Get Data Back

March 2, 2007

life / software

When I was posting about my Mac envy, I mentioned my hard drive crashing, and my fear that I was to lose all of my data and get to be forced to switch to Apple sooner than I had prepared to do so. I forgot to mention the solution to the data issue that stopped me from getting a Mac let me get all my important data back.

There’s a program called Get Data Back. Evidently, it is used by approximately 70% of Fortune 500 companies, and as I’ve searched the net I haven’t seen anything negative about it. In any case, the basic workflow of this program is this:

1. you have a hard drive crash, power failure, virus, etc.
2. life as you know it is over
3. you visit Get Data Back, and download the free trial
4. said free trial, if installed on a working Windows drive, allows you to see the directory structures, and open the files, on the corrupt drive… but you cannot save them
5. you think… I’m saved. I can get my data back. You pay the money for your hard drive’s correct version of the program (NTFS was $79).
6. You run the paid version, and get your data back. You gush and ooo and aaaaa and tell everyone about Get Data Back

So I’m a big fan. And, of course, if I should encounter another hard drive crash, I still have my license. Out of 50 gigs of used hard drive space, I was able to retrieve everything I could possibly have needed. And, of course, a bunch of random stuff I don’t need.