Data lost or. How to Recover All Your Data If Your iPhone Was Stolen or Lost
Important and obvious tip: always lock your screen
Many people neglect the simplest safety measures. And a PIN code like 1111, or 0000, or 1234 will not work; any thief will guess it instantly.
Most modern smartphones have various biometric sensors - fingerprint scanners or, less commonly, face or iris scanners. Using them is easier and faster than a password or pattern; you don’t have to enter or invent anything, and to turn it on and unlock it, you just need to put your finger on the sensor or just look at the screen.
But such “advanced” methods still require you to set a backup password in case you suddenly grow a huge beard or are unable to take off your glove in the cold. And we repeat, this password should not be made very simple, otherwise all biometric security will go to waste.
If you are too lazy to constantly enter a code or touch the sensor with your finger, there is another clever modern way. On iOS and Android older than 6.0, you can configure unlocking with a trusted device.
If you regularly use a fitness tracker, smartwatch, wireless headphones or laptop, your smartphone can remember that it is safe to be around these devices and not lock the screen while they are within a certain radius.
You can (and even need) to enter your name and contact information on the lock screen. If some kind person finds your iPhone forgotten in a cafe and wants to return it, you need to make the task as easy as possible for him.
Still, the smartphone is lost, what should I do?
Call him first and then the police
The simplest and most obvious thing is to call your number from another phone and hope that it will simply fall into the sofa or someone will pick up the phone and agree to return it.
If you are sure that the phone was stolen, contact the police and file a report. Law enforcement agencies can request from your telecom operator details of recent calls and a log of movements with a fairly high accuracy. Unless, of course, the police take your case into account.
However, all this will work if the thief did not think to throw away the SIM card first, and not everyone is so lucky.
This way, for example, you can monitor your child so that he doesn’t skip classes, and if he loses his smartphone, see exactly where the mobile network recorded his location last time.
You can use a similar method, but with less location accuracy, yourself. For this telecom operators offer additional services for searching for people, like MTS "Locator", "Radar" from Megafon or "Bug" from Beeline.
Operators charge an additional fee for this, but the essence is the same. You give permission in advance for the other party to send requests for the location of your smartphone.
But what if it didn't work?
"Find iPhone" is easier than Android
Apple cares about the safety of its users almost more than all other electronics manufacturers. iPhones were among the first phones with fingerprint scanners. But not only that, Apple began to popularize the remote search function for a smartphone.
All iPhones come with the Find My iPhone app out of the box. It's easy to set up. The owner is able to determine the location of his smartphone from a computer using GPS, cellular and wireless network data. You can also display a message to the finder or remotely wipe the device to prevent data from falling into the wrong hands.
Android has its own tricks
It's more complicated with Android. In most cases, no additional functions are preinstalled in case of loss.
Setup is easy, but slightly tedious. You need to create an account, check the boxes in the security settings, and then log in to the smartphone search service in the browser and confirm its registration. Now you will be able to lock your smartphone, unlock it, erase all data and send a message to the lock screen, in general, the complete package.
This feature also allows you to unlock your smartphone if you set a password on it and then forgot it.
Everyone else will have to use third-party services. For example, Dr.Web antivirus provides a fairly rich selection of security settings, including Anti-Theft.
This function allows you not only to track your position using GPS, lock the device at a distance and reset it to factory settings, but also more interesting features like activating a constant loud signal that will play all the time while the device is turned on, and which is not “cured” by rebooting.
How to recover data from a lost or stolen smartphone?
The ability to return the contents of a lost device (despite all the precautions from the previous paragraphs) depends on your organization and how much you trust the cloud servers of Apple, Google and other companies.
Backup is a must-have feature
Periodically saving a backup copy of your device is a very useful habit, which for some reason many users neglect.
The backup usually records data about user settings, installed applications, contacts, SMS message log, as well as photos from the gallery.
It will be possible to restore your smartphone from it if, say, you had to perform a system rollback to factory settings due to a serious bug or if you lost one smartphone and bought yourself a new one.
If you're used to storing everything the old-fashioned way on your device's internal memory (or SD card), all smartphones support a computer backup feature. To do this, you need to connect your smartphone to your computer with a wire, install proprietary software and find the “Backup” tab.
These programs vary depending on the manufacturer and model of the device. So there can be no universal instructions here. But usually there is nothing complicated about this; manufacturers try not to hide this button too far.
There is an easier way. Both iOS and Android provide a feature for automatically backing up the system to network storage. Once in a given period of time, usually at night, when you are sleeping and you don’t need a smartphone, the device connects to its manufacturer’s servers and records a copy of itself - if something happens to it, it will be easier to survive.
This works especially great for Apple devices. When you activate your new iPhone, you are immediately asked if you would like to restore it from a copy of your previous device. If so, then the new device, even if it is a different model, will automatically download all the data from the backup copy of the previous iPhone: contacts, call and SMS logs, applications, ringtones, home screen wallpaper, alarm settings and other little things - it will be literally the same device, but new.
On many devices, this option must be activated separately, so this is not a matter of a couple of clicks. Documents - also in the cloud
There are rarely problems with documents and work data on mobile devices - most of them come from email, and downloading them again from letters is not difficult. Calendars and alarms are also automatically synchronized with your Google account or Apple ID - they will be available on any other device in the same form as on the lost phone.
To create new documents, it is better to use standard tools like Pages on iOS or Google Docs on Android and iOS. They automatically sync all changes in real time and make it easy to share files with colleagues or even make edits together. If you're using the official Microsoft Office 360 on Windows, the free mobile versions will also have this feature.
Always use a personal account
For security purposes, each person must use their own personal profile. With a new device, this is not difficult, but after buying a phone second-hand, not everyone thinks about whose account is activated there (yes, this happens). You should always be sure that your account on your device belongs to you and that no one else has access to it.
Even if these are your children, both Google and Apple have special children’s accounts for this with limited capabilities for downloading applications and using paid services.
It’s even more convenient to transfer music online
If you have been collecting a media library all your life, then it is better to have a copy of it in several copies on your computer and external hard drive. But honestly, for most people, the time for offline music has passed.
It is much more convenient to connect to one of the online services like Apple Music, Google Music, Yandex. Music or Boom (a new service based on music from VKontakte and Odnoklassniki).
Firstly, because it is completely legal and not very expensive - you can pay about 150 rubles a month for your favorite compositions. To save money, pay for music through the website rather than with an automatic subscription in the app.
Secondly, your carefully collected collections of artists and playlists will become available on any device and will not depend on any one device.
And lastly, any music applications allow you to save copies of your favorite tracks to the device’s memory, so that you are not left in silence abroad or in the subway without a stable connection.
Your lost or stolen personal data can be used illegally at any time, so it's better to be on the safe side
According to the US Department of Justice, in 2014, 17.6 million Americans experienced identity theft, with 38 percent of such incidents involving bank accounts and 42 percent involving credit cards. Two out of three identity theft victims lost money—an average of $300 to $1,341. Moreover, people, as a rule, learned about the theft by calling from financial institutions - banks and credit companies.
Have you, reader, experienced that your credit/debit card suddenly started showing transactions that you did not make? What about letters from the credit bureaus about debts you didn't owe? All of these factors are nothing more than evidence that your personal information - driver's license, social security number or credit cards - was somehow stolen or lost by you. What to do in this case? Is it possible to replace all of these documents, including my social security number? A lawyer knows the answers to these questions. Tim Robinson from the Robinson & Kardonsky Law Firm.
– Tim, what does “stolen identity” mean?
– This means when someone uses your driver's license, your credit card information, your Social Security number or other documents that identify you for their own purposes.
– How can I know if my data has been stolen?
– I would highlight several ways. First, be sure to order your annual credit report from the credit bureaus to have it analyzed for loans you didn't take out and credit cards you didn't apply for. By the way, if you report a suspected theft (fraud alert) to the credit bureaus, they will provide you with a copy of your report for free.
The second way to determine that something is wrong with your data is through calls or letters from collection agencies, which confront you with the fact that you owe them money that you simply did not borrow from banks.
– What if I realized that my personal data has been stolen? Should I call the police immediately?
– It depends on how exactly you realized that your personal data was stolen. For example, if you discover that money has been withdrawn from your credit or debit card without your permission, you should immediately call the bank's fraud department or the credit card company that issued your card and notify them that the transaction was not yours.
Scan QR-Code to Watch Complete Interview– Should I do anything if one of my IDs or credit cards just got lost and I can’t find them, but my bank account is fine?
– Of course, it is better to take preventive measures and notify the credit company or bank about the situation and order a new card, while closing the one that you lost. This may cause some inconvenience, but it's better to be on the safe side against the possibility of someone using your lost credit card.
– Is it dangerous if I simply don’t remember where my Social Security number is?
– Sometimes people lose their Social Security number card. To prevent this from happening, it is better to keep important documents like this in a home safe or any other safe place in the house or even in a safe deposit box and double-check that the card does not accidentally fall out while using it.
But, if you do lose your Social Security number, start checking your credit reports and monthly bank statements for your credit or debit cards so you can be prepared if any illegal activity occurs due to your lost Social Security card.
If you lose the card itself, you need to secure your Social Security number printed on the card because the number does not change. And careful monitoring of your financial documents is the best opportunity for this.
“Under no circumstances can you expect to receive a new Social Security number?”
– Your Social Security number stays with you for life, but you can order a lost card with the number by contacting the Social Security Agency.
– I remember reading on one of the official websites that I should contact the IRS immediately if my personal information is stolen. What does this mean?
– This means you must notify the appropriate authorities, including the IRS, that your stolen or lost data may pose a potential problem in the future. And, if problems do happen, they will have evidence that you warned them.
Tim Robinson and Gerard Cardonsky receive the 2014 Business of the Year Award from Arlington Mayor Dr. Robert Clack– Will the lost data situation have any impact on my annual tax filing with the IRS?
– No one is immune from this. Someone can take out a loan using your name and information, or even get a job using your documents, and the employer may not suspect that he hired a person using someone else’s documents. And you might not even get a tax refund.
– How dangerous is it if someone forwards all mail from my mailing address to another address?
– If someone decides to go to the post office and illegally fill out a change of address form on your behalf, postal workers should always ask for documentation from anyone who decides to make a forwarding. However, if your documents were stolen, then the process of illegal forwarding can be much easier and simpler.
How can you detect a change in address? If you stop receiving regular correspondence - electricity bills, telephone bills, etc., the first thing you need to do is contact the postal service and find out if someone has forwarded your mail to another address.
– Tim, thank you very much for the interview on such an important topic. What do you think our readers might be interested in in our next conversations on legal topics?
– There are several other subjects of law that may be of interest to the Russian-speaking community of Dallas. Most of the community members are immigrants who came to the United States, for example, to start a business. And in this regard, you need to take several legal steps to protect yourself. Of course, you need advice on how to organize and run a business legally.
– What about wills? In our former homeland, such a document was not produced en masse.
– This is an equally important question. When someone dies, their assets are divided either according to their will or according to state laws. And if you want your property to go to the people you want, you simply need a will.
From the editor: If you, the reader, have questions regarding lost or stolen personal data, contact the law office
Have you ever had your iPhone stolen - or lost? This happens more often than you think. If you're worried about the valuable data you just lost and wondering if you can retrieve it, we have good news for you: the answer is yes!
With iPhone Backup Extractor, you can recover all your data from your iPhone, even if you no longer have access to it. You may be asking yourself what you can salvage from a stolen or lost iPhone. iPhone Backup Extractor can download and restore all your messages, contacts, call history, images, videos and more.
These are the steps you should follow to make sure your iPhone data is safe, even if it has been stolen or lost and you don't have access to it:
Find iPhone
Extract data from it using iPhone Backup Extractor
Lock your lost device
Deleting data from your iPhone
How to Find Your Stolen or Lost iPhone
If you have just discovered that your iPhone is lost, act quickly and try to find your device using the following steps:
![](https://i0.wp.com/i.reincubate.com/ssm/find-my-phone-all-devices-icloud@2x.png)
How to Recover Data from Your Lost or Stolen iPhone
If you can't recover your lost or stolen iPhone, you can still recover data from it. As long as you have an iCloud account or a recent iTunes backup - and iPhone Backup Extractor - you should be able to retrieve your data.
To download all your data from your lost or stolen iPhone, follow these steps:
Go to the Browse tab and extract your data by clicking on each data category. Select a location and your data will be downloaded to your computer. This method is useful if you want to recover data from the following apps: Photos, Contacts, Calendar, SMS, Recordings, WhatsApp, Videos, Voicemail, Notes, Call History and Location data.
Go to the Preview tab and select the apps you want to restore from. You can review your data before deciding to download. This method is used, for example, to extract data from applications such as Photos, SMS, WhatsApp, Snapchat, Viber, Kik, Line and Hike.
Go to the Application View tab and select the application from which you want to recover data. You will see a list of files in the right pane, marked in blue letters. Click on them and select the folder where you want to extract the data. The data will be retrieved directly from your computer.
Go to the Photo Stream option (in the top left corner of the app) and tap on it. On the right side you will see a Download button. Click on it and select a location. Your Photo Stream files will download to your computer in a few minutes, depending on the size of your data. This method is useful when you want to extract the latest images and videos captured on your iPhone. Please note that Photo Stream data is deleted after 30 days - so you better be quick!
Go to “Expert Mode” and manually select the files and folders you need. You can upload databases or files associated with any of your applications. (You can find out more about these .
Download iPhone Backup Extractor to your computer. Depending on your operating system, you'll need to get the Mac or Windows version.
Install it on your computer, then open it.
If you have an iTunes backup on your computer, iPhone Backup Extractor will find it automatically and you will see it on your computer screen. If you don't have an iTunes backup, log into iCloud using iPhone Backup Extractor and you can access your iCloud backups. to access iCloud.
Once the iTunes or iCloud backup is loaded into iPhone Backup Extractor, you can restore your data from it. You have several options for this, depending on the data you need to obtain:
As you can see, you can still extract and recover data from your stolen or lost device using iPhone Backup Extractor. This method can also be used for iPhones, iPads or iPods.
How to lock a lost device if Find My iPhone is enabled
If your iPhone is lost or stolen, you can still control what happens to it. You have several options, depending on the settings of your lost device.
If Find My iPhone is enabled, you can do the following:
![](https://i0.wp.com/i.reincubate.com/ssm/activate-lost-mode-iphone-icloud@2x.png)
Note that Lost Mode will also block Apple Pay if you have a credit card attached to it, so it's best to enable this mode as soon as possible. "Lost Mode" can be deactivated if the correct password is entered. Lost Mode can be turned off from your iCloud account or Find My iPhone app.
How to Lock Your Device If Find My iPhone Isn't Enabled
Have you lost your smartphone but haven't turned on Find My iPhone? If you want to block it, there are several ways to do it:
![](https://i2.wp.com/i.reincubate.com/ssm/change-password-apple-id-remotely-icloud@2x.png)
Please note that if Find My iPhone is not enabled, you cannot track anything or delete it remotely.
How to Remotely Erase Data from Your iPhone
If you've extracted data from your iPhone and you're sure the phone is lost forever, you can delete all data from it as long as Find My iPhone is enabled on your device.
Follow these steps if you want to erase data from your lost or stolen iPhone:
![](https://i0.wp.com/i.reincubate.com/ssm/erase-iphone-remotely-icloud@2x.png)
Once you complete the steps above, the iPhone will be removed once it is online. (It will still be locked from your account, however.) If a thief takes the iPhone offline, it won't erase itself, however.
If you find your iPhone after deletion, you can still restore the data on it using the iCloud account associated with your phone.
Keep in mind that if you delete your lost iPhone data, you will no longer be able to track it. Also, if you delete your iPhone from your iCloud account, it could be used by someone else. So, the best option for you is to delete it but keep it associated with your iCloud account. This way, your lost device will become unusable for anyone else.
How to Keep Your iPhone Safe
If you are asking yourself what can you do to prevent your iPhone from being lost or stolen. We have some tips to help protect your data and ultimately recover your lost or stolen device.
To make sure your iPhone data is secure, we recommend the following:
- Make iCloud backups regularly (and deal with the iCloud backup error if you see it!)
- Activate Find My iPhone on your device and keep it active
- Create an iCloud account (if you don't have one) and link your iPhone to that account.
- Make iTunes backups and save them on your PC or Mac
- Enable (2FA) or two-step verification on your iPhone
- Use a long password for your iCloud account
- Activate the restriction code on your device
If you follow these rules, your personal iCloud and iPhone data should be safe. Even if your iPhone is lost or stolen, you can still retrieve data from it and find its location.
If you need help recovering data from a lost or stolen iPhone,
The volume of storage media is growing every year, and the price of a gigabyte is rapidly decreasing. But the data stored on the computer does not lose its value. Quite the opposite. More and more information is stored only in digital form, and it is increasingly scary to lose it at one not so wonderful moment.
Service center engineer Dick A. told us about what can happen to data recorded on a computer’s hard drive and why, in case of the slightest suspicion, we need to contact specialists. A has hundreds of “revived” hard drives and satisfied customers on his account. However, some particularly difficult cases are beyond his power.
Software and hardware problems
Problems with the hard drive can be divided into two large groups - software and hardware. Hardware failure is a physical failure of any elements of the hard drive, for example, deformation of a magnetic head unit after a fall. Accordingly, physical repairs are required here. We will talk about such problems next time.
Software problems - data loss caused by user action (deletion, formatting), viruses and errors in the operating system and programs. Unlike physical damage, such a disk can be formatted and continue to be used. Of course, if it did not contain valuable data. What if they were?
About how data is stored
In a simplified form, the disk can be represented as a book with a table of contents. Data is some information that is reflected in this book, for example, stories. To quickly find the story you need, we use the table of contents. The role of the table of contents is played by special elements of the file system. The file system stores links to the areas of the disk in which a particular file is located.
When the operating system accesses the hard drive, it first “looks” at the table of contents and only with the help of it finds the necessary information. Accordingly, when a new file is created, information about its location is also reflected in the file system. If we want to write our story on the blank sheets of the book, we will have to supplement the table of contents, otherwise we will not be able to find it later.
The peculiarity is that one file can be stored in a “cut” form in different areas of the disk. Imagine that in our book the story is divided into paragraphs scattered in random order across different pages. This means that the table of contents should indicate the pages of all paragraphs of the story and the order in which they should be read. The job of the file system is to indicate not only the beginning of the file, but also all its parts, which may be scattered throughout the hard drive in any way.
But that's not all. The fact is that physically working with a file, for example, creating it, requires a relatively long time. Therefore, in all cases where this is possible, the operation is performed not on the data itself, but on the table of contents.
Most likely, you have noticed that copying files takes longer than moving them from one folder on a disk to another folder on the same disk. This is because when you copy, the data is actually written to the hard drive. And when transferred, the data remains in the same place, it’s just indicated in the file system that now they are not in the “Miscellaneous” folder, but in the “Important Documents” folder.
The most interesting thing is related to deleting files and formatting the disk. Physically, no removal occurs. Simply, the corresponding areas of the disk are marked in the file system as free. That is, the story remains in the book, but information about it disappears from the table of contents. Then, when new data is written to the disk, it will physically erase the deleted files. When we run out of space in the book, we will erase those stories that are not in the table of contents.
It is this feature that allows you to restore data after deletion and formatting, but it also imposes certain restrictions.
Recovery after formatting
Formatting a hard drive means deleting all data. At the same time, as we noted earlier, the data itself does not disappear anywhere. The file system table is simply cleared. It’s as if we tore the table of contents out of our book and inserted blank sheets in its place. In this case, data recovery programs are used that scan the disk (read the book without a table of contents) and compose the table of contents again.
Unfortunately, this is not always possible. The chances of success depend on the file system. For example, for a file system FAT32 Clearing the table of contents is equivalent to losing data. Yes, physically they remain on the disk and can be detected, but... the data is stored in parts, and the location of the parts and their order were indicated in a special table, which is now “erased”, then the scanning program can only find the first segments of the files.
A more modern and advanced file system NTFS more resistant to formatting. If we return to our simplified example, such a file system has not one, but several tables of contents. The main thing, which is reset during formatting, and many small ones that are saved and related to individual files. Small tables of contents store links to all fragments and indicate the order in which these fragments should be collected.
There are other file systems that have their own characteristics and nuances. Therefore, you cannot take the first data recovery program you come across and mindlessly press any buttons.
Recover deleted data
Deleting is similar to formatting. The difference is that not the entire file table is cleared, but only the part that contained links to deleted files. Physically, the data is still on the hard drive. The recovery algorithm is the same as for formatting - disk scanning. It is important to remember that if you continue to work with the disk, install programs, save documents, then there is a high probability that new data will be written over the deleted ones, leaving no hope of recovery.
Changing logical geometry
Behind these clever words lies the result of a user’s action who wants to increase one logical drive at the expense of another. If you decide that there is little space left on drive C, and there is plenty of it on drive D, then it is better to first make a backup copy of the data from drive D, then completely delete this partition along with all the files, and only then increase drive C. In the free space of the hard drive, you can re-create partition D and return the data to it.
If you manipulate two logical drives, then any failure, be it insufficient “intelligence” of the program or a sudden blackout, will lead to the fact that the table of contents of the disks will not correspond to the actual location of the data. The solution to this problem is to try to restore the correct table of contents.
File table destruction
This problem can be compared to the partial loss of the table of contents of a book. Some links to file locations will remain correct, while others will disappear or refer to completely different data. Usually the cause of such problems is the action of viruses, operating system failures and program errors. The complexity of recovery and the chances of getting data back depends on the scale of the problem, which only a specialist can assess. The procedure itself does not take much time, because... The work is done not with data, but with a file table, but it is not always possible to restore damaged information 100%.
Precautions for Data Loss
A disk that has suffered data loss should never be continued to be used. Once new data is written to the place of the lost data (and this will definitely happen, because the operating system will consider this place free), recovery will become impossible.
There is a common myth that data can be recovered using “residual magnetization.” Alas, no one outside of Hollywood has yet been able to replicate what the hackers in American films can do. Physically erased files are lost once and for all. The main rule in case of data loss is to immediately turn off the computer, disconnect the disk and trust it only to a qualified data recovery specialist.
RAID array is not a panacea
The best way to protect against data loss is prevention. Used to store valuable information RAID arrays from several hard drives. More precisely, certain types of RAID arrays. In “home conditions” we are usually talking about RAID1 or mirrored disks. The idea is that all data is written to two disks at the same time. If one media fails, all information remains on the second.
One disk is used as the main one, that is, it is used for both writing and reading data. On the second (mirror) all write operations are simply repeated, and data is read from it only when the first one fails. This double recording significantly increases the reliability of information storage. The likelihood that both drives will fail is very low. But RAID1 does not provide a 100% guarantee of data safety. Data is not protected from accidental erasure, because the disks are completely identical, so deletion is carried out from both media. The situation is similar with the pranks of viruses.
Even in cases where RAID1 copes with its task, that is, when the failure is related directly to one of the disks, you need to be careful. If one disk fails, the computer continues to work. It warns of possible danger, but does not prevent you from creating, copying and deleting files. Moreover, if the main disk fails, then work is carried out on the backup one. And then there are possible options.
If a problem occurs with the backup disk, then simply replacing it. RAID1 will continue to work as the user needs - to “mirror” data. In this case, the system itself will copy all data from the main disk to the new backup one.
Let's say the opposite situation happened, the main disk broke and was replaced with a new one. According to the logic of RAID1, data from the main disk must be copied to the backup one. What if the main one is absolutely clean? That's right, that means you need to clear the backup one too! So when replacing the main disk of a RAID1 array, you need to make the backup one the main one and only then make the replacement.
Misunderstanding of the mechanism of RAID1 operation often leads to dire consequences, because, as a rule, it is in such arrays that the most necessary information is stored, which under no circumstances should be lost. If you are in doubt which array disk needs to be replaced and what needs to be done before replacement, then do not neglect the help of a specialist.
Data recovery programs
There are a large number of paid and free data recovery programs. But it is recommended to use them only if you have sufficient knowledge of how hard drives work. The user-friendly interface and large “recover” button should not fool you into thinking that your precious lost photos and financial reports will be back where they belong in an instant.
First, you need to know what happened to the data - whether it was the deletion of one folder, formatting of the hard drive, or a failure in the file system. Secondly, you need to determine the file system type. Based on these two points, select the desired recovery algorithm and the appropriate software.
Recovery is slow and painstaking work. When the program has finished scanning and displayed a list of found files and folders, this only means that it has confirmed their existence. The restoration itself is the next step, which may require additional settings and clarifications. Otherwise, you risk getting a set of unrelated data, neatly arranged into seemingly familiar folders. But for some reason the files whose names fully correspond to the deleted ones do not want to be opened.
Finally, data recovery programs only help with software errors. If the problem is related to physical damage to the media, then even simply turning on the disk can lead to the final loss of both the data and the hard drive itself.
Remember that after an unsuccessful attempt at self-recovery, even the most highly qualified specialist may not have a chance to “recover” your data. If we are talking only about photographs, then you can try your luck, but when the information is of somewhat greater value, the best thing you can do is to immediately turn off the computer, disconnect the hard drive and take it to the specialists, describing in detail how and under what circumstances the loss occurred .
We'll tell you next time what to do if you drop your hard drive or it starts making strange sounds.
As we said earlier, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is also available on Mac, the interface is slightly adapted in the style of OS X. The algorithm of actions is very similar: select a disk - scan - advanced scan. However, a regular scan will often be sufficient.
The utility recovers almost any data - from accidentally deleted and damaged during a virus attack to data that disappeared in the event of disk damage and an operating system error. Moreover, this works not only with a computer drive: you can recover data from an external drive, flash drive, memory card, and even a mobile phone.
The main difference between the free version and the paid one is the limitation on the size of data that can be recovered. In the case of the Free version, this is 2 GB, but in the Professional version there is no limit. But the Pro + Bootable Media version is suitable for those who want to always be able to restore information, even if the system does not boot.
To understand whether you need the professional version or not, try EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Free on Windows or Mac. By the way, EaseUS also has applications for recovering lost data on iOS and Android.