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Hard Disk Recover
Free hard disk recover or free hard drive data recovery is usually not an option. This is because hard disk failure is usually mechanical.
Hard drives contain many mechanical parts to spin the hard disk, move the read heads, and more. The wearing out or failure of these mechanical parts account for a large percentage of the total hard drive problems that occur. More specifically, it is the read heads and read head assembly that account for most of the mechanical related issues with hard drives.
Read/Write Head Issues
Read/write head related problems include:
- Head crashes, which usually account for a small percentage of the head related problems. The read/write heads contact the surface of the hard disks leading to scratches and irreversible damage.
- The improper flying height of the read heads, which causes improper reading of the hard disk.
- The contamination of the read/write heads.
- The presence of defects in the heads due to manufacturing issues.
- Bad wiring between the heads and logic board.
To repair these above stated problems, free hard disk recover is not an option because a hard disk data recovery specialist is required. For repair, the hard drive case requires opening under clean room conditions so that the hard disks do not get contaminated, which would destroy them on start up. This is usually an expensive service.
Other Hard Drive Issues
The deterioration or damage of the hard disks themselves is relatively uncommon and generally only occur with poor handling. Logic board or firmware failures are uncommon as well and therefore software to restore hard drives is often not very useful. These software utilities may cause additional damage if run on a hard drive that is having mechanical problems. Depending on the issues some free software recovery programs may help, but keeping in mind the above stated warning.
There are some circumstances where free hard disk recover techniques are applicable. Note, use these techniques with caution because further damage to the hard drive may occur.
Free Hard Disk Recover from Viruses
A hard disk drive may not be functioning properly because of a virus or adware on the computer. In this case, free hard disk data recovery involves obtaining free software that is available on the internet to eradicate the problem. For a small fee, higher level anti-virus software would likely do a better job.
Sticking Read Heads
Sometimes the read heads stick and do not move and therefore are unable to read the hard disks. A light tapping of the hard drive case has been known to sometimes free the heads so that the hard drive can function properly. Note that if the heads are sticking this is a sign of mechanical issues with the hard drive and it should be replaced.
Operating System Problems
On some occasions the hard drive may be functioning satisfactorily but due to a corruption of the operating system, the computer cannot boot. This is an opportunity for a free hard disk recover operation. Another hard drive needs to be obtained and installed as the main hard drive.
If the hard drive already has an operating system on it then great, if not, loaded it on. Install the problematic hard drive as a slave. Basically, this means it shows up as another drive such as the F drive on the computer. This allows access to the problem hard disk so that it can be worked on or files retrieved without having to run the operating system on the problem hard disk drive. This requires some basic knowledge about the inner workings of the computer.