Hard drive
Hard disk drive or otherwise known as the hard disk or hard drive, is a part of the computer that is considered as the non-volatile device used for storage data files or computer data. It is composed of rotating and rigid platters driven with a spindle which is driven by a motor inside a protective covering.
When computer records data or documents, what happens is that, data files are stored or written magnetically by write or read heads floating on cushion of an air located above the platters.
The very first hard disk drive or hard drive in 1956 was invented by a company known as IBM. They did not achieve the most efficient size at first as well as the cost of manufacture which bloated and exceeded to a specified budget allowance but over time, they were able to increase and enhance the capacity of hard drive which all users benefit nowadays.
Different sounds from hard drive
Hard disk is a type of storage in your computer that is permanently fixed and capable of storing large amount of computer files. This component of your PC is quicker in processing data compared to floppy disks. And so it is important that hard disk is maintained by cleaning it up using software such as Microsoft Cleaner. Maintaining your computer most especially the hard disk will free up spaces by deleting unnecessary files. Also, hard disk maintenance allows repair of disk errors like for instance bad sectors and lost clusters. Disk clean up also eliminates directory errors and cross-linked files.
In addition, hard disk clean up is an effective way of securing your data files. In this article, discussions will be focused on several clues on how to determine common sounds which might be a cause of hard disk physical damage. Sometimes, you hear a clicking sound from your hard disk after powering up your PC. But when you hear clicking from your hard disk more often, this might be considered as irregular clicking and can be caused by head crash, virtual memory paging, or mechanical faults. Sometimes, chunking sounds are caused by bad sectors.
Below is discussion of some commonly encountered problems with your hard disk.
Detecting if hard drive is defective?
How do you determine whether or not your hard drive is defective? What happens to hard drive that makes it defective?
Head crash occurs when the head of the hard disk is scratched against the surface of the disk consequently damaging the disk platter and producing a chunking or clicking sound. When this occurs, the first step to take is turn off your computer and never try powering it up. Next thing to do is to call somebody who is an expert in troubleshooting hard disk problems so as not to lose your data files. Consulting a technician can help you recover data files you were not able to save as well. Users are advised to avoid opening up the computer and dismantling some parts most especially the disk in trying to fix the problem yourself. Trying to operate your computer without the right tools and the right environment can possibly result to further damage and data loss.
Head crash can also take place when even the smallest dust gets onto the platter subsequently disrupting the flight and causing the head to crash into the platter. What damages the platter is the impact of scratches on the platter.
Reformatting the hard drive
There are certain ways to reformat the hard drive depending actually on the model such as the HDDs, SAS, and another is SATA. These are considered as logical blocks normally measured about 512 bytes in length but the modern industry today is trying to renew the hard drive models to make it 4,096 bytes of logical blocks. The process in which these block are related to the physical position on HDD is termed as the low level formatting which is usually done by manufacturers. In contrast, the high level way of formatting the hard drive is done when the file system is structured into select logical blocks to make it available to the host operating system or OS and available to other applications.
There can be several problems encountered and one of the best solutions is to run SCANDISK.
In resolving the hard disk error as mentioned, you can start off with testing the hard disk by running the SCANDISK. You click the ‘Start’ button and select ‘Program’. Point to ‘Accessories’ and select ‘System tools’ then click ‘SCANDISK’. Then, choose the drive you think is faulty and by clicking on the specified drive and click ‘Thorough’ and hit the ‘Start’ button.
Scandisk is run through option provided which examines the specified hard drive for existing error and physical damage. Running a scandisk allows the user to recover unsaved data files and if you want to save your data, you need to select the option that will enable you to back up your files.
Again, there are ways to lower the risk of data loss such as avoiding head crashing as well as malwares that can infect your hard disk. To give your computer more protection from losing files, you can try downloading appropriate security software.
Manufacturers of these technological products are Western Digital, Hitachi, Seagate, Samsung, as well as the Toshiba. Other manufacturers merged into a bigger cluster company that tries to meet the standards for development and enhancement of hard drive.
