Tag Archives: hard drive recovery

Data Recovery Tips Part 1 – Understanding Hard Drive Failures

Understanding Hard Drive Failures

Today I’m going to start a four-part series on hard drive failure and data recovery. We’re going to look at:

What is hard drive failure and what causes it
Warning signs of hard drive failure and what to do
How to choose a data recovery service
Preventive drive maintenance tips

Hard Drive Failure and Its Causes

There’s nothing more frustrating to computer users than not being able to access their files. If they use the computer for business, it’s not only frustrating but costly as well. When files can’t be opened, it’s common for a bit of panic to wash over the user at first. It may be hard to think calmly during those first few moments. However, understanding drive failure helps the user to formulate a plan of action and resolve the problem quickly.

Logical Hard Drive Failures

Logical failures are a common event. There is not any physical damage to the drive; however, when files can’t be retrieved, the result is still frustrating. Two causes for logical failures are:

Accidental deletion – caused by human error; and
Corrupted operating system files – often caused by virus and malware attack, or by improper computer shutdown procedures, often caused by power outages or battery failure.

In our next post, we’re going to cover what to do in these instances. The user can often make a self-recovery, but there are procedures that must be followed for success.

Physical Hard Drive Failures

In a physical failure, some component of the drive is actually damaged. It may be a mechanical component, such as the read/write head, or an electronic failure. The recording surface of the drive media might also be damaged. Causes of physical damage include:

Normal wear and tear
Electrical spikes
Water damage
Excessive heat
Drops, bumps and mishandling

Physical damage is best remedied by a qualified data recovery service. Unless the recovery engineer is qualified and has the necessary equipment, the recovery process can do more harm than good.

In our next post, we’ll discover how to recognize drive failure and learn about the first steps to recovery.

Tips to Preventing Data Loss from a Freelance Writer

Preventing Data Loss…Don’t Be Left Speechless

Or perhaps I should say wordless. The Data Rescue Center recently had a customer that was a freelance writer that had lost all of his data. He decided to share his story so he could help others prevent data loss…

Advantages of Freelance Writing

If you make a living as a freelance writer, your words are your livelihood. People pay you to put their ideas into text, and you get paid for that task. There are several advantages to freelance writing. You can often work from home, or almost anywhere in the world, for that matter. The Internet has opened your office doors and lets you ply your trade from exotic locations. And while you work hard, you usually work on your own terms.

Tough Side of Freelance Writing – Data Loss

Writer’s block is a bummer, but . . .
There is something that could be more devastating than a temporary loss for words. A permanent loss of data, the files from which you prosper, could put you out of business quickly. Losing the working files on your computer can, at the very least, force you to miss deadlines. While some clients may work with you, extending your due date, many will just move on to someone else.
Additionally, you may lose more than just your drafts. You could lose all your research as well. That means that it’s back to square one, starting all over on a project. It’s as if you never worked on the project at all. All that time you spent is lost, gone like the wind.

Protect your Data

Unfortunately, I didn’t take the time to have a good back up plan in place and protect myself from data loss. I had a major physical hard drive crash and lost all of my data. I had no other choice then be faced with finding a data recovery service to hopefully recover my hard drive, so I could get back to work. Fortunately after spending a lot of time researching I came across the folks at The Data Rescue Center. They provided me with great customer service, competitive pricing and recovered my data quickly.

I have learned from this now and have created a regular backup routine. Hopefully I am diligent about preventing data loss, so I won’t need The Data Rescue Center’s data recovery service again…but always have their contact info on hand.

“Can’t I just have my IT friend try to recover my drive, what harm would that be?”

A lot of times when someone has a computer hard drive that’s crashed, they’ll look at many options to get their data back. That’s good and bad, since a well-intentioned friend or family member can actually cause more harm in their attempt to help you recover deleted files or files from a crashed or broken hard drive. Here’s some simple guidelines to live by:

Deleted File Recovery: If you are trying to get computer files back, after they’ve been deleted or emptied through the trash, the one thing you DO NOT want to do is load software onto that same hard drive to try to recover the files.. Instead, follow these steps:

1) Stop using the computer as soon as you realize you need to recover some deleted files. When you delete a computer file, the Operating System marks that file as “ok to write over”. That is, the file is still there, but at anytime, it could now be written over…. Whenever you use your computer, the computer is saving and creating a bunch of temp files.. Those temp files could then write over the deleted file(s) you want to get back.. That’s why it’s so important to stop using the computer asap….

2) You need to get some recovery software, but you can’t load it onto that same computer (Since loading software onto the drive could also write over those deleted files). There are a few options, but the easiest is to use a product like Data Rescue 3 or Data Rescue PC 3 from Prosoft Engineering. They both come on bootable discs, so you don’t need to load them onto the computer to use them– This is crucial for deleted file recovery…

3) You will also need another hard drive to recover to, since computer recovery should NEVER involve saving the files to the same hard drive (that puts your data in harm’s way).

Crashed Hard Drive: If your hard drive is not making strange noises (or smoke!) or you can hear it spinning up, then it should be ok to try computer hard drive recovery software like Data Rescue from Prosoft Engineering. If your hard drive is physically ok, then Data Rescue should be able to scan the drive and copy and/all files over to another drive.. However, if the scan is taking too long, then it could be a sign of physical issues with the drive and we recommend stoping the scan, as that can put more strain on a failing drive.. Also, if Data Rescue cannot “see” the drive, then it is very likely that the drive has a physical failure of some sort and therefore physical drive recovery would be needed.. In this scenario, a helpful IT person may try “too many times” with scanning, and put your hard drive into a dangerous situation where the many failed attempts may have come at a price where not even a recovery service may be able to salvage data.

Physical Hard Drive Recovery: If you’ve tried software to no avail, or if your hard drive is making strange noises, then you will likely need physical hard drive recovery, like The Data Rescue Center offers… If your hard drive requires being opened up, then you will need to make sure that it’s done in a Class 100 cleanroom and not in the empty cubicle by the IT person’s desk! If your drive is opened in a non-Class 100 room, it will cause air particles to enter the delicate environment within your hard drive, ruining the data most cases. Demand that whomever works on your hard drive be a professional recovery engineer within a Class 100 cleanroom. Anything less than that is putting your computer files at risk-

How Do Cleanrooms Work?

A cleanroom is a room or area with reduced airborne particles through control of the environment. Air particles at the sub-micron level must be removed constantly to prevent contamination.

This is accomplished through the use of pressurization, temperature and humidity control, air flow direction and rates, and specialized filtration. Cleanroom environments are usually required in pharmaceutical, electronic, medical device and other specialized manufacturing facilities. Each facility will have different standards regarding the amount of particles permitted, depending on the processes involved within the cleanroom. Typical air particle levels in an office environment range from 500,000 to 1,000,000 particles per cubic foot; cleanroom levels, however, might be 100 to 10,000 particles.

Strict protocols must be maintained to prevent contamination. The air is constantly monitored for any abnormal levels of airborne particles, which could contaminate the room and cause disaster. Even a human hair or flakes of skin could taint the area. Depending on the type of contamination, the cleanroom might have to be shut down completely with all processes lost, or a computer hardware malfunction could occur. Hard drive crash recovery can be done by a data recovery specialist in those cases.

Working in and maintaining a cleanroom environment can be a difficult task, but it is an important part of advanced manufacturing techniques.