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Cable Select – Jumper settings to represent a Master/Slave configuration based on the device in accordance to its location on the cable.

Cache – Temporary storage within high speed memory of commonly used data for quicker accessing.

Capacity – Term used to determine the total size of storage capacity or space.
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Access Time – The measurement of time it takes a device to locate and retrieve data or information.

Active Partition – The single partition of many that houses the booting Operating System on typical Microsoft Windows configured computers.

Active Termination – To promote increased reliability and data integrity voltage regulators push a constant current through the bus ensuring data signals do not drop to levels too low to access.

Actuator – A mechanical device that allows positioning.

Data on a computer hard disk drive is written on the first available sector; so many files that have daily updates or saves tend to be heavily fragmented or portions of the file written throughout the disk.  Microsoft devised a way for those files to be put together in an orderly and chronological manner.  Microsoft’s Disk Defragmenter or Defrag is a software tool that allows the user to reorganize the sporadic writes of a hard disk drive file into a contiguous manner.  Disaster Recovery Group data recovery engineers praise this type of programming as users can expect faster access times from their hard drives if they hear many rapid head seeks or see pauses during file transfers or file accessing.

As an example; using 1 ~ 9.

174963582

This is obviously fragmented and your eyes can tell there are nine numerals there but counting takes alot more time to process.  Your eyes must jump back and forth and then process the numbers much like a hard disk drive read/write head does.  Making the number sequence more contiguous speeds up the time frame but with hard drive file storage there will always be some fragment of a file.  A general sequencing will take place.

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 Regarding  recovery of data, a contiguous data stream is always better than a severly fragmented one.  If running a FAT16 or FAT32 (File Allocation Table) and a FAT overwrite or corruption occurs having your data defragmented makes a substantial difference in the recoverability of the files.  Defragmenting your hard drive saves energy and time for the hard drive and in worst case scenarios for data recovery professionals in these particular cases.

If the system was off this would be optimal although most users report that the system was running.  Liquid is obviously conductive and will cause a short if it comes into contact with any electrical device.  Disconnect all power and remove batteries immediately to prevent a short circuit.  Wipe down areas as best as possible.  Remove all possible modular bays in order to allow drying.  A hair dryer could be used to help increase the process of evaporation.  Drying times vary especially in climate and the method which was used so do not make any power up attmepts for at least a few hours preferably a whole day or more.

Once and only you are certain the laptop or notebook is dry, reassemble the modular units and battery pack and hope for the best.  Liquids have innate corrosive properties.  If the unit works and performs as normal during boot up and is accessible back up your data immediately onto another external device.  Then have the unit inspected by a laptop or notebook repair center or the manufacturer to have the unit cleaned thoroughy.  Corrosion will sneak up on you when you least expect it as it eats away at the contact leads and causes numerous other faulty issues.

If the computer reports a hard disk drive failure, HDD error or C: Drive Failure we recommend to contact a data recovery specialist such as Disaster Recovery Group.  If you hear anything unusual such as clicking, clacking or banging sounds resonating from the notebook turn the laptop off.  Our data recovery engineers have found many users increase problems for data restoration when they make multiple attempts to power up a device that are apparently not working.  Self healing characteristics do not exist on electrical devices so no matter how many times a power up fails it will continue to fail.

Shorted devices have an electrical overload and since electrical current takes the path of least resistance multiple components could be affected.  Disaster Recovery Group data recovery engineers perform many data recovery projects with these scenarios.  With our data recovery Free Evaluation you can be certain that the expense to have the hard disk recovered will be given prior to any commitment and guaranteed.

The DVR or TIVO’s do have hard disk drives and Disaster Recovery Group does receive these units in to have data recovery performed.  The manner that the data recovery is performed is very similair as to a computer hard disk data recovery with one exception.  There are no DVD’s burned since the files within that system is proprietary to the device.  When our data recovery experts receive TIVO or DVR hard drives we will extract the data and replicate that recovered data onto a replacement hard disk drive.  The hard disk engineers know that many users have special memories or programming on their digital recorders and they are relieved to know that the data recovery process is identical as to when we perform a computer hard disk recovery with any other business or personal data.  You data is ALL that Matters!

Atasi Corp.: Bankrupt

Areal Technology: Acquired by Tomen Corp http://www.tomen-ele.co.jp/

Cogito Systems: Bankrupt

CMI Computer Memories Inc.: Stopped production of hard disk drives

Conner Peripherals: In 1996 merged with Seagate Technologies http://www.seagate.com/

Conner Technologies: In 2001 merged with ExcelStor http://www.excelstor.com

CDC Control Data/Imprimis: In 1989 Seagate purchased their hard disk drive division

DEC Digital Equipment Corporation: In 1994 Quantum purchased their hard disk drive division

Epson: Stopped Production of Hard Disk Drives

ExcelStor: Still Manufacturing personal storage Hard Disk Drives http://www.excelstor.com

Fujitsu: Still Manufacturing personal storage Hard Disk Drives http://www.fujitsu.com/us/

Hitachi: Still Manufacturing personal storage Hard Disk Drives http://www.hitachi.us/

IBM: In 2002 Hitachi purchased their Hard Disk drive division

IMI International Memories: Stopped Production of Hard Disk Drives

Integral Peripherals: Bankrupt

Iomega: Now a media manufacturer http://www.iomega.com

JT Storage: Bankrupt

JVC: Stopped production of Hard Disk Drives

Kalok: Bankrupt

Kyocera: Stopped production of Hard Disk Drives

LaPine Technologies: In 1984 started venture with Kyocera, Kyocera backed out

Maxtor Corp.: In 2006 was acquired by Seagate Technologies http://www.seagate.com/

Micropolis Corp.: Bankrupt

Microscience Intl.: Bankrupt

MiniScribe: Acquired in 1990 by Maxtor Corp

Ministor: Bankrupt

Mitsubishi: Stopped Production of Hard Disk Drives

NEC: Stopped Production of Hard Disk Drives

PrairieTek: Bankrupt

Priam Systems: In 1991 Prima Intl. Purchased the Hard Disk Line

Quantum Corporation: In 2000 Maxtor Corp, purchased their Hard Disk Drive division

Rahm Rotationals: Merged in 1994 with Tamir Technology and in 1995 Purchased by Quantum

Rodime: Renamed Sportech PLC

Samsung: Still Manufacturing personal storage Hard Disk Drives http://www.samsung.com/us/

Seagate Technologies: Still Manufacturing personal storage Hard Disk Drives http://www.seagate.com

Syquest: Bankrupt

Tandon: Acquired in 1988 by Western Digital Corp. http://www.wdc.com/

Texas Instruments: Stopped Hard Disk Drive Prodution

Toshiba: Still Manufacturing personal storage Hard Disk Drives http://www.toshibastorage.com

Tulin Corp.: Bankrupt

WDC Western Digital Corp.: Still manufacturing Personal storage Hard Disk Drives http://www.wdc.com

Disaster Recovery Group engineers do not take the manufacturers MTBF too seriously as the numbers calculated with 100,000 hours MTBF would be approximately 11 years and at 1,000,000 hours of usage is over 114 years of constant use!  The average failure times vary for these electro-mechanical devices and under normal usage most drives will last between 3 ~ 8 years.  The average designed lifespan for a hard drive is typically 5 years. That time table may be extended slightly with common IT remedies and a full helping of luck.

Keep drives cool:  Computer cases have been designed to maximize airflow over a hard drive and other key system components.  The hard disk’s spindle motor generates a substantial amount of heat during operation and that heat is absorbed by the hard disks chassis which may also have cooling fins to increase the surface heat distribution.  Many IT professionals and end-users will add fans to their computers to increase the amount of cooler air introduced.  A recommendation for doing this is to have the fans set up to evacuate the air from the computer rather than push air inside.  If the amount of air being introduced/forced into the computer is greater than the amount evacuated an ambient or limited airflow suddenly occurs.  Pulling hot air from the computer case is paramount to keeping a hard disk drive running cooler.  Having fans pull air out from the computer case will allow the venting designs of that case to operate more efficiently and typically will pull cooler outside air over the hard disk drive.

Bumping or Banging on the Computer:  A hard disk mounted in a computer case will receive any and all external inputs.  Ever since Arthur  “The Fonz” Fonzarelli established the “Technical Tap” on anything mechanical or electrical we have adopted the same mentality at times.  This is not conducive to having an operating hard disk for a long time.  The amount of shock a hard disk can sustain while off is much more then during its operation.  Our data recovery engineers have seen users initiate head taps on the media or even produce a physical head crash during peak operating temperatures by banging, bumping or lifting and dropping their computer cases.  As the heat increases in the hard disk cavity the air bearing  on which the head flies over the media is reduced since the air is thinner.  The physical agitation can have the head chatter on the media surface scouring the surface.  In certain cases this perpetuates further damages to the surface resulting in permanent data loss in the way of file corruption or even catastrophic damages that prevents any possibility for even data recovery specialists.

UPS Uninterrupted Power Supplies:  Do not confuse these with the power strips or surge protectors that are commonly available at every convenience store.  These are battery backup devices that will either maintain a continuous and constant supply of (on-line) power to the system or turn on (off-line) when power is interrupted.  The on-line UPS systems are usually more expensive than the off-line UPS systems as they are always buffering your computer from any and all voltage irregularities such as drops or spikes.  If you have frequent black or brown outs in your area this option may be very viable.  Computer electronics are designed to handle normally +/- 10% of power fluctuations and any more then that could be devastating to electrical devices.

Data Recovery Software: Distributers are vying for your time and money by offering their software packages as an all-in-one data recovery solution.  In most cases of viral infection or limited corruption the software process appears valid.  However for those with physical issues with their hard disk drive the time spent “trying” to recover the data may actually be substantially more destructive to the recovery process and can reduce the data recovery results of a specialist once you have decided to stop your attempts.  If there is clicking and or banging sounds emanating from the drive chances are great that software will not even see a device online or if accessible still can cause additional platter damages by allowing the unit to beat it self up.  The audible sound is the actual head assembly throwing itself across the platters looking or seeking for a signal to lock onto.  The physical stops put in place within the hard disk cavity prevent the heads in these scenarios to come off the media, clamp the heads together and snapping the gimble flexors in-between the head assembly arms and the actual heads as they are reintroduced onto the media.  Think of pinching two fingers on a piece of paper, sliding that paper out and trying to get the paper in-between your fingers again without making a gap.  We have seen many customer drives with broken stops that allowed the heads to do this and the media is damaged in a catastrophic fashion preventing any data recovery options.

Board swapping:  For today’s drives this is highly dangerous.  Most hard disk drive manufacturers equip their products with firmware located on the media within the hard disk cavity and embedded in a ROM on the circuit board.  Many engineering changes within the manufacturing process of a disk product line represent new revisions for that product to increase its reliability and performance.  In some cases we found the internals of a drive to be completely different then the others within the exact same model sequence.  Some cases also showed that the firmware could also be overwritten.  During power up sequences the drive performs a self check and will notice a discrepancy match with the board and hard disk cavity.  Then an erase command is performed on the firmware thinking a set of instructions is going to be written rendering the hard disk cavity useless.  Ten years ago, board swaps were common and reliable as the firmware was only located on the board whereas today’s drives utilize a lock and key style configuration.  The reasoning behind these matched sets are as more powerful electronic components are embedded in a hard disk these can be fine tuned to make ever increasing performance and reliability gains.

Microwave/Oven/Refrigerator/Freezer:  Customers still ask about these remedies so they must be addressed.  DO NOT USE THEM for anything other then storing or cooking your food.  Using a microwave on a hard disk drive can cause damage or injury to yourself and the appliance and will destroy the hard disk.  The oven, refrigerator and freezer are not used by any data recovery company but by “shade tree mechanics” when the hard disk drives developed stiction many years ago.  In the 1980’s and 1990’s hard disk manufacturers used media with properties that would deteriorate from the immense hot cold and cold cycles that a hard disk generates during usage.  When the unit was powered off the physical heads would literally latch or gel block to the media surface.  The torque from the motor was not strong enough to overcome this and would not allow the unit to spin up.  Heating or cooling the unit may have allowed expansion or contraction of the head/media to break it loose.  Cooling always produces precipitation and those water molecules are evident within the cavity and could initiate a physical head crash since it still is debris.  Today’s hard disk drives have laser etching and the media surface is now much more reliable.  Disaster Recovery Group data recovery engineers have not seen stiction since the late 1990’s and very early 2000 so these processes however effective were at that time are now moot.

Opening the Hard Disk Drive Cavity:  Besides the fact that the average drive has clearly stated instructions from the manufacturers regarding the cavity “Product warranty will be void if seal, label, cover or screws is removed or damaged” a few customers will still venture out in their recovery attempts.  Clean rooms rated as Class 100 have no more than 100 particles larger than 0.5 microns in any given cubic foot of air and the normal air one breathes is close to 100,000 particles in that same measurement.  Hard disk drive heads float on an  Air Bearing, roughly a few micro inches above the media’s surface. A human hair is approximately 100 micro inches in diameter to?illustrate the minute lift generated needed to accomplish this effect.  The air outside of a clean room is 1000 times more contaminated and those particles will come to rest on the media surface as the cavity is opened.  As the head comes up to speed and hits those particles the head chatters and gouges/scratches the media surface resulting in permanent data loss.

If the data you need is valuable or irreplaceable on your failed hard disk drive your best method is contacting a Data Recovery specialist like Disaster Recovery Group.  We offer free evaluations and a No Data = No Charge policy with all costs given up front with a guarantee that you will only be billed exactly what was quoted during the free evaluation.