As you already know from the data recovery article, there are two options available for you to recover your lost data. Either use the data recovery specialist or using the hard disk recovery software.
In order to use the software tools, it can only be successful if the following criteria are met.
The hard drive that requires the data recovery procedure must meet the following states.
The hard drive has not suffered any physical damage
The hard drive has not suffered any electrical damage
The hard drive can be consistently and correctly detected by your computer's BIOS (in CMOS)
If you know that your computer hard drive meet the above criteria, then you also need to consider the minimum knowledge that is required in order to perform the recovery job.
If you know how to perform the following tasks then you have the necessary skills to undertake data recovery from your hard drive.
Can you safely remove a hard drive from a computer?
Can you change a hard drive from a primary to a secondary drive including settings for master and slave drive?
Are you able to tell the difference between partitions on a primary drive and a secondary hard drive in your PC without opening the case?
Can you use the Admin tools in Windows to identify hard drives, change drive letters, partition and format hard drives?
Do you have a basic understanding of how filing systems operate with regards to deletes files and damaged FAT and NTFS file structures?
What Equipment do You Need?
Screw drivers and needle nose pliers to remove or change hard drive jumpers
External hard drive enclosure to suite your hard drive (USB or Firewire)
Spare hard drive (bigger than the target to be recovered) to store your image file and recovered data
Anti-static wrist strap
Blank CD / DVD's and DVD Rewriter/burner
USB or Firewire external caddy
Access to a second PC to perform the recovery operation
You may not need all of the above items for every data recovery but it is highly recommended that you have them at hand "just in case".
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