Many of us have mistakenly deleted files from our PC at least once. It is known that nothing fatal will happen when deleting it to the trash: the information is not physically deleted, but is transferred to a special place on the drive, and it is not difficult to return it if desired. Users often think that deleting using Shift+Del leads to complete “overwriting” of files. In practice, even after this, the data can be recovered. Let's try to figure out how to recover data from a hard drive.
In most cases, files can be recovered using special software
After the format operation or deliberate deletion of information, everything can be returned back; many convenient utilities have been developed for this:
- Recuva;
- Disk Drill;
- PhotoRec;
- the increasingly popular R-Studio package
The procedure is only available on a working device. If you try to recover data on a drive that creaks and makes clicking noises, then scratches may appear on its parts (there is a high risk of losing data forever).
With certain skills, information can be easily restored using one of the tools from the list above. If they do not help, use the services of computer services.
Such programs first scan all the information on the device, after which they create a kind of “map” that displays the location of the pieces of interest to us. File and sector connections, names, sizes, as well as many other features are built here file system. At the last stage, the data we need is transferred to another disk. No writes are made to the source drive while packets are being resumed.
Let's take a closer look at well-known packages for restoring memory after formatting. Remember that after downloading such utilities to your PC, you need to check them with antivirus software: often hackers plant various viruses and additional, completely unnecessary software.
PhotoRec
The tool allows you to quickly return the necessary types of files to your PC. The software uses special operating algorithms, which puts it an order of magnitude higher than its analogues.
The first version was designed only to work via “cmd”, which was not very convenient for a novice user. The developers worked hard and started releasing a user friendly interface from version 7, which has become much easier to use.
You can get it for free from the Internet; to work, you should run the *.exe file inside the archive. The process of returning lost files looks like this:
- Launch the program;
- select the device on which the files you needed were previously located;
- specify the file system;
- specify the path where the recovered files will be stored;
- Click on “File Formars” to select the required type (video, disk image, photo, music);
- click on the “Search” button.
The utility in auto mode will transfer the information you are interested in to the previously specified folder; no additional steps are required.
Recuva
Recuva does not require paid subscription, it does not take up too much virtual memory, the operating logic is elementary. Even a novice user will be able to take advantage of its capabilities, which is very pleasing. You can return data from a hard drive, microSD or flash drive. If you need to resume a specific file type, Recuva will tell you how to do it.
You can get the installation package for free by downloading it from the Internet. The built-in wizard will help you work with the utility; there is a Russian language. If we talk about efficiency, then the program works 100% only if the hard drive has not been touched after removal. In other words, the utility helps you roll back a couple of steps.
File Scavenger
It is used to return files from flash drives and hard drives. The product is amazingly efficient and can be used in conjunction with RAID. The program is capable of returning information piece by piece after repeated rewriting and formatting.
The only drawback of the utility is its cost - for normal operation you will have to pay for the full package. In order not to spoil the physical hard drive, experts recommend initially creating an image and then working with it.
The product does not require mandatory installation; you just need to launch it by clicking on the .exe file after downloading. Stable operation is ensured for users of systems 7, 8, 10 from Windows, as well as the good old XP.
There are only two steps to follow:
- In the “Look For” field, enter the type of the lost file (you can leave the “*” sign there, it works like in a regular search);
- In another free field, indicate the disk or specific partition on which we will search.
In addition to these fields, the program has a “toggle switch” for selecting the type of search. After pressing the “Scan” button, the program will begin to operate and display a list of required elements.
Performance: it took less than 30 minutes to work with a 16 Gb flash card.
After you find the required file, follow the instructions described in the utility.
R-studio
This package is respected by millions of users. The program is considered one of the most effective. Here is a list of the main features and functions:
- Return RAID;
- possibility of renewal from means of various configurations and types;
- receiving files when device partitions are erased or data is lost due to virus programs;
- formation of images for renewal, work with the image itself;
- works on Mac OS X, Linux, Windows.
The professional package makes it possible to return files that for one reason were damaged, were deliberately sent to trash or formatted. If the OS is not working, then you can run the utility from a disk or flash card.
Disk Drill
This type of software was previously only available for Apple products, but for Windows lovers a compatible version was recently released. The utility, like others, makes it possible to restore photos and important files from various drives without much effort. The advantages include the use of images, as well as a friendly interface.
Results
As you can see, there are many software tools that allow you to recover information from a drive. Some utilities are distributed free of charge, some options require payment, but they have wider functionality and quality. The choice is yours! If the issue cannot be resolved, contact a special service.
Most often, all the most important user information is stored on hard drives computer on which he constantly works. This provides fast access to data, which is especially convenient when files are required for daily work. However, any information stored on a work hard drive is the least secure. It can be corrupted by viruses, destroyed by an attacker, lost due to a failure of a program or computer hardware, deleted by an attacker who gained access to the computer, or even by a user who accidentally pressed the wrong button.
But the cost lost files often exceeds the price of the computer itself and the software installed on it, since they can contain years of painstaking work.
Reasons for losing files
Most often, the necessary data becomes unavailable as a result of a computer hardware error or user carelessness.
And new ones solid state drives SSDs and hard magnetic HDDs can lead to file system failure resulting in bad sectors, which cannot be read, or due to the fact that during the recording of information there was an unexpected error, associated with an unexpected power outage or a hot disk shutdown, that is, shutting down the computer without stopping the operating system.
Often, users themselves delete their files by mistakenly clicking on Delete button. In this case, first of all, you need to look at the Trash, but it also happens that it has already been emptied.
Do deleted files disappear completely?
Some users believe that deleting files from hard drive on the Delete command leads to their complete disappearance (except for cases when they are temporarily transferred to the Recycle Bin). In fact, this is not true. Neither Dos nor any Windows version files are never permanently erased immediately after clicking the Delete button. This is due to the fact that complete removal would require a considerable amount of time from the operating system, which would lead to inconvenience for the user.
The next time you delete a file that is several 100 megabytes in size (for example, a movie), notice that it disappears almost instantly. If the OS were to completely erase all clusters of this file, it would take much longer.
In reality, the operating system simply renames the file, marking it as deleted, and hides it from the user's view.
What is the difference between a remote file and a regular file?
The data of the deleted file also continues to be stored in the same place on the hard drive, but the system notes to itself that this place is now free for writing new information to it.
Thus, if you accidentally deleted the desired file, you can easily return it to its place using special utilities. However, if other data was written to the place of the deleted file, it will be impossible to return it. Therefore, under no circumstances write on HDD with the “deleted” information stored on it, new data.
Even formatting the disk is not so dangerous, since in this case the system simply creates a new file allocation table, which indicates that the surface of the hard disk is clean. The only option complete removal information is low-level formatting, when the entire surface of the hard drive is reset.
What to do if you have lost important information?
As you understand, the most dangerous action that can lead to permanent data loss is re-writing other information to the hard drive. Therefore, if you accidentally deleted important information, do not write new files to it under any circumstances. It would be best to disconnect the hard drive from the computer, since many programs and the operating system itself often make various service records to the hard drive. Particularly dangerous in this regard system disk WITH.
However, even if you did not just accidentally delete an important file, but encountered a hardware failure on your hard drive, there is no need to worry ahead of time. Most likely, all the necessary information remained intact, since the actions of viruses are usually superficial and do not affect the entire surface of the hard drive, and software or hardware failure is often associated with damage to the FAT, while clusters with information remain intact.
To recover data, you should use one of several specialized programs.
Free file recovery utility PC Inspector File Recovery
The main advantages of PC Inspector File Recovery are ease of use and freeness of the program. You can download the program from the developers’ website www.pcinspector.de. Compared to the work of other utilities, which we will consider below, the effectiveness of PC Inspector File Recovery is not very high, since it simply does not see some files that other software successfully recovers.
PC Inspector File Recovery includes three types of search for lost data. After starting the program, a window will appear in front of the user where you can select one of the search mechanisms.
Recovered deleted files – recovery of files deleted using operating system tools (the same case when the user accidentally clicks Delete and discovers that the Recycle Bin is disabled). Find lost data – data recovery after file system damage or disk formatting. Find lost drive – recovering data from logical drives that are invisible in the system.
Working with the Recovered deleted files program
After the user has chosen a data recovery method, the program begins to scan the system, after which the program will open a window indicating what information can be recovered.
The presence of two lists of logical drives that repeat each other is due to the fact that first the program specifies a list of logical drives for each physical disk “on fixed disk...”, and then a list of logical drives, as Windows sees them, “on Windows drive...”.
Most often, these two lists completely repeat each other, especially if the system has only one HDD. But if there are several hard drives, listings may vary slightly.
Select one of the logical drives where the information you are looking for is located and double-click on it to start scanning it. After 10-20 minutes, depending on the size of the disk and the power of the computer, a window will appear in front of the user with a list of information available for recovery.
To restore any file, just right-click on it and select Save to, specify where to save the file to be restored.
Please note that even after completing all the steps described above, you may encounter that the recovered file will not work or open correctly.
Paid file recovery program Ontrack Easy Recovery
Ontrack Easy Recovery is one of the most effective recovery programs from a well-known developer. Distributed commercially, the cost of an annual license ranges from $466 to $2900, depending on the version. The official website of the program is www.ontrack.com.
The program can be installed on Windows or run from a previously created boot floppy disk. A boot floppy disk allows you to restore information on a hard drive without an operating system installed.
Compared to Recovered deleted files, Ontrack Easy Recovery works much more efficiently; it can even recover files that Recovered deleted files does not even see.
Ontrack Easy Recovery is very easy to use and has a very user-friendly and intuitive interface. When you start the program, the step-by-step wizard mode immediately starts, the first stage of which is to scan the system and then display the structure of drives and logical drives.
The program immediately marks deleted information and partitions invisible to the operating system that can be restored. Select a disk with information contained on it that is inaccessible to the system, and start scanning it. After this, the program will display a list of files that can be recovered.
File and directory names will be shortened to eight characters, and those with names written in Russian letters will be shown as unreadable characters. To indicate the data that should be restored, just check the box next to it.
After recovery, file names in Russian will most likely be replaced with dashes, but the data itself will remain functional.
Creating a bootable Windows Easy Recovery floppy disk
In order to create a boot floppy disk, you will need to go to the Make Emergency Boot Diskette program item. A bootable floppy disk will help you save your data if the FAT on your hard drive is damaged or your operating system won't start. The boot interface is no different from a program running in a Windows environment, only the names of files and directories will be shortened to eight characters.
Boot floppy Windows Easy Recovery allows you to restore data to second hard disk, to a working partition of the hard drive where the lost information is stored, as well as to a floppy disk. In the latter case, you need to remove Windows Easy Recovery from the drive and install a blank floppy disk in its place and save the data to it. Windows Easy Recovery at this time will already be in random access memory computer, so the program will not be stopped.
Preparing to work with Power Quest Lost & Found
Another effective data recovery utility is Power Quest Lost & Found. Working with this program requires two drives: the first one containing the lost data and the second one intended for saving the recovered files. For this purpose, two hard drives or a hard drive and a floppy drive can be used. The program does not allow you to save information to the same logical drive from which it was recovered.
This is due to the fact that any write to the same hard drive where the deleted information is located can make its recovery completely impossible. The program runs from a boot floppy disk, so it does not require an operating system to work with it. The Power Quest Lost & Found installation file is designed to create a boot floppy disk on which a DOS-like OS will be located. After the floppy disk is created, you need to boot from it into a computer that has two hard drives, one of which contains the lost files.
Data Recovery Using Power Quest Lost
After launch, the program immediately begins scanning the system. The efficiency of its work is quite high. The surface of all hard drives is checked, and if damaged unreadable sectors are found on them, then after several checks the program will offer to skip them and continue working. After the scan is completed, the user will be able to specify the drive on which the lost data is stored.
Next, you need to specify the drive where the program will write the recovered data. If you choose to specify a floppy drive as your drive, you will need to remove the Power Quest Lost & Found boot floppy disk and insert a blank one. In this case, recovery of files larger than 1.44 MB will not be possible.
After scanning a disk with lost data, the program will display a tree structure of all directories and files stored in them on the hard drive.
The color indicates the probability of file recovery:
- light green – possible;
- yellow – possible;
- red – unlikely;
- gray – impossible.
The program is controlled exclusively from the keyboard, so you will need to know various key combinations to work. To do this, press F1 to access help. The most frequently used key assignments are indicated at the bottom of the window: Enter - move inside the directory, Space - select files and directories, Esc - exit one level up from a subdirectory or start recovery of selected files (Start Recovery). Data recovery may take several hours.
R-Studio - an effective and fast data recovery utility
An excellent solution for those who need not only the recovery of the files themselves, but also the directory structure, as well as file names in Russian, is R-Studio program, working with file systems FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS, Ext2FS. R-Studio is a commercial program that runs on Windows. There is a demo version of the program, the limitation of which is the inability to recover files larger than 64 kb.
An additional option of the program is to create disk images and restore them in case of problems. The main window of the program contains a list of hard drives with their logical partitions.
In order to start searching for information for recovery, you need to select the logical drive or entire drive of interest and select Scan. To start recovery, check necessary files checkmarks and click Recover. You can also select the required item in context menu through right button mice.
Data recovery utility Restorer 2000
The functionality and interface of Restorer 2000 is very similar to those of R-Studio. Restorer 2000 can also recognize files in Cyrillic and only supports small files in the demo version. The program works with FAT and NTFS file systems and allows you to create backup disk image files.
After starting the program, the main window appears with a list of hard drives and logical partitions. The scan starts after selecting the required disk or partition and pressing the Scan button. Detected areas that can be restored are displayed on the right side of the window and are named using question marks. To find out what data is in this area, you need to double-click to expand the contents of the area and view its contents.
GetDataBack is a commercial program that has versions for the FAT12, FAT16, FAT32, NTFS file systems. There is a free version of the program that allows you to restore individually Various types files by opening them in their respective applications. The commercial version allows saving from the program itself. The disadvantages of the program include the fact that GetDataBack does not see lost partitions, so it is impossible to specify complete data recovery from them, however, it is possible to specify the entire area of the hard drive to scan. The program does not work with file names in Russian.
Steps to working with GetDataBack
The data recovery process with GetDataBack consists of several steps. At the first stage, you need to select from a list of FDD, HDD drives, logical drives and image files the one with which the program will work. In the next window, you should select the desired area of the hard drive and after the scanning process is completed, go to the third stage, where you can agree with the parameters proposed by the program (disk area or set its entire volume, specify the file system type) or specify them manually. After scanning the selected area, the program will show the result in the form of a directory structure. Names in Cyrillic will be changed to a character set. You can open the recovered files directly from the program window.
The efficiency of GetDataBack is much lower compared to the programs mentioned above. The utility is practically unable to recover files with names in Russian and disrupts the directory structure, making it much more difficult to find the necessary data after recovery.
Recovering logical partitions using Acronis Recovery Expert
Most data recovery programs work in the same way: they have no effect on hard disks and, extracting data from them, copy them to another medium. As a result, the user has to create the partition again and transfer lost data there, often affecting other partitions of the hard drive.
It is much more convenient for the user to restore the lost partition, along with the data stored there, in the same place where it was. This will return the system to operational state, as it was before the files were lost. Acronis Recovery Expert can recover lost logical drives.
How Acronis Recovery Expert works
Finding a lost logical Acronis disk Recovery Expert recovers it, along with all the data that was stored on it. However, due to the fact that the program, while restoring a logical disk, simultaneously writes to it, there is no guarantee that all files will be restored correctly.
As already mentioned, files that are invisible to the system are most at risk when they are written to disk again. Therefore, it is very likely that Acronis Recovery Expert will not only be unable to recover the lost partition, but will also further damage the state of the lost data and make it impossible to retrieve it using other programs.
That's why optimal solution will initially try to recover data using other programs and save it on another medium. And only then try to restore the functionality of the logical disk using Acronis Recovery Expert.
Acronis Recovery Expert has a very clear interface. Before the scanning process, the user will be asked to select automatic or manual mode. In the first case, the program will do everything necessary itself, presenting the user with a list of lost logical drives that you can try to recover.
In manual mode, you can view the structure of the disks and independently specify the search location.
Conclusion
Anyone, even the most experienced and attentive user, can face the need to restore files. To prevent loss of access to information from becoming a serious problem for you, you must install the most effective data recovery program on your computer in advance, and also create a boot floppy disk with it.
It wouldn’t hurt to purchase two hard drives or at least split the HDD into two parts - 40-50 GB for the operating system and the remaining space for data storage. In this case, the risk of data loss in the event of an OS crash will be minimal.
The loss of information stored on a hard drive (HDD) is a sad event, but most often not fatal. Accidentally deleted documents, folders, and even entire sections can be restored if nothing happened that could prevent this.
We’ll tell you further how to recover data from a hard drive, in which cases you can do it yourself, and when it’s better not to take risks and turn to specialists.
How to recover data from a hard drive
When can missing files be recovered?
The main condition for successful data recovery is the physical health of the hard drive.
Most likely, you will be able to return data that:
- were deleted without going to the Recycle Bin;
- destroyed by a virus;
- disappeared due to a file system failure (with such problems, entire directories and partitions are usually lost);
- were in a partition that was formatted (formatting erases some of the information about the location of the files on the hard drive, but they themselves remain in place).
But in some cases it will not be possible to restore information:
- if the area of the hard drive where the data was stored was overwritten (for example, when reinstalling the operating system and formatting the volume, all objects of the old OS are permanently destroyed);
- if objects were deleted using a shredder program (shredders also overwrite the storage areas of deleted objects, many times);
- if the magnetic surface of the hard drive “pancakes” is damaged.
When you shouldn’t do recovery yourself
If you are not confident in the serviceability of the drive, but the information is very valuable, it is better to refrain from experiments and contact a specialized service for restoration. The service is not cheap, and the specialists working there are not omnipotent, so the less you torment the “sick” disk, the lower the price will be and the higher the chances of success.
The following signs indicate a hard drive malfunction:
- Unnatural noise during operation (clanging, clicking, clanging, whistling, etc.).
- The HDD from time to time ceases to be detected by the computer - it either disappears or appears.
- The operating system runs very slowly, the hard drive is loaded at 100% all the time without a high load on the RAM.
- Various errors occur when writing and reading files.
- The operating system or programs that monitor the status of the HDD in real time (if installed) inform about a drive malfunction.
- The computer stops booting from the hard drive (provided that it boots normally from other media).
- Blue screens of death often occur indicating errors typical of disk problems (INACCESSIBLE_BOOT_DEVICE, NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM, KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED).
Four most important rules for data recovery
I will tell you a little later how and with what help data is recovered on hard drives, but now a few words about what needs to be done before this and how to correctly perform the recovery procedure.
- The recovered data can be reset to another partition of the same hard drive or to another physical medium, but not to the same place from where it was read. Therefore, if your HDD is not partitioned, prepare a flash drive or another hard drive of suitable capacity.
- As soon as you notice the loss of important data, stop all operations with the HDD and immediately begin recovery. This will prevent accidental overwriting.
- Try to restore everything you need in one session without stopping the program. Moreover, without restarting the computer.
- If one program does not help, use others until all the information is recreated.
The hard drive is one of the main components of a PC, because it stores all the information and operating system files that enable it to run.
Sometimes a HDD can fail, which can make the data stored on it inaccessible. In this case, it is too early to despair - often it is still possible to restore them. In this article, we will look at the causes of mechanical and logical problems with hard drives and the process of repairing them.
Mechanical problems
Mechanical or physical problems with the HDD arise due to damage or failure of some of its components. Let's look at some of them.
Photo: personal computer hard drive
The appearance of damaged hard disk sectors
This is one of the common problems that arises due to the appearance of “bad” sectors.
- errors that appear when working with some files;
- increased HDD loading time;
- the appearance of a grinding noise when the disk operates.
This problem is not critical. Its solution uses specialized utilities, for example: HDDScan - to determine the presence of bad sectors, HDD Regenerator - to restore their functionality. If after applying them, data errors remain, you can try to recover them using special software. In this case, any data recovery program is suitable - Recuva, R-studio and others.
PCB fault
This problem occurs if there is a problem with the power supply to the drive. It is quite easy to determine - the hard drive either does not start or produces characteristic knocking sounds. Such a failure may be caused by an incorrect connection of the HDD to the PC.
In this situation you need:
- check the correctness of the connection;
- replace the board;
- repair it.
Important! For replacement or repair printed circuit board You will most likely need professional help.
Problems with the magnetic head unit
This problem is quite serious.
Its “symptoms” are:
- unstable operation of the hard drive;
- the appearance of characteristic knocks and clicks.
A malfunction of the BMG can lead to data loss, so repairing this component must be carried out especially carefully. The solution to the problem is to replace the block, which it is advisable to entrust to professionals.
Logic problems
The second group of malfunctions are software failures that lead to certain errors. Read more about the most common ones below.
Formatting a disk drive
One of the most common problems of this kind. If formatting occurs accidentally or as a result of a failure, all previously recorded data disappears from the HDD. You can return them using special software.
Important! After formatting, it is necessary to ensure complete isolation of the hard drive. When new data is written to it, the previous files will be completely lost.
Hard drive boot block failure
In this case, it becomes impossible to start the installed operating system. The error occurs during serious OS failures, as well as as a result of exposure to viruses. This problem is not very serious and the data can be recovered.
Video: Failed hard drive
Preparing to recover data from a damaged hard drive
If logical (software) failures occur, when the files on the hard drive remain in a state suitable for recovery, you can begin the process of “curing” and saving them. Before using the programs designed for this, you need to prepare the hard drive for connection to another PC, because installing and using them on a damaged device will not work.
Using an External Hard Drive Pocket
A hard drive pocket is a special device that allows you to connect it and run it using another PC.
Note! Pockets are available for different models HDD, so before purchasing, make sure it is fully compatible with your device.
The hard drive connection process will look like this:
Connecting the hard drive to the computer system unit
You can also start recovering data from a damaged hard drive by connecting it directly to system unit working computer. If you are using a laptop hard drive, you will need a special adapter, which can be purchased in specialized stores.
- go into the BIOS by holding down the “Del” key when starting the system (may differ for different models);
- find the section “Standard CMOS Settings” or “IDE Config”;
- when setting up disks in “master” and “slave” modes, set all options to the “auto-detection” position;
- save the changes and reboot the system.
- after the restart, go to “My Computer”, where a new device should be detected;
- view, copy or restore files.
R-Studio program
When the problematic hard drive is connected and detected by another computer, you can begin to restore data on it.
We will look at this process using the R-Studio utility as an example:
Once the data is available again and saved, the failed drive can either be formatted and a new operating system installed on it, or (if available) serious problems) submit for repair.
Now you know that if problems arise with your hard drive and files on it are unavailable, it is too early to sound the alarm. Depending on the severity of the problem, the data can be rescued on your own or with the help of a professional.
Read about the causes of hard drive damage. How to recover data from a disk that has suffered physical or logical damage. Any failure in work hard the disk can lead to damage and loss of all information stored on it. However, even such a catastrophic situation is not hopeless. IN in some cases the user can repair the hard drive and recover data, partially or completely, from a damaged or non-working hard drive. In our guide, we will describe the main reasons that can cause a hard drive to become damaged and present effective ways return of your data.
The most common devices used by users every day that help us implement various types activities are personal computers and laptops.
Thanks to high speed data processing, powerful GPUs, large information repositories and high overall performance, their help is invaluable when performing various high-cost activities.
But their main function is processing, exchange and safe storage important information, as well as providing access to it at any time upon the user’s request.
Special software is responsible for control over a computer device, its full functioning, as well as for the safe use and management of information. The most common program in the world today is the operating system "Windows" from the corporation "Microsoft", which easily carries out full control of the device, processes and protects any user information.
The main element of a personal computer or laptop, responsible for the safe storage of any user data, is the hard drive "HDD". Whether you use external or internal hard drives, they have the largest storage capacity of any storage device, which is why they are extremely popular and widely used.
It is not surprising that in the event of damage, malfunction or failure of the hard drive, all information on it becomes inaccessible to the user. The most important user data may be lost, the collection of which took a lot of time and effort, and it is not possible to recreate it again (for example, personal photos and video chronicles). However, despite the tragedy of the situation, it is not critical, and user data can be restored. In our guide below, we will highlight the main causes of hard drive corruption and introduce ways to recover user data.
A quick overview of the hard drive
Before we begin to describe the possible reasons that can lead to failure or damage to the hard drive, it is necessary to dwell on the description of the disk structure to better understand the essence of the problems.
"HDD"(in other words, a hard magnetic disk drive) is a mechanical storage device, the main capabilities of which are aimed at recording and storing a variety of user information. For example, business and personal documents, music, videos, various photographs and pictures, electronic messages, projects and presentations, scientific and literary research, games, etc. - only a small part of all data for which the hard drive is responsible for storing and accessing.The main components of a hard disk are glass or aluminum hard plates (magnetic disks), coated with a layer of special material, designed directly for storing data. Writing and reading of any information occurs through special reading heads, which do not touch the platters during operation, thereby increasing the durability of the hard drive. And administration and full control over all the main functions of the hard drive is carried out by an electronic control board.
The combination of the listed basic elements allows the disk to store, write and read any data, at the user’s request, for a long time.
Have a backup copy of your data
Hard drives are quite reliable, but have a certain resource. And the closer it gets to the end, the higher the chance that the hard drive will deteriorate or stop working. However, even in such a situation where the drive stops functioning, there are ways to recover the data stored on it.
Therefore, given that your disk may become unusable, especially if there are warning signs that we will describe below, you need to take care to create backup copy disk, for example, on external device storage Or use any of the possible ways to create a backup copy in a cloud data storage. This method is quite convenient, because it allows you to save a lot of time in case of an unexpected failure of the main hard drive, and at the same time, gives you access to your data at any time and from any computer device.
Despite the positive results of creating a backup copy, such methods may also have some disadvantages. When storing data on another device, there is a risk that it may also fail, like the main storage. But the chance that both devices will fail at the same time is very small. Also, a device used as backup storage must have a significant internal volume, because the amount of data used by the user is growing daily.
At cloud storage A backup copy of data always poses a risk of third party access or loss as a result of a virus attack or hacking. Therefore such the method will work only if the user is completely confident in the safety of his data or is not afraid that it may be stolen by fraudsters.
Learn more about operating system backups "Windows", system recovery, creating a system image and recovery disk, and learn about the benefits cloud storage and its configuration for backup storage data can be found on our video channel in the following video guide: "Reserve Windows copy(OneDrive, File History, System Image, Recovery Drive)"
Based on their own preferences, users choose one method or another Reserve copy. However, the main conclusion remains that such copying must be done.
Possible Signs of Imminent Hard Drive Damage
If certain signs occur, you can find out in advance about a future hard drive failure and prepare for it by securing your data by creating a backup copy or transferring it to another storage device. Below we have presented several main signs that are worth paying your attention to:
Strange noises– sometimes users may hear strange noises, which may indicate that your disk is damaged and needs to be repaired urgently. In this case, further use of such a disk is unacceptable.
Disappearing data– when data disappears on a personal computer or the user is unable to save documents, this may mean that your disk is trying to repair damage, and you should think about saving all the data before it completely deteriorates. Or there may be other reasons such as exposure malware(viruses), which can also cause disk failure.
Computer glitches– if your computer regularly experiences blue screen, or it resets during initial boot, this may indicate a disk problem.
Slow access time – modern computers have ultra-fast processors so it doesn't take much time to open a folder or delete certain files. If the processes on your computer are running slowly and your computer's performance has dropped, then there is a high chance that your disk is becoming unusable.
As soon as you encounter any signs indicating that your hard drive may be damaged soon, there are a number of steps you need to take to reduce the risk of permanent loss of data stored on that drive.
The first step is to determine whether it is indeed a hard drive failure that the user is experiencing. Therefore, you must stop using your computer and turn it off. Even if the user does not directly access the disk, the operating system can independently perform various actions and write various data to the system disk: temporary files, individual fragments of the paging file, registry data, accounting log, etc., which can overwrite information that needs to be restored. Sometimes, even completely small changes may be enough to lose the desired data forever.
The next step is to remove the problematic hard drive and connect it to another alternative personal computer as additional disk. Try to connect the hard drive with a separate cable or use a universal adapter. If there is no other computer, then take a spare, working hard drive that you are sure is working, and insert it in place of your drive, the functionality of which you want to check. Set to new disk operating system and use it as the main one, and then additionally connect your drive to be tested.
If the computer can confirm the health of the hard drive and provide full access to its contents, then the problem is probably related to other hardware - cables or ports on your computer. Then replace the damaged cables with new ones and reconnect your hard drive to a different connector. In rare cases, a hard drive not working on your particular computer (but functioning properly on others) may indicate a problem motherboard. In any case, it will be necessary to perform a technical check of the personal computer as a whole.
Causes of hard drive damage and possible ways to fix them
There are many situations that result in disk damage. Your personal computer is working fine, but one day it suddenly stops starting, there is no booting, or there is no access to files. However, no matter what happens, there are two main reasons that can lead to hard drive failure: mechanical damage or failure due to a logical failure. Each reason combines several types of breakdowns, which we will consider further.
Mechanical damage
This general damage includes three main types of faults:
Damage to the electronic control board: This malfunction results in loss of access to the hard drive. In this case, all data will be completely safe, or only a small part of all information may be damaged. You can repair the damaged board (for example, replace swollen capacitors) or replace it completely with another working board. However, it must be taken into account that the electronic control board must be compatible with the disk, that is, match the basic parameters (for example, model, series and firmware version) and satisfy the adaptive settings of a particular instance. After completing the steps, the disk can be used again.
Hardware mechanical failures inside the HDA: Mainly accompanied by separation or chipping of heads, destruction of bearings and motors, which in turn can lead to damage to the plates. Sometimes, the head assembly may become stuck in a parking zone, or damage to the head will block access to certain sectors. With such a malfunction, the hard drive usually does not start and is not detected. basic system "BIOS" computer. It will be almost impossible for an ordinary user to fix the problem on his own, because even microparticles of dust that get into the drive when it is opened can lead to its final failure.
Damage to the internal magnetic platters of the hard drive: This is both an independent type of damage and a consequence of hardware problems described in the previous section. Damage generally manifests itself as scratches or "BAD blocks"– damaged areas inaccessible for data collection. As a result, the possibilities for hidden sector reassignment are running out. Therefore, if the damaged sector contains information about the structure, then the corresponding level of the logical structure of the disk disappears; if it is a file, then the file becomes inaccessible.
For mechanical types of damage, if you are not confident in your abilities and do not have sufficient knowledge to perform repair work on a damaged or inaccessible hard drive, best choice you will contact a specialized laboratory to recover lost data and repair damaged disks. Any careless action can lead to complete loss of data without the possibility of recovering it.
Each laboratory has specialized equipment, the necessary sterile laboratory facilities that do not allow dust to enter the open hard drive case, and has sufficiently qualified personnel to recover information from damaged, damaged or completely non-functional drives.
A significant disadvantage of using such a laboratory is its unusually high final cost of services. Despite all their capabilities, the laboratory specialists do not provide any guarantees that user information from such damaged disks can be restored in full. However, the user will still have to financially compensate for the full cost of the work performed, even if it did not lead to a positive result.
Therefore, before contacting the laboratory, the user needs to weigh the amount of data stored on the damaged hard drive with the cost of retrieving it, and decide whether it is worth the cost. And either come to terms with their loss, or take advantage of professional software data recovery to get your information back.
When a logical failure occurs, a problem occurs on program level when, for a certain reason, user data or internal information responsible for the full functioning of the system is erased. With this type of problem, the hard drive will not create additional noise, but it will not boot and will not allow you to access the data stored there. However, you can independently, with the help of professional data recovery software, extract all necessary information back for later use. Further explore possible ways, if you do not have access to a personal computer or laptop, or have problems loading and operating the operating system, you can use the video review: "How to recover data if Windows computer or the laptop does not boot, freezes, crashes"
The main causes of logical hard drive failure are:
Accidental damage to sector contents: This problem occurs quite rarely, but it does occur in some situations. Random distortion of sector data may be an indicator of an emergency mechanical failure, a consequence of the malicious influence of malicious programs, or turn out to be an accidental recording due to power surges in the network. Such defects can cause the hard drive to become inoperative.
Damage to main boot entry(MBR): This type of logical failure can lead to a situation where partitions are either not found operating system, or their parameters will be determined incorrectly. The simplest consequence of such a failure may be signature corruption, in which the operating system decides that there is no boot record in place useful information, and the disk is not partitioned at all.
If the boot loader code is corrupted, the operating system fails when attempting to boot from the disk, causing the computer to freeze. In this case, the logical structure of the disk can be preserved and data loss will not occur.
The most difficult consequence of a logical failure can be corruption of the contents of the master boot record, which can lead to the destruction of the partition table and loss of access to the information stored in the partitions. The contents of the table may have varying degrees of corruption, which will affect the final amount of data recovered.
File system corruption: Such a failure in its characteristics is very similar to damage to the contents of the master boot record, with the only difference being that access to the partition will be denied, or the system will define it as not partitioned. Accordingly, all the contents of such a section will be unavailable. Sometimes fixing file system problems does not solve the problem, and some of the data appears as missing logical chains.
The method of data recovery in the event of logical damage to the hard drive comes down to using professional data recovery software. The leading position among many similar programs is occupied by the program "Hetman Partition Recovery" from company Hetman Software, fully capable of recovering any information after various types of failures: a hard drive partition has been deleted, data is lost after formatting or deleting a logical partition, data is unavailable due to a virus attack, file system failure, etc.
The program combines a complex of powerful algorithms that can restore additional file attributes and correct any errors in the logical structure of the hard drive.
"Hetman Partition Recovery" analyzes all data on the disk, even if the tables are erased or missing, restoring lost data using a signature search method. The program also performs a deep analysis of the hard drive, which allows it to recover information after system or mechanical failures, in the absence of access to the disk, and return data from damaged, unreadable, inaccessible and non-working disks in almost full volume.
The program has a nice user-friendly interface, similar to the operating system "Windows", the way files are presented, and with the presence of powerful internal functionality, it is quite easy to use and will be understandable to everyone, even novice users.
A huge advantage of the program is the implementation of a step-by-step recovery assistant, with the help of which any user can determine the analysis parameters and restore their data in a few steps. Depending on the selected type of analysis, the program will be able to recover lost files and completely restore the disk structure, organizing them by file format type.
An equally important feature that makes it much easier for users to use "Hetman Partition Recovery", there is an option to preview the recovery results, which displays the contents of each file when clicking on it (for example, the user can view text documents, tables, photographs, videos, listen to music, etc.).
After viewing the contents of each file and selecting the necessary ones, the user can save them using various ways, offered by the program by default: write to an optical storage medium "CD/DVD disc", create "ISO image", upload files to a remote server using "FTP protocol" or save data to any storage of your choice (for example, hard drive, memory card, "USB flash drive").
The user's files are now restored and stored in a secure, healthy data storage. Learn more about the program's capabilities "Hetman Partition Recovery", its methods and all its advantages can be seen on our video channel in the review: "Recovery deleted files in 2018 with the Hetman Partition Recovery program"
Conclusion
Information available for each user vital importance and its safety is given top priority.
However, no matter how reliable data storage devices users use, there is always the possibility of their failure for various reasons.
Sooner or later this can happen to anyone and you need to be prepared for such a situation. Knowing possible reasons hard drive damage, users can react in time to signs of its failure and protect their data from irretrievable loss.
And even if the disk is damaged, inaccessible or inoperative, there are effective ways to recover the information stored on it, for example, using professional data recovery software "Hetman Partition Recovery".
If you have any questions or suggestions regarding disk repair "HDD" and recovering data from a damaged or non-working hard drive, then write to us in the comments, and we will definitely answer them.
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