Access – The process of retrieving data or reading and writing data on a storage device.

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.

The term defragment: To reorganize a computer file to eliminate fragmentation.

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.

123678945

 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.

Our data recovery engineers frequently run across this scenario from many computing mobile users.  The first question by our recovery experts is always “how much liquid”.  A small amount of liquid that lands externally in most cases is harmless as it can be quickly wiped up.  However the notebook or laptop also has many open vents for cooling and the liquid can easily enter the chassis.  As for opened units with liquid spilled on the actual keyboard the sparse amount can be much more compromising.

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.