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Experience
A Hard Drive Crash?
Learn How To Avoid Making A Bad Situation Even Worse
For
help with your lost data call 1-800-717-8974
If you experience
a hard drive crash, it doesn’t take much to make a bad situation
even worse. In the event of a hard drive crash, in most instances,
the data is completely recoverable at first. However, as part of
human nature, we often try to avoid the high costs associated with
hard drive data recovery in order to find some sort of “quick fix”
to a very serious problem. In this report we will go over some of
the symptoms of a hard drive crash and the things you can try in
the event of a suspected hard drive crash, along with things you
should avoid.
What Noise
Is The Drive Making?
The first thing
to take into account is whether or not the hard drive is making
any unusual noises. Often times when there is a problem with the
read/write head within the drive or a firmware issue in the logic
board a “clicking” sound will be heard. If this is the case, then
you should immediately power down the system and refrain from reapplying
power. Same thing goes for any unusual sound, whether it’s grinding,
squealing, or sounds like a “laser gun”. See samples in the upper
left column.
If any of these
occur you should immediately power the system down, don't even attempt
to go through the normal shut down procedure, just pull the plug.
Unfortunately in the situations listed above, there is little that
you can do to recover the data yourself. If the failure is mechanical,
unless you have a clean room, fully equipped with the right tools
and a trained technician there is nothing that can be done. Even
hard drive manufacturers avoid this line of work, and many who do
offer data recovery services are only sub-contracting the work out
to an established data recovery firm.
Never Ever
Open Your Hard Drive
If the data
on a hard drive has even the most minimal value to you, then it
is imperative that you do not open the drive. We often get calls
or e-mails from people who felt they had the right equipment and
know-how to perform something as serious as a head replacement.
Once they’ve removed the hard drive’s protective case, we often
times ask them not to send the drive in, because more often than
not, the damage is irreparable. Working with the internal components
of a hard drive requires at least a Class-100 clean room. A clean
room does not mean a room that you just vacuumed and dusted (believe
it or not people say that to us all the time). A clean room is a
special work area in which air quality is heavily controlled and
it is vital to hard drives during the manufacturing or assembly
process. The air in the room is regulated in term of air particles,
temperature and humidity. A Class-100 clean room means there exists
no more than 100 particles that are larger than 0.5 microns in one
cubic foot of air. Opening a hard drive in air meeting anything
less than the standard listed above will mean certain death for
your hard drive and any data contained therein.
The Freezer
Method
There has been
a long running wive's tale about putting your hard drive in the
freezer when it crashes in order to revive it just long enough to
pull your data off of it. We've run this test for fun on many occasions
in different scenarios with junk test drives that we have in our
lab. So far we have yet to see this actually produce any positive
results. In fact, in one instance we actually began to see the formation
of tiny microscopic ice crystals on the platter themselves, which
is a definite crash waiting to happen.
See the problem
with this theory is, drives are not completely sealed. Regardless
of what you've heard or read, nearly all hard drives have a tiny
breather hole (usually marked with a label that says DO NOT COVER).
This hole not only aids in cooling but it also helps to equalize
air pressure in the drive when the platters are spinning. On the
other side of this hole is a filter, which keeps dirt and debris
from getting inside the drive. However, this filter does not stop
heavy amounts of moisture (especially in flood situations) or moisture
vapor (such as found in a freezer). This moisture vapor has been
known to settle on the platters when the drive warms there is really
nothing you can do about it. Then when the drive is powered up,
the read/write head resembles an airplane flying into a mountain.
In closing,
If you’ve experienced a hard drive crash, it is imperative that
you consider the value of the data, before you consider the money
you might save by doing it yourself. Data recovery is a specialty,
and it requires a number of specialized tools, skills and software
to complete successfully. Many times you run the risk of taking
data that may be perfectly recoverable and destroying it permanently.
If you have any questions, it is best to consult with a recovery
firm first. Most reputable data recovery companies will perform
a free diagnostic and evaluation on most standard IDE hard drives.
Many will even include a list of the recoverable files with that
evaluation before you proceed. In some cases, we even work with
our customers on a payment plan to help ease the burden of the recovery
costs. Of course the best way to avoid all of this is to simply
backup anything and everything of value.
To talk to
a data recovery professional, call 1-800-717-8974 today!
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