Did somebody say free file recovery?

File recovery works like this: You mess up. You complain to your computer. If it doesn't hear you, it might immediately give you back what you want. If it has heard your foul language, it's going to play hard to get. And so, you are here looking for some free file recovery solution. Yes, they exist - free file recovery software can be found on the Internet, and under my coffee cup as a coaster. Let me explain this rhetoric...

Free file recovery sounds great, but...

In the real world, the term is mainly used as a sales pitch to something bigger and better that costs money. In the data recovery world, the extent of something being a freebie that is even worth downloading is a deleted file recovery utility. There is the exceptional free file recovery program that can recover the odd file or two, but most of the time as a whole, it is not worth the time invested, or the effort taken to find that it does not work.

If you have done this

Here is how free file recovery is pictured if you call me after you have blundered, used profanity, rebooted several times in frustration, run one of those I don't need file recovery software 'Magic' utilities, and then have finally concluded that maybe you are not super-man, or wonder-woman for that matter: The chances of using free file recovery to recover your files have diminished terribly, but it may still work. Somewhere in that mind of yours, maybe on the back-burner for now, you should consider calling for help at a data recovery service company. But let's keep working on that free file recovery idea for the time being.

What's keeping you from doing it?

Start downloading several free file recovery utilities. You don't want to have to come back to do it again and again, so make a few disks. Yes, most likely it is going to take you several times with a free file recovery tool. And understand the odds are against you. But, give it a go anyway. If this doesn't sound like fun, skip the free stuff.

Sayonara free file recovery

You may still have time at this point, but if you have no money, bid farewell to your files. At least, try using a cost-effective tool to see if your data can be recovered, because all recovery software are trial-based. That is, you get to see your data before spending any money.

The best part about paying to play - verses trying free file recovery - is that your expectations rise, and so does the quality of software. Expect to fork over about a hundred U.S. dollars for your efforts. If you are one of the "cheap-skates", and can't imagine paying more than $20 dollars, think about the time necessary to input the data again. Now multiply that number by your average hourly wage. This might not make you feel any better, but it might just justify recovering the data.

I might as well

If you have tried the free file recovery, and then the play and pay software to no avail, there is another solution. If you are over the fact that this is going to cost you something to get your data, and you really need it, data recovery service is available. Costs in the industry start at $500 and go straight up if your drive is malfunctioning.