Data Recovery Guide: How to Recover Your Lost Data Easily?

For individuals or enterprises, data holds the key to the many memories and classified information that are indispensable and critical to personal lives and business ecosystems. In controlled circumstances, you would not negotiate your precious or sensitive data for anything!

In reality, the actual file data remains on the drive until overwritten by new files. This quirk normally means that deleted files can often be undeleted, provided that you act quickly. But it also implies that many users are caught off-guard when they realize a crucial document is gone… only to find that recovery might still be possible.

However, what really is data? Simply put, raw elements or unprocessed facts in the form of numbers, values, symbols, text, visuals etc. are collectively referred to as data or datum (sing.). Therefore, your photos, videos, music files, documents, and mailbox items are all sets of data.

Unlike information, data is collected and observed without interpretation and usually lacks any meaning or significance. However, once you analyze, associate meaning and purpose to data, it become information. No wonder, data has become the essence of communication and market research development worldwide.

According to Statistate approximately 402.74 million terabytes of data is created every day. The massive rise in data creation can be seen in the rapid growth of data centers around the globe. There are over 7 million data centers in the world, and United States alone, leading the list, has 5,426 data centers. Video has the highest share of over half (53.72%) of all global data traffic, with social media (12.69%) and Gaming (9.86%) coming a close second and third, respectively.

Businesses of all sizes leverage this data to innovate, grow and diversify. The impact and dependence on data is evident from the stupendous growth and popularity of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Especially, generative AI has grown leaps and bounds using the large, top-grade data sets for training the machine learning models.

With the wide-scale usage of data, it is also critical to sensitize users about the dangers of data theft, need of safeguarding it from unauthorized access, and preparing for the worst – losing or deleting critical data. The latter is caused by a variety of reasons including accidental deletion, malfunctioning processes or devices, virus attack, system failure and drive formatting.

What exactly happens to your data that is lost due to a system failure or virus attack? Is it really lost into oblivion or is there still hope? Can you bring your wedding day pictures or your graduation certificates back to reality? The answer is a Happy YES!

Before exploring the means and methods to retrieve your data, let us dive deeper into the ocean of data loss, the common causes behind it and the universal need of top grade data backup & restoration plans and expert data retrieval tools.

What is Data Loss? – Different Scenarios and Impact

Many of you must have heard about the infamous hacking and data loss incidents such as the very early Yahoo! data breach (2013) and the notorious Microsoft cyberattack (2021). Both involved critical loss of personal information and compromised business data.

• 74% of breaches in 2022 involved a human element, such as error or misuse.
• 24% of all breaches involved ransomware.
• 83% of breaches involved external factors, such as criminal organizations.
• 49% of external actors used stolen credentials in their attacks.

However, many incidents of data loss are way too commonplace in our own lives. The chances of losing your crucial data from your system or from a hand-held device is equally common and equally frustrating!.

Data loss affects nearly 26% of users around the globe. You can lose your data from drives, storage media and devices for many reasons, some avoidable and others inescapable.Source: Verizon 2025 Data Breach Investigations

Physical Cases:

• Wear and tear of the storage drives or media
• Other external factors like falls, water spills etc. and even electrical issues

Logical Cases:

• Accidental Deletion: Deleting files mistakenly during system cleanup
• Virus and Malware Attacks: Malicious software or viruses can corrupt files and make the data inaccessible.
• System Crashes or Errors: System failure such as hardware issues can also make your data out of reach.
• Formatted Drives: Accidental or unintended formatting of your hard drive or storage device can delete your data.

How does losing your data really affect you? Well, it can cost you a job opportunity, precious memories and even disrupt business continuity. The impact of data loss can be huge when it involves critical domains such as healthcare, legal proceedings, financial records and so on. Similarly, losing treasured moments can have a lasting dent on your relationships and emotional health. The top question remains what are the different types of data recovery methods available to retrieve lost or deleted data and across which devices. Nevertheless, before that, let us unearth the possibilities of data recovery, and its different popular techniques.

What is Data Recovery?

Data loss can be a nightmare for a student, a doting mother or a professional for that matter. While, data recovery is the ray of hope that you need to be able to retrieve your cherished life moments and important data.

n simple terms, data recovery is the process of retrieving data that was lost, corrupted, accidentally deleted, or rendered inaccessible, and restoring it to a server, computer, mobile device, or a storage device. For some cases, you might also need to store recovered data on another device. This is required when your original device is severely corrupted or is no longer functional. The data recovery process also depends on the data loss scenarios and the type of device or storage media involved..

Today, the data recovery market has picked pace much due to the universal dependence on data and the need of safe and reliable data recovery tools.

According to a recent survey, the professional data recovery software market, currently estimated at USD 3.5 billion; is expected to reach USD 6.8 billion by 2033. Meanwhile, the North American region has also seen a robust growth in this arena with an estimation to reach USD 3.2 Billion by 2030, with a growth of 8.8% CAGR.

According to a recent survey, the professional data recovery software market, currently estimated at USD 3.5 billion; is expected to reach USD 6.8 billion by 2033. Meanwhile, the North American region has also seen a robust growth in this arena with an estimation to reach USD 3.2 Billion by 2030, with a growth of 8.8% CAGR.

Broadly speaking, there are two primary types of data recovery:

Logical Recovery:

Data lost due to software issues can often be retrieved from the original device or storage drive that is still functional despite the corruption. Some of the common causes of logical data loss include accidental deletion, drive formatting, data corruption, etc. You can use backup restoration or specialized data recovery software, in case your backups are not available, to retrieve your lost or missing data.

Logical recovery is comparatively simpler than physical recovery as the original device is still physically functional.

Physical Recovery:

When a device suffers severe damage or hardware failure, lost data is retrieved with specialized recovery procedures and equipment. In this case, the original device is no longer functional and needs support from a professional data recovery service.

Some of the common causes of physical data loss include motor failure, damaged read/writer head, internal platter damage etc.

To save yourself from financial, legal or emotional crisis, turn towards data recovery to bring your data back to life, successfully. With ‘successfully’, we imply reclaiming most of missing data without any considerable data loss or any major hindrance in your business continuity. This is precisely why you have “backup and restore plan” and even the bigger “disaster recovery plan” in many organizations around the world.

Data Recovery Essential Tip :

Remember to act quickly to successfully recover your lost data, as continued use of the affected drive can lead to data overwrite and diminish the chances of complete and accurate data retrieval.

Data Recovery Proven Techniques and Methods

If you need to reclaim your lost data without any professional assistance, there are some common data recovery techniques to make it easier for you. Some of the recovery techniques for logical recovery include:

DIY Software:

Today, there are many custom-made applications for recovering lost or deleted data. They support multiple devices and storage media.

Backup Restoration:

The age-old recovery technique lets you use your previously backed up data and restore them securely.

File History:

It is another popular DIY method of tracking the changes made to a file. Many OS include file tracking features and help users restore a file from one of its previous functional states.

The above techniques prove useful when your data loss is a recent event and no complex situations were involved. When these time-tested methods fail to retrieve your lost or deleted data, it is time to switch to advanced recovery techniques.

The advanced recovery techniques discussed require you to have some technical knowledge and in some cases, expertise in employing the techniques and utilizing professional-grade recovery tools.

Disk Imaging :

Copying a disk byte-by-byte to isolate and securely recover data is a great way of avoiding any further damage to a corrupt disk during the recovery process.

RAID Recovery:

Recovering data from a failed RAID array needs technical expertise for the complex architecture and needs quality experience to identify the problematic RAID level and rebuild it.

Tape Recovery:

Recovering data from damaged or inaccessible magnetic tapes such as archive or backup tapes needs advanced recovery software and techniques.

NAS Recovery:

Retrieving lost or inaccessible data from a NAS device also needs specialized data recovery software to ensure that data is continuously available over a network.

Forensic Recovery:

This encompasses complex and advanced data recovery primarily for legal use and retrieval of evidential information.

The above-mentioned techniques form the base of data recovery. However, data recovery is broadly classified based on the varying needs across devices and operating systems.

Types of Data Recovery Needs across Diverse Devices and OS

Whether you are using a laptop, desktop, storage media such as USB drive, SSD, hard drive or even a drone camera or your mobile phones, you can easily lose data owing to different data loss scenarios discussed in the beginning.

If you need to restore data from a personal device, there are powerful data recovery tools that help you recover your data, irrespective of the operating system of the computer or storage drive or their brands or models.

However, for completeness:

Let us explore data recovery needs of different devices and operating systems that our met by efficient data recovery tools. The tools focus on retrieving data even when the system is unbootable, crashing, has corrupt files, faulty or missing backups and much more.

Data Recovery for PCs

If you have lost your data due to deleted, formatted, or corrupted drives, then it is time for a sturdy data recovery software that is ideal for both Windows and Mac systems. The best in the market lets you run scans easily across multiple storage devices, pause scan and preview recoverable files and easily recover lost data such as files, folders, audio, photos, videos, documents, emails, etc. from any device or storage media. There are even data recovery tools that let you recover data from a dead PC or desktop.

What standout features should you look for in a data recovery software for your Mac or Windows?

• Supports a broad range of file formats.
• Supports all types of storage media including hard drives, external drives, USBs, SD cards, etc.
• Runs a smooth Deep Scan of your hard drive to unearth files that are hard to find by the traditional, in-built data recovery methods.
• Allows you to preview your missing data before recovering them and restoring them.
• Offers an intuitive GI that is easy to use even for non-technical users.

A special mention to recovering your precious data – your photos and videos!

We all dread losing our beloved photos, videos, and audio files from hand-held or recording devices such as cameras, smartphones, or other storage devices at any given point. It is usually a personal or professional crisis to mistakenly delete or lose photos and videos from a vacation, graduation day, or that of a professional project.

You can always reclaim your memories by restoring your media backup. You need to first However, what if you did not back up or the backup is corrupt? You need a professional and trusted photo recovery software to rescue you from this situation.

The software should help you successfully recover lost or deleted photos of a wide range of file formats and even recover deleted photos on different devices including:

• Digital Cameras & Camcorders
• Smartphones and Tablets
• External Hard Drives
• SD Cards & Memory Cards
• USB Flash Drives

Even if your device or storage drive is formatted, you can easily reclaim your memories with a powerful tool in tow.

Learn exactly how you can use the photo recovery tool to retrieve your lost photos.

Data Recovery for SSDs

If you have an SSD in your personal computer and you need specialized solution to recover lost data from it, then there are some factors worth considering. There are tools designed to cater to the complex data recovery needs of SSD technology. Some of the features required in a data recovery software for SSDs include:

• Supports all SSD brands to offer compatibility and hence, the desired results.
• Data integrity is crucial and a good tool should ensure there is no further damage to an SSD during the data recovery process.
• The tool should be quick and able to perform the recovery task efficiently.

iPhone Data Recovery

If you have lost your phone or the backup of your phone is corrupt, you are in for a wild goose hunt without the right tools. You can recover photos from your lost or stolen smartphone using a professional DIY photo recovery software.

Likewise, imagine, capturing some of the most breathtaking pictures on your iPhone only to see them lost or accidently deleted the following day. This is exactly where you need a specialized iPhone data recovery tool to help you recover lost data and saves the day for you.

Some of the key features to look for in a mobile device recovery solution include:

• Right from WhatsApp chats to audiovisual data such as photos, videos, audio files, contacts, messages etc. should be easily recovered by the tool.
• Tool should support the latest iOS and iPhone configurations.
• Backup recovery should be available from iCloud/ iTunes backups even without the original device.

Android Data Recovery

Similarly, you can recover your lost or deleted digital memories from your Android device using a robust data recovery software.

What if after all the toiling with your Android phone’s camera features, exploring different lenses, angles and perspectives, you manage to click the ‘perfect pictures’ only to lose them in some time. Like an iPhone photo rescuer, you have an Android data recovery tool to help you recover lost data from your Android hand-held devices.

Top features that an Android data recovery tool should offer:

• WhatsApp chat recovery including data such as photos, videos, audio files, contacts, messages etc.
• Support the latest operating systems of the mobile devices and should be compatible with a wide range of popular Android phone brands.
• Backup Recovery should be available even from cloud backups even if the original device is unavailable.

Challenges in Data Recovery Process

If you have been in a data loss situation, you would know the complexities and challenges that it brings along with the need to invest considerable amount of time and effort. You would either be facing a beyond-repair physical damage, corrupt or/ and missing file system or the much-dreaded data overwriting concerns.

Some of the hard-to-deal-with data loss and recovery challenges include the following:

Data Overwriting:

The first and foremost steps towards saving a storage disk from further damage it to discontinue its use completely. If you keep using the same disk, it is highly likely that you would overwrite the lost data and would not be able to recover it again.

Physical Damages

In case your hard drive or storage device is physically damaged, or has severe wear and tear involved, it is challenging and tasking to retrieve lost data from them. Here, you would need specialized tools to support your retrieval.

Corrupted File Systems:

Corrupt file systems pose a big challenge to data recovery, as it is difficult to access stored data on such file systems. You require advanced recovery techniques in this case.

Lack of Adequate Time:

If you are a business that relies heavily on data or your communication process is hampered due to data loss, you are short on time. You have time constraints for recovering your missing data and delay in data recovery can affect your business processes, continuity and finances too.

Apart from these, there are other factors that also play make the data recovery process challenging. The high cost of hiring a professional recovery service or buying a software can be an investment for many. However, you need to compare your data recovery needs with the solution on offer and take proactive measures to save and reclaim your precious data.

Why Go for Stellar Data Recovery Software and Services for Recovering your Precious Files

With so many brands making noise in the market, Stellar has remained the top choice for the users. Over the past three decades, Stellar has guaranteed the best data recovery solutions that has matched the evolving digital landscape and the ever-changing consumer needs.

If you need a robust and reliable tool to restore your lost data, look no further! What makes Stellar stand apart:

• Simple and user-friendly interface: Right from a high school student to a professional can use Stellar data recovery tools to reclaim their lost data in a matter of a few steps without much technical expertise.
• Supports most devices and all file formats: Stellar constantly upgrades its data recovery tools to support a wide range of devices from USB drives to mobile phones, and across a range of file formats and latest operating system versions.
• Secure and Reliable: None of the Stellar data recovery tools result in further damage to the recovered files during the data recovery process.
• Try-Before-You-Buy Tools: Stellar lets you use the free trial version and recover up to 1 GB of data at absolutely no cost. You can also preview the files that you can recover using the recovery software.
• You can upgrade to a higher Edition as per your requirement or need. If you need unlimited recovery or need a suite of products, you can move from a Free Edition to a Professional and then to a Premium Edition.
• Many professionals need advanced data recovery tools and support for complex cases. This is exactly where the Stellar’s Data Recovery Technician Edition comes into the picture that supports data recovery from Virtual Machines as well. Logical data recovery from severely damaged storage devise warrants expert Lab services from trained and highly experienced recovery technicians.
• For physical recovery needs in case of severely damaged drives and storage media, Stellar offers recovery services at India’s only certified Class 100 Clean Room lab.
• Robust, round-the-clock customer support: No matter what query you have or for any kind of assistance, there is a dedicated customer support for you.

Helpful Tips to Prevent Data Loss in Future

While data loss seems inevitable in modern times, we can try to avoid a data loss crisis by following some preventive measures:

• Take Regular Backups: Back up your important data on cloud or external drives without fail. You can also automate backups.
• Handle Devices with Care: Your devices are critical and should be handled well and stored well to avoid physical damage, water and heat exposure, wear and tear etc.
• Update Software and Drivers: Your operating system and device drivers should always be updated to avoid system failures and compatibility issues.
• Use Antivirus Software: No matter how much we stress on this, many of us tend to miss the antivirus renewal every now and then.

End Note

Data loss is fairly common and a difficult situation for most users. With the right knowledge and efficient recovery tools in hand, you can recover lost or deleted data across a wide range of data loss scenarios. If you are facing a data loss crisis or need to explore further, download a free trial of the data recovery software and experience the possibilities. No data is lost from any system or storage device if you act on time and have the right support in place.