Hard Drive Data Recovery: What To Do When Your Computer’s Hard Drive Fails‍

Your computer’s hard drive holds everything it stores on a digital platform, including all your files, programs, and settings. When your computer’s hard drive fails, you can lose all those files. In this article, we’ll explain what causes hard drive failure and how you can prevent it using hard drive data recovery service.

Once you understand the risks, you’ll know how to take care of your hard drive to prevent it from falling in the future. Keep reading if you’re interested in how to recover data from a failing hard drive, whether you want to back up your data or recover data after a hard drive failure.

Hard Drive Failure Basics

A computer’s hard drive is a digital storage device that stores data, programs, and settings. The hard drive is composed of platters that spin at high speeds to store data on a magnetic layer.

On top of this are the read/write heads that use magnetic fields to access and read the data stored on the platter below them. These parts work together with the computer’s RAM in order to allow the computer to function properly.

When a hard drive fails, it stops spinning at a particular speed and stops working altogether. Hard drives fail for a number of reasons:

The platter may stop spinning due to low power.  The read/write head may crash into the platter when it spins too fast or if there is something on top of it, like dust or hair.

There may be an error in the firmware that causes data errors throughout the system or makes it impossible for files to be loaded from or saved onto the hard drive. The spindle motor may stop rotating because there is something stuck inside of it (such as dust).

What Causes a Hard Drive to Fail?

A hard drive can fail for many reasons. The most common causes for a hard drive to fail are physical and electrical damage, power surges, and cooling problems. Physical damage can cause a hard drive to fail by failing mechanical parts or inadequate cooling.

Electrical damage occurs when an electric current is too high or short-circuits the circuit boards inside the computer. Power surges can cause data corruption on the hard drive and lead to failure if they last too long. Any of these problems can cause your computer’s hard drive to stop functioning properly, which can make it more difficult for you to use your computer.

Ways to Recover Data After a Hard Drive Failure

There are several ways to recover data from a failing hard drive. You can use recovery software that comes on your computer, and some recovery software is free.

If you don’t want to purchase recovery software, you can save files to your external hard drives or USB flash drives and transfer them back onto your computer when it’s fixed. Or you could buy a replacement hard drive from a retailer like Amazon or Best Buy and install the new hard drive yourself, so you don’t need any help recovering your data.

Protect Your Data When Backing Up

When you back up your hard drive, you are creating a copy of your files in case something happens to the original. Before you back up, make sure that there is enough space on your hard drive to do so.

Additionally, it’s a good idea to regularly back up your data in order to protect against hard drive failure. You can use external drives or external storage devices like an SD card or USB stick.

When using an external device, it’s important that you place the backup on a different device than your computer. If an asteroid smashes into your house and destroys your computer and all its data, you will still have your backup on the external device!

Bottom Line

The first time your computer’s hard drive fails, the data it stores on its digital platform is lost. The second time your computer’s hard drive fails, you lose all of your files and programs. Hard drives do fail so you should back up your data to make sure it isn’t lost forever. To recover data from a failing hard drive, you’ll need a professional who can restore the lost files from an external storage device or by using software that can restore the files from backup locations.