There is no one in the world who has lost data and not regretted it. The very act of saving information signifies that it is precious for us.
For the home user, losing data means that memories of family events, emails from loved ones, personal documents and maybe a portion of the family accounts would be gone. While a home pc user is not so meticulous about backup, it is also true that this kind of information is more likely to have copies. The sender of the email would have a similar record, and if the photos were shared, other people would have copies of them. Unless a terrible disaster like a flood, fire or earthquake hits a household, total data loss of all records is relatively rare.
There are instances when we become quite certain that data can no longer be recovered (for help with data recovery see Fields Data Recovery) , and lose hope to the degree that we don’t even try to get it back. Then there are the cases where, thanks to a small mistake or ignorance, we end up jeopardising data that was otherwise perfectly intact, even if it seemed to be lost. The only way to remedy this is by being better-informed ourselves, and not hesitating to ask for professional help whenever we have doubts.
Common Mistakes
There are some common mistaken notions that many people have despite the advanced level of familiarity we share with computers and other digital goods now. Some such popular misconceptions have been listed below:
- ‘If the computer feels warm, it is because it is overworked. So shutting it down for a couple of hours will be enough.’ This is not at all so simple. If your machine is getting overheated, it may be heading for something big, maybe even a fire. Please ask the advice of someone who knows better.
- ‘My room is cold enough anyway, so there is no need to put in a good fan inside the CPU.’ Your room temperature is beside the point. The computer’s ‘insides’ are hard at work, and generate a lot of heat. A proper fan might stop an overheated drive from crashing in the future.
- ‘My machine makes all kinds of noises when it works. That is only normal.’ While it is true that a computer will make some noise while working, if it starts getting too noisy, you may be moving towards big time hardware problems. It’s time to get it checked.
- ‘I know how to put in a card. If it’s not going in properly, it just needs a bit of pushing.’ Heading for disaster, definitely. A lot of machines are ruined every year through faulty installation. How to get into that list too?
- ‘The CD/DVD won’t come out. Let’s get a spoon or screwdriver and try to move it out.’ Well, damaging the stuck disc is the least that you will do. Call and ask one of the computer helpline people about what is to be done.
- ‘The machine showed that it needs scanning while starting up. It’s been doing that for some time now. The scan takes too long. So I always escape it.’ Great. And would you be bale to escape all the bad sectors and viruses crowding in happily on your disk and making themselves at home? Please scan your machine regularly, five minutes won’t be too much time for all that is inside.
Things to be Avoided
We can go on with the entertaining but very familiar sounding list above. The only snag with it is that it is endless. So it is better to do a quick roundup of things that should be avoided if you do lose your data, or seem to do so.
- Do not try a shut down or restart. Just switch it off from the board.
- Do not try installing a recovery software and running it unless you are absolutely sure how to do it.
- Do not try to shake or hit the CPU into action, though your wise neighbour may suggest it.
- Do not stand around if there is a short circuit. You are more precious (after all) than your data.
- Do not try to take out the disc from inside its cover to see if you can make out what’s gone wrong.
- Do not put a heated disc into the refrigerator or a bucket of water.
- Do not listen to inexpert advice.
- Do not run the machine with the UPS.
- Do not try to open the CPU in case of fire.