Friday, January 27, 2012

The Various Types of Hard Disk Failures Explained

By Bryan Shaw


When we are getting a faulty hard drive, the first thing we do is to carry out an analysis of it. A correct evaluation will help define the right course of action to recovering as much info from the hard drive as feasible.

As a rule there are three general types of drive failureĆ¢€"logical, electronic and mechanical. Each different type needs categorical info recovery systems.

Logical Hard Disk Failure

Logical drive screw ups are generally due to file-system corruption. This may be thanks to a virus, accidental erasure of key files or registry elements or electrostatic discharge (ESD). Usually of logical failure, the info may still be intact on the drive but remain inaccessible. The drive may still be recognised by the system BIOS but it will not boot.

Data recovery in cases of logical drive failure involves scanning of the drive to fix the file system corruption. At times a partition can be repaired and the drive can be restored to the state it was in before the event. If this is not successful, a low-level scan may be performed to search each sector of the drive for the files. Data recovery of logical mess ups is a difficult and time-consuming. An entire day for scanning and another day for recovery is not peculiar.

Electronic Drive Failure

Electronic failure appertains to damage to the electrical parts of the circuit board, fundamentally the brains of the drive. The causes could be defective part, wrong installation, ESD, grounding out the board or damaging circuitry during installation. Poor ventilation and excessive heat are also common causes.

Data recovery with a broken circuit board requires replacement with the exact same circuit board. These repairs need soldering talents and intricate understanding of electronics. Additionally, a Clean Room environment is an essential as even airborne dust can aggravate the damage.

Mechanical Hard Drive Failure

Mechanical failures refer to that caused by damages to the drive's internal components. A bearing failure for example can cause exorbitant heat which should expand the drive shaft and seize the shaft motor. This is generally heralded by a loud whining, grinding or screaming noise. A Clicking hard drive is a result of the read/write arm not working, typically a knock can cause this issue

In mechanical hard drive screw ups, the damaged part or part should be replaced with precisely the same one and fitted by a highly talented specialist in a clean room environment, this is awfully time consuming due to the precision of work required.




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