Answered: Can I Recover Data from SATA Hard Drive?

Can data be recovered from an old SATA hard drive?

“I’m using an old computer with SATA hard drive installed. I recently found some files were lost. Can I recover data from an old SATA hard drive?”

-Question from Quora

SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) is the interface of a hard drive used to read and write data to and from the data storage—either HDD or SSD. These devices are frequently found in desktop computers, laptops, servers, and even gaming consoles such as Playstation and Xbox.

The first SATA drives were released in 2000. Since SATA hard drive is a previous-gen technology, and most computers using it are likely older, can data be recovered from an old SATA hard drive? While not as common in today's manufacturing technology, SATA drives are still relevant. Therefore, recovering data from SATA hard drive is possible and not as difficult as you think.

Common causes of data loss on SATA hard drive

We roughly divided the most common causes of data loss on SATA hard drives into 3 parts according to the different situations of the drive.

Situation 1. Accidentally deleted data from a healthy SATA hard drive

This is the situation in that you could recover data from SATA hard drive the most easily. If you end up accidentally deleting files from the healthy SATA hard drive, you can easily recover the files from Recycle Bin.

Situation 2. Data lost from failed or corrupted SATA hard drive

SATA hard drives are prone to failure and corruption. Hard drive failure and corruption will also cause data loss. But luckily, you’re able to recover data from SATA laptop hard drive which is corrupted to some degree with the help of a professional data recovery tool. Here are a few common reasons that lead to the failure or corruption of SATA drives:

• Abrupt power outage. If the power goes out while you're using the computer and the SATA drive, the abrupt termination of operations can corrupt the files and the drive.
• Faulty Windows update. Updating Windows might lead to file system corruption, consequently causing your SATA drive to become corrupt.
• Bad sectors. Bad sectors are areas where data cannot be written on the hard drive, signifying SATA hard drive damage. This is normally due to improper read and write operations, such as forcibly switching the machine on and off, software running incorrectly, etc.
• Virus attacks. Malware and viruses frequently infect computers despite the presence of antivirus software. As a result, there’s a good chance that the SATA hard drive will become infected, resulting in data loss.

Situation 3. Data lost from physically damaged or broken SATA hard drive

If the SATA hard drive is physically damaged or broken, then it is very unlikely that you can recover data from damaged SATA hard drive. Still, you can submit it to a professional recovery agency for processing. It may cost much, but if your data is important and losing it can lead to a large loss, it’s certainly worth the money. Common causes of physical damage are listed below:

• Extreme temperature (overheating or too cold). While monitoring computer hardware, many applications will monitor the hard disk temperature and provide a high-temperature alert to help users understand the state of the hardware.
• Power failure during use. Power failure protection is almost always included in enterprise-level solid-state drives to protect data in the event of a power outage.
• Humidity or liquid. If the hard disk power supply plug becomes oxidized and corroded as a result of humidity, it may result in poor contact, insufficient voltage supplied to the hard disk, and the hard disk failing to be recognized.
• Shake or bump. When using an external hard disk, the platter, and internal head assembly both rotate quickly, and the disk is easily scratched if hit by an outside force.
• Wear and tear. Hard disks have a lifespan and will degrade over time; typically, a mechanical hard disk has a lifespan of no more than ten years.

How to recover data from SATA hard drive

As previously mentioned, you can use a specialized data recovery tool to restore data that is deleted or formatted accidentally from SATA hard drives. Which one should you pick? MyRecover is the software that is highly suggested for recovering data from SATA hard drives.

★Outstanding features of MyRecover:

Assist with data recovery in a variety of situations. Disk formatting, virus attacks, accidental deletions, system crashes, and so on.

All disk-based storage media types are supported. SD card, SSD, HDD, external hard drive, USB flash drive, and other storage devices.

Any file type can be recovered in its original format. Texts, emails, compressed files, images, videos, and audios, among other things.

Highly-compatible. It supports Windows 11/10/8/7 and NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, and ReFS file systems. It is compatible with both 64-bit and 32-bit operating systems.

High-speed. Thanks to its powerful data recovery algorithm and sophisticated scan engine, it can quickly locate and restore deleted or lost data.

Before starting, download, install and launch MyRecover on your computer.

Step 1. Hover the mouse over the SATA hard drive , and click Scan.

Step 2. The tool will automatically search your hard drive to find the lost data. You can type some keywords of the files in the search box to quickly find them.

Step 3. Choose the data you want to recover > Select a place to save them. (You can recover any files during the scanning process)

Closing words

This post primarily covers how to recover data from SATA hard drive. You can quickly and easily recover your files that are deleted or formatted accidentally from SATA hard drive by using the tool MyRecover. If you're currently having this issue, give it a shot right away.