Data Loss- What is it & How does it occur?
Data loss is the unintended destruction of user’s data. Data loss can occur in different forms. A user’s system-data may be permanently deleted, corrupted or become unreadable because of a number of reasons.
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To small businesses in the USA, data loss costs roughly $75 Billion annually. Human errors, hardware failures and software issues are some of the major reasons behind data loss.
Microsoft’s newly launched Windows File Recovery addresses this problem; it allows users to recover deleted files and those corrupted by hardware failure or bad sectors.
In order to understand the functioning of this utility, let us first discuss the common reasons behind data loss.
Causes
Data loss may occur due to one or more reasons. Following are several possibilities that may trigger data loss:
Bad Sectors
Defective sectors of your hard disk may cause trouble in recovering your information. If the sectors that contain your information are defective in nature, your operating system, word-processing software or image viewer may fail to read data. The basic read and write requests may fail. Bad sectors are further divided into two types:
Hard Bad Sectors: Physical damage to your hard disk can cause hard bad sectors. Dropping your hard drive from height, damage to head or platter, wear and tear and dust can make it difficult, or sometimes impossible, to recover your data.
Soft Bad Sectors: These are relatively minor issues that can be fixed at home. Your OS may have failed to retrieve the data due to the mismatch between error-connecting code and contents of the sector. When it occurs, you may simply run the Windows Error Checking utility, or your operating system should automatically overwrite your drives with zeroes to diagnose the problem. Soft bad sector issues occur due to unexpected system shutdown, sudden power failure, or in case of a major virus or a malware infection to your machine.
Accidental File Deletion
Accidentally deleting an important file is not unusual. Normally, deleted files are moved to the Recycle Bin but what if you’ve already emptied Recycle Bin contents?
As soon as you delete a file from the Recycle Bin, Windows removes references to that file. Even though the files may appear deleted, they may continue to exist on your hard disk. Using your computer for a prolonged time period will eventually overwrite your deleted data with newer files. This can make it difficult or almost impossible to recover your file. Even if you manage to recover the file, it may be partially corrupted and beyond repair.
This human error also contributes to data losses on other devices such as digital cameras, smartphones, among others. Most often, while browsing photos on a digital camera, photographers accidentally delete important photos.
If accidental file deletion happens, stop using your device immediately and download the Windows File Recovery Tool to retrieve your file.
Disk Format
Formatting wipes out any data written to your disk or selected partitions.
The most common method people use to format hard disks is called Quick Format. This method takes less time and performs much faster than the Full Format. It only deletes your data but does not restructure your entire file system.
Full Format, on the other hand, creates a complete new file system responsible for managing data distribution onto different sectors of your HDD. It rebuilds your entire file structure from scratch, scans the disk for bad sectors and attempts to fix them automatically. That is why Full Format takes longer than Quick Format. Full Format is essential when you buy a new hard disk or when your hard disk is corrupted by bad sectors.
Formatting wipes out all data on selected partitions or entire hard disk. There is a possibility that your files can still be recovered using a deep scan or a specialized algorithm. It is highly recommended that you discontinue using your computer until you have successfully recovered your files.
Seamlessly Recover Deleted & Corrupted Files Using Windows File Recovery
Microsoft’s new Windows File Recovery tool allows users to recover any deleted or corrupted file to its original state. It supports a wide variety of file formats and storage mediums.
Following are some of its pros and cons:
Advantages
- Compatibility: Supports different mediums of storage. Recovers lost files from your internal and external hard drives, USB sticks, phone SD memory card, and so on.
- Supports recovering a wide range of file formats including Microsoft Office documents, PDF documents, images, music, videos, and many more.
- Recovers data from different disk formats including NTFS, FAT, exFAT, and ReFS
- Extensive Signature Mode to recover data from mobile SD memory cards
- Default and segment modes supported
Disadvantages
- Command-based utility: Windows File Recovery is a command-line based utility. It does not have a friendly interface. People with limited or no technical proficiency may find it difficult to use this utility.
- Cloud recovery not possible: You cannot undelete files from Microsoft OneDrive and other HomeGroup and resource-sharing features, such as NearBy Sharing, Network File Shares.
Recovering Your Files Using Windows File Recovery
Visit the Microsoft Store to download Windows File Recovery software. Alternatively, click on the Start button. Type ‘Store’ and open Microsoft Store from the results. Search for Windows File Recovery and start the download.
Once you’ve successfully installed the software, click on Start, type ‘Windows File Recovery’ and open it from the results. When you’re prompted to confirm administrative privileges, click Yes in the User Account Control (UAC) prompt.
Type in one of the following commands that best suit your requirement. After typing your command, press ENTER and wait until a success message appears.
Things to remember:
- The larger the number of files you recover, the more time it will take. For instance, recovering all deleted files from a partition may take several hours as compared to recovering one or two files.
- DO NOT specify the same drive in both Source and Destination switches. Always specify different source and destination drives.
- Microsoft will automatically create a new folder named “Recovery_<date-time stamp>” for your recovered files. Your existing file placement will not be altered.
- Recover entire drive
Syntax
winfr [source drive] [destination drive] [/switches]
Example
winfr C: D: [/switches]
Usage
This command will attempt to recover all files from your C: drive into the Recovery folder (Recovery_<date-time stamp>) of your D:\ drive.
- Recover an entire folder contents
Syntax
winfr [source drive] [destination drive] /n \Users\<username>\[special folder name]\
Example
winfr C: D: /n \Users\<username>\Documents\
Usage
This command will attempt to recover every file from the specified folder to the Recovery folder inside the destination drive.
- Recover a specific document or file
Syntax
winfr [source drive] [destination drive] /n \Users<username> \[special folder name] [Filename with extension] [/switches]
Example
winfr C: D: /n \Users\<username>\Documents\Office.docx
Usage
This command will attempt to recover only a single file named Office.docx located in the Documents directory of your C: drive.
- Recover a set of files of different types in a folder
Syntax
winfr [source drive] [destination drive] /n Users<username>[special folder name] *[extension1] /n Users<username>[special folder name]* [extension2]
Example
winfr C: D: /n Users<username>Pictures*.jpeg /n Users<username>Pictures*.png
Usage
This command will recover multiple files of different types in a folder.
- Recover a set of file types from an entire drive
Syntax
winfr [source drive] [destination drive] /r /n *[extension1] /n *[extension2]
Example
winfr C: D: /r /n *.docx /n *.pdf
Usage
This command will recover every single file of the specified type(s) inside the source drive.
- Recover files containing specific keyword in file names
Syntax
winfr <source drive> <destination drive> /r /n *<search keyword>*
Example
winfr C: D: /r /n *movie*
Usage
This command will search for files matching the specified file name (without extension) and attempt to recover them.
Important
The switch to search for file names is not absolute in nature. It is relative. The actual file name may not exactly match the word ‘movie’. Windows will still search and attempt to recover any file containing the word ‘movie’. For example: movie.avi, movie-sinister-2012.avi, movie-dawn-of-the-dead.avi, etc.
Delete Duplicates After Recovering Your Files
One of the common problems faced by Windows users after recovering their deleted/ corrupted files is duplication. Multiple files sharing the same name may appear in the Recovery folder of your destination drive. How to identify which files are original and which ones are identical versions? How to identify the newest version of your files and get rid of the older ones?
Do not worry as an algorithm-based software Clone Files Checker will help you delete these duplicates after complete recovery of your files.
In addition to duplicates accumulated with the usage of Windows File Recovery, you may gather duplicates on other occasions as well. Regular tasks such as copying files from one location to another and syncing files to an online cloud account or between multiple devices can generate a lot of duplicate content. In order to prevent duplication and re-organize your files library, it is important to regularly scan it.
There are two ways to scan your files for duplication:
First, open each file and compare it with another. This requires a lot of effort and can be a long, tedious task. It’s really not worth your time.
Second, use Clone Files Checker, an automated algorithm-based software to scan your PC’s files for duplication. This is fully automated and finishes the task in just a few minutes.
CFC uses the file hashing technology to generate file hashes and validate duplicates. Then, your files are classified into different duplicate groups based on their similarity. You can review your files, preview their contents, mark or unmark them and take desired action.
Following are some of the prominent features:
- Tens of different automatic selection patterns. Mark or unmark files by their freshness, containing directory (location), file size, and other parameters.
- Move files to another folder: Once you’ve selected your duplicates, it’s time to take action. You may move your duplicates to another folder and review them independently.
- Delete files permanently: Free-up wasted disk space by deleting your duplicate files permanently.
- Reviewing: CFC gives you total control to mark or unmark files of your choice.
- Export option: Create references to your duplicate files in a Comma-separated value (CSV) file.
- Change scan settings: Scan settings let you choose which file types to scan. ‘All Files’ scans for every file, irrespective of its type. ‘Custom scan’ searches for specific file types (documents, images, videos, archives, music) to minimize search time and conduct narrowed search.
- Instant preview: CFC shows instant preview to simplify the reviewing process. You do not need to open any image file. Simply select a file and CFC will display the file preview on the right-hand side panel.
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Vikas is a technology enthusiast who loves writing articles on computers and technology. He writes on various topics related to software, software reviews, troubleshooting and tips & tricks to make people's digital lives better.