Why My Office Files Do Not Open?

While working on MS Office, there may be situations when you click and try to open up an office file, it does not open. After this you try the Open With option to open the required file and the file gets opened in other program rather than its respective program. For instance, an MS Word file might not open in MS Word and works effectively with any other program.

Why does this happen?
This situation generally occurs when the file association or file type extension is incorrect. To correct the problem, one must ensure to check and correct the file associations by repairing the Office or Office program, or by using the regserver command.

The Solutions:
Option 1:
Repair the Office or Office Program:
While repairing the Office program, the correct file association will be performed with the respective office program, to repair the Office program follow these steps:
First of all, close all the running Office programs and turn off any running anti-virus program.
Click the Start button and select the Run option.
In the Run window, type the following command: appwiz.cpl. This would open the Add or Remove Programs window.
Click the installed office program like, Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 or Microsoft Office 2000 Professional etc.
Now click the Change/Remove option. The Microsoft Office 2003 Setup window will be displayed.
In the Setup window, select the Reinstall or Repair option. The program will now check for the installed files and will replace or install any files from the earlier version of Office which were of wrong size, damaged, corrupt or missing.
After repairing of the Office program, turn on the anti-virus program on your computer system.The repairing of Office would make the program free from errors or any type of corruptions thus making the files accessible.
Option 2:
Use of regserver command to re-register the Office program
The regserver command is used re-register the Office program itself. This command is useful when you want to rewrite all the program registry keys and re-associate the programs with suitable program files. To perform this modification, follow these steps:
Close the program which has to be re-registered
Click the Start button and select the Run option.
In the Run window, type program.exe/unregserver in the box.
Again click Start and select the Run option and type program.exe/regserver in the box.Note: This does not works for MS Outlook.
These steps would re-register the Office program and the office files would open with their respective programs. This article aims to provide you with solutions when you are unable to open a file or access its data because of unknown reasons. If in certain circumstances your MS Office file(s) gets corrupt or damaged you can recover your inaccessible data with the help of file repair software. The file repair software repairs the damaged file and makes it easy for you to access your data.You can try the Kernel file repair range for word recovery, power point recovery, excel recovery, access recovery, and publisher recovery from the corrupt and damaged files. The file recovery software demo version is available for FREE download for the performance evaluation after which you can purchase FULL version of the file data recovery software.

The author is a technical writer for Nucleus Data Recovery - the premier leader in providing data recovery software and data recovery services to the users.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nehaa_Gupta

Data Recovery: Beginners Tips

Right now you probably in a lot of mental pain, and all you’re concerned about is recovering your data as quickly as possible - so we’ll refrain from comments on the wisdom of regular back ups. The time for preventative measures has gone - the issue at hand is data recovery.First - a simple tip could save you a lot of money. Take out your rolodex and get hold of your tech-savvy friends. If you’re in luck, they’ll offer to help, and if you’re really lucky, they might even have some disk recovery software. If you’re out of luck, then get out your wallet or purse out now … because this is going to cost you. Also, be prepared for a lot of time being wasted - data recovery can take a long time.The first thing to establish is what exactly is wrong with your hard disk:Either your computer won’t boot up, or Your computer boots up OK but you can’t see one of your other drives.Let’s see if we can eliminate the worst scenario. Listen closely to your hard drive - is it making any sort of weird noise, such as scratching, scraping, ticking etc? If so, then your drive is physically damaged and the only hope that you have is to take it to a data recovery service where experts might be able to get your data off for you. These services are expensive and time consuming - so you need to make a judgement call as to the value of data on the disk.If it’s only your saved game data or downloaded music files you would like back, you’re probably better off kicking yourself for not backing up, and accepting the data loss. If, on the other hand, it’s a book or other type of information product that you’ve been working on for years, then send it to a data recovery service for an evaluation and quote - it usually costs nothing.If your hard disk sounds OK, then you stand a decent chance of recovering data yourself. First you’ll need to download some software to help you out. Unfortunately, the better software utilities are not free, but the good news is that many allow you to try them out to see they can access the data. There are some freeware versions available but generally speaking these are not easy to use - no user interface / little documentation, or they are not very effective. There’s a list of recommended software on our site ‘Data Recovery Emergency Room’ - compare the different options then download a few of the trial versions.Your next steps will be based on how your hard drive/s were setup:If you only have a single hard drive that has not been partitioned or split into different “logical” drives, you’ll probably need to attach the hard drive to another computer that has enough space to store all your data. This can be quite technical so if you don’t have the skills please get a computer savvy friend to help out.Another option is to purchase an external USB hard drive case. You can then simply slot the hard drive into the case and plug it into another PC using a USB port.If you have a multiple drive setup and your computer boots up fine, then it will merely be a case of getting the downloaded software to read the files and then copy them to another drive - provided you have a drive with enough space on it. If not, you’ll need to attach the hard drive to another machine with enough spare capacity.The scenario where you have a multiple drive setup, where the problem drive is the one that contains your operating system files is more tricky.Look for a data recovery software package that has a boot disk option available. What this means is that when you start your computer with the boot disk in it, it will automatically run the data recovery program without trying to start windows. You should be able to see your files and then copy them across to another drive.Hopefully these tips will enable you to get all your important files back. Once you’ve had some time to recover, please take a look at the various articles on our website - our goal is to make it one of the best resources on data recovery.

About the Author:For the past 20 years, Jeff's interest has been in making the most effective use of a business's information assets. He has lead several data-to-information projects : ABC Costing, analytical CRM, datamart /data warehouse development, and Balanced Scorecard. To contact Jeff, visit: http://www.recoverdatafiles.com - http://www.intellinova.comRead more articles by: Jeff Walters
Article Source: www.iSnare.com

Hard Drive Repair

The hard disk drive installed on your computer system is the place where all your important data and files are stored and without this your computer system cannot work. There would be no internet, games, emails, chatting, surfing and not even an operating system. A hard drive is so vital and it’s important to take proper care of it and save from getting corrupt – thus saving your data.Problems in hard drive can cause major data loss and inaccessibility of data. Just imagine, you cannot show photographs, videos of a family function to your dear ones just because your hard disk crashed. Will you not regret the situation of watching and enjoying pictures and videos with your family?Hard drive crashes can take place due to several reasons; it can be a hardware problem, virus attacks, media errors, spy ware attacks and many other unknown reasons. Is it possible to identify the problem of your hard drive crash?Let’s say that your hard drive crashed, but you do not know the reason, why this disaster occurred. You can discover this with the help of flashing light on front of your CPU. This light keeps blinking when the computer system is busy. If you see the light flashing but your computer system is not able to boot up then it’s a problem related to some software i.e. its an operating system malfunction or a virus contamination. This can be effectively repaired and fixed by formatting the computer system thus saving your important data and files.But the worst still resides, if the flashing light does not function while booting. It means that your hard drive is not able to run and is not performing any activity – A Mechanical problem.It may sound good to purchase a new hard drive in this scenario but doesn’t the corrupt hard drive store your important data? At this point, you should always take services of hard drive recovery specialists, a professional data recovery service provider who can actually recover your lost data without causing any harm to it.There are times when your hard drive gives indications of some mishappenings about to happen; like, creepy noises from the hard drive, automatic shutdowns, hanged up OS, slow running of the PC. These indications give you a chance to become alert, careful, and start backing up your data as soon as you notice these happenings.Here I would like to discuss some causes and solutions to the hard drive recovery.Why hard drives get corrupt?The major activity which happens when hard drives crash, is the loss of data. Data Loss is termed as loss of data stored on your hard drive. This data, when damaged is recoverable or unrecoverable depending upon the reason and extent of hard drive corruption.The general reasons for data loss are poor usage of media, virus attacks and manufacturing defaults.Improper or Poor usage of the hard drive:A non-technical person might not be aware of the proper and secure means of using and maintaining of the hard disk. Vibrations or collision, inadequate cleaning, split liquids can damage the hard drive and lead to data loss situations.Virus Attacks:Viruses can enter your computer system from nowhere. Whether you download a song, open an email attachment or access any free software provider web site; viruses, spy ware or ad ware can easily make space for themselves and start corrupting your hard drive.Manufacturing Defaults:After rigorous testings, 4 or 5 hard drives can be found amongst hundreds which give problems after certain time period of their usage. Defects in your computer system can make the case more worsened but it’s quite possible to recover the maximum or complete data from them.Measures to Avoid Hard Drive CorruptionsThe above points are the major reasons of data loss because of hard drive corruptions. The best and effective measure to avoid such kind of situations is to regularly backup your data or when you notice some strange happenings with your disk drive, start backing up data. 1. Perform regular Backups: The best way to prevent data loss is to backup data on regular basis to an external media like a CD or DVD. This would help you when you face the situation of data loss and can save your pocket from investing on data recovery procedures. The backed up data can prove useful in case if you need to contact a data recovery company. The data recovery company can effectively help you in data recovery, as you already have backup of your data which will help the data recovery professional to retrieve your data back.2. Keep your Media Clean: Your hard drive should be important to you as it stores your valuable data. As you keep your important things clean, hard drives should also be cleaned from time to time to keep it safe from dust particles as they damage your hard drive slowly just like slow poison. “Always remember that it’s the hard drive which makes your OS and PC LIVE.”3. Anti-virus Solution: Regularly scan your PC with good anti-virus software to keep viruses, ad ware, and spy ware at bay. Good firewall and anti virus utilities help to keep your hard drive safe and secure from unwanted attacks.4. Defragmentation – another good option: Try to defragment your hard drive once a month. By defragmentation it means to organize your data and reduce fragmentation of a file on a storage device by moving separated parts into a contiguous location.5. Other Minor Preventive Measures: Some minor precautionary steps also prove helpful to rescue hard drive corruptions. You can implement SPAM guard on your incoming and outgoing emails and delete your temporary internet files on a regular basis.Update your computer system by regularly by downloading the latest updates for your operating system. 6. Try Third Party Utility: If the case of data loss in your situation is severe, you should always go for corrupt hard drive recovery software. As, if you try to diagnose the corrupt hard drive by your self or through some cheap measures, this could lead to heavy expenditures on hard drive repair and data recovery.The hard drive data recovery software offered by good data recovery companies are effective, powerful and result oriented data recovery software which can recover every bit of your data from the damaged files. You can try some good data recovery software available in the market which is specially developed for hard drive recovery, hard drive repair, hard disk recovery and partition data recovery.These were some preventive measures with which you can save your data from becoming inaccessible

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About the Author:
Neha Gupta is a technical writer for Nucleus Data Recovery, provider of the best data recovery software and data recovery services. The Kernel recovery tools are developed for email recovery, database recovery, tape recovery, backup recovery.

Understanding, Diagnosing, Recovering and Preventing Data Loss

Data loss is a serious issue, which most businesses and individuals will encounter at some point in their digital lives. It can cripple businesses, ruin careers and generally cause a great deal of unnecessary stress. This article will attempt to generalize a strategy for dealing with such scenarios.
Understanding Data Loss:
Generally data loss can result from any of the following:
Hardware and system failure, human error, software corruptions, power disruptions, computer viruses, Natural disasters and intentional human malicious damage. Almost all of these situations can be avoided, or at least the risk of them occurring be reduced.
The good news is that in most cases some if not all the data is recoverable. Think of it this way, when data loss occurs the information appears to be "lost" to the computer. This requires guidance from either data recovery software or a data recovery specialist to help "find" the data again.
Diagnosing Data Loss:
It is essential to write down the steps, which led to the data loss event. This is the simplest and most crucial action anyone can take when experiencing data loss. It is interesting to note that it is often the immediate actions taken after the data loss event, which determines the ability for the information to be recovered. So no matter how embarrassing the circumstances are note everything down!
But how will you know when data loss is going to strike? Common symptoms are a sluggishly running system, constant freezing or hanging, unusual noises (clicking or grinding sounds) coming from the hard drive or system and unusual error messages relating to software and/or drives being used.
Recovering Data Loss:
Essentially there are two methods to recovering data- via data recovery software or via a data recovery specialist. In general it is always best to first consult a data recovery specialist, however this is dependent on the value of the data which has been threatened,
Data recovery software essentially analyzes, repairs and recovers corrupted and/or lost data and assists in re-linking the information, which has caused the data to become lost. Free evaluation versions are freely available on the web and are often a good way to test the capability of a product, if you are satisfied with the job performed by the product you can purchase it and recover your data thereafter.
Professional Data recovery specialist will analyse and repair your system in a Class 100 clean room equipped with all essential technologies to ensure a stringent and controlled environment resulting in the greatest chance of full data recovery.
Preventing Data Loss:
Computer viruses are often the immediate cause of a data loss event. It is quintessential to have a trusted virus scanner and firewall operational on your system. A common misnomer is that if one does not view inappropriate sites one will not come across any problems. This is false; if your computer has a connection to the Internet there is a threat.
Backup your work! This is the simplest and tried and tested measure to ensure you never lose your data. Generally it is best to have a dedicated backup hard drive in which an exact copy of your system and data can be stored. Further to this it is also recommended that highly valued data be backed up to CD or DVD. The reason is that hard drives can fail, and it is rare to have problems with a physical medium such as CD or DVD. Finally it is important to have a form of off-site backup for in the event of a natural disaster. An easy way is to simply have another backup hard drive or DVD’s stored at home.
Conclusion:
Data loss is a frightening concept and a real threat to businesses and individuals who rely on their computer systems for success. The risks however can be managed through developing a detailed strategy to deal with each possibility and mishap along the way.

Pkorbs writes on data loss and recovery. You can learn more by visiting my blog: Restoring you PC Data http://restoringyourpcdata.blogspot.com/
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Paul_Korber

5 Tips to Avoid Needing Laptop Data Recovery

With the costs of laptops coming down and performance going up, it has become more viable for companies to equip their employees with laptops--for those who travel, work from home, or for those who just prefer them to full size computers. Individual users, from college students to self employed people, now use laptops too because they are not as expensive as they once were. And lets face it, sitting at Starbucks with a laptop is much more appealing than sitting in a 6x6 cube in an office.
Most people don't consider what they can do to protect their data should their laptop gets lost, stolen, or just have a bad hard drive that fails or corrupts the data on the disk. Below are 5 simple things users can do to safely reduce the chances of losing their important files.
Download your Email. Store a copy of your email on your company's email server. Most email software allows you to 'store a copy' on the server. Outlook does it, for example. Set this option in your settings and it will allow you to download messages to multiple computers.
Virus and Spyware Protection. Use an anti-virus software package, and protect your system with spyware software. This is a step all users should do to protect their computers. Viruses are all over the internet, from questionable websites to that cute email your Aunt Mildred just had to send. Be smart and invest in virus and spyware protection. And then get a copy of it for your Aunt. :)
CDs are Cheap! Use CDs or DVDs to quickly back-up critical files and store those CDs to a safe place. Make a weekly backup of your important files. If you get rewritable CDs, then you can use the same one a few times, though it would be best to not reuse them too much. CDs have issues too after time which may cause you to need data recovery as well...but it is a lot less expensive than recovering data from a hard disk!
Buy an External USB Hard Drive Use an external USB hard drive to do a complete back-up of your system. Now, some people use those little flash USB drives to back-up critical files, which is great (just don't loose it!). Others use the external USB hard drives which don't take up much room at all on a desk. Both are good options to consider.
Network Back-ups If you attach to a network, speak with your IT department to request that your laptop be added to a network back-up schedule. Or perhaps, give them your laptop before you go to lunch and have them back up your data. Most IT departments figure the laptop users are on their own, so by asking them for a little preventive help with your computer using your savy tech talk, you may impress them... and who knows, they may upgrade your software for you while they have your system. :)
These are all simple low cost precautions you can take to protect yourself from losing your data, spending a lot of money, and effectively becoming unproductive. After all, your laptop is nothing more than a fancy paperweight without a working hard drive.

Jason Perry
ADR Data Recovery is available to evaluate the damage and potentially recover your lost data. For more information on ADR Data Recovery's service, visit http://www.adrdatarecovery.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Perry

Virus Attacks: Can You Save Your Data?

With the high tech professionals increasing day by day, chances of virus attacks have also increased. Viruses come unannounced and uninvited, stay there as an unwanted guest and cause harm to your precious data and files. Sometimes in the cases of severe virus attacks, complete data from the hard disk gets erased, hard drives get overwritten and even the physical drive media gets corrupt.

25% of the data loss is caused by virus attacks excluding the human errors and software malfunctions. Fortunately we have some preventive measures through which data loss situations caused by virus attacks can be avoided:

Good Anti-virus Software: As your first defense, you should always install good anti-virus software to safeguard data. At the time of installation, always ensure that the program provides automatic updates, so that whenever there is a virus attack, automatic updates can counteract them. Make sure that the installed anti-virus program scans all the incoming and outgoing emails as this is the easiest passage for viruses to enter your computer system.

Never Open Doubtful Attachments: Email attachments which seem doubtful to you should be deleted immediately as these may be the viruses which get activated by mere clicking on the attachment. Be careful with the suspicious file extension types as these files are nothing but virus files.

Regularly Install System Updates: All the viruses are targeted towards the popular windows operating system. As the system vulnerabilities are announced, the virus writers start creating virus to takeover the weaknesses and attack those system owners who are not upgraded with the available updates.

Always Perform Backups: And the most important way to protect your data is regular backup process. Always create backups of your important data on an external media. Backups created on regular basis help in situations when an anti-virus program may fail to protect your important data.

Conclusion:

In the end when everything fails, the performed backup of your data will prove beneficial to recover the damaged, corrupt data from virus attacks and other corruption mediums. The data recovery software also proves beneficial in the case of virus attacks. There are number of data recovery software present in the market. Choose the one which is suitable for your type of data corruptions. Many data recovery companies offer Free demo version of their data recovery software so that you can test and evaluate features of the software and then purchase Full version of the software.

Neha Gupta is a technical writer for Nucleus Data Recovery, provider of the best data recovery software and data recovery services. The Kernel recovery tools are developed for email recovery, database recovery, tape recovery, backup recovery.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nehaa_Gupta

How to recover data from formatted Hard Drive?

How to recover data from formatted Hard Drive? Let’s starts by answering these questions:Why Hard Drive requires formatting? Or, why do we format Hard Drive? A brand new hard drive always requires formatting. By the process of formatting we divide the hard drive storage space into multiple tracks, sectors & clusters. And the specification of track sector and clusters depends upon the file system & operating system, which we have opted for. There are various file systems like Fat, Fat32, Ntfs, Xfs, Vxfs, HFS etc. All these file system have its own properties, merits & demerits.And I think you can guess the answer of our next question, to avail these features we usually change the file system & operating system like we upgrade from Fat to Fat32 or Fat32 to NTFS. Or it may happen we downgrade our file system for backward software compatibility.This is the basic reason but other that this formatting is nearly the answer of all the daily problem of an operating system like slow start, virus attack, system error, bad sector and many other problems. Actually formatting is the shortcut solution for every problem.During this formatting we sometime format the wrong drive or we forget to take backup of important files. Or by accidentally formatting the whole drive instead of formatting a single drive, I have committed this mistake earlier.So let’s start the process of recovering data, I would be using Stellar FAT & NTFS Data Recovery Software to recover from formatted drive.Download the demo version from http://www.stellarinfo.com/partition-recovery.htm and install it in separate drive. And Follow these steps:-Caution: Never save the data to the partition or drive from where you are recovering data, as it may result in overwriting of data, and would result in permanent data loss!!!Click the Select 'Physical Disk' button on the Icon Toolbar. • A dialog box appears listing the physical disk(s) available. • Select the physical disk that contains the formatted logical drive. • Another dialog box pops up, select 'Search for logical drives' option.• Another dialog box pops up, select 'Advance Search' option. (This process may take some time). • Select the formatted logical drive from the list. • Phoenix analyses the drive data structures and file system attributes and displays the directory tree. • Some data structures are critically damaged after a drive format. It is HIGHLY recommended that you should use 'search for lost file(s) and folder(s)' option under 'Tools' menu to recover all the files and folders lost after drive format (This process may take some time). • After 'search for lost file(s) and folder(s)' search process is complete you will find all the files and directories in the tree. • Select 'Change Linking Mode' option from 'Tools' menu and further change the linking mode to Contiguous. • Then select the file(s) and folder(s) you wish to recover and choose option 'Recover Selected' from toolbar. I am sure by now you must have seen your lost data. If you could see the lost files then go for the full version otherwise I would recommend you to try this http://www.stellarinfo.com/file-recovery-software.htm . This is the advance version of Fat & NTFS Data Recovery software which works on file signature search.

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About the Author: Data Recovery Software - To recover deleted or corrupted hard drive data

Physical Data Recovery

Data recovery is the process of salvaging data from damaged, failed, wrecked or inaccessible primary storage media when it cannot be accessed normally. Data recoveries will vary based on the cause of the hard drive failure. Factors such as a faulty circuit board electronics, worn hard drive bearings, damaged heads or burned out or seized motors will require a physical data recovery service.
Data Recovery process that leads to recovery or salvaging of data from physically crashed or damaged hard disk is known as Physical Data Recovery. When there is a physical damage with Hard Disk, need of Physical Data Recovery arises. Physical data recovery is the extraction of the raw data from a damaged disc. If a hard drive is not accessible by software such as the system BIOS, Windows' Disk Management, or other disk utilities it can be considered as truly dead and in need of physical data recovery.
Physical damage always causes at least some data loss, and in many cases the logical structures of the file system are damaged as well. A wide variety of failures can cause physical damage to storage media. CD-ROMs can have their metallic substrate or dye layer scratched off; hard disks can suffer any of several mechanical failures, such as head crashes and failed motors; and tapes can simply break.
Physical data recovery is essential when there is a physical problem with the media or plastics which prevents the data from being read normally. This type of recovery may include dealing with issues such as deteriorating magnetic coatings, cracked or broken reels/cartridge shells, creased tape edges, twisted or folded tape, stretched or broken tape, etc. This recovery type also includes capturing the data from media that has mistakenly subjected to adverse conditions such as water, mud, or other debris. While these physical issues are often difficult to handle, recovery of these types can usually be achieved in the high 98+ per cent range.
The chances of successful data recovery depend on the extent of the damage. Data recovery from a platter that has been heated up to Curie temperature (770 degrees Celsius for iron) is not even theoretically possible as this temperature completely demagnetizes the platters. Physical data recovery from a drive that has failed mechanically may not need any subsequent logical reconstruction if it can be successfully repaired, though in practice many physical repairs are followed by logical reconstruction if some data is permanently lost due to damaged disc surfaces.
Most physical damage cannot be repaired by end users. Some physical recoveries are very time consuming and can be expensive. In most cases, physical data recoveries offer excellent probabilities for a successful data recovery. Furthermore, end users generally do not have the hardware or technical expertise required to make these repairs; therefore, data recovery companies are consulted. These firms often use Class 100 cleanroom facilities to protect the media while repairs are being made. Different recovery experts offer different data recovery rates.
Physical damage can be caused due to:
* Moisture contact or penetration * Exposure to extreme temperatures * Variations in humidity * Shock or force sustained * Defective mechanical or electronic components * Spike or surge in power source * Degrading read/write heads
Some of the physical data recovery procedures are:
* Removing a damaged PCB (printed circuit board) and replacing it with a matching PCB from a healthy drive * Changing the original damaged read/write head assembly with matching parts from a healthy drive, removing the hard disk platters from the original damaged drive and installing them into a healthy drive * Removing the hard disk platters from the original damaged drive and installing them into a healthy drive
Attempting to solve the problem yourself is controversial because additional physical damage might occur in the process.
In physical failures the average recovery time is anywhere from 5 to 10 business days. In rare circumstances it does take longer to recover the data, especially if there is extensive damage to the platters and/or we have to order hard to find components. The time of recovery usually depends on three variables:
* What type of failure has occurred? * What's the extent of the damage? * Will it require the ordering of special components?
Pricing schemes vary widely from service to service. Physical data recovery is a highly sophisticated, and often expensive, service.

About the Author
James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. For more information on Data Recovery see http://www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk/

I Lost It! Simple Guide To Recovering Corrupted Images And Files

WinUndelete
http://www.deprice.com/winundelete.htm
WinUndelete™ is an easy to use undelete software utility to recover deleted files from hard drives, floppy disks, zip drives, USB external flash drives, digital camera cards, and more. Its unique and exclusive SmartScan technology completes those impossible recovery tasks that other software cannot touch - SmartScan quickly locates and restores deleted files. WinUndelete works with Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, 2003 and can recover data from both FAT and NTFS file systems.

Filerecovery Professional
http://www.deprice.com/filerecoveryprofessional.htm
FILERECOVERY Professional can detect drives even if they are not visible in explorer. The full directory structure of the drive is displayed (Even on NTFS Drives where it is recoverable) and the built in search feature makes finding files much easier. The Recovery Wizard allows even novice users to successfully recover lost data. Supports Hard Drives, RAIDS, Most Removable Media, SmartMedia, CompactFlash, Memory Sticks and Micro Drives.

BadCopy Pro
http://www.deprice.com/badcopypro.htm
BadCopy Pro is a leading data recovery software for floppy disks, CD-ROMs, CD-R/Ws, digital media, zip disks, and other storage media. BadCopy Pro can effectively recover and rescue corrupted or lost data from damaged, unreadable, or defective disks. The software supports all kinds of damage situations and all file types.

Recover My Files
http://www.deprice.com/recovermyfiles.htm
Recover My Files Data Recovery Software will bring back files emptied from the Recycle Bin, from a formatted disk, lost due to a system crash or virus infection, and will even recover temporary files for documents never even saved. Recovery takes 4 simple steps, no technical skill is required. Recover My Files Data Recovery Software will recover documents that undelete programs won't find! It searches every sector of your hard drive to recognize deleted files by their internal format. You may be surprised what deleted documents are lurking on your hard disk without your knowledge. The demo includes a FREE Preview which allows you to see deleted files before you decide to buy.

Recover My Photos
http://www.deprice.com/recovermyphotos.htm
Recover My Photos is a powerful data recovery program to recover deleted photos including JPEG, NEF, TIFF, BMP, MOV, MPEG and WAV. Works on Smart Media, Compact Flash, Memory Sticks, hard drives, floppy disks, Zip disks, USB drives. With Recover My Photos you can recover your precious photos even after your digital camera media has been formatted.

John Deprice knows all the inside secrets of picking the right software to recover files. He makes his findings publically available at http://www.deprice.com/utilities.htm

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_Deprice

One Method of Data Recovery from a Dead Hard Drive

Here is the situation. A laptop comes to us with a dead hard drive. Unfortunately, the user needs some files off the dead drive. After much research on the internet and a couple of data recovery quotes we decide to try and recover the information ourselves.
Luckily for us the drive won't spin up at all. I say luckily because the usual problem is that the circuit board on the bottom of the drive went bad. That doesn't mean that something else isn't the problem, but replacing the circuit board is the simplest thing to try.
The first thing needed is another hard drive. That may sound easy but it isn't. You need an identical hard drive, and by identical I mean the same model number, part number, firmware, everything. In our case we had a Hitachi Travelstar hard drive that had three numbers to match. The important numbers were the model number, part number, and MLC number. I believe the MLC number has something to do with the firmware revision but don't quote me on that. After speaking with Hitachi I was referred to a company called CueTech. They specialize in finding "hard to find" or obsolete computer parts. The wanted to charge between $200 and $400 for the drive, which I thought was reasonable for the work required to find one. Instead of using them I decided to search on my own and after two days, still had not found another drive for sale that met my needs. We then started looking in house for similar laptops and found one that had an identical drive. Now we were in business.
Now that we had our drive, we needed to protect ourselves because the user wanted their machine back in working order. So before we started any kind of surgery we made a ghost image of their hard drive. After waiting the 20 minutes or so for the backup to finish we began the surgery. First we removed the hard drive from the working system and laid it on a static pad with the circuit board up. We then used a T-5 Torx drive to remove the screws securing the circuit board to the hard drive. Your drive may need a different size or style of screwdriver. We then repeated the process on the bad drive. We put the circuit board from the good drive onto the dead hard drive and placed it back in the laptop. It booted! As soon as we new it worked we then setup the system to make a quick drive image. After waiting another 20 minutes we had a drive image of the bad hard drive and our data was recovered.
To finish the process we had to put the circuit board back on the original good hard drive and verify that it was working correctly. Once that was completed and the laptop returned to its owner, we installed a brand new hard drive in the system that had the original issue. The last step was to restore the drive image to the new hard drive, verify that it worked, and give the laptop back to the owner.

Gary Higbeehttp://www.greatnorthcomputing.com - A community for SysAdmins and Programmers.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Gary_Higbee

200 ways to revive a hard drive - Freeze it (Part II)

11.
How do you bring a hard drive back to life?
My situation:
Half of a volume set goes south on a WinNT server, no good backup and an angry boss screaming about
the data being mission critical.
My solution:
** A bit unorthodox but, it has saved my butt! **
•Turn off the server.
•Take out the failing hard drive and wrap a static bag around it.
•Throw it in the freezer conveniently located in the break room.
•Pray for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
•Leaving the hard drive in the bag, quickly plug the drive back into the server. (Just plug the in cables and go.)
•Cross fingers, turn it on, and move all data off the drive as fast as you can! Then add a tape drive and start backing the dumb thing up!
My so-called logic:
Metal contracts when it is cold.... so the platters shrink and increase the clearance for the read/write heads.
12.
Put the drive in the freezer for about a week and then you can usually get one last read off the drive.
13.
Here are some drive recovery tricks that have worked for me, in the order that I do them. Try booting the
drive and copying the data off after every step.
1. Hold the drive upside down, making gravity change the head geometry ever so slightly. Vertical is also
another option.
2. Slightly rap the drive with your knuckle, (but nowhere near hard enough to damage the drive).
3. Try the drive in another machine, (slight drive voltage change assumed to be the miracle worker here).
4. Rap the drive just SLIGHTLY harder than you did above in 2.
5. Freeze the hard drive in the freezer for two hours, and place in a plastic zip lock bag to prevent
condensation from forming on the drive when you plug it back into the system, (head geometry, electrical
resistance lowered, electrical contact points adjusted, etc., assumed to be the miracle here).
6. After the drive warms up to room temperature or better, rap it even harder with your knuckle this time.
7. Repeat all of above steps on next day, as sometimes I've gotten data off drive simply by trying again.
14.
Hmmm sounds like a toughy to me. Back in the old days when I first started teching, if we ran into a problem like this, there were only a few ways to deal with it. I will go over these options now:
QUESTION: What do you think you can do about this, Mr. Tech?
First Answe—r—Nothing, your computer is too old, and the data on there is not really of that much importance. If you really want it back, you can get a hold of a company called "Total Recall" out of Denverand get charged thousands of dollars to get your files back. Besides, with Y2K, this machine ain’t gonna run anyway, and prices are so low right now, there is no reason why you should not upgrade now.
2) Well, I can take it back to the shop and pretend like I know what I am doing for 3-6 hours. Then I will call you the for the next week and a half giving you excuses as to why I am not able to get your information off of that hard drive. Of course, I won’t charge you anything, but I will expect compensation for all the time I wasted on your hard drive.
3) I could take the hard drive out of your machine, plug into my Secondary IDE controller, and boot up. Hope fully, I can see your hard drive and have the ability to copy all of your files to a temp folder on my
machine called "Your Name." After I collect all information, I would run IBM's WIPE on the drive and then a thorough scandisk, just to see if the cause was sunspot related or not. If......this was not working, then extreme temperatures always have a way of talking older hard drives into giving us what we want. I would then wrap the HD in a Zip lock bag and slam it in the freezer for 12 hours. Pull it out the next day and very quickly plug it into my machine, copying what I can as quickly as possible until the drive dies again, repeating until all files are copied and safe. If.....that don’t work, move onto the extreme heat. A Shrink wrap gun works best, but a hairdryer will do the trick if that is all you have. Wrap one end of the HD in a
towel and use the shrink wrap gun or dryer to heat the hard drive. Very quickly plug it in and copy files until finished. Repeat until all necessary files are copied and you are done.
You may not think it works, but when you are down to that as your last option...it does.
15.
Solution:
•Carefully remove it from the computer.
•Place it in the freezer for 24 hours, then put it back in the computer. You should have approximately 30 minutes of good spin time left before a fina–l—and much more permanen–t—shut down. This problem often arises from a catastrophic hard disk crash—bearings are usually the culprit, coupled with badly worn read/write heads. I've used this technique on many computers throughout the last fifteen years as "resident expert" and saved virtually all important data. If you're in a pinch for time, such as critical data needed for a briefing in twenty minutes, you can opt for the more drastic cooling technique—a C02 fire extinguisher...
16.
Here is a solution for really dead drives: ones that won't spin or ones that make those funny grinding noises: Put the drive in the fridge for a few hours. This can shrink up something inside that might let it run long enough to get critical data. If not, try the freezer for a few more.
This actually has worked for me in the past.
17.
Things we have done in the past that worked:
1. Remove the drive, grab it, and shake the hell out of it: "What could it hurt? It's not working anyway…."
2. Place the drive in a freezer for about 10 minutes.
3. Open the drive case in a laminar flow-hood, and give it a spin. (Once it was closed up and reinstalled, it worked long enough to suck the data off of it.)
4. Swap the logic board with one on another drive of the same type.
Numbers 1, 2, and 3 worked with older Seagate (which we no longer purchase) drives, which were prone to "stiction" problems. Number 4 worked following an electrical surge (lightning strike), since the data on the platters were still there and OK.
18.
Depending on the drive failure I have had success with some rather extreme solutions to data recovery.
Symptom: Invalid Drive Specifications
Treatment: Basic Check your cmos battery
Check your IDE cable and connections
Check your jumper settings
Remove all other IDE connections but the drive in question
Advanced Try disk manager software
Try data recovery software
Use a bios upgrade card ($39) and allow it to setup the drive
Look up the drive specifications on the manufacturer’s Web site and plug them in manually.
Turn Off or On Write Precomp—32bit disk access
Symptom: Drive does not spin up: "Sticktion"
Treatment: Basics Lightly tap the side of the drive case with a screwdrive–r—no power
Lightly tap the side of the drive case with a screwdriver–—power on
Advanced Cold soak the drive: Freeze in a zip-lock bag
Spray drive case with inverted can of canned air
Lightly slap the drive on a desk top: (mild frustration)
Repeated hammering of the drive on a desk top: (last resort—total
frustration only)
Symptom: Invalid media type
Treatment: Basics Boot with a FAT32 Windows 95 boot disk Sys the drive
Advanced fdisk /mbr
Check for a virus from a known clean boot disk
These are but a few techniques for the doomed platters. These techniques can be used in conjunction with one another to arrive at the desired solution. Lather, rinse, and repeat if necessary.

200 ways to revive a hard drive Part I - Freeze it

200 ways to revive a hard drive Part I - Freeze it
1. One trick I have learned as a technician, when the problem is data-read errors off the platters themselves,is to freeze the hard drive overnight. It makes the data more 'readable,' but for a one-shot deal. If thisdata is critical, and you have a replacement hard drive (which, if it's a drive failure, you probably do), then you can hook up your frozen hard drive and immediately fetch the data off before it warms up.
2. If the problem is heat related, I put the drive in the freezer for about 15 minutes to cool it down...sometimes this gets the drive up long enough to copy any critical files...
3. Put the drive in a waterproof sealed bag, put it in the fridge for an hour or so, then have another go.
4. Well, I won't start playing with your specific situation, too many steps or possible solutions where everything starts "If that last thing didn't work try..." But I'll give you one for free that was a nice hero moment for me. Had a drive where it sounded like thedrive motor was engaging but not getting anywhere, so we stuck it in the office freezer for an hour! I'll be darned if it didn't work. The drive was up long enough to get the data ghosted to another drive and weturfed it, even though it sounded fine at that point. I can't really take credit for it though—I had heard it in some geek bull session but I thought it was some jedi-geek urban myth. Goes to show you that you know you're really screwed when you say something to the effect of "Okay, hold on tight, I'm gonna try something I saw in a cartoon once but I'm pretty sure I can do it"
5. If this drive isn't spinning up, putting it in the freezer for about an hour will usually get the drive spinning again so you can copy needed files before the drive warms up again. The first thing you want to do is run a disk utility like Norton disk doctor or wddiag (if it's a western digital drive) to verify whether the drive is working mechanically or not. If it is a master boot record problem, sometimes running Fdisk/mbr will correct the problem. It could also be a virus, and a program like F-prot will look at the drive as a physical unit. As an A+ PC technician I have seen this problem many times. Usually if the drive is not making a clicking sound I am successful in recovering the data.
6. I've run into this scenario numerous times. One time it involved the main Novell SYS volume on our HPFile Server. I was really sweating as the server would not boot. I took the drive out and put it in a freezerfor 30 minutes. I then reinstalled it into the file server and Presto! I was up and running. Need less to say I quickly mirrored the drive onto another and got rid of the bad drive. In stand alone client systems, the method I've had the most luck with reviving drives from death has been removing the drive, firmly tapping the top of its case several times, and then re-installing it making sure all cables are secure. I've had a better than 60 percent success rate with this method.
7. If the drive is spinning and you are experiencing these kinds of errors, my experience has been that you are out of luck. If the drive is not spinning, I have been able to remove it from the computer and 'spin' the drive on a flat smooth surface (much like spin the bottle). This will usually free the drive and when placed back in the machine, it will boot. You should immediately back up you data after a successful boot, because the problem will return.The next 'fix' was actually given to me by a Compaq technician several years ago. I had a drive that would not spin and he told me to put the drive in a plastic bag in the freezer overnight and then install back in the computer. Believe it or not, the drive booted. I have only tried this the one time.
8. In the past, when a drive has failed after it has been running for a short period, I have removed it from the machine and placed it in a freezer for a couple of hours, then hooked it up again. It sometimes will run long enough to remove the data to another safe storage medium.
9. One of the methods I have used before (sometimes even successfully) is to actually remove the drive from the PC, place it in the freezer for a day, then quickly put it back in the machine and try to access it. Why does this work? Who knows, but I heard about this tactic years ago, and it has saved my behind on a couple of occasions. (Of course, if it comes back up, back up the data immediately.... Guess that should go without saying.)
10. Hard drive revival: A technique I have learned is if you bring the temperature of the hard drive down to the freezing point by putting it in a freezer first and then taking it back out, somehow the condensation from bringing it back to room temperature helps revive it for about 20 minutes. It can be repeated about 5-6 times tops. Long enough to get out any important files that need to be backed up. It has been proven to work a number of times.

OST File Recovery and PST File Recovery

Email communication has expanded itself from professionals to normal home users. As a child enters into teenage, he becomes familiar with the power and usefulness of email communication and uses emails to correspond within his circle of friends and relatives. If we quickly look at some of the public email portals like Yahoo, Hotmail, Rediff etc; it can be analyzed that these portals regularly increase email storage limits for its users and as long more space is provided will thus encourage the user to utilize it.
Email communication proves more useful in the corporate world where hundreds of emails are exchanged daily between the professionals. They could be meeting notices, memorandums, important business attachments or simple emails of well being. If the importance of email communication has increased, so has increased the importance of data storage and the level of corruptions of email messages. This importance has resulted into duplication of data and information, data archives, and waste of hard drive storage space.
Email Storage :
As you receive many emails in a day, have you ever wondered where these emails get stored? The answer could be an email server or on the user’s computer system. MS Outlook and Outlook Express are the widely used email clients because of their ease of use and user friendly features. While working on MS Outlook, the email files are stored in PST and OST file formats and an exchange server is maintained to handle the incoming and outgoing emails. Now arise the common questions; what is exchange server, .pst files and .ost files and how are they used to store emails?
Microsoft Exchange Server -
Microsoft Exchange Server is a messaging system which supports transfer of internal and external electronic messages. The application is widely used in organizations where Microsoft infrastructure solutions are used. The exchange server stores data in highly organized relational database with the help of algorithms thus helps in transfer of mails and manages communication between other Exchange servers also.
How does Exchange Server work?
As the Exchange server stores messages and manages incoming and outgoing process of emails, the working of the messaging server also becomes a crucial point. The process of receiving, sending and managing the messages by Exchange server is as follows:
Step 1: The client connects to the server and sends the message. Step 2: The exchange server then processes the message and determines saving location in the messaging database.Step 3: The recipient of the message is notified by the server.Step 4: The client to receive the message connects to the server and receives the message.
The simple working of the exchange server makes it easy for us to send and receive messages, thus transferring data electronically.
MS Outlook – Personal Storage Files -
“The file where MS Exchange server delivers messages”
The Personal Storage File (.pst) is the most robust storage container of emails and MS Outlook has the ability to store and deliver messages in the .pst file format, other file types can also be stored inside the PST file. But the PST file can get corrupt due to accidental file deletion, virus attacks or it can get damaged internally causing into data loss. There are number of email recovery and pst recovery software which effectively recovers mails and data from the corrupt pst files.
MS Outlook – Offline Storage Files -
“The storage file where emails and other information can be stored, which can also be accessed offline.”
In the corporate arena, Exchange Servers are used to store email messages. The Outlook Offline Storage Folder (.OST) in Microsoft Outlook provides unique synchronization method with an Exchange Server and existing mailbox accounts. The OST file gets stored on a users computer system which constantly gets synchronized with the Exchange mailbox account, which results into duplication of data on exchange server and on the user’s system. Access to .ost file requires an Exchange mailbox account, and if the mailbox is damaged, missing or removed, the .ost file will not open. For this you need to convert the .ost file to .pst file on your own or try the exchange ost recovery software.
Here I would like to guide you with some simple steps, following which you can convert the damaged .ost file to .pst file successfully in Outlook 2002 or 2003. This is the method which worked for me:
1. Backup the ost file(s)2. Rename the outlook.ost file to outlook.pst file3. Use scanpst.exe from Outlook 2002 to repair the outlook.pst file. (C: Program FilesCommon FilesSystemMSMapi1033)4. Rename outlook.pst back to outlook.ost5. Run OST to PST which will then successfully convert the file to outlook.pst6. MS Outlook will then open the outlook.pst file
OST/PST file formats are very complex and are designed around relational database concepts. The messages in these files are organized in hierarchical format using folders to store the messages. If the above mentioned steps do not work in your case of corruption, then it might be due to major corruption which can be effectively repaired by the ost recovery software. There are number of OST file recovery and PST file recovery software to convert and repair your damaged email files.
Nucleus Data Recovery: The Solution Provider
Nucleus Data Recovery is the premier provider of data recovery software and data recovery services. Kernel Recovery for OST is such corrupt ost recovery software which effectively converts .ost files to .pst files which become inaccessible due to virus attacks, exchange server crashes, accidental deletions and database corruptions. The pst recovery software effectively repairs outlook pst emails with complete emails, attachments, email properties etc. The ost conversion software is powerful and equipped with proprietary QFSCI technology to perform effective conversion and fast recovery of emails, attachments, images etc.
Nucleus’s team of engineers has developed result-oriented Kernel recovery tools which are best in the data recovery industry and we constantly work hard to deliver the latest recovery tools. Knowledge, Experience and Expertise have made Nucleus Data recovery stand amongst the best and professional data recovery software provider – thus providing relief to its valuable users at the time of data loss.
Nucleus Data Recovery is always there to help!
Neha Gupta is a technical writer for Nucleus Data Recovery, provider of the best data recovery software and data recovery services. The Kernel recovery tools are developed for email recovery, database recovery, tape recovery, backup recovery.Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nehaa_Gupta

What Causes "Inaccessible Boot Device" Stop Error 0x0000007B?

An inaccessible boot device stop error can be caused by any of the following and typically associated with an error in the Windows operating system or hardware upgrade. Some common causes could include:
* A boot sector virus
* Corrupt Windows registry
* Upgrading the motherboard in your computer
Not all inaccessible boot device errors are caused by the operating system. Sometimes they may be the result of a physical hard drive crash or damage to the disk drive.
* Moving a boot drive from one computer to another
* Bad or partially connected data cables
* Bad sectors on the hard drive
* Power surge or outage
The most commonly recommended solution to this inaccessible boot device error is to format the hard drive and run a fresh reinstall of the operating system.
There is a problem with this recommendation...You will lose your data! You should only reinstall or format the hard drive if you are absolutely sure you do not need any of the files from it (you can only be sure after you check your backups).
Customers and technicians alike who thought they had backed up or saved their data from a hard drive only to realize that after formatting, there were files that hadn't been saved or weren't included in the backup session.
In most cases, data can be recovered after a hard drive has been formatted or after a fresh install of the operating system has been performed. However, there is always a risk that all of your data may not be recoverable, especially if the drive has been used after the format or reinstall.
Technical Support Told Me To! Nearly every day technical support technicians tell users to run their recovery disk. This is not a solution if you don't want to lose your data! An experienced data recovery specialist can usually recover data at this point, but e-mail and other files may be corrupt and it's tough to get a 100% recovery.
When it comes to recovering vital data from a crashed hard drive, you need to choose a company that has the experience, training, and equipment necessary to recover your files.
Jason Perry
ADR Data Recovery is available to evaluate the damage and potentially recover your lost data. For more information on ADR Data Recovery's service, visit http://www.adrdatarecovery.com.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jason_Perry

5 Simple Tips to Prevent MS Access Database Corruption

It's important to understand that any time an Access client disconnects unexpectedly, it may set a "corruption flag" in the .mdb file indicating that the database is in a corrupt state (regardless of whether any data has actually been corrupted or not). Any user who attempts to open the database while this flag is set will receive a message, and the database will have to be repaired before it can be used. If the users don't have permission to perform the repair, or don't know how to perform the repair, there may be significant downtime before the database is available again. This can result in a loss of productivity as well as extreme frustration for the users. Following the 5 tips below will minimize your odds of data loss from corruption in your Access databases.
1) Split your database.
The single most important thing you can do to prevent corruption in MS Access databases is to split the database into a "front-end" and a "back-end". The front-end contains all of the forms, queries, and reports, while the back-end contains only the data tables. A copy of the front-end is placed on each user's computer, and the back-end with the table data is stored in a shared folder on the network. How does this prevent corruption? Well, consider the amount of information that must make it across your network to your computer each time you open a form or report. If one bit of that information doesn't make it intact, you risk corrupting your database. Alternatively, if the forms, queries and reports are all stored on your local computer, then the only bit of information that needs to traverse the network is the actual table data. By reducing the amount of data you need to move back and forth across the network, you significantly reduce the chances of corrupting your database. If you're having corruption problems with an Access database on a network drive, splitting the database is the single most important thing you can do to stop it.
2) Don't hold connections open.
This one applies to both programmers and users. If you're a programmer, make sure you close your connections as soon as possible after using them. Leaving the connections open will allow more opportunities for an "unexpected" dropped connection. The only time you may want to leave a connection open longer than required would when it's used inside a loop. For such a case, open the connection at the beginning of the loop, and then close it after the loop is completed. Just make sure it gets closed for all cases (including exceptions).
If you're using a Microsoft Access database or application, be sure to close it when you're finished. Again, leaving the application open provides the opportunity for corruption if a network connection is lost. Remind users to always close the application before going home, as nightly backup jobs may fail or cause corruption in the shared file if there are open connections.
3) Exit the database correctly.
Always close the database or application correctly. Ctrl-Alt-Delete/End Task can wreak havoc on Access databases. Whenever possible, complete your tasks, then close the application using the File - Exit menu option or alternative Exit option provided by the application.
4) Don't skimp on hardware.
Remember that the corruption flag can be set from the slightest packet loss between your computer and the database file. MS Access has sometimes been called "the canary in the coal mine". It has gained this reputation from being the first application to "die" when there's the slightest hint of trouble on your network. Just like the slightest presence of gas caused the canary to die, the slightest presence of network problems and packet loss can kill your Access applications. Make sure you're not using the cheap built-in NICs that come with some PCs. Instead, use brand name network cards. The same goes for cheap hubs. Whenever possible, match good brands of equipment throughout your network.
5) Compact and repair regularly.
Performing the built-in compact and repair function regularly is recommended to prevent corruption and improve performance. Consider automating this function with a utility to compact and repair all of your databases nightly or during the weekend.
Error messages to look out for - the following error messages may signal database corruption:
"The database 'databasename.mdb' needs to be repaired or isn't a Microsoft Access database file."
"Record(s) can't be read, no read permissions on 'databasename.mdb'"
"Unexpected Error 35012"
"Unrecognized database format ‘databasename.mdb'."
"‘databasename.mdb' isn't an index in this table. Look in the Indexes collection of the TableDef object to determine the valid index names."
"The Microsoft Jet database engine could not find the object 'databases'. Make sure the object exists and that you spell its name and path name correctly."
"The database has been placed in a state by user '' on machine '' that prevents it from being opened or locked"
"Disk Error -- Reserved error (-1601)"
"The database has been placed in an unexpected state."
"Record(s) cannot be read; no read permission on 'MSysObjects'"
"Record(s) cannot be read; no read permission on 'MSysACEs'."
"The Microsoft Jet database engine cannot find the input table or query 'MSysAccessObjects'. Make sure it exists and that its name is spelled correctly."
Conclusion:
While you may never be able to prevent all Microsoft Access database corruption, you should be able to stop 98% of the problems before they occur by following these 5 simple tips. Follow these tips and implement a prudent automated backup schedule to minimize your odds of significant data loss.
Kevin Sparks is a technical writer for Kaizen Software Solutions, the producer of Digital DBA, an automated MS Access monitoring, backup, and compact/repair utility. For more information, visit their website at http://www.kzsoftware.com/products/digitaldba
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kevin_Sparks

Protecting Your Data - six steps to avoid digital data loss

There is no better way in XXI century to get in to trouble than to lose your digital data. Digital data loss is no longer a problem of the big companies and IT businesses. Now we all use electronic banking, e-mail services,online shopping etc. Losing contact information and vital documents from your hard drive can be painful and expensive without mentioning possible legal or career problems.
During recent years we at Data Recovery Specialists Ltd have noticed a huge increase in enquiries. Our free inspection and analysis of each case and emergency service for lost data, drives to us hundreds of people in tears who desperately want their data back. All that worry was due to the problems which could occur after they lost data from their HDDs, DVDs, Servers etc. We came across lost projects, essays and conference speeches, lost databases and contact databases, lost customers orders for e-commerce websites and bookkeeping files - we recover 95% of this data. We also noticed that in most of these cases, data loss could be avoided if the principal rules would be implemented.
To make it clear we came up with a list of six ways to avoid data recovery in the future. We recommend everyone to implement at least some of the following procedures:
1. Backup your data regularly,preferably to a separate hard drive (either internal or external) and also to removable media. Store the removable media in a separate building. Consider a batch program, which will run incremental backups at the end of each day. Do not rely on the verification process as this may not identify logical corruption - the only safe way to ensure the integrity of your backups is to restore them.
2. Ensure that you have adequate virus and spyware protection and that it is updated daily from the internet.Complete weekly scans and quarantine or remove any suspect files. Remember that any removable media that has come into contact with your machine has probably also been infected.
3. Do NOT store your data in any Windows or Mac default directory (eg "My Documents, Program Files" etc).This is the first place a virus or worm will seek to infect or destroy. Rename directories logically and store them under the root directory.
4. Partition your hard drive,storing your data, email databases, and program files on their own and separate to the operating system and application files. In the event of a failure the start-up and shutdown will not not affect your data. In the event of data loss, it also makes data recovery much easier with greater chances of success.
5. Export your address book and emails to removable storage regularly.Compress files to reduce size and delete unwanted emails. Ensure that your pst file remains below 2GB to avoid corruption.
6. Avoid using tools or utilities that test your computer,verify system configurations, repair corruption etc. Maintain your data by removing unwanted files and applications, running disk cleanup/check disk and defragmenting (DO NOT allow check disk to run on boot up if you have experienced data loss).
If you will implement those six principals when working with your digital data you can be much more confident that your digital world is not going to collapse in 2007.

About the Author
With 40 years experience, Data Recovery Specialists Ltd (http://www.datarecoveryspecialist.co.uk/) offer a data recovery service for most types and forms of corrupted or damaged storage media. If your data is lost just give us a call on 01737379999 or 02920706360 or send an email to service@datarecoveryspecialists.co.uk We will ask you a simple questions and give you an immediate estimate for recovering your data.
Article Source: http://www.goarticles.com

Data Recovery: 3 Steps To Fix It by Michael Lewis

When do you need data recovery help? There are going to be those times when you just delete the wrong file or lose your data when your computer somehow loses power. But, what about the event of hard drive failure? What in the world can you do then to repair the lost data that you have? There are several things that you will want to do to get that data back. Luckily, today's computers are often powerful tools that have some helpful strategies to prevent and restore these problems.
Step 1: Determine what has happened. If you find that you have an error message on your screen, jot it down. That is a clue as to what happened. You may need to contact your provider to access help. If your data is gone, and you can not find it in your recycle bin, keep track of what happened.
Step 2: Try your recovery system. Most computers today have a back up that will save what you are working on as you are working on it. This can be helpful in providing you with the necessary help you need in finding files that are just lost.
Step 3: If these things are not enough to restore any of the data that you have lost, or you have had a hard drive crash, it is essential to use a good quality data recovery product or software tool to help in restoring at least some of it. If your system does not come with this, which most do not, you will need to purchase it. But, it can help to restore data that is far more worthwhile to you when you think that everything is gone.
Even with data recovery software and the best computer technicians, not everything can be successfully recovered. If nothing else, you can learn from this and keep everything on your computer backed up onto a removable disk. Consider doing this at least weekly if you use your computer for quite a bit of storage, monthly otherwise.
About the Author
Michael Lewis is an editor at BusinessSoftwareAndTools.com where you can find more articles about data recovery solutions.

Article Source:http://www.goarticles.com/

I Lost It! Simple Guide To Recovering Corrupted Images And Files

WinUndeletehttp://www.deprice.com/winundelete.htm
WinUndelete™ is an easy to use undelete software utility to recover deleted files from hard drives, floppy disks, zip drives, USB external flash drives, digital camera cards, and more. Its unique and exclusive SmartScan technology completes those impossible recovery tasks that other software cannot touch - SmartScan quickly locates and restores deleted files. WinUndelete works with Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP, 2003 and can recover data from both FAT and NTFS file systems.
Filerecovery Professionalhttp://www.deprice.com/filerecoveryprofessional.htm
FILERECOVERY Professional can detect drives even if they are not visible in explorer. The full directory structure of the drive is displayed (Even on NTFS Drives where it is recoverable) and the built in search feature makes finding files much easier. The Recovery Wizard allows even novice users to successfully recover lost data. Supports Hard Drives, RAIDS, Most Removable Media, SmartMedia, CompactFlash, Memory Sticks and Micro Drives.
BadCopy Prohttp://www.deprice.com/badcopypro.htm
BadCopy Pro is a leading data recovery software for floppy disks, CD-ROMs, CD-R/Ws, digital media, zip disks, and other storage media. BadCopy Pro can effectively recover and rescue corrupted or lost data from damaged, unreadable, or defective disks. The software supports all kinds of damage situations and all file types.
Recover My Fileshttp://www.deprice.com/recovermyfiles.htm
Recover My Files Data Recovery Software will bring back files emptied from the Recycle Bin, from a formatted disk, lost due to a system crash or virus infection, and will even recover temporary files for documents never even saved. Recovery takes 4 simple steps, no technical skill is required. Recover My Files Data Recovery Software will recover documents that undelete programs won't find! It searches every sector of your hard drive to recognize deleted files by their internal format. You may be surprised what deleted documents are lurking on your hard disk without your knowledge. The demo includes a FREE Preview which allows you to see deleted files before you decide to buy.
Recover My Photoshttp://www.deprice.com/recovermyphotos.htm
Recover My Photos is a powerful data recovery program to recover deleted photos including JPEG, NEF, TIFF, BMP, MOV, MPEG and WAV. Works on Smart Media, Compact Flash, Memory Sticks, hard drives, floppy disks, Zip disks, USB drives. With Recover My Photos you can recover your precious photos even after your digital camera media has been formatted.
John Deprice knows all the inside secrets of picking the right software to recover files. He makes his findings publically available at http://www.deprice.com/utilities.htm
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One Method of Data Recovery from a Dead Hard Drive

Here is the situation. A laptop comes to us with a dead hard drive. Unfortunately, the user needs some files off the dead drive. After much research on the internet and a couple of data recovery quotes we decide to try and recover the information ourselves.
Luckily for us the drive won't spin up at all. I say luckily because the usual problem is that the circuit board on the bottom of the drive went bad. That doesn't mean that something else isn't the problem, but replacing the circuit board is the simplest thing to try.
The first thing needed is another hard drive. That may sound easy but it isn't. You need an identical hard drive, and by identical I mean the same model number, part number, firmware, everything. In our case we had a Hitachi Travelstar hard drive that had three numbers to match. The important numbers were the model number, part number, and MLC number. I believe the MLC number has something to do with the firmware revision but don't quote me on that. After speaking with Hitachi I was referred to a company called CueTech. They specialize in finding "hard to find" or obsolete computer parts. The wanted to charge between $200 and $400 for the drive, which I thought was reasonable for the work required to find one. Instead of using them I decided to search on my own and after two days, still had not found another drive for sale that met my needs. We then started looking in house for similar laptops and found one that had an identical drive. Now we were in business.
Now that we had our drive, we needed to protect ourselves because the user wanted their machine back in working order. So before we started any kind of surgery we made a ghost image of their hard drive. After waiting the 20 minutes or so for the backup to finish we began the surgery. First we removed the hard drive from the working system and laid it on a static pad with the circuit board up. We then used a T-5 Torx drive to remove the screws securing the circuit board to the hard drive. Your drive may need a different size or style of screwdriver. We then repeated the process on the bad drive. We put the circuit board from the good drive onto the dead hard drive and placed it back in the laptop. It booted! As soon as we new it worked we then setup the system to make a quick drive image. After waiting another 20 minutes we had a drive image of the bad hard drive and our data was recovered.
To finish the process we had to put the circuit board back on the original good hard drive and verify that it was working correctly. Once that was completed and the laptop returned to its owner, we installed a brand new hard drive in the system that had the original issue. The last step was to restore the drive image to the new hard drive, verify that it worked, and give the laptop back to the owner.
Gary Higbeehttp://www.greatnorthcomputing.com - A community for SysAdmins and Programmers.
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10 Simple Tips to Prevent Data Loss

Regardless of which hard drive brand you own, it is just a matter of time before you will need data recovery. Whether it is due to mechanical failure or otherwise, hard drive data recovery for laptops, single hard drive servers, and RAID servers are required for a variety of reasons;
Data corruption due to a virus
Hard drive repair due to natural disasters (fire, flooding, lightning)
Data restoration for crushed or physically damaged hard drives
Hard drive failure due to corrupted operating system upgrades
Data loss due to formatting a hard drive
Multiple hard drive failures in a RAID arrayAt least there’s a little bit of good news: It is very likely that your data is not deleted and lost forever, especially if you take a few steps to protect your critical data ahead of time.
If you’d like to reduce your chances of requiring data recovery, consider giving some of these free or low-cost tips a try.
1. Back-up your critical files. With the ability to store data on CDs on a weekly or monthly basis, a small investment in a stack of CDs will save you from loosing your critical documents, files, priceless images and MP3s.
2. Run some sort of Anti-Virus Program. Viruses get into your computer a variety of ways; by reading an infected attachment in your e-mail, by sharing files (which are already infected), and by visiting websites that take advantage of security flaws to compromise and destroy your data.
3. Use power surge protectors. A power surge, either from the power company or a lightning storm, is one of the most common occurrences that can damage your data and potentially cause a hard drive failure.
4. Experience required. Never attempt any operation, like hard drive installations or hard drive repairs, which you don't have experience with. If you don't know how to install a second hard drive or rebuild a RAID, it would be best to get expert assistance before you accidently cause yourself data loss.
5. Shut down your computer. Always quit your programs before shutting down your computer. When you quit a program, it saves vital data and then exits the program. If you just turn off your computer without properly exiting your applications and closing your files, you run the risk of loosing your data.
6. Never shake or remove the covers on hard drives or tapes. Please don't disassemble your hard drive. In nearly all examples of this, data is usually not recoverable once an inexperienced person attempts to 'investigate' where that 'strange clicking noise' is coming from. Leave the diagnostics to a data recovery specialist who has experience with all types of hard drives and knows how to perform a successful data recovery.
7. Store your backup data offsite. While it is always a good idea to backup your critical data, if your data is stored at the same location as your server and there is a natural disaster, a fire or flood for example, odds are that you will still require data recovery on the hard drives, or tape restoration to get your data restored.
8. Beware of diagnostic programs. While it is a good idea to check the health of your computer running diagnostics software, be careful with allowing such programs to repair data files it may find. Check Disk can be your friend, but also may make it more difficult to recover data from a hard drive which has had such diagnostic programs run on it.
9. Be aware of your surroundings. Keep your computers and servers in safe and secure locations from accidentally getting knocked over, dropped, or spilled on. Laptops, while convenient to use, are often dropped and require hard drive data recovery. Just because it is a nice day and you are casually working by the pool with your laptop, don't assume that the guy jumping into the pool realizes his tidal splash will not only soak you...but ruin your laptop and require hard drive recovery for your critical data.
10. Backup your critical files. Worth mentioning again. Using CDs or even an external USB hard drive for data storage can potentially save you from having to hire a data recovery service to perform hard drive data recovery on your hard drive or RAID server.
ADR Data Recovery has 18 Regional Labs and 22 Service Centers across the nation. ADR Data Recovery uses the latest technologies—including a unique, proprietary method—to restore recoverable data. Even the most difficult of data recoveries from crashed hard disk drives (hardware, software, viruses, fire or flooding), SQL and Exchange servers, failed RAID arrays, backup tapes, and other storage devices can be recovered successfully.
Jason Perry

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