The Best Hard Drive Data Recovery & Repair
- When repairing or recovering data from your hard drive, do not overlook some of the most powerful and cost-effective software you have: the diagnostic utilities in your computer operating system. Windows XP users can run scandisk to repair damaged sectors on the hard drive. If your hard drive is running slowly, try defragging the drive after scanning it for errors.
To run scandisk, access your Start menu and use the Run function to launch "scandisk.exe". To access the defragmentation function included in your Windows operating system, access My Computer, then select and right click the drive that needs repairing. Choose "Properties," then "Tools" then "Defragment now." If you are not sure whether you need to defragment your drive, you can scan the drive to determine your level of fragmentation and find out whether the drive needs a defragmentation to function better. - To find the best hard drive repair and recovery software for your situation, download demo versions of software repair programs which claim to repair and recover your data. Most hard drive repair and recovery software companies offer a free demo to accompany their pay software. Software such as PC Inspector File Recovery and VirtualLab Data Recovery Software are decently reviewed by PC World, and are available for free download.
Freeware is best for situations where you only need to repair or recover a small amount of very general data. Freeware is often limited in function, and is not recommended for big repair or recovery jobs that require specific attention. If you have a big recovery or repair job, you can test the function of a pay program to find out if it works for your file system and recovery job. - Hard Drive Mechanic is a highly recommended data recovery software option. PC World recommends Hard Drive Mechanic as a reliable data recovery option for Windows users. Hard Drive Mechanic is distributed by Higher Ground Software, who guarantees the software works or your money back.
A similarly priced data recovery software suite, DT Utilities Digital Rescue, received high ratings from reviewers for its ease of use. DT Utilities has a wide variety of functions, works best on Windows operating systems, and is useful in all but a few specific situations. For instance, DT Utilities will not undelete lost partitions, and the software does not work with a FAT12 type file system.
