All recent years have been marked by the fact that in our lives more and more importance has acquired “smart” technology. Computers and laptops, tablets and smartphones - not only almost everyone has these gadgets, they actually determine the rhythm of life of a modern person.
The more offensive is the situation in which your device behaves somewhat inappropriately. Viruses or some kind of software and hardware failures can sometimes ruin your mood for a long time. Sometimes an operation called Recovery helps. What is it, in what cases is it recommended to use this technique?
This article is dedicated to the answers to these questions.
General concepts
Honestly, the definition of "recovery" does not exist as such. Generally speaking, this term can be deciphered as "restoration". For example, they often operate programs to save data from flash drives and hard drives.
Thus, if we talk about Windows Recovery, we can rightfully mean either restoring the system itself, or the operation to return some of its functions to a healthy state.
In relation to the Android mobile operating system, the devices under which it becomes more and more every day, Recovery Mode means the mode in which you can install new firmware. In addition, it is possible to remove or install applications that are rigidly sewn into the software shell, and therefore their change in normal mode is impossible.
These operations are designated by the term Recovery. What is it, if we talk about more special cases? We already said that this concept is often used by those who recover data from hard drives. Among other things, it is possible to restore not only information as such, but also logical partitions of a hard disk lost as a result of system failures or power surges.
To begin with, we’ll deal with this, since the loss of information is a frequent occurrence.
Flash drives
When they appeared, many experienced a surge of unearthly happiness. When the first 512 MB or 1 GB disk drives went on sale, 1.44 MB floppy disks were still actively used in many universities. Can you imagine how much easier it has become for the average student to always have all their written work with them?
However, pretty quickly it turned out that it wasn’t so simple with them: if a standard CD could last ten years and completely store all the information recorded on it, then a regular flash drive could be completely empty after six months. Accordingly, the Data Recovery service very soon became extremely popular.
So, what are the main ways to recover data from flash drives? Most often, specialized programs are used for this: R-Studio, Recuva or the like. If they are powerless, then utilities from the manufacturers of a specific drive come to the rescue.
With their help, sometimes it is possible to eject files from a disk that would otherwise be lost. But very often it happens that Data Recovery is possible only if the flash drive is completely mechanically disassembled and then the memory module is connected to a special reader.
Since the data on it is in the form of disordered arrays, you have to use special programs from the manufacturers of a particular flash drive model, as well as a HEX editor. This work takes more than one hour, and at home it is virtually impossible to do.
When should you ask for help?
As a rule, flash drives insidiously fail, and there are no warning symptoms. But there are distinguishing features that clearly hint at the need for File Recovery in the very near future.
Here are the most important ones:
- You should be wary if the flash drive is detected, but when you try to open it, messages constantly appear about the need to search for errors. Even worse, when the system claims to format the media;
- Of course, you will get an extremely clear signal when the removable disk in the system is not detected at all, no indicators are lit on it;
- very unpleasant “bell” - data from the memory card starts to disappear, even if the system definitely does not have viruses;
- a variation of the previous situation are data corruption cases, when the file itself remains in place, but it is impossible to open it;
- You should start to worry after a power surge, a strong shock or a wet flash drive. Even if after all that has happened it works fine, there is no guarantee of its performance in the future.
By the way, what about SSDs? The situation with them is no different from that for flash drives.
HDD
How is data recovery from standard spindle drives? It’s still more difficult with them. When information from the hard drive is no longer being read, the protective shell is removed in the sealed chamber, the head blocks are removed, and the data is taken from the “pancakes” using donor reading heads.
Of course, in simple cases, data recovery programs can help, which we will talk about below.
Data recovery at home
Of course, we have already said that it’s better not to do File Recovery at home. But if you simply mistakenly deleted data from a flash drive, then it can be completely restored without the help of specialists.
Let's look at this process using the example of R-Studio. This powerful application has long been known to all experienced users. It is being developed by a Canadian company, which does not advertise the release of new versions too much. Simply put, it does not hurt to go to their site and learn about new releases, which could include new data recovery functionality.
Suppose you need to return a .doc file from a memory card from nonexistence. To do this, follow these steps:
- launch the application;
- in the left part of the working window, select your disk;
- right-click on it, and in the drop-down menu, select the "Restore all data" item.
A small dialog box opens, in which there are two tabs: “Home” and “Advanced”. We are interested in the "Home", as well as the "Define file mask" button. Click on it, after which the working window opens. There is a drop-down list in which you need to select the "File Extension" item. In the box to the right, enter “.doc”. Click on "Yes", fixing the changes in the program settings.
Again, return to the original dialog box, and then click on the "Yes" button. The application will immediately ask you to specify which folder the files will be restored to. Attention! In no case do not choose the same flash drive as the save location, because in case of failure you will almost certainly lose your file! However, this is a common requirement for File-Recovery (what you already understand what it is).
After that, scanning of the media will begin, during which the program will find and recover all the doc files that were once deleted but still available for recovery. Note that the names of the documents do not remain, and therefore, to search for the file you need, you will have to sort through the entire contents of the folder that you marked as a “drive”.
Important!
If you try to make a Recovery torrent file, then with high probability you will succeed. But recovering a half-downloaded document deleted by mistake will definitely fail. It is not only “smeared” with an even layer throughout the hard drive, but also has a very non-trivial structure.
Hard Disk Partition Recovery
By the way, is it possible to repair Partition Recovery hard disk partitions? Yes, since there are specialized utilities for this.
Perhaps we will talk only about one of them. Acronis Disk Director is a legendary application known to almost all experienced users. It costs literally a penny, so it makes sense to fork out for the full version.
After starting the program, you will see in front of you a rather rich start-up window in which you need to select the "Partition recovery" option. After that, the “Wizards” window will appear in front of you, in which we strongly recommend choosing an automatic mode of operation.
Click on the “Next” button, after which the program will begin scanning the entire hard disk in order to search for all deleted partitions. When the search is completed, its results will be displayed in the corresponding window, and the program will graphically show the estimated disk structure after the partition is restored.
To agree with the scan results and start the recovery process itself, you need to click on the button with the flag icon.
Account Recovery
Do not think that the data that needs to be restored is understood only as files stored on your hard drive. A striking example of the opposite can be considered Google Accounts Recovery, when a user can restore access to his account in any of Google’s services.
Everything happens in life: you can simply forget the password, it can be stolen by some attacker or malicious program. Just note that in case of theft of the password to your account, you can try to restore access within 24 hours after it is changed by an attacker.
So. First you need to go to the official page of any Google service that requires authorization. Then select the option "I do not remember the password." You will be redirected to a page with a form to restore it. Remember, the chances of successful completion of Accounts Recovery are the higher, the better you remember the secret questions and other data that were entered during the initial registration!
It is necessary to fill in all the fields, indicate the backup mailbox that you specified during registration, and then confirm your control over it (by entering the code sent to it by Google). If everything is fine, then Google Recovery will not create any special problems. In severe cases, you will have to talk with technical support. If you really own a controversial account, then they will surely return it to you.
Since all the services from Google switched to the .com domain, Accounts Recovery has become much easier.
Useful Tips
There are some tricks in this matter that will help you quickly and with a guarantee to get your account back. Firstly, it doesn’t hurt to send all recovery requests from the device from which you most often used Google services.
If there is such an opportunity, be sure to send all available logs from all your devices to technical support. As for entering your data into the contact data line, it is better to use your real details, which you can confirm with certified copies of documents. Of course, if the data on the "floating away" account is not of particular value, you can not shine your real data again.
However, the Google.com Accounts Recovery service did not yet give clear reasons to doubt their disinterest in the distribution of personal data of customers.
Windows recovery
If you carefully read the article, you probably remember what they mean by this definition. In order not to be unfounded, we suggest reading about the simplest way to create a backup of Windows, as well as about restoring the system from it.
It should be said that until 2001, when XP was released, users of this operating system simply did not have regular backup and recovery tools (Recovery). I had to use third-party programs.
So. Click on the "Start" button, select "Control Panel" in the menu that opens. It has a small and not too conspicuous item "Backup and Restore". Click, and then a dialog box opens. In its left part there is the item “Creating an image of the system”. We click on it with the left mouse button, after which we get to the next dialog box.
Here we will be offered three options for placing the finished image at once (you cannot use it all at once): on some hard drive, on a CD / DVD disc, saving to a network server. Choose the appropriate option, and then click "Next". The system will automatically perform all operations, so you do not have to worry about anything.
Deploying the system from backup
It is very easy to do. Again, go to "Backup and Restore." Select the item "Restore system settings or computer." A dialog box will open in which you need to click on the "Start System Restore" button.
After that, you will be warned that the rollback process that has begun cannot be canceled anymore, so once again you will have to confirm the seriousness of your intentions. When almost everything is ready, the computer will restart.
Android OS
Finally, we got to the adherents of Android. Oddly enough, but when you request Recovery in any search engine, you will get a huge number of links specifically to the thematic forums of fans of this mobile OS. You could already be convinced that this concept is much more diverse.
However, back to Android Recovery. By the way, what exactly is meant by this term? We already mentioned this in passing above, but we will reveal the topic in more detail.
Most manufacturers of mobile software claim that “Recovery Mode” is such a way to start a mobile device in which you can change the firmware or replace some important system applications.
How to boot into it?
As a rule, in this mode, the device starts if you press a certain combination of mechanical keys. Each manufacturer has a different one. For example, the combination Home + Power + Volume Up will launch Recovery mode for Samsung devices.
If you simultaneously press Volume Down + Power on any Nexus gadget, the result will be the same. However, it’s better to first go to the manufacturer’s website and find out everything for sure. The fact is that combinations may well change with the release of a new model or firmware.
Speaking quite simply, Android Recovery is a special program that allows you to start the system in a slightly modified form. Native applications of this kind are called Stock Recovery, and third-party utilities are called Custom Recovery.
What is Stock used for?
It is a rather limited tool in terms of functionality. With it, you can completely delete your user data from the device, as well as start the firmware update, signed by the manufacturer. In general, all the available functions of utilities of this class can be seen below:
- full technical reboot of the device;
- installing new firmware directly from a memory card;
- reset the device to factory settings ("wipe");
- cache deletion;
- installing the application (official) from the memory card;
- backup and restore system from backup.
Custom Recovery offers a completely different level of capabilities. You can install any applications and firmware. In addition, in this mode, it is allowed to set localization that was not originally provided for this device (Motorola G, for example).
So our article on Recovery ended. What is it, you already know! Do not forget to copy your important data to another medium in time. This practice will save you many problems.