Frequently Asked Data Recovery Questions
Q: My drive is
making a ticking, clicking, or banging noise. What should I do?
A: Power-down the device. You
need help!! Attempts to power the device WILL CAUSE ADDITIONAL DAMAGE!!!.
Q: My hard drive
doesn't spin up. What should I do?
A: Over the years there has
been a lot of bad advice circulating regarding fixes for this type
of problem. Including "smacking" or "hitting" the computer or device
until it runs. These actions are pure and simple computer abuse.
In reality these actions can result in misalignment of the head
assembly and/or ripping the head off of the arm assembly and/or
damage to the recording surface. These devices are delicate instruments
and damage WILL occur if abused.
Q: What can I
do to overcome an "HDD Controller Failure", "General Failure Reading
Device..." or Macintosh "Question Mark" error?
A: Attempt to boot the computer
from a bootable floppy disk or CD-Rom. If the computer boots, attempt
to access the hard drive in question. If the unit is accessible,
attempt to backup the data to another device. If the computer won't
boot or the drive is not accessible, seek professional assistance.
Do NOT run utility programs, save data or add programs. Do NOT use
backup programs to attempt to save your data. They all write to
or add files to your hard drive during the back-up process.
Q: I'm ready to
upgrade my computer. Should I do something with the data before
I do?
A: Yes. Backup the data and
verify that it can be restored before you upgrade any hardware or
software.
Q: My computer
is reporting "Sector Not Found Error Reading Drive". Should I run
a chkdsk.exe or scandisk.exe?
A: Attempt to boot the computer
from a bootable floppy disk or CD-Rom. If the computer boots, attempt
to access the hard drive in question. If the unit is accessible,
attempt to backup the data to another device. If the computer won't
boot or the drive is not accessible, seek professional assistance.
Do NOT run utility programs, save data or add programs. Do NOT use
backup programs to attempt to save your data. They all write to
or add files to your hard drive during the back-up process.
Q: The partition
has been deleted from my hard drive. What should I do?
A: Standard algorithms employed
by utility programs do not always provide satisfactory results in
this area. In AS-FAILED condition this is usually recoverable with
all the original directory structure in tact. Do NOT run utility
programs, save data or add programs. Do NOT use backup programs
to attempt to save your data. They all write to or add files to
your hard drive during the back-up process.
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