Data recovery is a process whereby you can save data and\rfiles you accidentally deleted, had eaten by malicious\rsoftware or viruses, hardware failures, corporate espionage\rand many more scenarios. Most people believe that when the\rhard drive crashes their world ends also, but that's not\rusually the case. In fact 85% of the time the data is\rrecoverable, and at far less trouble and expense than you\rmight fear at first.

It's a wonder something that spins at thousands of times a\rminute doesn't crash more often than they do, what with all\rthe abuse we heap upon them. When's the last time you did a\rdust patrol near your drive ports? Hard drives aren't the\ronly data that can be saved too. Zip drives, floppies,\rDVD's, CD-ROM's and more can be rescued. And sometimes the\rworst of disasters will yield up results. Technicians\rregularly extract data from computers that are burned to a\rcrisp. Admittedly this is trickier and more expensive, but\rit can be done. On woman had her Apple Powerbook sink to the\rbottom of the Amazon, whereupon tiring of waiting for the\rsalvage operation, she promptly donned her scuba gear, swam\rdown to the sunken boat and retrieved her precious files.\rShe then mailed the whole mess to DriveSavers and they\rmanaged to save most of her data, despite being submerged\rfor three days!

Most recoveries aren't nearly as sexy, and can usually be\rresolved with a software solution, usually by the client his\ror herself. Off the rack data recovery software is quite\rgood and relatively inexpensive, especially when you\rcompared to the cost of dealing with replacing the lost\rfiles. Most data recovery issues stem from human error,\rroughly 25%. A software solution can run you anywhere from\r$75-$400, whereas if the problem is too difficult and you\rhave to box it up and send it out, expect to pay between\r$500-$2000, with the average price of $1000.

The key to remember is that deleted data is usually not gone\rforever, just maddeningly misplaced. The good news is that\rrecovery can be a mouse click away!

Keith Thompson is the Webmaster of Data Recovery Service offering fast and easy solutions for data recovery.