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The worst mistake that many organizations and individuals make is failing to have a good, reliable backup plan; a scenario that impacts these seven common mistakes directly. Let us have a look at some of the common mistakes people make when their hard drive crashes and how to avoid them.
1. Formatting the drive
You should be careful of the type of error messages you get when your computer hard drive crashes. These error messages are to some extent generic and are likely to make suggestions that may do more harm to your hard drive. For instance, certain errors will pop up, prompting you to format your hard drive. NEVER format your hard drive based on such pop-up messages.
Disk formatting will overwrite all the data on your hard drive or media card. Hard disk drive recovery may not succeed on a formatted drive. In case you are green about how to go about these RAW error messages, it is advisable that you contact your hard drive recovery services.
2. Rushing
When you don’t have a proper backup plan, you are likely to rush when trying to fix your hard drive. Some might try performing the hard drive recovery process themselves in order to save time and money. However, you need to evaluate all possible repercussions of what you are just about to do, because the worst-case scenario may just knock.
The best action you need to take when your hard disk drive crashes is to: shut down your PC, take the media cards out of phones, MP3 players and cameras. It is advisable that you think through the process before you act on anything, since homemade recovery interventions may potentially render your drive completely unrecoverable. Otherwise, it is recommended that you seek recovery services from a reputable data recovery company.
3. RAID errors
RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks), uses a number of disks to record data and are usually employed on servers. This improves reliability and allows for redundancy. However, if a disk fails and you replace it incorrectly, your data could be damaged beyond recovery. RAID has quite a range of configurations, with each configuration having its own disk replacement procedure.
Because RAID resides in the server, data recovery process in the server is very complex, hence requires a reputable data recovery professional for the server recovery. Server recoveries usually require service manuals and other related installation documentation. Therefore it is always important that you keep these documents.
4. Re-creating partitions
Deleting a hard disk partition does not delete data on that partition. It simply makes the data inaccessible because the data cannot be recognized by your computer’s file system. While this might not require a hard drive recovery specialist, it is always advisable that you consult a data recovery professional. Unfortunately, some individuals mistakenly believe that re-creating the partition will recover the data. However, the shocking truth is that re-creating partitions can overwrite your data, making the recovery process much harder.
5. Performing tasks beyond your capabilities
Certain tasks require professionals in a specialized environment. For instance, opening your hard drive case should be done in a data recovery lab to prevent damaging the internal components. These clean contaminant-free rooms are only available in reliable data recovery service labs.
6. Saving recovered data in the same location
One of the common mistakes people do when recovering data is saving them back on the same media card or hard drive. Your hard disk drive may still be having unresolved issues, hence saving the data back to your hard drive may cause more damage. Your lost data may be overwritten before salvaging them. It is, therefore, recommended that you better save your salvaged data into a secondary storage drive such as CDs, Flash media or DVDs.
7. Failing to keep a regular backup
We lose data from our computer hard drives daily. Well, you can pay a data recovery service company to help you recover your data. However, why pay for recovery when you can take a proactive approach by backing up your data? Remember, just one backup plan is better than none. You can set up a data backup schedule to backup your crucial files automatically.
Wrap Up
Panicking is natural when your computer hard drive has crashed. However, you need to know the next appropriate step in such a critical moment as this will determine whether you will manage to recover your crucial data or not. By avoiding these seven mistakes, you are likely to increase the chances of recovering your data. However, investing in a reliable data recovery plan is the best approach to data protection against disasters like a hard drive crash.