Surviving a Hard Disk Crash

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Surviving a Hard Disk Crash Crash! Bang! Kaboom! There goes your hard disk. But here's how you can recover your data and live to tell the story.

You're at the fag end of your financial year. You've been working ever so diligently on your year-end presentation. You switch on your PC for the final bunch of printouts and you're faced with a screen saying disk boot failure'. elco!e to your worst night!arethe day your hard disk crashed" What causes a hard disk crash?

#ike any electrical appliance or product$ even a hard disk is prone to !alfunctions that could lead to a pre!ature death. Your hard disk !ay be working %ust fine$ but suddenly one day your co!puter co !puter refuses to boot up. #ets take a look first at how a hard disk crash could occur. Mechanical ault &u!p your hard drive around$ and chances are you will encounter this one first. hile transporting your hard disk$ if the hard drive's readwrite head isn't  parked properly at the platter's non-data storage edge$ it can result in data loss if it scratches the platter surface because of a bu!p. (ost recent hard drives co!e e)uipped with an auto!atic platter parking !echanis!$ so c hances of this happening are rare if the drive isn't powered on. "lectronics ailure  * power surge can easily ea sily kill the hard drive's logic board$ or eve n the s!all servo !otors used inside the hard drive. +he hard drive head uses an electro!agnetic actuator to !ove between positions. ,t is possible that the actuator's circuit !ight get da!aged$ rendering the read !echanis! useless. Media "rrors#Mal$ormed %ata  Due to !anufacturing defects$ or %ust plain rugged usage$ a certain part of the platter can get physically da!aged beyond recovery$ rendering that part of the platter useless. hen this happens$ a disk utility generally !arks all sectors in this area as bad sectors. ,f you don't run a disk utility such as Scandisk Scand isk or  orton Disk Doctor$ the operating syste! continues to think of this area as a legible legible sector$ and tries to readwrite data to it. ailing to do so$ it gives error !essages such as disk inaccessible$ etc. You !ight also e/perience e/p erience rando! lockups or crashes while using such a disk. What is recoverable and what isn't

+he good news is$ everything is recoverable" 0verything" 0ven if your data is inaccessible due to corrupt or de!agnetised !edia. &ut at what price and how1 Physical errors or electrical failures re)uire the disk to be opened and the co!ponents replaced$ and hence re)uire a )ualified technician to perfor! these operations. ,f your hard disk has  been physically da!aged$ then recovery software would not be of any help.

*t the data centre the drive undergoes various tests and in the case of a drive electronics error$ that is your logic card being non-functional$ it can si!ply be replaced. * read error indicates that the drive !otor has failed$ the head has been da!aged or it !ay not be aligned properly. ,n case of a !edia error the platters would have to be physically re!oved fro! the spindle and placed on a separate drive !echanis!. +hey will then be read fro! there through custo!-!ade recovery software$ which works on the principle of trial and error$ and will try to recover the data. However$ sending your hard disk to a data centre involves a lot of e/penses$ as the charges levied are not based on the a!ount of data to be recovered or the a!ount of data that could be recovered. ,nstead$ the charges are based on the i!portance of the data to the client and you could end up paying up a  bill worth a couple of lakhs. ,n ,ndia$ such services are provided by Stellar Phoeni/ 2stellarinfo3. ,f your hard disk is not physically da!aged$ you can do a si!ple file recovery at ho!e using custo! disk toolsrecovery software such as 4ntrack 0asy 5ecovery and #ost 6 ound. 5e!e!ber though$ that this can be done only if your drive is detected by your &,4S. You would need to connect another hard drive to the !achine to recover data to7 you can't use the sa!e hard drive for recovering files to. On the road to recovery &n the road to recovery Here's how you can go about recovering your data8 te( ). *s soon as you realise your hard disk has crashed$ first shut down your !achine so as to prevent any further da!age to your disk. +hen restart your !achine$ go to the &,4S and check if the hard disk is being detected. ,f your hard disk is not detected$ you won't be able to recover data through any software. You will have to send it to the data recovery centre. However$ if the hard disk is detected then there are chances you can recover your data through a recovery software. te( *. e/t$ plug in another hard disk to your co!puter so that the data you recover can  be stored onto it. However$ ensure that the hard disk has !ore free space than the si9e of the data you need restored$ else the task won't be successful. ,f you wish$ you can plug in a 9ip drive also$ but then !ake sure that the recovery software you're u sing supports such !edia. 5e!e!ber that even though you !ight have another partition on the crashed hard disk$ you can't recover data on the sa!e hard disk. You have to plug in another storage device on which data can be stored. te( +. e/t$ !ake a bootable rescue floppy disk fro! the recovery software. ,nsert this floppy disk and boot your !achine in the (S-D4S !ode. Do not$ by any chance$ boot your !achine fro! the hard disk. ,n order to boot your !achine !ake sure you go to the &,4S and change the boot se)uence fro! there. te( ,. *fter you've booted in D4S !ode$ insert the recovery software floppy diskette. 4ne of the !ost widely used and effective software in this category is 0asy 5ecovery

software fro! 4ntrack. You can also use other software such as Stellar Phoeni/ Data 5ecovery Software$ inal Data etc. te( -. *fter inserting the recovery software$ you should get an option where you will have to select the pri!ary hard disk 2i.e. the one that has crashed3 as the recovery source' and the second hard disk as the restore destination'. te( . +he software then analyses the data that it has to recover fro! the crashed hard disk. ,n order to recover the data$ the software tries to read the two copies of the file allocation table 2*+3 and then reads the raw data on the hard drive$ trying to !atch it to the *+. +he data that does not !atch the *+ is generally the data that you are trying to recover. 4nce it finds raw data on the disk that e)uals a file but no si!ilar entry in the *+$ it !arks the data as a recoverable file and adds it to the e/isting list of files it has fro! the *+. *ll the files that e/ist on the hard drive$ whether in the *+ or detected by the software$ are shown as recoverable files. 4nce this is done$ you can choose what you want to recover$ and it will be copied to the destination drive. +he whole process !ight take hours to co!plete$ depending purely on how !uch data has to be recovered. Warranty Woes

#ike all products$ even hard disks are covered under specific warranty periods$ depending on the !anufacturer. :sually a hard disk 2,D03 carries a one- to three-year warranty fro! the date of purchase$ and certain SCS, hard disks also carry warranties up to five years. ,f during this period your hard disk crashes or !alfunctions$ you can return it to the dealer so that it can be sent for further analysis to the co!pany''s 5(* centre. +here the hard disk will be repaired and if successful$ the sa!e hard disk is returned to you. ,f unsuccessful$ you will be given a hard disk with a si!ilar !odel that has also co!e in for repairs. ,n case your hard disk is not repairable and a si!ilar !odel is not available for replace!ent$ you will be given an option of taking another !odel$ or pay the difference for buying a new hard disk. *s a last resort you will be given a credit note whose value will be calculated on the basis of a si!ilar new hard disk available in the !arket and the age of your disk. You will never be given a credit note for the actual a!ount you paid while buying the hard disk. You will also not be given a new hard disk under the warranty period unless the  purchased hard disk fails to function fro! the first day itself$ and that too has to be i!!ediately reported back to the dealer. Since the product is considered D4*' 2dead on arrival3$ you are liable for a fresh replace!ent.  How to monitor the health of your hard disk  /ow to monitor the health o$ your hard disk

+he first approach towards preventing a hard disk crash would be to activate the S.(.*.5.+ facility fro! the &,4S. ,f your &,4S does not provide you with this facility$ you should install progra!s such as *ctive S!art$ orton Disk Doctor$ or S!art

Defender$ which continuously !onitor hard disk ac tivity and reduce the risk of your hard disk crashing by predicting disk failures using special algorith!s. Such software usually !onitor the perfor!ance of internal heads$ !otors and other critical co!ponents of the hard disk. +hey analyse the internal perfor!ance of the hard disk and constantly co!pare it with predefined threshold li!its that are already progra!!ed into the!. hen the perfor!ance of the hard disk decreases or is not considered to be satisfactory enough for a nor!ally functioning hard disk$ it would be wise to pro!ptly back up your data$ as the hard disk could crash any ti!e. However$ keep in !ind that once you have enabled S.(.*.5.+$ it will slow down the perfor!ance of your hard disk to a certain e/tent. +his is because it continuously keeps scanning each and every ti!e the disk reads or writes data. You can also run third party software fro! co!panies such as Seagate$ ,&( and Sa!sung$ which also provide custo!-!ade utilities that can diagnose hard disk  proble!s. or e/a!ple$ ,&( has a utility called D+ 2Drive itness +est3. +his utility is a standalone software that runs in D4S !ode and is independent of the end user's operating syste!. 4nce you boot in the D4S !ode$ D+ can diagnose whether your drive is defective$ has been da!aged by voltage fluctuations$ is about to fail soon and even tells you if its running fine or you need a replace!ent. So$ before co!ing to a conclusion and sending your hard disk to the 5(* centre for repairs you can run these utilities and do a self-check and try to repair the proble!s. +his saves you the ti!e and freight charges that you would otherwise have to bear. Kee(ing your disk $ighting $it

hile so!e hardcore geeks !ay %ust never be content with their PC's speed$ !ost of us are genuinely plagued by slow co!puters. 4ne of the !ost i!portant factors that could lead to a slow perfor!ing syste!$ the hard disk is an i!portant one. ,n order to get the top-notch perfor!ance you need fro! your hard disk you should$ as a thu!b rule$ run the Scandisk progra! bundled with indows$ which scans the hard disk for surface errors. +he hard disk consists of the *+ table$ which inde/es all the entries of files. ,n the case of an entry being da!aged$ your files !ay be lost or$ at worse$ your syste! !ay not boot up. Hence$ by periodically running Scandisk you auto!atically eli!inate severe da!age to files that !ay be caused during nor!al use of the syste! or even due to an i!proper shutdown of your !achine. Disk defrag!enter' is another utility that co!es bundled with indows. &y using this utility all the files are syste!atically arranged so that the hard disk d oes not have to waste ti!e hunting for the rest of the progra! files while trying to open a particular progra!. Hence$ if you fre)uently install and uninstall progra!s$ thereby causing changes in the file arrange!ent$ then you should run this utility at least once a !onth so that your hard disk perfor!ance does not get affected. 0verage 1i$e o$ a /ard %isk 

+he average life of a hard disk should be around three to five years$ taking into consideration the average usage in practical life 2si/ to eight hours a day3. You can e/tend the life of your hard disk by not plugging in !any drives to the sa!e power cable. (ake sure that there is no voltage fluctuation7 else it could da!age the logic card thereby !aking the drive unusable. *bove all$ great care should be taken while installing or re!oving the hard disk fro! your co!puter case as any sort of %erk or bu!p could da!age your hard disk and render it useless. 0re high (eed /ard %isks more vulnerable to crashes?

Hard disks with a rotational speed of ;$<== rp! use !etal substrate disks$ whereas the newer hard disks that run at >$?== rp! or even @==== rp! use glass substrate disks. :sing glass substrate disks has its own advantages$ such as b etter ability to withstand shock$ and reduction in surface defects in turn helps reduce read and write errors. However$ these could die out soon as glass substrate disks are !ore brittle than !etal ones and !ore over$ the !agnetic fil! coating applied on the glass substrate disk peels off over a nu!ber of years$ thereby da!aging the hard disk. *nother factor is heat. +he heat generated by hard disks with a rotational speed of >?== rp! and above is i!!ense. +his so!eti!es causes the platter di!ensions to change$ which is especially dangerous when data is read or written on a hard drive. urviving a /ard %isk Crash 2lossary Tracks and ectors * hard disk consists of platters on which data is stored. +hese  platters consist of tens of thousands of tracks that are tightly integrated in concentric circles. +hese tracks contain loads of vital infor!ation and thus are broken down into sectors. Hence$ a sector is the s!allest addressable unit that ca n hold ;@? bytes of infor!ation. .M.0.3.T. Self-(onitoring *nalysis and 5eporting +ool 2S.(.*.5.+.3 syste! uses internal hard disk !onitoring technology to an alyse your hard disk and prevent hard disk failure or data loss. &ad Sector8 * sector that cannot be used due to a physical flaw on the disk is called a bad sector. Clusters  * cluster is a logical unit of storage on a hard disk or a floppy drive. +he si9e of a cluster varies fro! ;@? bytes to ?;A-Bilobytes depending on the si9e of the partition and the file syste!. 0T +he *+ 2ile *llocation +able3 tells the Disk 4perating Syste! which portions of the disk belong to each file. +he *+ links together all the clusters belonging to each file$ no !atter where they are on the disk.

4artition  henever a hard disk is for!atted$ it will have one partition by default. Hence$ a partition is a for!atted section of a hard disk. #arge hard disks can be for!atted to !ultiple partitions and each partition acts like an individual or a separate hard drive. Boot disk * special floppy boot disk allows your co!puter to boot even if it cannot boot fro! the hard disk. +his disk is also known as Syste! 5escue Disk'. What the sym(toms mean ym(tom

3eason

&,4S fails to detect the hard drive

Power failure to the Drive$ ,D0SCS, cable not connected  properlyda!aged. Drive electronics failure$ logic board da!aged

5ando! crashes0rror (edia errors$ readwrite errors due to other reasons. :n!arked bad !essages sectors Drive detected$ but unusable

(edia corrupt$ de!agnetised

Sudden data loss irus attack on boot sector$ ile *llocation +able corrupt. Partition !issing +able corrupt!odified  partitionsboot errors Drive !akes noiseclick sounds

Head actuator !echanis! error$ head parking !echanis! da!aged

Warranty as they say it!

Your warranty is not applicable in any of the following cases8 @. +he product is not purchased fro! an authorised dealer. ?. +he product is not used according to instructions given in the instruction !anual. . Defects caused by i!proper use as deter!ined by the co!pany personnel. <. (odification or alteration of any nature is !ade in the electrical circuitry or physical construction of the set. ;. ,nstallation or repair work is carried out by personsagency other than authorised by the co!pany. A. Site 2pre!ises where the product is kept3 con ditions that do not confor! to the reco!!ended operating conditions of the !achine. 5eco!!ended te!perature range is A= degrees. >. +he original serial nu!ber is re!oved$ obliterated or altered fro! the !achine or cabinet. E. Defects due to causes beyond control such as lightning$ abnor!al voltage$ or while in transit to service centre or purchaser''s residence.

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