Hard Disks are used to store information. All information on computers are stored in files. Hard disks store the majority of information on today’s modern computer. Hard disk drives (HDDs) can be critically damaged by static electricity, shock, and other factors, often resulting in failure or the loss of valuable data. In many cases it may become necessary to recover information from your hard drive. Such retrieval is quite possible.

Hard Disk Failure

*Physical Failures

Physical failure occurs from sudden switch off, power failure, sliding them off desks and cheap components. As for data loss, data is only magnetic impulses on the surface of a hard disk. And ridiculously small bits of magnetism at that! When the magnetic impulse fades, or changes position, trouble starts.

Drive Alignment Drift is another cause of problems. Mechanical devices are subject to wear and tear, heat and cold, loosening tolerances etc.

The small changes in the read/write heads wouldn’t matter usually, as data still gets written in the same place as it will be read later. However, there is some data that hardly ever gets re-written, and that is the Sector ID Headers.

*Logical Failures

*Master Boot Record Failure

Technically, when the Master Boot Record is working correctly, the master boot code scans the partition table for the active partition, finds the starting sector, loads a copy of the boot sector from the active partition into memory and then transfers control to the executable code in the boot sector. If the master boot code cannot complete these functions, the system displays a message similar to the MBR error.

*Boot Sector Failure

The boot sector is a region of a hard disk, floppy disk, and other similar data storage device. It is loaded to memory and executed as a part of the bootstrap sequence. The boot sector contains a small computer program that is loaded on the operating system into memory and transfers the control.

Most boot sector failure occurs by the defection of boot sector virus. Boot sector viruses are usually spread by infected floppy disks. In the past, these were usually bootable disks, but this is no longer the case. A floppy disk does not need to be bootable to transmit a boot virus. Any disk can cause infection if it is in the drive when the computer boots up or shuts down.

*Accidentally Deleted Data

Some time some how you may delete a file thinking we don?t need it any more, but in a week or or two you may realize that it is a needed one. It happens to the best of us, but fortunately there are ways to get these lost files back.

When it comes to data on your computer, it is almost impossible to accidentally remove it beyond recoverability. Even if you are intentionally trying to completely wipe a file from your hard drive it is exceedingly difficult.

*Cross Linked Files

A file system error that corrupts the contents of an existing file by writing data from another file into the same cluster. Running Scandisk or a similar program cleans up the problem, but one of the files is no longer usable.

*Bad Sectors

It is a portion of the Hard disk that cannot be used any more. If a part of the disk get bad sector which contains data then those data is to be recovered before use. When you format a disk, the OS will mark all the unusable sector as bad sector, however, this does not affect the overall performance of the disk as the damaged space is considered unusable.

Hard Disk Data Recovery

*Replace the (Circuit Board) PCB

Upon a Hard Drive circuit board failure, it is possible to get back the data by carefully replacing the PCB of the hard drive.

*Replace the Firmware

Hard disk firmware is the information that is used by the computer that allows it to correctly interact with the hard disk. It may be replaced or updated by the matching firmware.

*Replace the Head Stack

There are common situation that may be due to head failures. There is a small chip located in the head stack that is called PREAMPLIFIER. Working with preamplifiers always includes some difficulties, because, practically, they can not withstand static discharges. If re-soldering is needed, one should follow a number of rules to protect a preamplifier from static damage caused by careless finger touching. Although this task is very risky and it should be done in a high secured lab specially created for this task.

*Move the disk to another Drive

In some cases complete functionality of the Hard drive may be disabled while only the internal disk plate is without any damages or errors. In those situations, it is possible to move the disk to another drive.

*Spin-Stand Testers

Hard drive manufactures and their head media; preamplifier and read channel suppliers do have very accurate, very expensive “magic machines” called Spin-Stands. These are used for testing and experimenting with heads and disks. They are used mostly by researcher and development departments.

*Magnetic Force Microscopes (MFM)

Magnetic force microscopy is a powerful tool for high-resolution magnetic imaging of most data storage media. As the density of magnetic media is higher, the bit becomes smaller than the wavelength of light, so optical techniques can not resolve it. General MFM is capable of imaging the magnetic domain of several tens of nanometers. Also, MFM is almost simultaneous with measuring the surface characteristics of topography and roughness of the same area with sub-angstrom vertical resolution.

Recovery Softwares

*SpinRite 6.0

SpinRite is a stand-alone DOS program designed to refurbish hard drives, floppy disks and recover data from marginally or completely unreadable hard drives and floppy disks and from partitions and folders which have become unreadable.

*Ontrack data recovery software

Ontrack Data Recovery offers the industry’s highest quality and cost-effective do-it-yourself data recovery software solutions for almost any data loss situation covering servers, desktops or laptops for all media, operating systems and file types. Ontrack’s EasyRecoveryTM family of products is unmatched in its ability to recover/repair from all causes of lost data.

*Recover My Files

Recover My Files data recovery software will easily recover deleted files emptied from the Windows Recycle Bin, or lost due to the format or corruption of a hard drive, virus or Trojan infection, and unexpected system shutdown or software failure.

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Cost reflects quality

The best way to figure out the level of software is by the price. Anything you find priced under $75 USD means it’s an undelete program; they usually fall within the price range of $35 to $40, but some are higher. A better quality recovery utility that is able to correct complex issues starts at about $80 and increases to over $400 for professional programs.

companies tend to break up the components of their software and sell them individually. The reason behind this is: about half of the users only plan on using one specific utility – and hopefully only once; while technicians hope to obtain various tools for different data loss situations for their business. So when looking around, make sure the program you are searching for is the one that can help solve your problem.

Four common recovery issues

Data recovery software and undelete recovery utilities can each retrieve lost, deleted, corrupt, and damaged files, and sometimes partition and boot sector problems. But there is an important difference between the two when it comes to recovering data. Here are a few tips pertaining to each data loss to better illustrate the differences:

1. A deleted file is a file you have decided to throw away by sending it to the recycle bin or by emptying it.

2. Files that are considered lost may have been emptied by the bin, caused by a virus, software crash, or accidental format. Boot sector and partition table problems make files difficult to recover, so they may only be lost until the problem is resolved.

3. Corrupted files are either unable to be opened, or the content is unrecognizable when it does.

4. A damaged file may open, but the contents will not read clearly; one part may be easy to understand while other parts are distorted characters and scribble. You may be able to read one part, but the other part may look like a special code or scribble.

Here’s the difference

Both data recovery and undelete recovery software are designed to retrieve all data loss circumstances, but there is one major difference between the two: Data recovery software is able to rebuild and repair a file system that is not intact to recover data – something undelete data recover software can’t do. An intact file system means that the components that hold individual files together have not been changed.

Find these technical terms confusing? Are you having problems understanding the difference between the different recovery tools available on the market? Just keep the cost guide I spoke about earlier in mind to help you choose the best data recovery utility.

Additional recovery option

In the end, disk data recovery software outperforms an undelete utility. However, when either one is unable to correct your data issues, you can turn to a hard disk data recovery specialist to restore your data manually. It can be somewhat costly, but when you need to restore your files, it could end up being your only solution.