Emergency data recovery is the process of retrieving deleted and inaccessible data from the hard drive of a PC or laptop. A hard drive may crash at any time due to logical or physical failures, which include software problems, computer viruses, and mechanical or electrical malfunctioning.

Emergency data recovery is possible because when a file is deleted, the operating system merely deletes the address or path of the file and treats the occupied space as free space. The file remains there until it is overwritten with new data. FAT (file allocation table) and MFT (master file table) contain details of all the files on the hard drive even after they are deleted by the operating system. Data recovery software looks into these tables and recovers the lost files.

It is important to follow standard emergency recovery guidelines to avoid further damage to the hard drive and other components. The first step is to shut down the computer, remove the hard drive and send it to a data recovery firm. There it is evaluated for cost and time of recovery and the client is informed of such within 24 hours. Upon approval of the client, the hard drive is cloned by making a sector-by-sector copy of the original drive. Lost or deleted data is then recovered using data recovery systems and software.

Freeware can also be used to recover lost data. It recovers lost data in four or five easy steps. Users just need to execute the recovery freeware and select the drive. The software recovers all files and folders from the drive and gives the option of transferring these files to another hard disk or other storage media.

To avoid the high cost of emergency recovery, it is important to create back up copies of important data onto a CDR or other storage media. Guidelines regarding hard drive protection and upkeep should be followed to prevent hard drive crashes or failures.