Don’t Fix It Yourself! How To Handle Hard Drive Failure
Hard drive failure is one of the most common, and worst, problems a person can have with his computer. Nearly everyone has had to deal with it at some time. And many of those crashes come at the absolute worst possible times. Maybe you just finished a term paper or you just got an important project finished. The next thing you know, your system is giving you hard disk boot errors, read errors or, worst of all, the blue screen of death. In your panic, you may even try to fix the problem yourself. But that may mean that possibly recoverable data gets damaged beyond salvage.
The first thing most people do when their hard drive crashes, after the shouting and swearing, is to open up the computer. Maybe the cables are slipping out or it’s a problem with the wiring. However, in most cases the problem is simply that the hard drive sustained some sort of trauma and has simply died. As painful and frustrating as that is, it is a fact that all computer owner have to live with. If you heard signs of possible failure, such as scratching, grinding or even some noises that sound like they came right out of Star Trek, the odds are that there is nothing you can do yourself to recover the data.
But believe it or not, many people immediately try to fix the problem themselves. Opening up the actual hard disk is spelling doom for the contents therein. There is a reason that computer parts are assembled in a clean room. Any dust and debris inside can completely destroy a drive when it starts spinning. Since the reader and the surface it reads are only a micron apart, even the smallest particulates can clog the works. Never, under any circumstances, open your hard disk. And trying other solutions, such as freezing the drive, are no more likely to help. The fact is that you may need a professional to help you.
There are other solutions such as free data recovery programs that you can find online. While they may work, they can be very technical and might only recover useless fragments of files. Only a professional with a clean room and the right tools is qualified to attempt data recovery on a dead drive. While it may be expensive, it can often be the only way to get back your information. If that information is extremely important to you, it may just have to be an expensive lesson learned.
If you learn to avoid the causes of hard disk failure and you learn to recognize a dying drive, you may be able to save yourself from this irritating and possibly financially draining process. It is so complicated and difficult that many companies who manufacture hard disks do not even offer data recovery services. They will outsource that work to someone who specializes in it. So learn to avoid the problem all together. Hard drive failure is entirely preventable and completely worth the extra effort to safeguard your data.
