What is Meant by ‘Hard Disk Crashes’?

by: jameswalsh
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Prevention in such cases works out far cheaper than recovery.

What is a Hard Disk Crash?

The 2003 IT report states that more than 45% of purchased hard disks run the risk of a crash in their functional lifetime. This means that the platters in the disk interior are rendered useless. Data is stored on these platters and their incapacitation leads to data loss.

Head crashes are caused when the speedily rotating magnetic platters collide with the read and write heads of the disk interior. When this collision happens, the platters lose their function disintegrating data in the disk interior. Hard disk crashes can be classified under two heads of predictable and unpredictable crashes.

Predictable crashes occur when the user has an idea that the volume of data being stored on the disk is beyond its capacity and formatting. Usually, users take precautions to deal with predictable crashes by backing up data. Switching off the computer completely and calling in professional recovery experts follow this. The aim is to catch the process of the crash in time. The user knows that the hard disk is about to crash and is able to prevent it.

Unpredictable crashes happen to more than 75% of daily users. The user is unable to predict such crashes and panics when the screen goes blank. Usually, such crashes occur due to static electrical discharges, man-made disasters and data theft.

Causes: Hard disk crashes are a common phenomenon. More than 60% of drive failures are mechanical in nature. These crashes are usually caused by the gradual degradation of the drive's performance. The causes cover diverse areas of:

Mechanical Error: Heads/head assembly i.e. crack on head, broken head, head contamination, head resonance, bad connection to electronics

Human Error: Module, handling damage and poor maintenance

Physical Defects of Motors/Bearings: Motor failure, worn bearing, excessive run out, poor or no spin

Electrical Error of Electronic Module Failure: Circuit/ chip failure, bad connection to drive or bus, poor network power connections

Symptoms of the Crash

Previously read data becomes inaccessible

Screen goes blank

There is a grinding or whining, clicking noise

Error messages flash on the screen communicating a fault in the system

Screen dies a blue screen of death

What to Do: The first thing to do in such a situation is not to panic and boot your computer. Shut down your computer and call in the professional recovery experts. But, in order to do that, you need to document everything to aid the experts in discovering the exact cause of the crash. But, supposing you are not sure that your disk has crashed, what do you do then?

Check for Drive or Data Storage Device Failure: This is done by checking the error messages. If you get a 'boot disk failure' message instead of a windows error message, it indicates a badly damaged drive. In such cases, it becomes essential to boot from a floppy disk. It means that your computer is healthy. The main aim is to control the damage.

Restart: Restart your system with the start-up disk in the floppy drive. As the follow-on step, access your hard disk by typing C: at the prompt and pressing Enter. If you get a C:\ prompt, change directories and try to copy a small file to the floppy. Back up important files and run a hard-disk diagnostic utility of ScanDisk.

Check Your CMOS Settings: The user needs to enter the CMOS setup program. Start the procedure by pressing the delete, F1 or F10 key while the computer boots up. Check the computer documentation and re-enter the disk's settings as hard disk is not listed.

Prevention

Backup: The safest method to deal with a crash is not to be affected by it. A user is always advised to back up data on a data storage device external to the hard disk. This allows the user to protect relevant data.

Proper Maintenance: A user needs to protect the hard disk. Proper maintenance ensures that there are no predictable crashes.

Avoid physical movement of the PC

Keep PC in a controlled environment of moderate temperatures

Always keep the PC or keyboard away from pets

Ensure that the power connection is properly and tightly plugged in

Saving data keeping in mind disk-saving capacity and function

About the Author

James Walsh is a freelance writer and copy editor. If you are concerned about data loss and would like more information on Data Recovery see http://www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk

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