Data recovery software can help greatly to correct errors in hard drives that result in data loss. There are various brands of data recovery software on the market today. Few are simple shareware utilities, while others are full commercial products. Given below are some tips on using data recovery software for following issues:

• Data recovery software and broken drive
If you suspect your drive is broken, never attempt to use a data recovery program .If there are strange noises coming from the drive, you should take it to a professional to recover data from drive. The more you use a malfunctioning drive, the more damage you can do to it.

• Data recovery software and boot drive
If your boot drive has crashed, then you may be unable to start your operating system in order to run the data recovery software. You can try booting up your computer from a CD-ROM. Purchase a new hard drive and install it on your operating system, or you can remove the hard drive and install it in another functioning computer.

• Data recovery software and undo feature
When choosing data recovery software, ensure it has an undo option. You should never perform data recovery on a drive which is not capable to undo any changes you are making. If you are unable to retrieve the missing data with this software, you should try again with another program or use a professional data recovery service.

• File system errors
Data recovery software normally uses two main techniques to repair errors from file systems that cause files to be inaccessible.

The first is identified as consistency checking. In this, program will scan the logical structure of the file system for missing or unpredicted results. Linux fsck, Microsoft equivalent chkdsk and scandisk are examples of utilities that follow this reasoning. Fsck refers to file system consistency check, and commonly runs when the system is booting up in order to detect errors caused by wrong shutdown. Consistency check does not work if the file system is greatly damaged.

• File system damage
In the matter of severe file system damage, another kind of data recovery software can be used. These programs overlook the file system structure and try to read whatever data they can from the drive. The program then tries to recreate files using a set of preprogrammed rules. This type of data recovery software does not attempt to repair the file system. Instead, it tries to recover any files that it can, and then save them to a functioning drive. The damaged drive can then be either replaced or reformatted, depending on the source of the damage. While this technique is relatively slower than consistency checking, still it can recover data even when the logical structures are poorly damaged.

These tips may help you to safely recover your lost or deleted data. It is always good practice to back up your essential data regularly so as to minimize your losses.