DOCUMENT RECOVERY
Data loss isn’t always
restricted to accidentally
deleted files or completely
lost or corrupt partitions.
Sometimes it can manifest in
an individual file not saving
correctly or corrupting
when opened by its parent
application. First, check to
see if the program itself
offers repair tools.
For example, if you have
a corrupt Word, Excel, or
PowerPoint file, then in the
latest version of Office, click
Browse to open the main
file selection dialog. Locate
the file in question, then
click the down arrow next to
the Open button and you’ll
reveal an ‘Open and Repair...’
option that may enable you
to recover some or all the
document.If it’s unable to help,
check your data recovery
tool. While free tools are
limited, paid-for apps, such
as EaseUS Data Recovery
Wizard Free (www.easeus.
com/datarecoverywizard/
free-data-recovery-
software.htm) are capable of
recovering specific types of
file, and you may be able to
reconstruct the file without
having to pay a cent if you
haven’t yet recovered more
than 2GB of files using the
trial version.
If this doesn’t fix your
problem, head over to
Recovery Toolbox (https://
recoverytoolbox.com/)
where you’ll find a range
of tools under its ‘Repair
Software’ section that target
specific apps, from MicrosoftOffice to PDF and zip files.
Download and install the
software to let it evaluate
your damaged file and show
you what it can recover. If it’s
able to restore it, expect to
pay around $30 for a license
(prices vary according to the
product in question).One final bonus, if your
corrupt file is a Word .doc
(not the newer .docx),
then Repair My Word
(https://getdata.com/
repairmyword/) may be able
to extract the text from it,
enabling you to save it to a
new, corrupt-free file.Microsoft Office has built-in repair tools.you will lose an hour or two’s work
rather than entire files or folders of
critical data.
Our complete guide to backing
up in issue 194 split the backup
process into three distinct parts:
first, a fail-safe backup of your
entire system drive using a drive-
imaging tool, such as Macrium
Reflect Free (www.macrium.
com/reflectfree). Upgrade to the
paid version and you can take
incremental backups that are small
enough to make it practical to back
up your system on a daily (or even
intra-daily) basis.
Allied to this are file-based
backups to an external or network
drive using a tool such as File
History, backed up with a cloud-
based backup solution using either
Microsoft’s own OneDrive or a
similar alternative, from Google
Drive to your own self-hosted
NextCloud solution.
The key thing to remember with
backing up is that you should ideally
mix and match backups between
at least two different locations,
one of which should be remote, so
typically a cloud-based backup or
at least a network-attached hard
drive stored in a different room in
your home.RESTORE FROM THE CLOUD
So, before you dive into data
recovery, ask yourself if the lost
file in question is protected by a
backup. Is it stored within a folder
backed up to the cloud in real-time,
for example? Microsoft’s OneDrive
is baked into Windows, and other
cloud services, from Google Drive
to your own self-hosted Nextcloud
server, work in a similar fashion.
First, when you delete a file from
a folder stored on your computer,
even if you bypassed the Recycle
Bin, then that file isn’t immediately
removed from your cloud storage.
Instead, it’s transferred to a
separate Recycle Bin where
it’s kept for 30 days (or longer,
depending on the storage provider)
just in case you change your mind.
But how do you recover files from
here?
There’s usually no mechanism
within Windows to recover these
files. Instead, you need to log on
to your cloud storage through
your web browser to recover
the files from there. If you’re a
OneDrive user, for example, go to
https://onedrive.live.com and, if
necessary, log in via your Microsoft
account. Once there, you’ll see a
Recycle Bin option on the left. Clickit to view all the files you’ve recently
deleted, sorted by date (latest first).
Simply click a file (or files) to select
it, then click the Restore button to
recover it. Job done.
Cloud storage also offers
another form of data recovery, that
of restoring an earlier version of a
file. Multiple versions of a file are
stored online, and it’s possible to
recover a file at different points in
its history. To do this in OneDrive,
navigate to the folder in question
within your browser, then select the
file and look for a ‘Version history’
button at the top of the screen.
Clicking this will allow you to see
what versions have been created
(using a date and time stamp),
plus review the file as it was when
the snapshot was taken. If it’s the
version you’re looking for, click
Restore to make it the default new
version (the existing version then
becomes a snapshot) or Download
to save a separate copy.RESTORE FROM BACKUP
If you’re using File History to back
up your files, it can also restore
deleted files and recover earlier
versions. Open File History via the
Windows search tool by clicking
‘Restore your files with FileDOCUMENT RECOVERYDOCUMENT RECOVERY
MAR 2022MAXIMU MPC 41
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