Hard Disk Data Recovery Overview

Hard Drive Recovery refers to the physical repair of storage media that uses platters and read write heads. A hard drive has many moving parts that can at anytime break down. While it is true we need to repair the disk, we would never want you to use it again after hard drive recovery.

Hard Drive Recovery

Sometimes a daunting task, hard drive recovery is best done within a clean room environment. It is not only dust that we must take of, but more importantly static discharge. Any type of outside influence can do more damage to the hard drive that already exists.

There are quite a few parts within a hard drive, many of them are moving pieces making the drive more susceptible to failure. The graphic below shows all the parts of the hard drive laid out:

hard drive parts

Even though as you can see there are a lot of parts that can cause failure, most of the time it is the heads that fail. Here is a close-up of the heads and a platter:

hard drive recovery

Drives get shipped out with bad sectors, so that can be a problem, but we also run into quite a bit of spindle and platter issues. The larger the capacity the more data there is to be accessed, and the more work on the motor. While it is true we can completely replace the platters, see my wife Victoria’s post: Platter Replacement – Old News for more info, many times the problem is with the bearings. This is rampant in some laptop hard disks. Read Victoria’s post about Toshiba Laptop Bearing Problems for more information.

Here is an up close picture of the bearings:

hard drive spindles bearings

The bottom line: if your hard drive is making any kinds of noise, see our post about Hard Drive Data Recovery that has sound clips of failing hard drives. Our contact info is below:

If you are here you need data recovery, more than likely, internal hard disk repair. Call Toll Free: 1-866-438-6932 or fill out an online quote form if you need hard drive recovery.

Comments

  1. I recently updated my xp through windows update, now my browser causes my computer to crash. Do I need hard drive recovery?

  2. Victoria Sutherland says:

    Very helpful and informative post.

  3. Davedata99 says:

    You may not need hard drive recovery. I would backup any important data. If you have restore points set you can simply go back to a restore point prior to your update.

  4. Michael Stankard says:

    A very good point. Even though a computer freezing could indicate hard drive problems it might also be a virus or other software issues. Is your version of Windows set up to update automatically?

  5. Yes it updates automatically. Do you think that one of the updates is the problem? I have Nortan Security that is up to date and it says that there are no viruses or spyware. Everything was working great up to a couple of days ago and the hard drive is only a few months old the whole dell computer is only few months old. Do hard drive break after just a few months?

  6. Michael Stankard says:

    If it updates automatically, you can go to Windows Update and view updates. This will allow you to roll back or uninstall the latest updates to see which one caused the problem. More than likely it has to do with a video, sound or nic card. You might want to make sure you have the latest drivers for those cards.

    As far as hard drives go, yes they can fail in as little as 5 months. There is a post on this blog you might want to read: Why Hard Drives Fail which talks about how hard drive manufacturers combat hard drive failure.

    You also want to check out the air flow in your computer to see if there is too much heat. Another post about hard drive failure, Heat Kills Hard Drives talks about how temperature can damage hard disks.

    Take a look at the Windows Update history. If you need support for software call 727-345-9665 and hit the option for software support, they answer the phone from 8 AM to 11 PM EST or you can call me at 727-251-2058 if you have any questions. The best thing would be to ask questions here so other users that have a similar problem can get help too.

  7. Yep, that did the trick. I deleted the last 2 updates and it has been working fine. You were right about the update being about video cards. I went to dells site and they sent me to the driver update page and I installed it. Do you think I should update Windows again?

  8. Is there Platinum in a hard drive?

  9. Do you sell hard drive parts. I am looking for a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10.
    s/n:9QE1VCC7
    ST3250820AS
    P/N:9BJ13E-500
    Firmware:3AAC
    Data Code:07297

  10. Do you sell hard drive parts. I am looking for a Seagate Barracuda 7200.10.
    s/n:9QE1VCC7
    ST3250820AS
    P/N:9BJ13E-500
    Firmware:3AAC
    Data Code:07297