Data Loss: The Sword of Damocles Over Electronic Storage

No matter what you do, data loss can still happen sometimes as it did to us when our main SSD server spectacularly went down. Fortunately, we were able to get back up and running thanks to our friends at We Recover Data who worked with us on this episode, which is sponsored by them.

Data loss is a little like the sword of Damocles constantly hanging over the head of anyone who stores anything important electronically. After it happens, is it really gone for good? Often, the answer isn't clear. What if you delete a file by mistake or suffer corruption due to power loss or physical damage like a head crash where the read right head of your hard drive crashes into the platters that store your data? Fortunately, there are several techniques that have been developed over the years to rescue inaccessible data before it becomes permanently lost.

Let's say you've been the victim of the all too common accident where someone empties your recycling bin and it turns out that you had a mission critical selfie inside of it. Since deleting a file in Windows is only actually marking the data as free space, it just sits on your drive until something overwrites it. Sooner is better if you're using simple recovery software lest your selfie get overwritten by something completely irrelevant like a tax return. What if you can't even access your drive due to some type of serious corruption with the file system itself? In that case, certain utilities like open-source test DIS can attempt to repair the underlying problem with the drive.

If that works, you could attempt a file technique called file carving, which is despite its name, the process of reassembling files from fragments by looking at their headers to try and figure out what kinds of files they were, whether they were MP3s, JPEGs, or whatever else. If you have a hard drive with a platter that just won't spin or maybe bad sectors or a bad PCB or an SSD module that somehow came loose, you'll probably want to send that off to a data recovery specialist as they have the correct hardware to physically examine the disc. If you don't have that, you're putting your hardware at risk, which is putting your files at risk, which is probably not a great idea in the case of a hard drive.

It will need to go to a clean room that might look like something out of a movie about a killer virus, since any type of dust or particulate can potentially wreck that part of the data on the hard drive or platter. Beyond recovery, some drives can be rebuilt with new components while other drives have to be examined by special machines that can read data directly off of platters, pretty cool, of course.

However, even with the most advanced recovery methods, you can't get all of your stuff back in every case. This can be for reasons ranging from physical damage that's too extensive to having proprietary storage medium that needs to be reverse engineered to the target data being overwritten before you can recover it. It's virtually impossible to recover overwritten data using current methods, which is why it's a great idea to intentionally overwrite your hard drive with something like Deban also known as Derek's Botin Nuke before you sell your PC.

After all, who knows what the next owner might find hiding inside, and you can watch and learn from top experts who are passionate about what they're talking about. What they're teaching you? You can stream thousands of video courses on demand and learn on your own schedule at your own pace. You can browse each course to follow along, so if you missed the part, you can find it in the text-based script and then go to that part of the video.

You can take notes and refer them later on for specific videos, and you can even download tutorials to watch them on the go, whether you're waiting in line somewhere or sitting in traffic. Maybe not a great idea if you're the passenger sitting in traffic, but you can watch it on your mobile devices and customize your learning path and share it with friends, colleagues, team members whatever your Linda.com membership will give you unlimited access to training on hundreds of topics all for a flat rate, just starting at $25 a month.

Whether you're looking to become an industry expert, you're passionate about some random hobby or you just want to learn something new, check out Linda.com Tequi and sign up for your free 10-day trial. All right, guys, hopefully that was great like the video if you liked it, you can also dislike it if you disliked it, if you disliked it though I want you to go down into the comments tell me what you'd prefer me to cover that would be cool, I want to know what you want to see check your channel super fun if that's what you want to see and if you liked it and if you liked that get subscribed to both.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: endata loss no matter what you do it can still happen sometimes as it did to us when our main SSD server spectacularly went down which you can check out in this video up here but we were able to get back up and running thanks to our friends at we recover data who worked with us on this episode which is sponsored by them so data loss is a little like the sword of damle constantly hanging over the head of anyone who stores anything important electronically but after it happens is it really gone for good often the answer isn't clear what if you delete a file by mistake suffer corruption due to power loss or have physical damage like a head crash where the read right head of your hard drive crashes into the platters that store your data fortunately there's a number of techniques that have been developed over the years to rescue inaccessible Data before it becomes permanently lost let's say that you've been the victim of the all too common accident where someone empties your recycling bin and it turns out that you had a mission crical selfie inside of it since deleting a file in Windows is only actually marking the data as free space it just sits on your drive until something overwrites it so sooner is better if you're using simple recovery software lest your selfie get overwritten by something completely irrelevant like a tax return but what if you can't even access your drive due to some type of serious corruption with the file system itself in that case certain utilities like open- Source test dis can attempt to repair the underlying problem with the drive but if that works you could attempt a file technique called file carving which despite its name is the process of reassembling files from fragments by looking at their headers to try and figure out what kinds of files they were whether they were MP3s jpegs or whatever else but if you have a hard drive with a platter that just won't spin or maybe bad sectors or a bad PCB or an SSD module that somehow came loose you'll probably want to send that off to a data recovery specialist as they have the correct Hardware to physically examine the disc and if you don't have that you're putting your Hardware at risk which is putting your files at risk which is probably not a great idea in the case of a hard drive it'll need to go to a clean room that might look like something out of a movie about a killer virus since any type of dust or particulate can potentially wreck that part of the data on the hard drive or platter Beyond recovery some drives can be rebuilt with new components while other drives have to be examined by special machines that can read data directly off of platters pretty cool of course however even with the most advanced recovery methods you can't get all of your stuff back in every case this can be for reasons ranging from physical damage that's too extensive to having proprietary storage medium that needs to be reverse engineered to the Target data being overwritten before you can recover it it's virtually impossible to recover overwritten data using current methods which is why it's a great idea to intentionally overwrite your hard drive with something like deban also known as Derek's botin nuke before you sell your PC after all who knows what the next owner might find hiding inside linda.com with a linda.com membership you can watch and learn from Top experts who are passionate about what they're talking about what they're teaching you can stream thousands of video courses on demand and learn on your own schedule at your own pace you can browse each course trans script to follow along so if you missed the part you can find it in the text based script and then go to that part of the video which is pretty cool you can take notes and refer them later on for specific videos you can download tutorials watch them On The Go whether you're waiting in line somewhere or sitting in traffic maybe not a greater if you're the passenger sitting in traffic you can watch it on your mobile devices and you can even customize your learning path and share it with friends colleagues team members whatever your linda.com membership will give you unlimited access to training on hundreds of topics all for a flat rate just starting at $25 a month whether you're looking to become an industry expert you're passionate about some random hobby or you just want to learn something new check out linda.com tequi and sign up for your free 10-day trial all right guys hopefully that was great like the video if you liked it you can also dislike it if you disliked it if you disliked it though I want you to go down into the comments tell me what you'd prefer me to cover that would be cool I want to know what you want to see check your channel super fun if that's what you want to see and if you liked it and if you liked that get subscribed to both why notdata loss no matter what you do it can still happen sometimes as it did to us when our main SSD server spectacularly went down which you can check out in this video up here but we were able to get back up and running thanks to our friends at we recover data who worked with us on this episode which is sponsored by them so data loss is a little like the sword of damle constantly hanging over the head of anyone who stores anything important electronically but after it happens is it really gone for good often the answer isn't clear what if you delete a file by mistake suffer corruption due to power loss or have physical damage like a head crash where the read right head of your hard drive crashes into the platters that store your data fortunately there's a number of techniques that have been developed over the years to rescue inaccessible Data before it becomes permanently lost let's say that you've been the victim of the all too common accident where someone empties your recycling bin and it turns out that you had a mission crical selfie inside of it since deleting a file in Windows is only actually marking the data as free space it just sits on your drive until something overwrites it so sooner is better if you're using simple recovery software lest your selfie get overwritten by something completely irrelevant like a tax return but what if you can't even access your drive due to some type of serious corruption with the file system itself in that case certain utilities like open- Source test dis can attempt to repair the underlying problem with the drive but if that works you could attempt a file technique called file carving which despite its name is the process of reassembling files from fragments by looking at their headers to try and figure out what kinds of files they were whether they were MP3s jpegs or whatever else but if you have a hard drive with a platter that just won't spin or maybe bad sectors or a bad PCB or an SSD module that somehow came loose you'll probably want to send that off to a data recovery specialist as they have the correct Hardware to physically examine the disc and if you don't have that you're putting your Hardware at risk which is putting your files at risk which is probably not a great idea in the case of a hard drive it'll need to go to a clean room that might look like something out of a movie about a killer virus since any type of dust or particulate can potentially wreck that part of the data on the hard drive or platter Beyond recovery some drives can be rebuilt with new components while other drives have to be examined by special machines that can read data directly off of platters pretty cool of course however even with the most advanced recovery methods you can't get all of your stuff back in every case this can be for reasons ranging from physical damage that's too extensive to having proprietary storage medium that needs to be reverse engineered to the Target data being overwritten before you can recover it it's virtually impossible to recover overwritten data using current methods which is why it's a great idea to intentionally overwrite your hard drive with something like deban also known as Derek's botin nuke before you sell your PC after all who knows what the next owner might find hiding inside linda.com with a linda.com membership you can watch and learn from Top experts who are passionate about what they're talking about what they're teaching you can stream thousands of video courses on demand and learn on your own schedule at your own pace you can browse each course trans script to follow along so if you missed the part you can find it in the text based script and then go to that part of the video which is pretty cool you can take notes and refer them later on for specific videos you can download tutorials watch them On The Go whether you're waiting in line somewhere or sitting in traffic maybe not a greater if you're the passenger sitting in traffic you can watch it on your mobile devices and you can even customize your learning path and share it with friends colleagues team members whatever your linda.com membership will give you unlimited access to training on hundreds of topics all for a flat rate just starting at $25 a month whether you're looking to become an industry expert you're passionate about some random hobby or you just want to learn something new check out linda.com tequi and sign up for your free 10-day trial all right guys hopefully that was great like the video if you liked it you can also dislike it if you disliked it if you disliked it though I want you to go down into the comments tell me what you'd prefer me to cover that would be cool I want to know what you want to see check your channel super fun if that's what you want to see and if you liked it and if you liked that get subscribed to both why not\n"