The process of restoring data that have been lost, accidentally deleted, corrupted or made inaccessible for any reason. The data recovery process may vary, depending on the circumstances of the data loss, the data recovery software used to create backups, and backup target media. In some cases, end users may be able to restore lost files themselves. Restoration of a corrupted database from a tape backup is a more complicated process that requires specialized intervention. Data that were not backed up and were accidentally deleted from a computer’s file system may sometimes be recovered from file fragments that remain on the disk. An organization’s disaster recovery plan should make known who in the organization is responsible for recovering data, provide a strategy for how data will be recovered and document acceptable recovery point and recovery time objectives. SYNONYM. Data restoration
