Know About Your HARD DISC
| Evolution of HARD DISC Drives |
Before the concept of hard disc drives was available, there were drums and vacuum tubes being used as computer mass storage solutions. When "modern" hard disc drives were first available in 1956, they were as big as a 24-inch television, holding a capacity of merely five megabytes (MB) and having a transfer rate of about 8.6 KB per second (KB/s)... that is just slightly faster than what you can get from a 56k modem connection.
In les than 50 years, hard disc drives have improve tremendously in terms of their physical size, capacity, speed, cost and efficiency; but their concepts are basically identical as they were some 40 years ago. A typical hard disc drive available today can easily have a capacity of 160 gigabytes and a transfer rate of 150 MB/s - all packed within the fascinating size of a pocket comic!
| What is a Hard Disc Drive? |
A hard disc drive is the most common form of mass data storage medium for personal computers. It is reasonably fast and economical, and provides huge storage capacities for computers and other devices that require reading and writing of data, such as gaming consoles, notebook computers and digital video/animation workstations. A hard disc drive contains most of a computer user's data, and it is usually where the operating system (such as Windows® XP) and various applications are held. Unlike the volatile nature of random access memory, or RAM, data stored on hard disc remains intact even when the system is powered off.
The common factor of hard disc for desktop computers is 3.5" half-length, similar to the physical size of a 1.44MB floppy drive. There is also the sleek 3.5" low profile form factor for some models, roughly at "quarter-height".
The other common for factor is the 2.5" drive which is usually found in notebook computers.
| Hard Disc FAILURE!!!! Nooooo..... What Now? |
File-system-level errors of hard disc drives such as "lost clusters" and "cross-linked clusters" are not alien terms to most PC Magazine readers. In fact, if you have used or are using FAT[16] or FAT32 partitions, (such as those in MS-DOS®, Window® 3.1/95/98/Me) you are likely to be haunted by these errors every now and then, due to crashes or improper shutdowns. the situation has pretty much improved with the better-designed NTFS.
While the file system errors can be easily fixed by disc utilities (such as ScanDisk® and DiskDoctor®) most of the time, hardware level errors are usually disastrous. There are no simple recovery methods that are applicable to all cases.
There are few errors caused by software issues that will affect the normal operating system's start up routine. Computer viruses, improper shutdowns, incompatible drivers and buggy application installation processes may accidentally alter the master boot record (MBR), resulting in error messages during start up, such as "Boot failure" or even "Operating system Not Found". Almost all of these errors can be fixed by a clean installation of the OS.
If you believe the problem is more than a software conflict, try restarting the system a couple of times and see if the results are consistent. Out of luck? Check if the jumper, cable and BIOS settings are correct. If there is a new piece of hardware that you have recently installed before the error occurs, try removing that hardware. After which, you can run diagnostic programs provided by the drive manufacturer to examine the drive's integrity. If the program finds bad sector on the drive, it'll "mark" those sectors and the drive will avoid accessing those areas in the future.
If everything is working fine but you hear frequent grinding sounds fro the drive (e.g. disc drive from a boot disc, or another drive / system, to backup the important data before sending it for servicing.
What if the spindle motor is not spinning at all? (The high-pitch plane take-off sound is absent while switching on the system) Rumors say you can try freezing the drive in a refrigerator, but you don't have our consent for that. It is recommend for you to send the drive back to the manufacturer for proper servicing.
| PREEMPTIVE and PREVENTIVE MEASURES |
Attention: Back up your data!!!
The most effective way to protect your data is to backup, backup and backup (backup=making copies of you hard disc's valuable data on other media). With the current proliferation of CD-R/RW and even DVD-R/W or DVD+R/W technologies, backing up of data is a lot easier than in the old days. For Windows® ME and XP users, make it a habit to build a system restore point prior to installing any new software or hardware. Using tape technology offers the cheapest storage per gigabyte.
Attention: Mount your Drive properly!!!
Use the proper mounting tools for your drive, and mount it according to the manufacturer's guidelines. The default mounting position is horizontal (flat), where the drive label is facing up and the circuit boards facing down. Most drives today can be mounted horizontally or vertically, and even strange positions like up-side-down, according to certain manufacturers - check the manufacturer's guide or website for the mounting orientation when in doubt. Anyway, it is recommended that you stay away from those funny mounting orientations and the reason is simple: hard disc drives are mostly tested in the default mounting orientation.
Attention: Protect your Drive!!!
Hard disc drives are sensitive to vibrations and rapid temperature changes (which cause condensations). When the hard disc drive is in operation, keep it away from external shocks and vibration, and ensure all the mounting screws are tightened such that the drive is firmly secured in the housing . Avoid placing the hard disc drive too near to the air-convents (or heaters). Also, keep your anti-virus definitions up to date to avoid virus destroying your data.
© Copyrights reserved. Any other publications without authorization, action will be taken seriously.
