By writing new data to the same storage device, you risk overwriting the very same files you want to undelete, which is akin to scraping old paint off a wall and painting it a new color. Why? Because lost files can be recovered only when they’re still physically present on the storage device. For that to happen, you must avoid writing any data to the storage device from which you want to recover lost files until you have restored them to a safe location. What’s somewhat more complicated is successfully recovering all lost files. Sounds simple, right? That’s because starting the data recovery process is anything but complicated. That’s why the prevention of data loss using local or cloud backups is so important. In extreme cases, software bugs may even corrupt important files and make them inaccessible.Īs far as data loss threats go, computer or device theft assumes a special status because you can’t really recover data from a device you no longer have. In fact, the more complex software applications become, the more bugs they can hide. Modern software applications can do all kinds of wonderful things, but they are far from perfect. A single faulty resistor can cause your entire hard drive to become unreadable and impossible to recover at home. Storage devices have advanced leaps and bounds during the last decade alone, but they’re still far from perfect, especially when it comes to their reliability. While some malware is relatively innocent and more annoying than dangerous, you may also encounter sophisticated ransomware capable of completely blocking access to important files or deleting them altogether. Why? Because it requires special tools and advanced skills-something most regular users don’t have.Įxperts estimate that thousands of new strains of malware are released every day. Out of all common types of data loss, physical damage is the most difficult to recover from. While the instant loss of hundreds or even thousands of files can seem utterly devastating, their recovery usually isn’t any more difficult than the recovery of a single lost file. The good news is that such mistakes can usually be recovered from using special data recovery software or native recovery solutions, such as File History in Windows or Time Machine in macOS.Ī lot can go wrong when you click the “Format” button without double- or triple-checking which storage device you’re about to format. All people make mistakes, and some mistakes lead to data loss.

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