Losing your valuable data, either by damage to your computer or accidental deletion, is an upsetting situation. Whether the lost files contain sensitive personal information, treasured photographs, or data for your small business, the loss can be devastating.

Your data doesn’t have to stay lost, however. Data recovery services specialize in restoring files that most people wouldn’t think would be recoverable. Keep reading to learn how data recovery services work.

Why Data Recovery is Possible

The files stored on your computer are all written onto the hard drive, which consists of thin, round platters coated with a shiny magnetic data storage medium, much like the shiny coating on the thin ribbons contained inside VHS and cassette tapes. Just like in a VCR or a tape player, a head inside your computer’s hard drive reads and writes the data onto the magnetic storage medium.

When you delete a file on your computer, it is not actually erased from the hard drive. The hard drive simply changes the marker on that space from “occupied” to “vacant.” The data itself is still there until it is written over. Think of it as a home video that you have decided you don’t want anymore. Until you actually tape over it, it’s still there.

Even once data is written over, it can still be found. This is because the data that is written over it is usually imperfect, leaving traces of the original file. With the proper tools, these traces can be located, deciphered, and – usually – reassembled into complete files. However, the more times an old file is overwritten, the more difficult it will be to retrieve it – so the sooner you contact a data recovery service, the better.

What the Data Recovery Service Does