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A hard disk drive failure occurs when a hard disk drive malfunctions and the stored information cannot be accessed with a properly configured computer. A hard disk failure may occur in the course of normal operation, or due to an external factor such as exposure to fire or water or high magnetic fields , or suffering a sharp impact or ...
Hard disk and other storage drives are subject to failures (see hard disk drive failure) which can be classified into two basic classes: Predictable failures which result from slow processes such as mechanical wear and gradual degradation of storage surfaces. Monitoring can determine when such failures are becoming more likely.
Upon realizing data loss has occurred, it is often best to shut down the computer and remove the drive in question from the unit. Re-attach this drive to a secondary computer with a write blocker device and then attempt to recover lost data. If possible, create an image of the drive in order to establish a secondary copy of the data.
Modern hard drives use Giant magnetoresistance and have a higher magnetic lifespan on the order of decades. They also automatically correct any errors detected by ECC through rewriting. The reliance on a factory servo track can complicate data recovery if it becomes unrecoverable, however.
When a hard disk drive fails, the importance of getting the data off the drive is the top priority. The longer a faulty drive is used, the more likely further data loss is to occur. Creating an image of the drive will ensure that there is a secondary copy of the data on another device, on which it is safe to perform testing and recovery ...
On a hard disk drive, the click of death refers to a similar failure mode; the head actuator may click or knock as the drive repetitively tries to recover from one or more errors. These sounds can be heard as the heads load or unload, or they can be the sounds of the actuator striking a stop, or both.
On SCSI hard disk drives, the SCSI controller can directly control spin up and spin down of the drives. Some Parallel ATA (PATA) and Serial ATA (SATA) hard disk drives support power-up in standby (PUIS): each drive does not spin up until the controller or system BIOS issues a specific command to do so. This allows the system to be set up to ...
Hard disk with platter Inside view of a hard disk Hard disk drive platter, 2.5" Samsung MP0402H. A hard disk drive platter or hard disk is the circular magnetic disk on which digital data is stored in a hard disk drive. [1] The rigid nature of the platters is what gives them their name (as opposed to the flexible materials which are used to ...