Step three: Get out the big guns (and your wallet) If you're just looking for files and you know the drive was in a Windows system or a Mac, a stand-alone app is an easier way to go. Bootable Linux distros -many of which have tools like TestDisk pre-installed (among other, more advanced tools) - are the best way to go if you're familiar with the method and if you're interested in recovering entire partitions, or making a non-bootable drive bootable again. The more you write to the drive, the more likely you are to overwrite something you want to recover. As you read from the drive, you run the risk of exacerbating any damage it may have. Remember, the less you work with the drive you want to recover data from, the better. For more reading, check out this old but still largely accurate guide at to recovering from formatted drives. We've tackled this topic before, and used Knoppix as our bootable linux distro, but the steps apply to the ones we've mentioned as well. Here are a few we love:Ī number of these tools can recover from formatted drives, especially if the data hasn't been overwritten. Once you've done that, it's time to download and install some data recovery tools. You don't know what you'll find on this drive, and you don't want it to start misbehaving once the drive is connected to an active system. Step two: Grab some data recovery software and connect the driveīefore you do much else, make sure your antivirus and antimalware tools are up to date. If everything looks good and you have the equipment required to connect the drive to your system, we can proceed. If the drive is too physically damaged to attempt recovery, you may need more drastic measures that we'll get to later. Is it damaged in any way? Are the pins bent or broken? Make sure that the drive is in good enough condition to actually use before you try anything in the first place that may damage it even further. Sure, if you have a desktop and like getting your hands dirty you can try to install the drive as an internal one, but an external connection is faster and easier. Ideally, you'll have some kind of SATA/IDE to USB cable or USB drive enclosure or sled that you can mount the drive into and connect it to your computer easily. The first thing to do is make sure you have the tools required to connect this drive to another computer safely. Step one: Assemble your tools and examine the drive's condition
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