The best tips for Linux® data recovery include learning to recognize when the task warrants the services of professional specialists in data recovery, stopping all disk writes as soon as possible and unmounting the file system. It is also highly recommended to practice Linux® data recovery before such skills are needed, to know which tools can come in handy during the process and to have a reliable backup system in the first place. All of these tips will prove extremely valuable in the event of a Linux® disaster recovery process. In fact, not following them almost always results in having to hire specialists whose services can be very costly.
Linux® data recovery is an extremely difficult task and usually is impossible for the typical user who does not understand file systems or how to work on the command line. Understanding this much is a person's first step in knowing when to tackle recovery himself or herself and when to leave the daunting task to specialists. Following this tip for Linux® data recovery helps to save time and frustration but usually proves to be very expensive if specialists must be hired. People who are not familiar with working on the command line and who do not understand the basic "tree" representing the Linux® file system should be particularly concerned with setting up a dependable backup process to try to avoid the need to deal with Linux® data recovery.
As soon as it has been discovered that data has been lost through an accidental deletion, through some type of data corruption or because of damage to a disk, it is extremely important for one to immediately cease all writes to that disk. The disk could be a local one or a removable drive; even a floppy disk is a disk. This tip for Linux® data recovery is so important because on multi-user systems, the inodes of files are immediately made available after their deletion. Inodes contain information needed to complete the recovery process. They reveal the type of the file, names of its owners, its access rights, time stamps, file size and file attributes.
It should be remembered that Linux® data recovery involves examining raw data using a process known as pattern matching on the disk from which the information was accidentally deleted. Therefore, it is vital to practice recovery before it is needed. Practice files can be created, a little information placed in them, and then they can be deleted in order to practice the process. Attempting to examine a raw file for the first time during real disaster recovery will almost always end in failure. Using pattern matching to search for candidates that will allow for the reassembly of the parts of deleted data is a most tedious task requiring knowledge or what one is doing.