Adventures in Hard Drive Recovery

FAQ's

What are warning signs of major damage to the hard drive?
Any clicking, scraping or buzzing sounds are a sure sign of hard drive failure. These sounds usually mean that the heads are making contact with the platter surface causing your data to be scattered and fragmented throughout the drive.

What is the most common reason for disk failure and how can I prevent it from happening?
Mechanical wear and tear is the most common reason for a disk to fail. While you cannot prevent the breakdown from occurring, you can use a disk monitor to keep tabs on the health of the disk and it will warn you of eventual disaster. It should provide you with enough time to create a good back-up that will lessen the impact of hard drive failure.

How does a disk monitor function?
A disk monitor is a utility that measures and tracks the temperature, head flying height and number of correctable errors in order to alert you of a potential disk problem and thereby enabling you to take measures beforehand to back up data. While a disk monitor provides certain advantages it is about 70% effective as it cannot alert you to failures such as power surges and other unpredictable reasons for drives to fail.

Are there any other measures I can take to prevent data loss?
There are some precautionary measures that can be taken to protect data in the case of hard drive failure.

• Back up files onto floppy disk or CD regularly. This can be done daily, weekly or even monthly depending on the importance of the files.
• Anti-virus software should be used and updated regularly to offer the best protection against loss of data.

Should I attempt to use a disk utility to fix a problem with my drive before sending it out?
Disk utilities are effective for fixing minor problems but should never be used in the event of extreme corruption. If the utility is not valid for the type of computer problem you are having, you could possibly inflict more damage to the drive.

What is the safest way to package my hard drive when sending it out to a data recovery specialist for repair?
Use the original packaging materials that the drive came in if you still have them handy. If not, you will need an anti-static bag to wrap the drive in (a freezer bag will do nicely), a sturdy corrugated cardboard box about twice the size of the drive and some foam padding or bubble wrap for protection.