A drive that has sustained corruption will most likely need special tlc, which includes clean-room work. This is where the hard drive is carefully taken apart and examined in pristine, dust-free conditions. At that point, the clean-room technician will have to replace or repair parts of the internal hard drive to get it running in order to extract the data from it.

This is an instance that many people will take the hard drive to their local computer shop for repair, but computer shops are not trained in the logistics of clean-room work and we have talked to many clients who their computer shop informed them the hard drive was garbage. They then tossed the drive–and data–and sold the customer a new hard drive.

Make sure to get a second opinion. Data recovery companies specialize in getting data off of the hard drive and you should be able to send your drive into them for a free evaluation, which will let you know if the data is recoverable.

One more thing you should NOT do if your hard drive is suffering from corruption, is to attempt self recovery or repair. When the drive is corrupted, it will need to be taken apart manually. If you do not know what you are looking for to replace, you will most likely destroy fragile parts of the drive. Just the other day I was talking to a person who said their hard drive was having issues and he took the drive apart, but was wondering if he could get the data back still. I cringed, but asked if he used a clean-room to do this. His response was, “Well yeah, kind of…my bedroom.” No matter how clean your room or house is, there are dust particles that even the tiniest of them will get on the drive and scratch the platters, which causes the data to be unrecoverable.

The moral of this story: How important are those baby pictures or your businesses last ten years of Quickbook files? And make sure to get more than one opinion on getting your data recovered!

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• Power Strips – Investing in a good power strip will greatly reduce the likelihood of a power surge destroying the hard drive during a storm.
• Clicking, Grinding, or Other Strange Sounds – If an odd clicking sound is coming from the computer, it is most likely that internal parts of the hard drive that have failed over time and become stuck, which results in the grinding or clicking noise. If this is happening, the best thing to do is to immediately turn off the computer, detach the drive, and place it somewhere safe. Because of the degraded state the drive is already in, it can easily become much worse if experimented on or with continued usage.
• Airflow – Without proper airflow and dust removal you laptop or desktop will begin to over heat and put the system under large amounts of stress. Canned air is always good to keep around and use every few months. Also make sure fans are functioning properly when de-dusting the computer.
• Antivirus Software – Believe it or not, a good anti-virus program can prevent a lot of data loss. If a virus hacks into a computer, it has the potential to quickly destroy data. The anti-virus software we use and recommend is: AVG or Panda Cloud. AVG tends to use more computing resources but better protection while Panda Cloud is a lite resource intensive program but acceptable protection. Free copies for both of these programs are available at AVG: http://free.avg.com/us-en/download-free-antivirus Panda Cloud: http://www.cloudantivirus.com/en/. The free versions are enough to keep viruses off of a computer.
• Spyware Removal – In the unfortunately  event that you get malware or spyware on your system I recommend is Malwarebytes. I have found this to be useful in many situations from my IT experience. http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free
• System Cleanup – After months and years of adding/ removing programs, deleting files, and surfing the Internet will cause a multitude of computer issues. Every time you install, update, or remove a program there are left over registry files that do not get removed. For every file improperly place in your Windows operating system it causes unneeded processing. I have found the CCleaner puts system cleanup and management tool easily in your lap. http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

With today’s technology, it is easy for the average computer user to be clueless when it comes to the terminology and lingo of “geeks” and “professionals”. Even a person who considers themselves savvy in the dialects of computers and malfunctions, can find themselves baffled when their hard drive goes down and someone on the other end of their phone tells them, “The hard drive head crashed and is smoking. We will have to replace platters, actuators, and fix any other damage to the OS, before we can recover the data on your hard drive.”

So, just what is data recovery? What does it do? What does it mean? In essence, data recovery is having a professional company be able to use software, as well as use manual techniques to get into a hard drive and repair the damage it has sustained, in order to retrieve any and all data off of it. Professional data recovery companies are specialists in their field—it’s what they do every single day. When it comes to extracting data off of a bad hard drive, a person really should go straight to a professional data recovery company rather than a friend, computer shop, or DIY software. Computer repair shops deal specifically with hardware issues, replacing parts of the computer like, RAM, fans, memory, etc. Once there is data loss involved, most computer shops don’t have the right techniques or even know what to do to recover data. They are two completely different fields of expertise that require different types of knowledge.

When a hard drive begins to click, it is just telling us that it has internal damage to parts and pieces. There is never a sure fire way to detect when or why this happens at a certain point. I have seen people who purchased a brand new hard drive that began to click within a few months of use. I have also seen people use the same hard drive for 8 years with no problems. It’s not that one brand is better than another or has fewer known issues. Hard drives are mass produced and put together, so as with anything, malfunctioning parts can be unknowingly used to create a drive, which can cause the drive to begin clicking within a few months of use. The other reason hard drives begin clicking is just from use over time and wearing out. There are many components to a hard drive. Sometimes these just wear out, or even become loose over time, creating scratching or use-wear to platters of the drive. Even dust and dirt can gain access to a hard drive, which can cause scratches to surface platters as well.
These platters are vital to the operation of the hard drive. It is similar to a dvd that has been scratched to the point that it can not recognize the disk enough to even start the movie. That is what happens when a hard drive is clicking and windows will not boot up.
So, what is the solution for this problem, or is there one? Yes, there definitely is an answer. However, it is not a home remedy that will fix this issue. In fact, any home remedies or fixes will cause more damage to this drive in such a fragile state already. When a hard drive begins clicking, the chances of recovering the data off of it have been reduced versus other failures. Because this type of drive has mechanical failure, the drive must be taken apart and parts must be replaced in order to get the drive running just enough to read and image the data to get a full recovery. When a drive is clicking, the only chance for recovery is using a professional data recovery company who recovers data from this type of hard drive everyday and has the experience to do so. Recovery really depends on the severity of internal damage and if any other recovery options have been tested on the drive. In cases of a clicking hard drive, a technician usually only has one opportunity to retrieve data from the hard drive after replacing parts. Even if the same parts are replaced through another recovery company, the drive most likely will not be recognizable.

• Bad sectors
• Corrupt boot
• Operating system corruption
• Bad hard disk drive
• Failed or failing hard disk drive
• Incompatible software or hardware

This error will completely stop the booting process and caused all data to become totally un-readable. This does not mean a person will never see their data again though.
This is one of the cases that would require clean-room work to be done to the drive in order to get it running enough to extract the data off and put it onto a new drive.

If the problem is not serious yet, it may be possible for the individual to access the data on the drive and save it to a backup drive, before the entire drive becomes un-readable. However, if the drive is readable still, but does show these errors occasionally, it is very important to act quickly to save the data.  Although, if it is too late to backup the data, or there is not a recent copy of the data on the drive, a data recovery company can quickly and easily recover data from stop error corruption.

When data becomes corrupt, it means that files, documents, or programs on your hard drive have been changed, so that it cannot be read or used by the program which originally created the data. This can be caused from serious problems with the hard drive, such as disk failures and head crashes. It can also be caused from a virus on the computer, or even system files that may have quit working properly, and the result is files that can no longer be accessed.

If there is corrupt data on a drive, it will most likely require clean room procedures. This is where a hard drive is carefully taken apart and examined, in pristine, dust-free conditions. It is very important not to attempt self-recovery at this point, because further damage can easily be caused to the drive, even to the point of making it unrecoverable.

Just remember, even though a hard drive may become corrupt and need clean room procedures, it is still very recoverable. Also, remember that most data recovery companies will provide a free evaluation, which will tell a person what can be recovered from the drive. However, a person must be careful when sending their drive to more than one company, because each time it is opened up it can make the problem worse, even causing the original price to go up.

What data recovery is and what computer shops are for.

I am constantly answering the question, “Why shouldn’t I let a computer shop recover data from my hard drive?”  There are endless explanations for this quandary. Since computer repair shops are around almost every corner, we are constantly bombarded with advertisements! How is the average computer user supposed to know which situation—computer repair or data recovery—will work best for them?
A quick analogy is that data recovery specialists are the “heart surgeons” of the digital world. They have ability and training specific for getting into the hard drive and even replacing bad parts in order to get the drive running long enough to extract data from it. Data recovery, much like heart surgeons specialize in one field only.  Whereas, computer repair shops would be like a walk-in clinic. Anyone can walk in at any time for any number of ailments, be treated, and sent on their merry way, regardless of the seriousness of their condition.
Computer repair shops are best utilized when issues related to software, upgrades, or replacing parts such as sound cards, cooling fans, and controllers are concerned. Data recovery should be employed when there is any type of data loss going on. There are several reasons for data loss and some recoveries can be quite simple, where others are very complex and any “experimenting” with the drive could ultimately lead to infinite data loss.
I have seen many clients who took their hard drive to a computer shop when experiencing data loss. The computer shop did not have the correct tools or experience to know exactly what was wrong with the drive, but they talked the client into letting them “try” a few things. The results were not good. Not only did the computer repair shop fail in retrieving any files off of the drive, but they destroyed parts of the drive so badly that even we were not able gain access to the drive. As you can see, computer repair shops are a great answer to your questions about hardware, software, and upgrade issues, but please leave it to the experts in the data recovery field for anything related to data loss.

As a case in point, we highly recommend not allowing a friend’s advice or a computer shop’s inexperience in the field of recovering a crashed hard drive get in the way of saving a little money.

The BIOS ( Basic Input / Ouput System ) is a very low level set of software that not only manages information between your computers hardware and operating system, but it also loads the operating system as your computer starts up. ‘No Operating System Found’ is the BIOS giving you a warning saying just that, it is unable to find and load the OS.

The first thing to check is that the hard drive in your computer is plugged in, both power and data cables, all the way. This is an easier task on a desktop than a laptop, but from my experience, I’ve never had a drive come disconnected unless I was messing with it first. They just don’t tend to come lose by themselves even on laptops that get bumped around a lot.

If you’ve checked the connections or have no reason to believe that they would have come lose then I’m afraid you have a hardware failure and more likely than not its your hard drive that has the issue. Unfortunately this error is too vague to determine what exactly is wrong with the drive, only that it is unreadable.

How to get your computer back up and running

Replacing your hard drive and installing a new operating system will have you back up and on the go, assuming there is no other hardware issues.

Of course the problem with that is… what about your data? If all your data is in the cloud or its all backed up on another drive or computer, you’re fine just copy over whatever you need to the new drive and you’ll be in business.

What if all my data is on that drive?

However, if your only copy of important files or pictures is on that drive, you’re going to want to get them back. The good news is that data recovery companies have higher recovery rates on this type of error. A hard drive suddenly not being recognized tends to come from logical or mechanical failure and if that’s the case then the platters, the discs where the data is kept, should be in good condition. It’s just a matter of getting the data off and saving it to a new drive.

The biggest problem with today’s viruses is that even with an up-to-date anti-virus, they can easily trick a user into downloading them, saying it is an upgrade to current software, or even bypass the installed anti-virus altogether. They then link themselves to data and begin the corruption process. Viruses will also attach themselves to files being sent via email so they can continue to distribute their plague. Computer viruses are either spread by opening attachments in emails, instant messaging, downloading files on the internet, or even opening and unsafe webpage. Viruses are hidden or embedded among images, music, and other files. Once a virus is on a computer it can quickly shut down all security.

Getting a virus is so frustrating because sometimes a person doesn’t even know that their hard drive has been infected. Symptoms of a virus are that the computer begins running slow for no apparent reason, some programs and files will not open, or the computer randomly re-boots itself, or produces lots of errors.

Once a virus gets onto a computer it is imperative that it is removed as quickly as possible because the longer it is on the computer, the higher the chances are that the virus can hack into passwords, bank accounts, and gain other personal information.

Viruses don’t cause physical damage to a hard drive; they just cause corruption to the data files. This jumbles the code needed to read and open material.

Symptoms of a Computer Virus

• The computer is running slower or sluggish.
• The computer comes up with errors or freezes.
• The computer restarts on its own.
• Files and programs are no longer accessible or work incorrectly
• Drive are no longer accessible
• Strange error messages pop up
• Double extensions on image files that are opened
• Antivirus software is disabled for no apparent reason
• Antivirus can not be re-installed or ran
• Random icons appear on the desktop.
• Strange sounds or music plays from speakers
• Programs disappear even without being personally removed.
• Viruses don’t always show up with a virus scan

These are all common signs that a drive has been infected with a virus.

Symptoms of Worms & Trojan Horse Viruses

More specific symptoms that could mean there is a virus on a hard drive

• An infected file may copy itself
• After copying itself, it will then send itself to all recipients in an email address book.
• The virus may install pirated software that will then be sold and distributed from a person’s computer!
• The virus can reformat a hard drive—causing data to be deleted.
• The virus can reduce internet security which allows third parties to access the computer.