Data Recovery FAQ

If you want to reduce the number of unnecessary files on your hard disk to free up disk space and help your computer run faster, use Disk Cleanup. It removes temporary files, empties the Recycle Bin, and removes a variety of system files and other items that you no longer need.

1. Open Disk Cleanup by clicking the Start button . In the search box, type Disk Cleanup, and then, in the list of results, click Disk Cleanup.
2. In the Drives list, click the hard disk drive that you want to clean up, and then click OK.
3. In the Disk Cleanup dialog box, on the Disk Cleanup tab, select the check boxes for the file types that you want to delete, and then click OK.
4. In the message that appears, click Delete files.

Read more the video tutorial from: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Delete-files-using-Disk-Cleanup 

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If you are holding a Mac machine purchased after 2007 (installed with at least OS X 10.5 Leopard), then probably you should know this great and fantastic feature - Time Machine. It helps create incremental backups of files that can be restored at a later date. It allows the Mac user to restore multiple files, or a single file even the whole system, it works within iLife, iWork and several other compatible programs, making it possible to restore individual objects e.g. photos, contacts, calendar events and more without leaving the application. But how can you use this simple tool to back up the valuable data on your Mac machine? Keep reading for step by step tutorial below.

• Step 1: You need to prepare a new hard drive and connect to your Mac.
• Step 2: From the Disk Utility, make sure that it has a GUID partition and must be formatted as Mac OS Extended.
• Step 3: From the desktop, choose the new hard drive’s icon and select Get Info from the File menu. Note: mae sure that “Ignore ownership on this volume” is disabled.
• Step 4: Open Time Machine preferences from the System Preferences option, then slide the Time Machine switch to Off position.
• Step 5: In Finder, double click the current backup for Macintosh drive. Now a Finder window will appear. Simply drag the folder “Back ups.back upd” to your new hard drive.
• Step 6: Now log in as administrator. Enter user name and password the click OK to start the copying process. Wait a few while before it is complete.
• Step 7: Click “Select Disk” from the Time Machine System Preferences, and then choose your new hard drive and click “Use for Backup”

Read original from: http://www.macosx-faq.com/simple-steps-to-back-up-your-mac-data-using-time-machine/ 

More useful articles:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1553 
http://raventools.com/blog/how-to-backup-your-mac-intelligently/ 
http://www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/back-up-your-mac-the-complete-guide-1016016

Question:

Is it safe to trust those online data backup services no matter for free or pay? I just finished building my own computer. Now the only thing left to do is figure out a way to prevent data loss. I’ve lost a lot of important music, files, and pictures in the past due to computer crashes and now i want to protect myself from any loss. Are there any alternatives for safe data storing. I was thinking of External hard drives, but reading from online reviews a lot are prone to the “Click of Death” or another type of failure. So I am thinking about paying a monthly fee for online back up. However, I don’t know whether it is safe to do so?

Answers:

H says:
Anything is hackable and you really never know if you can completely trust the storage company. Yea they may have a great reputation and be all the rage but so was Bernie Madoff. Storing anything personal or important on these sites is a big mistake in my opinion. While 99.9 percent of the time everything will be OK it’s the .1% that will ruin your life. If you have important or personal information to store and feel you need an off site backup, get a external hard drive, add full disk PGP type encryption. Put your data on it. Store it in a safe deposit box or at a trusted friend or relatives house.

EncryptNix says:
As with all things in life, the answer is “it depends”. In this case, it depends if you use a reputable company for your online backup. Carbonite is good (see link below), they charge $50 a year for unlimited backup (if you have a just a single picture or the whole Library of Congress to upload, it still remains at $50). Also, the connection bridged between you and their servers is encrypted. If you are seeking a “free” online solution, I wish you the best of luck with that… do ask yourself, “why would they allow me to upload all my private data for free?” So, don’t be cheap, but don’t over-pay either. Mozy is also another strong solution provider.
Sources: http://www.carbonite.com/en/  http://www.mozy.com/

Ethan Hunt says:
Well I trust couple of reliable sites only. Whenever I need to back up my important data, these prove reliable and affordable solutions to match my needs. http://www.intacore.com/

Have you ever met similar situation with your Western Digital external drive: when connect the drive to your Windows PC, your computer does not recognize your WD hard drive? Sometimes you may also get some error messages saying that your WD external drive is not formatted or initialized? Or are you experiencing some other problems or issues with WD external hard drive? Is there any way to recover data from a not recognized WD drive? Well, there might be a lot of reasons causing the WD not recognized problem. See below:

• Incorrect or missing (outdated) Western Digital drivers.
• Bad sectors exist with your WD external.
• Firmware malfunction.
• USB cable/line issues.
• Hardware damage (such as fall onto the ground).
• Disk corruption or file system error showing the drive is not formatted.
• More unknown reasons.

If your WD suffers physical damage such as broken…

Send the device to WD center for services if it is under warranty; otherwise send it to a local data recovery center or lab for services.

If your WD is OK but just not recognized…

Step 1: there may be the driver problems (for example out of date, corrupted, error etc) with your current Windows operation system. Download Driver Genius to your PC to find all your outdated drivers and automatically updates them all. Then reconnect your WD drive, see if it can be detected as normal.

Step 2: Still not? And it’s showing some error message when attempt to access the drive? Right click on the drive and it shows “RAW” file system? In this case, try to rescue data using Data Recovery Software. Then re-format your WD external under “Disk Management”, after format, re-try the data recovery tool to recover more data. Now it should work normally again.

Step 3: if the drive does not even show under “My Computer” or “Disk Management”, change a USB cable to connect or try it on a different PC and see.

Step 4: still won’t help? Send it to WD center or data recovery companies. That should be your final solution.

More related articles:
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Nowadays with data backup into people’s mind, we are used to take a Seagate external hard drive to store or make a copy of our precious data. But have you ever accidentally formatted the hard drive or deleted files off your Seagate without backup or more seriously the Seagate external became totally corrupted causing data inaccessible? Then what should be the right steps to perform Seagate data recovery?

#1 – when you suffer any Seagate data loss situations from any of the above cases, you should immediately stop using the hard disk and keep it safe from any physical damage. And then act as fast as possible, take a free data recovery tool to give it a shot. Please Note: The programs work even if you are trying to retrieve deleted, formatted, partitioned or inaccessible files, photos, videos, documents, emails, the ‘Address Book’ etc.

#2 – Connect your Seagate external hard drive (HDD) to your PC or Mac machine. It should be shown as ‘extennal drive G’ or so under the computer. Then install the Seagate file recovery (for Windows or Mac) program. Open the program.

#3 – Select you’re the drive your Seagate represents that you want to recover data from. And then click ‘Start Scan’ button. Now the program will start automatically to scan the drive for lost files.

#4 – Wait patiently until the scanning is completed, you can see a lot of files found and listed on the program panel. Preview them to see if they are right you have lost from your Seagate. Then highlight those files and click Recover button to get them recovered. Note: do not save recovered files back to the source Seagate external.

#5 – Still won’t help? send your Seagate drive for official service. Note: usually will charge you a lot. Just prepare for that.

Related Articles:
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