Maintaining HD Integrity

Hard drive integrity is of the utmost importance for every computer user. Without maintaining a hard drive's integrity, you are setting yourself up to lose everything. Files, business reports, homework, pictures, videos, music, you name it, and in a flash, it could all be unrecoverable. Most computer users think their hard drive is impervious to harm and danger, because the average computer owner very rarely runs into problems with their hard disk. By the time it dies, chances are they have already moved on to a new computer without even realizing what problems they averted.

Hard drive disks, known as hard drives or HDs, record information by using a magnetic pattern. They transmit the data and store it through the magnetization of data particles your computer creates, hosts and uses when you power on and off the unit. Circular disks, called platters, are held together by spindles that are encased in metal components to protect the data from outside harm. This is one of the many reasons you never want to put a magnet near your HD; it will erase your data and in many cases make your disk inoperable.

If you take a look at a hard drive, like the picture to your right, you will see the circular platters as well as the casing protecting them. These enclosures prevent dust and other debris from getting inside the disk itself, scratching it and obscuring the magnetization process. Just like a CD that gets a scrape or a scratch line on it, a hard drive, too, can stop working with someone a tiny as a mark gets on its surface. This is another important reason computer owners should keep their desktop units and notebook units free from dust, hair and other debris.

There are several precautions a computer user can take to maintain their HD's integrity in the long run of owning their computer. Most computers now have a shelf life of two to three years and many first time computer buyers, from the late 1990s, are making purchase of newer computers that they hope to last a very long time into the future. By taking a few precautions, you can ensure the longer life of your hard drive and problems down the road for your computer.

Always back up your data frequently. Most computer users never back up any part of their hard drive during in their computer's lifetime. Nowadays, external hard drives, flash drives and DVDs can be used to store data that you can not afford to lose. Using these devices and means can keep your data safe in another place and easily accessible should your primary hard drive fail. There are even online resources where you can store data on web servers to download anywhere in the world on any computer should the need arise. Users can even install a second internal HD in their computer to store data, and many new computers give you the space to do so down the line. There are many different ways to back up your data, and finding the right solution for your needs is the first step to protect your information should HD failure occur.

Providing your computer with surge protection is paramount to not only protecting your hard drive but protecting your computer in general. Without power surge protection, something as simple as tripping the power in your apartment can wipe the contents of your hard drive as well as knock out other components in your system. Lightning, heavy storms and other weather-related problems can also short circuit your motherboard and by proxy your hard drive. Power surge protection is more than worth the investment for any computer in your home; if you are using your computer for business, investing in an uninterrupted power supply is also a good idea. This gives you an additional source of power should a blackout, power trip or other interruption occurs and will give you the time to back up your data to an external drive under those circumstances.

Keeping your computer free of viruses, spy ware and adware will also help maintain HD integrity. Often times, these types of problems will cause data loss and corruption on the drive as well as your Internet connection. The longer a virus sits on a HD, the greater the risk of losing everything becomes.

Taking these steps can prevent you from losing everything on your hard drive disk should a failure occur. By ignoring these suggestions, you could risk losing your term paper, a business projection or something worse.

Computers can be unpredictable, and chances are at some point your hard drive will die on you. Sometimes you will be the cause of such a failure and others times, it just happens. You can not predict when your HD will die nor can you stop it completely, but there are a few things you can do to potentially recover data from an inoperable drive.

If at any moment during your computer use, you hear whirring, grinding or other noises emanating from your computer, turn it off immediately. Grinding, and in particular whirring, noises are the first sign that your HD is going to an early grave. Most will try and over clock themselves to continue working, because they do not know better. It is up to you to realize this, turn off your computer and save your own data.

If you continue to use a drive that is potentially damaged, the more damage you may cause to the data. Eventually, if you continue to use a drive that is damaged, you will most likely cause more harm than good and could even render the data recovery process impossible.

Do not take the drive out of the computer or pound at it to try and get it to work. Hollywood has perpetuated the myth that hitting technology will automatically make it work again, and this could not be further from the truth. Hitting, shaking or pounding at a HD will cause physically damage to the unit and even if the data was recoverable, there will be no way to repair the physical damage to recover the data to another computer or drive.

A few years ago, a myth circulated around the Internet that by freezing your broken HD overnight you would be able to get it to work again. This myth will only cause a total loss of data as well as a waste of a freezer bag. Heat, too, will only melt the HD and enclosure causing the same total loss. This is why your computer has a fan to regulate temperature.

Unless you are a computer technician, take the drive to a specialist. Trying to fix the drive yourself will result in losing data. Just the smallest fragment of dust can render the drive inoperable, and chances are you do not have the resources to prevent that in your home or office. Do not reformat the disk, use software to fix it or attempt any other methods found on the Internet that suggest you can properly do this on your own. Only the most experience computer technicians should be trusted with trying to recover your data.

Following these guidelines will help you recover data and avert a loss you may not recover from if it is a business or school computer. Why risk losing data when you can work with your hard drive to prevent it?