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Learn data recovery with online courses and programs

With organizations relying on data to drive strategic decisions, the loss of data can be disastrous. Understanding how to recover data can help remedy costly mistakes. Learn methods for data recovery with online courses delivered through edX.

What is data recovery?

Data recovery is the restoration of deleted, corrupted, lost, or inaccessible data so it can be used again by its owners and organizations. This newly recovered data may live on devices such as desktop computers, laptops, databases, hard drives, and smartphones. 

In general, data recovery makes use of some form of backup, such as a database or hard drive. The backup contains a snapshot of data from a previous point in time, like a Word document, code block, or video project file. When another device loses access to a portion of that data for any reason, the backup’s data snapshot can be copied, restoring the data to its previous version.

Data recovery may be necessary in cases such as:Footnote 1

  • Accidental deletion

  • Cybercriminal hacks

  • Data corruption

  • Power outages

  • Hardware failures

  • File version restoration

By backing up data, people and businesses can later follow the data recovery process to recover their work or personal files, allowing for greater productivity, security, and peace of mind.

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Data recovery course curriculum

If you’re keen on becoming an IT technician, cybersecurity specialist, or network engineer, then data recovery training is something you may want to obtain before entering the field. There are many data recovery courses learners can take, including:

  • Data analysis: These courses cover the full data analysis process, as well as data structures, formats, sources, and tools, all of which are valuable for data recovery.

  • Computer forensics: These courses dig into a branch of forensics that investigates and attempts to prevent cybercrimes. Data recovery is invaluable for gleaning insights from corrupted or deleted data.

  • Information technology: These courses unpack network security, programming, and data management. Data recovery is hugely important to each of these topics.

  • Big data: These courses uncover the ways large data sets are managed, processed, and analyzed for insights. Strong data recovery skills can be helpful when carrying out each of these tasks.

Explore the variety of data recovery classes and learning options available to new and experienced developers through edX. Learn in-demand data recovery and data science skills that may benefit your career.

Data recovery jobs

Data recovery is an important function in the field of computer science. Mastering data recovery alongside other IT skills can allow you to pursue a variety of professional paths. Here are some examples of data recovery jobs and other data-centric roles:

  • Database administrator: These professionals build and organize data storage systems for their organizations. Data recovery is often a crucial responsibility for people in this role because colleagues may occasionally lose access to their work.Footnote 2

  • Information security analyst: These professionals craft and enact security plans to defend their organization from cyberattacks. Their strategies often involve key data recovery measures.Footnote 3

  • Data scientist: These professionals use programming, statistics, and mathematics skills to analyze data and provide insights to their organization. They perform data recovery to salvage lost data that’s important to their research.Footnote 4

  • Data engineer: These professionals use coding skills to build and manage data storage architecture such as databases. At any organization, data recovery is an important function of this role.Footnote 5

  • Computer systems administrator: These professionals oversee organization-wide installation, management, and support of devices and networks. They often perform data recovery for new and existing devices.Footnote 6

  • Computer support specialist: These professionals test, maintain, and troubleshoot their organization’s devices and networks. They understand the architecture of assigned devices, helping them to recover data when necessary.Footnote 7

Note that learning data recovery on its own does not mean you automatically possess the skills required for the data recovery jobs listed above. Some may require knowledge of other technical skills which can be gained through boot camps. And others will require completion of a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree in a related field.

How to learn data recovery

When studying data recovery, learners are exposed to a number of technical topics, as well as particular technologies. Each is vital for data recovery efforts and for understanding the importance of data recovery to today’s organizations. A data recovery course may introduce learners to:

  • Data collection processes: play a key role in tracking down data that needs recovering.

  • Programming languages: include knowledge of Python and R. These languages are commonly used for the analysis and mining of data.

  • Database query languages: include SQL and GraphQL. These are pivotal for managing and analyzing data that lives in relational databases.

  • Data technologies: include structures, file formats, and sources. These must be understood before attempting to recover and configure data.

  • Spreadsheet software: include Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets. These software programs are used to visibly display data and make it digestible for people.

Individuals who are ready to start learning data recovery can explore online bachelor’s degrees in computer science or data science degrees or may want to enroll in a coding boot camp or a cybersecurity boot camp. There’s also the option to enroll in a computer or data science master’s degree program to further their learnings and prepare for data recovery careers.