If you experience hard drive data loss, there may be a number of effective solutions available to you. One of these solutions may be to purchase special software directly from your hard drive’s manufacturer. Depending on the cause of your data loss and other circumstances of your situation, recovery disks may or may not work. There are many types of hard drive failure that make it impossible to recover all or some of the data. However, if data is able to be recovered, purchasing a recovery disk can be much more affordable than requesting data recovery services from a technician.
- Determine if your hard drive or computer is currently covered by a warranty by reading through the documentation that came with either or both. If your hard drive is currently covered, read the warranty details to find out if data loss is also covered and how you should act upon the warranty in cases of data loss. This may save you the expense of ordering a recovery disk in the first place.
- Verify the manufacturer of the hard drive. If your hard drive was pre-installed in your computer when you bought it, you should be able to find the manufacturer identified in the documentation that came with the computer. If you purchased the hard drive separately, any saved packaging or documentation will identify the manufacturer. If you can’t find any helpful documentation, you may have to open your computer case and look at the label on the hard drive. This usually isn’t difficult and may only require a small screwdriver or no tools at all. Specific instructions for opening a computer case vary by manufacturer and model, however, so you will have to refer to instructions provided by the actual computer manufacturer.
- Visit the hard drive manufacturer’s website using a working computer. Explore the site to find the section covering data recovery options. If there is no such specific section, find the support section.
- Carefully review all of the data recovery options if they are listed. Typically, this will consist of software-based solutions like recovery disks as well as technician-based solutions like live recovery services. If you see specific information about recovery disks, read that section carefully.5. Contact the manufacturer’s live support staff if you have questions about the recovery disks offered through the site or if you cannot find information on recovery disks. You should be able to find a toll-free support hotline or a live Web chat feature through which you can contact a support representative. Work directly with the representative to make sure the recovery disk they offer is appropriate for your situation and needs, but keep in mind that there is no guarantee that your manufacturer offers recovery disks.6. Purchase a recovery disk either from the site or directly from the support representative if you determine that this is still the best course of action. You will likely need a major credit card to do this.
Note: Make sure you understand the difference between a hard drive recovery disk and an operating system recovery disk. An operating system recovery disk, which typically ships with new computers or operating system software, will not help you recover hard drive data. A hard drive recovery disk, which does not always ship with new hard drives or computers, is designed to help you restore data in the event of accidental data loss. It may not be possible to know if your hard drive data is recoverable until after you purchase and attempt to use the recovery disks. If you are concerned about this, check with your hard drive manufacturer’s support staff to find out if you can get a refund if the disk does not help.