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In other words, if your data is really important for you,
you will not go for a risk while recovering it. As the
proverb goes, it is no use crying over spilt milk. DIY is
something that was devised keeping in mind that amateurs
would be using it. By there are degrees of ignorance too.
Some end users may actually be quite techno-savvy, while the
strange lack of sheer common sense on the part of people who
are supposed to be important ‘decision makers’ in big
companies can be quite shocking. Therefore, the value of the
data is not the sole factor that should decide the choice of
the recovery method to be applied. The problem is that, no
one wants to enrage the customer, but some software or
certain types of problems simply should not be part of a DIY
package. In the wrong hands, a tool can become a means of
destruction rather than construction.
Some Examples
Two very different examples would clear out what is being
meant here. We will refrain from taking proper names, as all
these cases are very real, and right up there in quite
popular blogs for the world to read (and gape at).
- Let us take the case of this man who is actually a
company CEO. When the some of the most important files of
the company containing customer database became corrupt, he
first tried to get them recovered by ‘in house experts’, and
when nothing happened, they tried to implement a software
package that they had bought off the shelf. Finally, when
the screen became blue, they panicked and called a data
recovery company. According to the experts, if they had not
tried out their ingenuous ‘solutions’, their server would
not have crashed, and more than 95% of the data would have
been recovered. But only 72% was recovered because of this
tampering.
- Then there is the stately school teacher from Bristol.
When her computer emitted strange noises, she slapped it
smartly, probably trying to treat it like her unruly
students. Then she actually figured out how to take out the
hard drive, and inspected it for damages. Thankfully, she
had not gone one step further and tried to take the disk out
of its case (yes, some people do that too). When she could
not see anything on it, she got ‘one of those recovery CDs’
that a friend had, and tried to run it. The computer did
start up, and then gave up ghost with the CD stuck inside.
The lady concluded that the machine is not starting up all
because of the CD, and had come on the blog to voice her
opinion. Needless to say, it was quite beyond the powers of
the software to rectify her hardware problem in the first
place.
The Conclusion
To counter these two sad cases stated above, there are so
many other successful people who have recovered their
precious data safely with DIY software. Therefore, the
ultimate verdict is that the risk involved in using DIY
software depends on the following factors:
- The value of the data should be the first concern.
Most corporate cases of data loss, even if it does seem like
a solvable problem, should go for professional help. There
is no need to save that penny today and lose all those
pounds tomorrow in recovering it, rebuilding what is lost,
and managing the downtime costs. In the case of personal
users, if the data consists of matter like research or
project reports, emotionally valuable letters and photos or
something that you know you cannot afford to lose, it is
better not to take chances. Not all data recovery companies
are absurdly priced, and you would not want to spend double
by first buying software, messing it up, and then going to
them.
- The second factor is, of course, the competence of the
user. If you are not confident, don’t try it.
- The nature of the data loss is of great importance, as
the second example illustrates. Check out if the software
answers your needs at all.
- Finally, the software itself should be from a reputed
company and easy-to-use. A complicated application or a
software by a lesser known group might be risky even if you
are efficient.
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