Do you recall moments when you have accidentally deleted a file as you reformat your hard disk? Or perhaps a killer virus cracked into your computer which forced you to reformat your hard disk? It is quite possible that all of us had one of those moments when we experience the downside of technology. On the bright side, you don’t need to worry about lost files due to formatting; there are ways to recover deleted files from a formatted hard disk.

When a certain file gets deleted from your computer, accidentally or not, your operating system does not really remove its contents just yet. Windows, Mac or Linux simply marks the hard drive space as available for use and overwrites on that part of the disk with new files.

Here’s a list of how you can recover deleted files from your hard disk:

• To ensure that the disk is not written over, do not use that disk after formatting. Make sure you have a data recovery software app in hand before anybody can touch your computer and start saving files.
• Run a data recovery software tool so that you can retrieve your files back. The software will either make a CD/DVD or programs in your desktop to store important information. Some apps can actually recover files permanently removed from the recycle bin. Depending on your software, you can retrieve picture files, songs, movies or documents.
• Once the software app started running, allow it to scan your computer freely. As much as possible, do not use the computer until the scan ceases. This way your software will be able to scan fully every aspect of your hard drive.
• In a few minutes, the software should have been able to Recover files from formatted hard drive. Make sure you backup these files to a secondary drive so that they would not end on the same part of your hard disk again.
• Once you’ve made a backup of these retrieved files, the software will examine the files and see if they are salvageable. Most software tools guarantee data retrieval. But it may not be applicable to corrupted files. It all depends on the situation.
• Another option to retrieve your deleted files is to have an expert look at your hard drive. This is like your computer’s medical checkup. Have an expert inspect your hard drive and study the condition of the deleted file. Generally, they use similar software apps you can buy to retrieve lost data. However, what they have are the professional copies. This is a great idea especially if you are not computer savvy. This way you are assured that your computer is in good hands.

In choosing software, make sure that it is compatible with your operating system of choice. Recent data recovery software applications are compatible with any OS including Mac, Linux, and versions of Windows. Hence, the best way to avoid accidents is to make backups of your files on a separate hard disk. This way you wouldn’t risk losing valuable information either through formatting disks or computer virus damage.