Always use an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to protect your hard disk against power surges. Electricity surges are the most dangerous thing among all that can cause damage to hard disk.
If you listen any sounds of clicking, grinding or whirring from your hard drive then shut down your computer immediately. Read/write heads make such sounds by hitting or scraping the platters and may cause severe or complete data loss. No data recovery software can repair a physically damaged hard disk.
Unplug the power to the computer before removing the hard drive and handle the drive carefully. Hard drives are extremely sensitive to static electricity and physical jarring or jolts.
If your data is critical, make sure you choose a reputable recovery firm that can properly recover data from physically damaged drives. Even the simplest recovery attempts on a physically damaged drive could render your data unrecoverable.
The first recovery attempt is always the best recovery attempt and must be handled by a some competent engineers. Data recovery professionals use the safest methods available to insure your data is not lost from repeated recovery attempts.
When disaster strikes:
- If possible, back up the data immediately
- In case your hard drive drive is making scraping, tapping, clicking or humming sounds, utility software for data recovery should not be used. The only best solution is to stop using the hard disk immediately.
- Do not power up a device that has obvious physical damage or is making unusual sounds
- Shut down the computer to avoid further damage to the drive and its data
- Do not attempt recovery yourself on severely traumatized drives (i.e., turning the computer off and on, using over-the-counter diagnostic tools). This may cause further damage or permanent data loss
- If you've lost critical data, DriveSavers recovery service is your best and safest option
- Never assume data is unrecoverable
- DriveSavers has successfully recovered data from hundreds of thousands of drives with extreme physical and logical damage
Best practices
- Backup frequently and never upgrade any system without a verified backup
- Use up-to-date hardware and software utilities for data security, such as firewalls and virus protection
- Scan all data for viruses, including packaged software
- Use air ventilation, fans and/or air conditioning to keep server conditions at the proper operating temperature
- Power down and take extreme caution when moving computers
- Avoid static discharge when touching or handling the media, especially in excessively dry environments
Backup strategies
- Use extra backup systems
- Adopt a structured backup procedure and always make copies of all critical data files, using software compatible with the operating system and applications
- Periodically verify the data backups, especially databases and other critical files
- Keep at least one verified copy of critical data offsite that is not connected to the running system
