conclude, it is possible to restore data on an external hard drive if you take certain measures for this. An insight into the cause of loss of files, bearing first aid measures and the use of Stellar Data Recovery Software for windows will enable one to recover his or her files. There is nothing more one can do when there is a severe physical damage to the affected storage device and yet still want to recover the data; the only solution that can be tried is to seek the services of professional data recovery. Preventive measures are measures you can take to ensure that a similar loss does not happen in the future.
