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Physical Data Recovery |
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Physical damages to the drive occur due to a fall, exposure to high temperatures, a powerful surge of electricity or any other natural calamity. This leads to a damage of the electronic board, magnetic media, motor or rear heads. |
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| Author: James Walsh |
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Mechanical failure can be due to a damage of the spindle motor caused by excessive heat. This turns the drive inoperative.
Electronic failure occurs when the circuit board at the bottom of the hard drive faces problems.
These problems might occur due to improper installation or the usage of faulty components. Electronic failures can occur at any time. Even new drives might fail. And in the event of such a failure, it is not always possible to replace the old circuit board with another board. This might necessitate a soldering job.
Symptoms of Physical Damage
The hard disk drive might not spin or the hard drive might make clicking, whining, grinding or high pitched noises. These noises might indicate a head crash. In the case of a head crash the head scratching over the platters converts the data to magnetic dust. If such noises are heard, the computer must be immediately switched off. It should be immediately pulled off the power. Time should not be wasted in trying to shut it down.
Recovering Data from a Physically Damaged Drive
Physical data recovery is repairing the storage medium to enable the transfer of data from the damaged media to a secure media. If the computer does not make any unusual noise, the user can attempt data recovery. The drive can be connected as a slave drive to another computer.
But most of the damages cannot be repaired by the users, for if the hard disk is opened in a normal environment, dust might settle on it. This dampens the very recovery process. The read / write head is placed just a few microns above the platter. Any small particle of dust leads to an immediate crash.
These damages have to be repaired in a class 100 clean room. Class 100 clean rooms contain less than 100 airborne particles (larger than 0.5 microns) in one cubic feet of air. Data recovery companies work in such an environment. They protect the media in clean rooms while they carry out the repair process.
Many people claim that they have been successful in recovering data by freezing or hitting the hard disk. Such methods should never be attempted.
Data Recovery from an Unbalanced Platter
If the hard drive is subjected to deep shock, it might unbalance the platter. This might cause vibration of the platter while spinning. Horizontal vibration results in the read head not being able to track properly. And vertical vibrations might lead to a head crash.
When a problem of this nature occurs data recovery is possible only by Magnetic Force Microscope photography, shortly referred to as MFM. The entire surface of the platter is scanned by the MFM. Each region yields a picture. This process lasts a long period. And at the end, all these pictures are put together. This is an extremely expensive process and can be used in the extreme cases.
High Temperature Damage
If the disk has been subjected to high temperatures due to a fire, data recovery is an impossibility. The high temperatures would have completely demagnetised the disk.
Time Consumed for Physical Data Recovery
Recovery time might range anywhere between a day to a week. It depends on the nature and extent of damage.
The recovery of data from a physically crashed hard disk is physical data recovery. Physical damages occur due to head crashes, broken spindles, damaged platters or other damages caused by fire, water, shock and heat. The problem with physical failure is that recovery is dependant on having the right parts.
Data recovery in cases of physical failure is labour-intensive and consumes a lot of time. A 100% recovery is never guaranteed. Data recovery companies charge only if they are able to recover the data. Prevention of problems is a better option. Hard drive is the component that works the most in a computer. It should always be kept cool. Any physical damage to it leads to data loss.
About 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
Article Source:
http://www.1888articles.com/author-james-walsh-2417.html
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