A common perception that people have about data loss, is that once data has been deleted or lost, it becomes impossible to recover the deleted or lost data. This is true to some extent, as data recovery can become impossible if the free disk space gets overwritten by new data. However, if the user takes the necessary precautions, he can prevent loss of essential data, as losing the data could not only mean a personal loss, but also a financial loss under some circumstances. This is the same in case of personal data handled by a person, or in case of large amounts of data handled in a company.
There are usually two ways in which data loss can occur namely, by loss of files and the other by deletion of files. Though both file deletion and file loss are used interchangeably, these two terms are entirely different. This is because different data recovery utilities are made use of to recover files in each situation. File loss is associated more with files going missing after power outage, incomplete copying of files or errors during transfer of files. File deletion deals more with the loss of data, after the file is deleted majority of which involves deletion by the user himself.
In case of loss of data due to file deletion, there are various undelete tools that are available for download on the internet. The user has to just choose the one that suits the OS that he is using, i.e. he has to make use of a Windows Undelete tool in case of loss of data from Windows OS, and make use of a good Mac data recovery tool, if data loss has occurred on Mac OS.