In some cases, it would be nearly impossible to recover overwritten files without the help of a professional data recovery service. A file in your computer has its own place in the data drive. It will remain there unless you delete or overwrite it.
The good news is that, electronic files leave some shadows or footprints in the drive. These are called data shadows. Professional data forensic experts look for these shadows to restore previously overwritten files. If a file has been overwritten once or twice only, then recovery would be simpler. But you can eventually lose your information permanently if it has been overwritten many times over.
Simple Steps for Rescuing Overwritten Data
If you simply want to recover an earlier version of a file that has been overwritten by a latest save operation, then simply search for the.tmp files in your computer. The.tmp files are copies of the previous versions of that which you are working on. Just locate a.tmp version that contains the content you need. This can be a tedious process but you can recover portions of a previous file that has been overwritten.
For something that has been completely overwritten, then you need to use data recovery software. Make sure that the software is designed to rescue overwritten files because most commercial data rescue applications can only recover deleted or corrupted data. When using a rescue tool, always install it in another computer or a separate partition of your hard disk. Installing the software in the drive where the overwritten files are located can complicate your job because the application could further overwrite what you want to recover.
Get Help from Professional Data Recovery Service
If you have accidentally overwritten critical information, it is highly advisable to get the help of professional data recovery service. This is a safer approach to rescue what you lost. Professional data recovery services use a combination of hardware and software recovery systems to restore overwritten files. So, you can get the guarantee that your data will be restored fully.