Data Recovery: Common Symptoms of Damaged External Hard Drives
The last two decades have been witness to an astounding rise in the use and storage of digital data. Users now rely increasingly on data storage devices to both protect their data and make it accessible as and when required, and the technology industry has responded to these needs by developing ever higher storage capacities in personal computers and external hard drives (EHDs).
EHDs offer a lot of advantages to users. Portable versions such as the Buffalo Ministation or the Western Digital My Passport are examples of attractive products for users who wish to transport a large amount of data from one location to another. For those who want either a back up for their main system, or just extra storage capability, desktop EHDs are ideal. However, despite their advantages, EHDs are among the most common storage devices that suffer from data access problems and have to be sent to data recovery companies. The two reasons for this are firstly that, on some models, manufacturers have omitted the cooling fans usually found in hard drives. This can lead to overheating which can have an impact on the stability of the data. Secondly, human error can result in liquids being split on drives, or drives being dragged onto the floor by their cables. Portable EHDs can of course be dropped or sat on during transit.
How easy is it to tell that EHDs have been damaged? EHDs have a propensity to make a variety of noises, from screeches and scratches to ticks to buzzes. We will examine some of these noises and describe the causal problems:
*buzzing: this occurs when the spindle that rotates the platters seizes. This is usually as a result of a jolt or knock. The drive will not be recognised by the computer.
*screeches and beeps: When drives manufactured using FDB (Fluid Dynamic Bearing) technology are initially switched on, they are vulnerable to vertical vibration while the fluid warms to reach its optimum viscosity. This vibration can lead to the EHD developing read/write errors.
* scratching: this is a result of overheating due to a lack of cooler air around the disk. The drive will typically run more slowly and then stop. The sound may or may not be present.
*ticking and knocking: Usually as a result of the disk being dropped, these sounds are caused by the arm inside the EHD knocking against other parts of the disk as it continuously tries to read data from the platters.
It is important to take care of EHDs to prevent the possibilities of these problems developing. Should any of these symptoms occur however, the recommendation from the data recovery industry is that the drive should be immediately powered off. It is not advisable to try and run software packages which try to repair disks using the high level language of the operating system (eg Windows), when the disk often needs to be controlled using the low level language of the disk's own ATA command set. Attempting to recover data using a software repair utility will usually render recoverable data unrecoverable. A successful recovery requires a specialist hardware approach that all reputable data recovery companies should be able to provide.
EHDs offer a lot of advantages to users. Portable versions such as the Buffalo Ministation or the Western Digital My Passport are examples of attractive products for users who wish to transport a large amount of data from one location to another. For those who want either a back up for their main system, or just extra storage capability, desktop EHDs are ideal. However, despite their advantages, EHDs are among the most common storage devices that suffer from data access problems and have to be sent to data recovery companies. The two reasons for this are firstly that, on some models, manufacturers have omitted the cooling fans usually found in hard drives. This can lead to overheating which can have an impact on the stability of the data. Secondly, human error can result in liquids being split on drives, or drives being dragged onto the floor by their cables. Portable EHDs can of course be dropped or sat on during transit.
How easy is it to tell that EHDs have been damaged? EHDs have a propensity to make a variety of noises, from screeches and scratches to ticks to buzzes. We will examine some of these noises and describe the causal problems:
*buzzing: this occurs when the spindle that rotates the platters seizes. This is usually as a result of a jolt or knock. The drive will not be recognised by the computer.
*screeches and beeps: When drives manufactured using FDB (Fluid Dynamic Bearing) technology are initially switched on, they are vulnerable to vertical vibration while the fluid warms to reach its optimum viscosity. This vibration can lead to the EHD developing read/write errors.
* scratching: this is a result of overheating due to a lack of cooler air around the disk. The drive will typically run more slowly and then stop. The sound may or may not be present.
*ticking and knocking: Usually as a result of the disk being dropped, these sounds are caused by the arm inside the EHD knocking against other parts of the disk as it continuously tries to read data from the platters.
It is important to take care of EHDs to prevent the possibilities of these problems developing. Should any of these symptoms occur however, the recommendation from the data recovery industry is that the drive should be immediately powered off. It is not advisable to try and run software packages which try to repair disks using the high level language of the operating system (eg Windows), when the disk often needs to be controlled using the low level language of the disk's own ATA command set. Attempting to recover data using a software repair utility will usually render recoverable data unrecoverable. A successful recovery requires a specialist hardware approach that all reputable data recovery companies should be able to provide.
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