We’ve all made the error. Closing something before it’s been saved, or accidentally sending the wrong file into the recycling bin. It comes with a deeply unpleasant jolt – realising the data is lost. Or at least, if not lost, then is going to be a bit of a faff to retrieve.
Thankfully, in most cases, lost data can be recovered. Even more thankfully, it’s not the most arduous of tasks either.
In this week’s blog, we’re looking at some quick and easy ways that you can try to recover data if you’ve made a clumsy error of deleting the wrong thing.
The first place to look if you’ve deleted something in error is the recycle bin. It’s usually accessible directly from your computer’s home screen. If you can’t find it on the home screen then you should also be able to access it through the file explorer part of your computer.
Thankfully, in most cases, the files that are sent to the recycle bin are quarantined for a period of time (usually 30 days) before they are permanently deleted.
If you’ve recognised your error quickly, you should be able to resolve it just as quick. However, what should you do if you haven’t recognised your error straight away?
The second option open to you is seeing if you can find the document or file you need saved on a different part of your computer.
Many of us work on multiple variations of the same document, and sometimes may have multiple versions of a doc saved on the computer. Use the search function on file explorer to see if you have what you need (or a version of it) stored somewhere you didn’t expect.
But really, the most important thing that you can do when it comes to finding lost data, is to prevent it getting lost in the first place.
It goes without saying that you should be making sure that you back up your data. As we’ve said extensively on this blog before, data is the lifeblood of the modern business.
Thankfully there are many different ways that you can back up data for your business, we explored a number of common solutions in a recent blog that you can read here.
Without a doubt, the best solution to look at is using a cloud service for your documents – like SharePoint of Google Docs. Not only will these save files off of your computer, meaning you’ll always be able to access a backup from somewhere, they also auto-save your work. This means no more worrying about if you’ve saved something before closing a document.
If you think you could benefit more from spending some time looking at ways to protect and back up the data in your business, WebbyTech is here to help. Learn more about the services we offer here or if you’d value a discussion about the services we provide contact us today.
