As we rapidly progress towards a reality where almost every piece of data and information we own is finding space on the cloud, a heretofore ‘storage facility’ without typical space or size constraints — we are just as quickly realising that the wonders of the Cloud are fallible.
Storage capacities that previously looked expansive, are now starting to feel limiting for users, and the loss of digitally stored content poses an even more inconsolable threat.
The buck no longer stops at uploading to the cloud or moving data to a hard drive, rather at learning data recovery failsafes so as to brace oneself for the dire possibility of data loss. Be it digital copies of identity documents, bank receipts, vacation pictures, insurance details or anything else — nearly everything is stored digitally or online.
Recovery from computer hard drives is often a challenge. One virus, or exceedingly heavy folder or programme, can potentially override previously saved files on your computer. While there are several recovery softwares for this purpose, a large majority of them only allow 500MB to 2GB worth of data recovery before one has to pay for the full version. These are free data recovery softwares that can work on ‘undeleting’ files, with or without being downloaded on the computer.
Software like Wise Data Recovery, Power Data Recovery, Glarysoft File Recovery and Microsoft’s own Windows File Recovery, are a handful of examples of softwares that are free and usable without installation on computers, supporting Windows 7, 8, 10 and 11, as well as MacOS. Of these, Wise Data Recovery is considered a more reliable option, largely due to its installation and scanning speed. UndeleteMyFilesPro is another completely free software that works on most Windows systems with the exception of version 3.1 and 10.
Software for Every Device
‘Undeleting’ files from a computer drive is one thing, due to the corruptible nature of digital storage devices, oftentimes data stored in USB devices, hard drives, CDs, DVDs, and Blu-Ray discs (BD) can also be lost. Recovery and restoration of files from devices not connected to the internet are also available. For the generations shifting from carrying pen drives and 2TB hard drives to buying space on the cloud, such softwares can be a godsend.
For this purpose, Recuva is the most touted recovery software, able to recover data not only from computers, but from external storage devices like BDs, CDs, pen drives, DVDs, memory cards, and even an iPod! This software also has a number of advanced user options and works on most Windows Operating systems, Vista and XP as well. CD Recovery Toolbox is another such software, that can recover files from damaged CDs, BDs, DVDs and other optical drive discs. This software is not designed for data recovery from hard drives or pen drives, and works completely free for optical drives.
Most trusted among these is the EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, with the only drawback being that it allows a maximum of 512MB of data recovery for free, before you have to upgrade for more.
This recovery software is preferred by many because it works on pretty much anything that Windows considers a storage device including hard drives, optical drives, memory cards, iOS devices, and cameras. Unlike softwares compatible with Windows and iOS systems, free recovery softwares that work on optical disc drives and external storage devices are not many.
The Orion file recovery software offers an additional function called the ‘data destruction programme’ which allows the user to scrub files to make them unrecoverable for future scans. Disk Drill is another recovery software that stands out, due to its usability across storage devices, including internal and external hard drives, memory cards and iPods.
It offers a range of user-friendly features like a preview function, pause and resume recovery/scan, backup drives, filter files, save scan results and more. Accidentally erasing a file, inadvertently compromising the device or simply losing access can lead to permanent data loss, if not remedied in time.
Fall of Hyperscalers
A glimpse of this was seen when in 2025, three of the major cloud computing companies — Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google cloud each suffered outages at various points in the year — leaving thousands of businesses and organisations helpless, disrupting airlines, financial services and more.
These events triggered an understandable insecurity with respect to customers’ data being stored on the cloud, and/or digitally. As much as our dependence on the internet and the digital realm increase, and our reliance on physically storing and backing up information becomes obsolete, evidently, it serves to be cautious of the shortcomings of these storage systems as well — be it on a hard drive, a digital camera, an iPod, a CD, or the ever evolving and seemingly limitless cloud. The solution is simple — back up all your data, or suffer the consequences.