Friday, October 21, 2011

Mac hard disk failure and File Rescue

Data recovery is one of the most technical and complex activity because it is directly associated with the device i.e. hard drive which itself is so complex. Leave the business men it is enough to increase headache level of even some IT professionals.  That is one of the many reasons that data recovery companies can easily charge smart amount, sometimes even for any small task.  This article will provide you some basic knowledge of data recovery:-

Hard Disk Basics
Computer hard drive is a storage device which stores data into metal oxide platters. It has to perform continuous and very fast rotation (About the rate of 12,000 rpm) while read/write operations. The One, which perform this read/write operation on the Meta oxide platter, in the form of magnetic charge, is called head. A drive can have multiple read and write head and each head to perform operation smoothly and quickly.  But this also arose a problem that each head can crash independently, so probability of head crash always remain higher especially when temperature of  disk started increasing due to kinetic energy produced due to head motions. The main part of drive is controller board which unique for every individual drive located in outer part of the platters and it contains firmware zone, the firmware zone is the area which communicate with the computer directly.

Type of hard disk failure:
Hard disks are always handle with care because they are very sensitive and above all they actually having our precious data.  Worst is they can suffer damage in different ways (described below) and with each type of damage in hard disk there remain possibility of data loss.  Let discuss each type of damage and probability of data loss and its recovery:
Logical Errors:  Logical errors of the are most simple (sometime most complex) type of error. These errors are meant for file system corruption, not affecting the data directly.
     Symptoms: File inaccessible, system response increases and program may     not work properly
     Solution:  Such errors are seems to be simple, nothing is going to happen wrong the data until and using right data recovery software you can get your data back. Here “right” also means that choosing inappropriate data recovery software can make your data beyond recovery. Logical errors are simple but complicated errors you can get your data back by using branded mac file recovery software. Chances of recovery of data are very much high.

Mechanical Failure: Such errors are more serious and it may cause partial or full data loss. These type of errors occur due to head crash at the time it performing read/write operation on platters.
  Symptoms: Hard Drive becomes noisy!! Most probably clicking or grinding noise start flushing out
  Solution: This is most technical part which needs professional training to solve it. Replacement of read/write head is to be done manually. So, you might have to send hard drive to data recovery lab.  Make sure about the privacy policies of the company before sending the hard drive because your hard drive may have your personal data that you would not like to share with anyone. Such errors need both time and money and chances of recovery is totally unpredictable.

Bad Sectors: These are the areas which OS usually ignore while performing reading and writing operations. These are like big holes in the road which need to be avoided by drivers.
  Symptoms: As such no indication will be shown for bad sectors
Solution: It could happen anytime with hard drive and the data present in that section would become inaccessible. So best solution is just to avoid loss that may happen due to bad sector. So prepare cloning or imaging of the hard drive can be a good preparation against bad sector.

Researchers say that most of the time data loss happens due to the human mistakes. Follow the points below to reduce the chances of data loss:
•       Do not avoid any uncertainty of the system
•       Do not trash out the things which you are not sure about.
•       Always keep backup of your important data
•       Keep trusted
mac data recovery software handy