Why Did My Hard Drive Crash?

Why Did My Hard Drive Crash?

As a Field Service Tech I'm often asked "what caused my hard drive to fail?" To add to the confusion, when we think of the word "hard drive" we think: durable consumer items like our cars and washing machines that can last a very long time. So naturally something called a hard drive should, in our minds also last a very long time and you should never experience a hard drive crash! What's really unreasonable is replacing a fairly new unit that has failed. But the number one question from customers often sadly is: "what about all my photos and my information?" And when I ask whether they've backed up their hard drive, too often I get a blank, ghastly stare down. Everything gone and it could have been prevented with a back up plan.


What causes failure? Can it be prevented?
It's the old saying: there are two kinds of hard drives, those that haven't failed and those that have.
It nearly goes without saying that viruses and malware can attack and ultimately doom your hard drive so be sure you have a good anti-virus, anti-malware software on your computer to recognize threats in advance and work toward keeping you safe on the net. Look for products that can advise you of when upgrades/updates are available so you can always have the latest threat deterrents.
In the process of handling literally billions of bits of information electronically every second it's turned on, it's easy for a hard drive to become disrupted by even the smallest outside electrical influences such as your cell phone, some loud speakers, magnets and also fluctuations in the power supply from your utility but of course sudden power spikes and complete outages. USB's, computer jargon for Un-interruptable Power Supplies provide a continuous and "clean" power supply for your computer. Even the very smallest can begin shut down procedures for your computer in a power failure to help prevent hard drive and other power outage issues that computers can have.

Finally one of the many ways your hard drive can be damaged is simply old fashioned wear and tear, fatigue and accidents! Liquids introduced into the drive, dropping a computer accidentally and so on can damage your hard drive. The fix for this is simple, be careful with your machine when moving it and setting it up, and make yourself a rule about drinks near it - try not to! At least have a lid on your drink and when using a laptop keep the drink as far away as possible to avoid oopsies!
Most of these are really common sense easy maintenance for these tiny metal discs spinning upwards of seven thousand five hundred times every second! And storing virtually all the knowledge of mankind in the palm of your hand! However sometimes they fail for no particular reason at all so be sure you have some sort of a Hard Disc Drive Back Up Preparation sooner.

George Ferris is an A+ Certified Computer Technician with over 20 years experience in the field

Upgrade or New System

Upgrade or New System

Most computer users eventually come to a point where they need their computer to preform better and they wonder if they should upgrade what they have or buy a new computer. To determine whether it is better to upgrade a computer or buy a whole new one there are a few key things to take into consideration and a few things that needs to be known about the computer in question. If the computer specifications are known then it is simply a matter of doing price checks on the compatible hardware that needs to be upgrade and comparing it with the cost of a whole new system.


The first step in deciding if an upgrade should be performed is to gather all the relevant information about the computer. A good place to start is in the System tab in windows. On a Windows 7 system this is located at Control Panel > System and Security > System. It will be in a similar place for all versions of windows. Here one can see the amount of ram installed and the processor type and speed as well as what Windows edition is being used. As a simplification, if the computer is running Windows 98 or older it is a good idea to just buy a whole new computer. If it is newer there is a chance that upgrading might be worth the effort and cost.
The next thing to look at from the system tab is the amount of RAM and the processor. If the computer is preforming poorly from inadequate hardware it will almost certainly be the processor, amount of RAM or the video card. A good minimum amount of RAM for Windows XP is 1 GB and for Vista or Windows 7, 2GB. For Windows XP a single core CPU running at least 2.8 GHZ should be adequate. For Vista or 7 dual or quad core cpu's are preferred but not required. A single core running at 3GHZ or higher would suffice. The video car usually only matters for gaming.


To determine what exact parts one needs and if the computer can support them the motherboard model needs to be known. Most computers come with documentation with this information, or the manufacturer's website will list it for most computer models. Also free programs like Everest Home Edition often show the motherboard model. Once the motherboard is known, it is just a matter of looking up what parts one wants to upgrade that are compatible with the motherboard and adding up the costs. If it is less than half of a new system then it makes sense to upgrade, otherwise a new system might be better.

For more information please contact me through my website below.
http://siwarecomputerservices.com/

Logical Hard Drive Crashes

We will focus on logical hard drive crashes in this article. In order to better understand logical crashes, let's take a look at the differences between logical and physical crashes. In a physical crash, the drive and its components have been physically damaged or destroyed. Abuse, usually unintentional, contributes to physical damage. Power surges or spikes damage electronic components. Normal wear and tear on the read/write heads causes the head to damage the surface of the drive media. Often there are clicking or grinding noises emanating from the drive, signaling imminent failure. The computer should be immediately shut down and taken to a qualified data recovery service.

A logical hard drive crash, on the other hand, results from file system or operating system corruption or failure. Computer viruses, malware attacks and improper shutdown procedures contribute to logical drive crashes. Operating system corruption keeps the drive from booting up, thereby rendering the user's data inaccessible.

Logical drive crashes are not limited to the main computer drive. External hard drives also fail and do not mount. The computer boots up correctly to the operating system; however, the files on the external drive cannot be read. The main culprit is turning off or unplugging the drive too soon. The computer may still be writing data to the drive and unplugging it before it finishes is a sure way to corrupt the data.

While physical drive crashes require component repair and specialized knowledge and equipment, logical failures can usually be fixed through a software solution. Although logical failures are less expensive to repair than physical failures, following the right procedures in the correct order is imperative for successful hard disk file recovery. An improperly performed recovery diminishes the success of NTFS file recovery. Note that file recovery must always be performed before operating system repair.

Recovery software works for both main drive and external hard drive data recovery. There are two methods of recovery: through the operating system as an application and by circumventing the operating system with an emergency boot disk. A software when used as an application might be used for mac recovery; accidentally deleted files are also recovered this way. Installing the software before a crash occurs is recommended so that the installation does not overwrite any files.

A boot disk has its own operating system so that it can run the computer without the main drive OS. Logically failed main drives require this capability. The computer runs from the CD or DVD, allowing access to the main drive. The boot disk retrieves the user's files and data, storing them on an external hard drive. After the files are safely stored on the external drive, the main drive is then restored.

Prosofteng - Professional data recovery services for all types of data systems including portable media sources. Along with providing Macintosh Data Recovery, we also offer Picture recovery services services