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Despite most of Spacehey seemingly struggling with manually editing their own profiles (and thus making this list too heavy for most users who come across it), I thought about sharing some stuff about data rescue since that's what I've been doing for fun since August, 2024. Those are just the resources I've been using so far and do not cover all possible ways to rescue data from 90's/00's computers.
This list assumes you want to rescue a 32-bit machine (any computer that can run Windows 95 up to Windows 7) or a 16-bit system (computers running on any DOS flavor) or particular software made for 32-bit/16-bit systems. Any other computer, most notably any pre-Intel Macintosh, runs on an architecture differing from the typical "IBM-compatible" most people use. There are multiple ways to rescue data and it mostly depends on whether you're dealing with an intact or damaged storage device. Intact devices only require some adapters and external readers; damaged devices cannot always be rescued.
Remember that 16- and 32-bit software will NOT run natively on 64-bit computers and ARM-based machines. You'll either need an emulator (DOSBox-X), virtualization software (VirtualBox) or a compatible spare computer. Specific Windows software only runs on specific Windows versions; specific Linux software only on specific Linux distributions and versions etc. – if anyone should be interested I'll provide a more detailed guide on architectures and software compatibilities in the future!
Also take into account that if you're completely unfamiliar with tinkering or even burning your own CD's AND fear doing both, you better ask someone skilled to do it for you to prevent further damage. I won't take responsibility for any further damages, so rely on this list at your own risk!
Software for Data Rescue
Although there are some dedicated tools for Windows, this list will mostly focus on Linux tools as those will give you greater control over the process.
gBurner isn't just a (retro) tool to burn CD's; it can also rip CD's and DVD's 1:1, access the content of disc image files (which you'll create when rescuing a whole hard drive) and create bootable USB drives.
The same company behind gBurner also offers a similar and more modern tool called AnyBurn which accomplishes the same task and only offers a different UI.
This is a tiny Linux distribution you can burn on any storage device (thumb drive, SD card, CD/DVD, hard disk – FLOPPIES ARE NOT SUPPORTED!) or buy from dedicated vendors to clone FULLY INTACT drives. If you want to rescue a damaged device, this may not be sufficient as it will also copy damaged blocks.
You'll need a spare drive of the same or larger size of the drive you want to rescue (say you want to rescue a 40 GB hard disk you'll need an empty storage device that's 40 GB or larger – it can be another hard disk, SSD or even USB drive – or multiple burnable CD's, DVD's or floppies).
(ADVANCED, LINUX) How to repair and clone hard disks with ddrescue
Assuming you're familiar with Linux and command-line tools, ddrescue is your safest tool to clone and possibly even rescue a full operating system. It can also be used to rescue other storage devices such as floppy disks, CD's and DVD's, USB drives and SD cards. You'll need a spare HDD/SDD with plenty of storage and any Linux distribution of your choice (I'd recommend Linux Mint but the masochistic ones can go wild with Arch or Gentoo like I do) installed either on a spare thumb drive or on a separate computer when rescuing an entire hard disk. If you want to rescue any other storage device, you will need your current computer and, if it should lack a DVD drive or SD card readers, external DVD-ROM drives or SD card readers you can plug in via USB.
Keep in mind that ddrescue is able to skip damaged blocks and fill them with 0's in your copy via "fill mode" (don't worry, your damaged device won't be touched!). Depending on the damage, you either may be able to rescue all files without any issues, miss a few files or end up with an unusable image if the damage affects files needed to run the device in the first place. Some CD's, such as CD-R discs, are the least resistant to corrosion, meaning they fall apart faster than any other CD type – if the borders and large parts of the discs are transparent, this disc is beyond repair and you only may be possible to recover some broken leftovers.
While I haven't used it so far, it is often recommended to rescue DVD's in particular despite the developers denying that dvdisaster can be used a ripping tool for copy-protected media. It pretty much does the same as ddrescue.
Hardware
Before messing around with your computer, please get familiar with each component. The most important ones for this list are the motherboard/mainboard and the connected storage devices such as the hard disk, CD/DVD-ROM drive and/or floppy drive. The Retro Web offers a comprehensive database of legacy computer parts you may want to check out before starting to unplug stuff.
Prior to the rise of HDD's with SATA ports, hard disks came with larger ports called PATA (the differences between SATA, ATA and IDE are explained here). (P)ATA drives use IDE ribbon cables and those directly connected to the disk consist of three plugs, with those at both ends being the "Master" and the one between them being the "Slave". (Older machines with a floppy drive usually only came with a short IDE cable lacking the Slave plug since floppy drives were needed to be set up as Master devices in order to be able to install operating systems; CD/DVD-ROM drives also always are connected as Master devices for the same reason).
Depending on the computer you want to use to rescue your files and where you want to store the rescued files, you may need IDE/PATA to SATA adapters (this a bi-directional one where you can both mount a PATA drive on a modern mainboard and a modern SATA drive on an old IDE-only board). Say you got such an old hard disk and you want to use your current computer to rescue it; you'll need such an adapter in this case.
The easiest way however is a working machine sharing the same architecture as the machine you want to rescue. A fitting spare computer doesn't require adapters and you may only have to temporarily sacrifice one mounted storage device to be able to reach the Slave port (i.e. switch the Master of the CD/DVD drive with that of the second machine's in order to place the disk you want to rescue where it doesn't hang in the air or gets squished between other components where it can overheat).
Alternatively, you can also master the drive you want to rescue. This is preferred when when the disks is intact but DO NOT SET IT AS YOUR PRIMARY IDE when dealing with a damaged disk as the system will attempt to boot it automatically. You can check which device is connected to which IDE port in your BIOS.
Adapters, adapters, and external drives
Some old machines do not come with any USB ports, so you'll need to either buy adapters for your mouse and keyboard or get your hands on old peripheral devices with matching ports if you should not own them. Again, the easiest way is to have a working spare computer with the same specs of the original machine if the that one no longer works. If it DOES work, you'll only need a second storage device, a free Master or Slave port, and possibly an additional IDE cable and SATA/IDE adapters. Check your components on The Retro Web and compare them to the computer you want to do the rescue on.
There isn't a one-size-fits-all approach when wanting to rescue data. Each case requires an individualized approach and I already documented my own rare and very odd case of rescuing a Windows XP install outside of Spacehey a while ago (please ignore the typos and messed-up grammar in some places; it was a frustrating experience that spawned over ten years and was my very first attempt at rescuing an old operating system). Always consult a skilled professional if you're unsure but don't be too scared of trying it yourself if you want to learn some basics. Start small with a corrupted USB drive, SC card or CD/DVD before jumping to floppies and hard disks.
Don't forget that regular backups of your most important data on multiple (modern) storage devices will make it much less likely to resort to this.
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