People who do most of their work on computers do come across instances of hard drive failure at one time or the other in their life. Hard drive failures are basically of two types i.e.:
1) Mechanical Failure: It is the type of failure that occurs due to some damage to the internal components of a hard drive.
2) Logical Failure: It is basically a software problem, but the effect can be the same i.e. the data stored on the hard drive may become inaccessible.
A hard drive failure may not only bring your professional or personal life to a standstill, but you may have to lose the vital data saved on your hard disk. I can understand the gut wrenching feeling of utter frustration that takes over when one comes across a hard drive failure. Many a time, people motivated by a fatal sense of desperation end up doing something disastrous, to recover their lost data. However it has oft been observed that such impetuosity only further aggravates the problem.
The thing to be kept in mind is that during a hard drive failure, the best thing you can do is not to do anything at all. In this article, we will discuss a few things that you should avoid doing in case of data loss from your hard drive. These things are:
a) Do Not Work on the Computer
Once you decisively come to the conclusion that your hard drive has failed, immediately switch off your computer. Do not try to work on the affected computer. Do not even try to surf the internet using that computer. Simply pull out the switch from the socket.
Inside a hard drive, there exist many hard round platters that are coated on either side with a magnetic material. Data is stored on both sides of these platters. These platters are accessed by electromagnetic read/ write devices called heads. One of the functions of these heads is to read and write data on the platters. The heads float above these platters and the gap between the heads and the platters is microscopic.
In case your hard drive has crashed, the chances are that one of these heads has got dislocated and landed on a platter. Any further use of your computer may lead to the scratching of the data storing layer of the platters. This may further worsen your problem and lead to a permanent loss of data.
b) Do Not Save New Files on Your Computer
In case you have accidentally deleted some important file in your computer or suffered a logical failure, then do not save any new files on your computer. This may render the lost data permanently irretrievable.
The data storing surface of a hard drive is divided into several small storage areas called clusters. A cluster is, in fact, the smallest unit of storage space on a hard drive with which a computer communicates. A single file in a computer may be stored on several clusters on a hard drive that are mostly non-contiguous. The cluster on which some data is saved is called an allocated cluster while the cluster not being used to save data is called an unallocated cluster. When a file is deleted, the operating system just erases the first letter of that file from the file allocation table and reports the clusters containing the deleted file as unallocated. The data residing on these clusters remains intact and is often retrievable.
Saving new files on your computer may lead to the overwriting of data stored on the unallocated clusters. Hence you may end up losing your data forever.
c) Do Not Install any Recovery Software
In case of logical failures, people often try to recover data using some data recovery software. Do not ever install any recovery software on the disk from which the data is to be recovered. This may lead to the overwriting of the data to be recovered. Thus, the lost data will become permanently irretrievable.
d) Do Not Try to Repair the Hard Disk
In case of data loss people sometimes try to disassemble and repair the hard disk on their own. Remember that hard disks are highly fragile devices that can be opened up only under Class 100 Clean Room facilities. Any tampering with a hard drive may lead to the permanent loss of data.
In case of a data loss situation, if you are in doubt regarding what to do, the best option would be to hire the services of some professional data recovery company.
