Data Recovery Tips: Avoid Secondary Damage

The direct causes of data loss are called the Primary Damages to data. It can vary from logical bad sectors to physical damage to hard disks. To make sure we recover as much data as possible, we need to minimize or avoid Secondary Damage, which could in worst case scenario completely erase data, rendering them irrecoverable.

What is Secondary Damage?

We can divide data-loss situations into two groups: logical and physical.

Logical data loss means data is inaccessible due to deletion, partition corruption, partition deletion, format, reinstall, virus etc.  In short, the storage media is in fine working condition but the file system is damaged or the data housed by the file system is latent or corrupt.

Physical or mechanical data loss means the data is no longer accessible because the storage media is no longer operational. Hard drives may not be operational due to damage to the Printed Circuit Board, read/write head failure or platter damage.

Normally, logical data loss can be easily recovered with a data recovery software, if you take immediate actions before new data settle in and overwrite the old ones. For example, files lost due to deletion or quick formatting are not erased but hidden from the users. 

The operating system only erases pointers to these files on address table. All your files are still there, marked as inaccessible and ready to be overwritten. This is how the system handles deletion or quick formatting. It is quicker and more efficient this way than delete and zero-fill.

Secondary damage is done when you continue using the hard disk after data loss. If it is logical data loss, the lost data no longer hold a special place in the hard drives and can be overwritten if you continue to write in new data. Sometimes, even the temp files generated by the operating system could cause overwriting. So the best way to avoid this is to stop using this hard drive and move to another computer. Connect the hard drive to that computer as an external device and use the data recovery software installed on that computer to recover your lost data.

Physical data loss is permanent and cannot be recovered. But a professional data recovery company can salvage as much data as they possibly can. So it is important to avoid secondary damage in order to preserve data to the fullest extent. If you hear clicking or scratching noises in your hard disk, or experience massive data corruptions, then if is most likely your hard drive is suffering from mechanical failures. You should stop using it immediately to avoid further damage to your hard drive and your data.

Protect your data from secondary damage is important. It determines how much data you can finally recover and how difficult the process will be.