Recover Lost Data
The unthinkable has taken place, and your hard drive has died. How can you recover lost data? Although it may seem like an absolute disaster, lost data may be more reachable than you initially thought. Hard drive failures can frequently occur as a result of unexpected software or hardware malfunctions. Despite great advances in storage capacity and access times, these devices remain the most unreliable part inside of any computer system. The hard drive is more likely than any other part of your computer to fail, and unfortunately, it’s the last part that you want to fail.
Needless to say, hard drive failure can bring about great stress, or even personal and professional calamity. Because of the seriousness of hard drive failure, the ability to recover lost data has become an important asset. Programs and services abound on the internet, all promising to correct your faulty hard drive. Luckily, several of these programs are actually free for public download. Does this mean that the tools are substandard or perform poorly? Not necessarily. TestDisk, a completely free and open source utility, offers one of the most comprehensive tools to be found anywhere.
With TestDisk a user can scan a dead hard drive and determine the cause of the malfunction. What are common causes of hard drive failure? Malfunctions can broken down as either software or hardware related. We’re hoping for a software related failure, because they are usually correctable via free utilities. A software problem can be related to a system file corruption, lost partition, or accidental reformatting. In all of these cases, it is usually possible to recover lost data without too much trouble. Simply connect a dead drive to another computer, and run a utility like TestDisk. Although partition and formatting errors are serious, a powerful utility can reconstruct drives based on their content, making them usable once again.
Hardware failures are a different beast, and require more expensive, time consuming measures. The two most common hardware related problems are burnt out read/write heads, and faulty logic controllers. The former is a sometimes catastrophic problem, and can result in permanently lost data. The latter can potentially be corrected at home if you have the time, daring, and necessary part. Replacing a logic controller involves finding an identical (down to the firmware) hard drive and using its functional logic controller to resurrect a dead drive. This will require an anti-static surface and a Torx screwdriver to make the modifications.
If the problem is because of the read/write head, be prepared to pay a service such as DriveSavers hundreds of dollars. The need to repair the drive should be carefully weighed against the potentially prohibitive cost of repairs. DriveSavers is a fast and effective service, but their prices may make drive restoration something to think twice about.
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