Problems With Hard Drives and How to Manage Them

Face it, not all hard drives can function well in a long time. There will come a time when your hard drive will just crash and everything you have inside may possibly disappear. And since it's better to know the right thing to do before the problem strikes you, here are all the details you need in case of a drive failure.

When Your Hard Drives Suddenly Go Out of Control

A malfunction happens when all of your stored files in the drive couldn't be accessed, even in a proper functioning computer. Such condition may include problems with opening the drive and even reading the files. These may occur as a result of a number of factors, involving misuse and even normal operation. The failures are some of the most common problems associated with computers, and perhaps, it is also the most troubling one. Since it typically contains all of your important files, these situations could be really frustrating.

Causes

There is a variety of reasons that could lead to such situation. Hence, you should know each of them, so that at least you can do something to prevent your drives from malfunctioning.

Crash

This condition may be due to severe impact applied on the hard drive. This happens when the read/write part of the device touches the platter. Consequently, data couldn't be accessed anymore. And what's more problematic is that trying to regain the files may cause additional harm to the disk drive.

Air Filter Malfunction

Air filter malfunction is also a significant factor to hard drive failure. If this drive component fails to protect the platter from dust, then the hard drive could be easily damaged.

Normal Malfunctioning

Normal wear and tear is an inevitable part of a hard drive's functionality. Since these devices are continuously running, they are prone to natural damages which could eventually cause the hard drive to stop working.

Symptoms of Hard Disk Drive Failure

Hard disk drive failure may either be gradual or sudden and acute. Gradual drive malfunction may come as a series of symptoms which are often quite difficult to trace. They may be that simple corruption of data and slower buffering of your PC, all of which are symptoms that can't be associated directly to the drive. And to make it more complicated, such conditions are also sometimes caused by other factors like malware. As a result, this type of malfunction is trickier to diagnose. On the other hand, sudden and acute problems present themselves when your operating system no longer recognizes the device. You'll receive such warning from your CMOS setup or BIOS post.

What to do to Recover your Data

When data is lost from your drive, then certain steps should be undertaken to obtain them back. For most cases, data recovery tools can be used to take the files from the malfunctioning drive. These tools are available from your operating system company. However, if all else fails, then you might need to take it to an expert. They could extract your data using disk platter imaging.