| The hard drive of your computer is an important | | | | physical damage on the platter the data is most likely |
| component because you use it to store long-term | | | | beyond recovering. That's why you should always |
| data. It uses magnetic surfaces on which the data is | | | | put important data into more than one place. If you |
| stored digitally. In its early years the media was | | | | have many partitions putting the data on the other |
| removable from the actual drive like the floppy drive | | | | one will not help if they all are on one hard drive. |
| and others but with time the drive and the media | | | | Always take seriously the way you store and use |
| (the actual keeper of information) became one whole | | | | the data in your hard drive. |
| body. | | | | Now I will provide some information for people who |
| The writing and reading functions in the hard drive | | | | are more interested in hard drive repairing. The first |
| are performed by the head which is a small | | | | thing is one MS-DOS command called debug. It will let |
| electro-magnet assembly. It is able to reach every | | | | you operate in a very direct way using machine code. |
| sector of a disk in which the data is stored. There | | | | Understanding this code is a very important part of |
| are many disks laid in a spindle which is used for a | | | | this procedure. For example you could enter D40:0 |
| rapid rotation enabling the head to read and write | | | | and this will give you a few lines of information. The |
| data quickly. The rotation speed of the hard drive is | | | | first will tell you all the ports which are present in |
| one of its main characterizations. | | | | your computer. Of course you will see it only if you |
| There are three interfaces on a hard drive which you | | | | know the codes like F8 03 which is COM1 port, F8 02 |
| will use to install it on your system. The first is the | | | | - COM2 and so on. Use the command "q" to exit the |
| IDE connector. It is used for data transfer from and | | | | shell. |
| to the drive. Usually there is a red line which will tell | | | | Other useful information that you should know is |
| you on what direction you should point the cable. The | | | | why some software supports are not possible. For |
| red line should always be on the side of the power | | | | example Windows 95 does not support hard drives |
| connector. In the new hard drives you will find | | | | over 32 GB. It is designed that way because there |
| impossible to make mistake because you will be | | | | was no need for that kind of support when it was |
| limited by a small fang element. The power connector | | | | created. It's the same with file systems - you can't |
| is what connects the hard drive to the power supply | | | | use FAT16 if the size of the partition is over 4 GB. |
| unit. The jumper block is the last interface you will | | | | You should always think about what is supported |
| use. It is made to set the drive working in a proper | | | | because this is your final limit. |
| manner concerning the place on the cable in which it | | | | The locking of the hard drive is another interesting |
| is set. Usually if you install it on the end of the cable | | | | issue. It is done by the simple commands lock and |
| the jumper should be set to master and in the other | | | | unlock. For example if you want to lock the partition |
| situation - to slave. There is also a cable select | | | | with letter C you should type lock c: and unlock c: to |
| function but it may not work properly with some | | | | unlock it. You may encounter problems if the hard |
| motherboards and that's why it is best for it to be | | | | drive is locked when you try installing software, |
| set manually. | | | | operation system or perform any other activity that |
| After proper installation of a hard drive you should | | | | requires special writing access. |
| check if the BIOS is properly finding it. This is done | | | | I will finish this article with information about |
| with the BIOS setup in which you could enter by | | | | recovering loss, missing or deleted files from the hard |
| pressing a special key seconds after you start your | | | | drive. This is very important to know because it |
| computer. This usually is the place where the repair | | | | could save you a crucial data. First ensure that the |
| work begins. If you can't detect the hard drive | | | | files have really been deleted. Try finding them on all |
| manually and you ensure that the installation is made | | | | drives because sometimes it is possible that they |
| good you should consider a possible hardware | | | | have simply been moved. Check if you have a |
| problem. Try listening for noise from the hard drive. | | | | backup of the file. If you have one it will be easier to |
| The spinning causes a constant low noise which is | | | | restore from it. Many operation systems have |
| usually detectable if you listen carefully. This will tell | | | | recycle bin or trash and if you mistakenly delete a file |
| you if the drive is actually running or not. If there is a | | | | you may find it there too. If you can't recover the |
| scratching sound you should immediately power down | | | | file like this and if it really is deleted you should know |
| the system and take your drive for repair from a | | | | that only the link in the file system has been deleted. |
| professional because it is most likely the damage to | | | | Now the most important thing is not to write any |
| be mechanical. The inside corpus of the hard drive is | | | | more data on that drive because the file you are |
| dust and air free and that's why you should never | | | | trying to recover is marked as free space and it may |
| try to open it yourself if you are not a specialist. | | | | be deleted completely if you write data over it. |
| If your hard drive is permanently damaged there is a | | | | To restore lost data use freeware software like |
| small chance for recovering data. This is done by | | | | Undelete Plus or purchase a better one if you feel |
| removing the media from the drive and putting it on | | | | the need. This also is a good time to consider help |
| a special drive for data recovering but if there is | | | | from a specialist. |