By: Cedric Dirose
When the first external harddrive first hit the market, it was large, clunky, slow and very expensive. Like most aspects of the world of computer technology, however, the prices of these external had drives have steadily fallen, even as the speed, reliability and storage capacity has increased so greatly. While the storage capacity of the first external hard drives was measured in mere megabytes, today most external hard drives are capable of holding hundreds of gigabytes worth of data.
There are a number of reasons why a computer owner would opt to buy an external harddrive instead of installing a secondary hard drive inside the computer case. One of the most significant benefits, of course, is that of convenience and simplicity. After all, many computer users are simply not comfortable opening the cases of their computer and installing additional hardware. When you opt for an external rather than an internal hard drive you do not need to crack the case; you simply need to plug it in and go.
Another great benefit of an external harddrive is its portability. Unlike internal hard drives, external hard drives can be moved from computer to computer in a matter of minutes, simply by unplugging them from one computer and plugging them into another. For this reason, external hard drives are often used in the business world, especially by traveling employees. Traveling employees can instantly sync up the data on an external hard drive with that on their desktop or laptop PC, and then easily transport that data anywhere in the world.
There are a number of things to consider when buying a new external hard drive, whether the drive is to be used for business or personal purposes. One consideration, of course, is that of price. While there used to be a huge price differential between internal and external hard drives, with external hard drives costing far more than internal had drives, these days the difference in price has dropped significantly, making an external harddrive a more realistic choice for more and more people.
Storage capacity, of course, is important as well. As with any type of hard drive, it is best to buy as large an external hard drive as you can afford. Even if you do not think you will ever need all those gigabytes of storage, it never hurts to have it available, and the price differential between large drives and smaller ones is generally quite low.
It is also important to look at the speed of the hard drive you are considering. The speed of the external hard drive will be expressed in RPMs, and the higher this number the faster the drive will be. In addition, you will see an average seek time number, expressed in milliseconds. The lower this number, the faster the drive should run, and this is an important consideration, especially for business users.
When the first external harddrive first hit the market, it was large, clunky, slow and very expensive. Like most aspects of the world of computer technology, however, the prices of these external had drives have steadily fallen, even as the speed, reliability and storage capacity has increased so greatly.
Cedric has been a technical writer of a computer magazine for over 6 years. He also has a website that helps people with their technical computer problems as well external hard drive reviews. Visit http://www.altsyssoft.com for a technical priority list on what items to look for when choosing a hard drive for your new computer.
Sunday, April 1, 2007
An Introduction To Raid – Greater Reliability ,faster, Less Costly Hard Drive Units
What is a raid setup on a computer system?
Like anything else it depends who you talk to.
Raid hard drive systems had their acronym explained as “Redundant Array of Individual Drives “and “Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives”. The acronym for this is the shortened term “RAID”.
Capacity, reliability and performance are all important for file servers or other computer systems when you are storing large or very important files.
It is often said that “It is not if you hard drive will fail. It is at what point in time your hard drive will fail”.
Of course if your hard drives fail even if you have backup the last bit of data which was being written onto the hard drive when the failure occurred will be lost.
You can get much greater capacities, avoid losing data from disk failure, and do all this with the RAID (the acronym for the system).
RAID can now be done with standard commercially available hard drives so the cost is now within your price range for all the benefits and peace of mind RAID will give you.
RAID can be simply explained as putting the hard drives in parallel sequence.
The host adapter (usually called the RAID system controller) sits between one higher stream (on the computer side) and several lower rate data streams (on the hard drive side). When the computer writes to the disks , the host adapter takes high stream data and breaks it into many synchronized streams , one for each of the disks in process called “Striping “. Upon reading the data the host adapter takes the data stream from each disk multiplexes the sets of data streams and coordinates sending the resulting combined set of data onto the computer.
It is all a matter of redundancy which makes RAID such a good thing in most cases.
There are six different levels of RAID functionality depending on your requirements. – the level of data security and integrity you want as well as the size of hard drive space you want.
First of RAID Level 0 which spreads the data across multiple disks. You can get a similar effect to the RAID Level 0 by having multiple disks and using the features in Windows 2000 or its successor Windows XP.
Since the data volume and rate to any specific disk is a fraction of the aggregate you will receive larger capacity and better performance from a RAID 0 setup than from any one conventional disk.
As well data can be sourced from multiple drives as once. This can be most useful in shared situations which may benefit from enhancements in speed, two examples which come to mind are game servers and peer to peer (P2P) file or music file sharing servers.
However since there is no allocation for error correction or redundancy RAID 0 is not a safe system for vital data. Data will be lost on disk failure. Only use RAID 0 in situations where you need the extended disk capacity or performance gain but not enhanced data reliability.
Secondly in sequence there is RAID Level 1.
In the same way that RAID 0 focuses solely on storage capacity and performance with no concern whatsoever on reliable data storage RAID 1, which us also called “Disk Mirroring” uses disks in pairs to save the files in a redundant manner.
Several points.
One performance may be slower as it takes time for the host adapter to send the data and for the drives to write it to disk,
Secondly a user may delete or damage files which of course will be stored in that way on both drives.
Raid 1 hence offers better reliability than RAID 0 or the conventional drive setups but does not give full security for your data or enhanced performance.
Next in sequence we have RAID Levels 2, 3 and 4.
Raid 2 adds one or more disks to hold error correction codes with which lost data can be reconstructed.
Raid Level 3 is the same as RAID Level 2 but uses a simpler code the maximum storage capacity with Raid 3 may be somewhat less.
Raid Level 4 is nearly the same as RAID LEVEL 3 but instead of “Striping “ across disks is operates at a sector level, You now have the better situation of both a simpler , less intensive demanding system and as well as good data reliability . In addition performance may be enhanced as large data blocks can be written faster due to more coordinated writing to the drives in smaller “sector” areas.
Lastly is RAID Level 5.
Raid level 5 is the same as the excellent RAID Level 4 except that instead of dedicating a single disk to storing the data the data stream is striped across all the disks. You have greater performance with greater reliability for your computer systems.
A RAID setup may take some effort and training on your part.
Base your planning for your new RAID system on a careful analysis of your needs.
What is important in your situation currently? Disk size capacities, data reliability and integrity, performance or a combination or all.
By: Stoney Mountain
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
Like anything else it depends who you talk to.
Raid hard drive systems had their acronym explained as “Redundant Array of Individual Drives “and “Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives”. The acronym for this is the shortened term “RAID”.
Capacity, reliability and performance are all important for file servers or other computer systems when you are storing large or very important files.
It is often said that “It is not if you hard drive will fail. It is at what point in time your hard drive will fail”.
Of course if your hard drives fail even if you have backup the last bit of data which was being written onto the hard drive when the failure occurred will be lost.
You can get much greater capacities, avoid losing data from disk failure, and do all this with the RAID (the acronym for the system).
RAID can now be done with standard commercially available hard drives so the cost is now within your price range for all the benefits and peace of mind RAID will give you.
RAID can be simply explained as putting the hard drives in parallel sequence.
The host adapter (usually called the RAID system controller) sits between one higher stream (on the computer side) and several lower rate data streams (on the hard drive side). When the computer writes to the disks , the host adapter takes high stream data and breaks it into many synchronized streams , one for each of the disks in process called “Striping “. Upon reading the data the host adapter takes the data stream from each disk multiplexes the sets of data streams and coordinates sending the resulting combined set of data onto the computer.
It is all a matter of redundancy which makes RAID such a good thing in most cases.
There are six different levels of RAID functionality depending on your requirements. – the level of data security and integrity you want as well as the size of hard drive space you want.
First of RAID Level 0 which spreads the data across multiple disks. You can get a similar effect to the RAID Level 0 by having multiple disks and using the features in Windows 2000 or its successor Windows XP.
Since the data volume and rate to any specific disk is a fraction of the aggregate you will receive larger capacity and better performance from a RAID 0 setup than from any one conventional disk.
As well data can be sourced from multiple drives as once. This can be most useful in shared situations which may benefit from enhancements in speed, two examples which come to mind are game servers and peer to peer (P2P) file or music file sharing servers.
However since there is no allocation for error correction or redundancy RAID 0 is not a safe system for vital data. Data will be lost on disk failure. Only use RAID 0 in situations where you need the extended disk capacity or performance gain but not enhanced data reliability.
Secondly in sequence there is RAID Level 1.
In the same way that RAID 0 focuses solely on storage capacity and performance with no concern whatsoever on reliable data storage RAID 1, which us also called “Disk Mirroring” uses disks in pairs to save the files in a redundant manner.
Several points.
One performance may be slower as it takes time for the host adapter to send the data and for the drives to write it to disk,
Secondly a user may delete or damage files which of course will be stored in that way on both drives.
Raid 1 hence offers better reliability than RAID 0 or the conventional drive setups but does not give full security for your data or enhanced performance.
Next in sequence we have RAID Levels 2, 3 and 4.
Raid 2 adds one or more disks to hold error correction codes with which lost data can be reconstructed.
Raid Level 3 is the same as RAID Level 2 but uses a simpler code the maximum storage capacity with Raid 3 may be somewhat less.
Raid Level 4 is nearly the same as RAID LEVEL 3 but instead of “Striping “ across disks is operates at a sector level, You now have the better situation of both a simpler , less intensive demanding system and as well as good data reliability . In addition performance may be enhanced as large data blocks can be written faster due to more coordinated writing to the drives in smaller “sector” areas.
Lastly is RAID Level 5.
Raid level 5 is the same as the excellent RAID Level 4 except that instead of dedicating a single disk to storing the data the data stream is striped across all the disks. You have greater performance with greater reliability for your computer systems.
A RAID setup may take some effort and training on your part.
Base your planning for your new RAID system on a careful analysis of your needs.
What is important in your situation currently? Disk size capacities, data reliability and integrity, performance or a combination or all.
By: Stoney Mountain
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
Hard Disk Clicking Sound
1. Observations
You hear clicking sounds emitting from your hard disk drive, either in a form of clicking or grinding sounds. This can happen when you power up your computer from start or halfway while working on your projects.
2. Possible Causes
The irregular clicking or chunking sound usually indicates that your hard drive is suffering from physical damage. If you use a S.M.A.R.T enabled disk, you may see a warning of a imminent disk failure when you power up your computer. This problem can be caused by the following:
- Head Crash
- Bad Sectors
- Mechanical Faults
- Virtual Memory Paging
3. Resolution
a. Head Crash
This is a physical damage of the disk platter when the head of a hard disk scratches the surface of the disk. The grinding sound is therefore observed when this occurs. Firstly, turn off your computer and do not attempt to power it up. Consult a data recovery firm immediately and avoid dismantling the disk to repair the problem yourself. Operating without the correct tools and a clean environment can result in further extensive damage which complicates the recovery process.
b. Bad Sectors
Typically bad sectors are physical damage of a span of disk area. The clicking sound happens when the head attempts to read from the same area of disk multiple times due to failed attempts. This can also occur when the head is unable to calibrate with the media servo tracks due to the gradual weakening of the magnetic domains on the platter that causes the drive to reset continuously. If the conditions of the disk is not too bad, a standard process is to perform a disk surface scan. This helps to mark all bad sectors and prevent your system from writing new data on the damaged areas of the disk.
c. Mechanical Faults
Sometimes these sounds can be a result of a defective spindle, Read Write head or loose components. If you are still able to access data on the disk, you are strongly advised to backup all your data immediately. Your disk is close to demise. If your disk stops spinning after a period of clicking sound, you may wish to send your disk to a reputable data recovery firm to recover your data.
d. Virtual Memory Paging
When your physical memory is full, the drive may perform numerous virtual memory paging at the same time maintaining the system's operation. This will result in excessive disk activity. To deal with this problem you can increase the physical memory by adding more RAM into your computer or use a secondary hard disk to contain the swap files.
Further Notes
Hard disk drive occasionally produces a whirring sound when it searches for a file which is heavily fragmented. This is caused by the spinning platters as the read-write heads zoom back and forth to access the sectors where the data is stored. It is important to distinguish the whirling sound from the clicking sound. This whirring sound can be reduced by periodically defragmenting your hard drive. Defragmenting reorganizes the scattered data on the hard drive to make files and programs run faster. It relocates the commonly accessed files to the beginning of the hard disk where data can load at a faster rate.
For more information on Data Recovery Service, please visit our website at http://www.adrc.net/services/data-recovery/intro.htm
By: Sandy Tran
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
You hear clicking sounds emitting from your hard disk drive, either in a form of clicking or grinding sounds. This can happen when you power up your computer from start or halfway while working on your projects.
2. Possible Causes
The irregular clicking or chunking sound usually indicates that your hard drive is suffering from physical damage. If you use a S.M.A.R.T enabled disk, you may see a warning of a imminent disk failure when you power up your computer. This problem can be caused by the following:
- Head Crash
- Bad Sectors
- Mechanical Faults
- Virtual Memory Paging
3. Resolution
a. Head Crash
This is a physical damage of the disk platter when the head of a hard disk scratches the surface of the disk. The grinding sound is therefore observed when this occurs. Firstly, turn off your computer and do not attempt to power it up. Consult a data recovery firm immediately and avoid dismantling the disk to repair the problem yourself. Operating without the correct tools and a clean environment can result in further extensive damage which complicates the recovery process.
b. Bad Sectors
Typically bad sectors are physical damage of a span of disk area. The clicking sound happens when the head attempts to read from the same area of disk multiple times due to failed attempts. This can also occur when the head is unable to calibrate with the media servo tracks due to the gradual weakening of the magnetic domains on the platter that causes the drive to reset continuously. If the conditions of the disk is not too bad, a standard process is to perform a disk surface scan. This helps to mark all bad sectors and prevent your system from writing new data on the damaged areas of the disk.
c. Mechanical Faults
Sometimes these sounds can be a result of a defective spindle, Read Write head or loose components. If you are still able to access data on the disk, you are strongly advised to backup all your data immediately. Your disk is close to demise. If your disk stops spinning after a period of clicking sound, you may wish to send your disk to a reputable data recovery firm to recover your data.
d. Virtual Memory Paging
When your physical memory is full, the drive may perform numerous virtual memory paging at the same time maintaining the system's operation. This will result in excessive disk activity. To deal with this problem you can increase the physical memory by adding more RAM into your computer or use a secondary hard disk to contain the swap files.
Further Notes
Hard disk drive occasionally produces a whirring sound when it searches for a file which is heavily fragmented. This is caused by the spinning platters as the read-write heads zoom back and forth to access the sectors where the data is stored. It is important to distinguish the whirling sound from the clicking sound. This whirring sound can be reduced by periodically defragmenting your hard drive. Defragmenting reorganizes the scattered data on the hard drive to make files and programs run faster. It relocates the commonly accessed files to the beginning of the hard disk where data can load at a faster rate.
For more information on Data Recovery Service, please visit our website at http://www.adrc.net/services/data-recovery/intro.htm
By: Sandy Tran
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
How To Protect Your Hard Disk Drive Against Electrostatic Shock
By: Ali Jamalan
If you’ve ever walked across a thick carpet and felt a shock after touching a grounded object (or shocked a friend on purpose) you know about the general effects of static electricity. But do you know how it works, or how damaging it can be to computer components? Although it may seem a bit silly and unimportant, “static shock” or Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) can cause significant damage to your hard drive. Comparable to a lighting bolt damaging a tree, ESD can act like a bomb exploding in your drive, blowing apart parts of the circuit board. But don’t worry – if you follow a few simple steps you can ensure you’re well protected and avoid letting a minor thing like ESD cause major problems.
WHAT IS ESD?
ESD or "static shock" is a portion of an imbalanced high voltage field on a non-conductive surface (e.g. your hand, the carpet, a screwdriver) that has just moved to a conductive surface in a rapid, uncontrolled fashion. "Static electricity" is the same portion of an imbalanced high voltage field on a nonconductive surface, but it has not yet reached the point of releasing it's electrons to equalize the imbalance between a conductor with a greater positive charge than itself. This imbalanced high voltage field will not "discharge" until conditions are right, that is until the number of electrons the charge grabs from around its location builds to a point in which no more electrons can be sustained. When a conductive surface of some type gets within 'jumping" distance, the process of equalising the electrical field is experienced.
Imbalanced high voltage fields are everywhere, constantly flowing over and around us, and people feel them because we are good conductors. The shock you sometimes get when touching a door knob after shuffling across the carpet is made in the same way a thunderstorm makes a lightning bolt.
Some Examples of Voltage:
• 3,000 volts - the average human can't feel voltage below this threshold.
• 8,000 volts - yawning and stretching with clothes on.
• 15-20,000 volts - shoving a plastic-coated box across the carpet with foot.
• 18,000 volts - getting up from a foam cushion on a nylon-covered couch.
• 35,000 volts - walking across a typical carpet.5
WHAT CAN ESD DO?
While ESD won’t kill you, it can definitely kill your computer components. While it takes an electrostatic discharge of 3,000 volts for you to feel a shock, much smaller charges, well below the threshold of human sensation, can and often do damage semiconductor devices. Many of the more sophisticated electronic components can be damaged by charges as low as 10 volts.
ESD damage occurs when a charge on a hand or tool finds a path of lesser resistance from itself to a drive. If the energy of that charge is larger than the amount of energy the drive can safely dissipate, damage may occur.
Especially sensitive to ESD are integrated circuits: processors, memory, cache chips and expansion cards. This damage can be immediate, resulting in melting, junction breakdown or oxidation. Even scarier, you could electrocute your drive and never even know it – the effects of ESD are difficult to trace and often do not affect the drive until several days to several months after the ESD occurrence.
PREVENTION TIPS
Luckily, a few simple steps can help you avoid ESD damage and promote long life for your disk drive.
• Keep your drive in an ESD bag until you handle it – an ESD bag is specially designed to prevent ESD.
• Always wear an ESD wrist strap grounded to an unpainted surface on the chassis of your computer.
• If a wrist strap is unavailable, touch an unpainted surface on the chassis of your computer before handling your drive.
• Only touch the connector pins on your drive with the proper cabling ends or jumpers. Never use a bare finger or non-insulated tool.
• Protect your drive from sources of high voltage power such as fans or vacuum cleaners.
• Never try to plug a power or data cable into a drive unless power to the box is completely off.
Finally, by controlling the temperature, you can also help limit ESD. By increasing the relative humidity of the room where the computer is located, you can greatly reduce build-up of ESD. Static builds up more readily in dry environments than in moist ones; this is why you get zapped much more often in the winter time in northern climates than in summer.
So what happens if by some freak accident your hard drive experiences ESD and your data is lost? Don’t panic, because your best solution is only a phone call away. Many ‘Data Recovery’ companies have experience dealing with hard drives damaged by ESD and will apply the most advanced technology in the industry to perform data recovery. Contacting these immediately upon discovering ESD damage is the best option to keep you and your clients working and productive.
Knowing that ESD exists is the first step in prevention. By following ESD handling procedures and understanding the dynamics behind “static electricity,” you can ensure that working with a hard drive is never a shocking experience.
Article Source: http://www.articlewheel.com
If you’ve ever walked across a thick carpet and felt a shock after touching a grounded object (or shocked a friend on purpose) you know about the general effects of static electricity. But do you know how it works, or how damaging it can be to computer components? Although it may seem a bit silly and unimportant, “static shock” or Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) can cause significant damage to your hard drive. Comparable to a lighting bolt damaging a tree, ESD can act like a bomb exploding in your drive, blowing apart parts of the circuit board. But don’t worry – if you follow a few simple steps you can ensure you’re well protected and avoid letting a minor thing like ESD cause major problems.
WHAT IS ESD?
ESD or "static shock" is a portion of an imbalanced high voltage field on a non-conductive surface (e.g. your hand, the carpet, a screwdriver) that has just moved to a conductive surface in a rapid, uncontrolled fashion. "Static electricity" is the same portion of an imbalanced high voltage field on a nonconductive surface, but it has not yet reached the point of releasing it's electrons to equalize the imbalance between a conductor with a greater positive charge than itself. This imbalanced high voltage field will not "discharge" until conditions are right, that is until the number of electrons the charge grabs from around its location builds to a point in which no more electrons can be sustained. When a conductive surface of some type gets within 'jumping" distance, the process of equalising the electrical field is experienced.
Imbalanced high voltage fields are everywhere, constantly flowing over and around us, and people feel them because we are good conductors. The shock you sometimes get when touching a door knob after shuffling across the carpet is made in the same way a thunderstorm makes a lightning bolt.
Some Examples of Voltage:
• 3,000 volts - the average human can't feel voltage below this threshold.
• 8,000 volts - yawning and stretching with clothes on.
• 15-20,000 volts - shoving a plastic-coated box across the carpet with foot.
• 18,000 volts - getting up from a foam cushion on a nylon-covered couch.
• 35,000 volts - walking across a typical carpet.5
WHAT CAN ESD DO?
While ESD won’t kill you, it can definitely kill your computer components. While it takes an electrostatic discharge of 3,000 volts for you to feel a shock, much smaller charges, well below the threshold of human sensation, can and often do damage semiconductor devices. Many of the more sophisticated electronic components can be damaged by charges as low as 10 volts.
ESD damage occurs when a charge on a hand or tool finds a path of lesser resistance from itself to a drive. If the energy of that charge is larger than the amount of energy the drive can safely dissipate, damage may occur.
Especially sensitive to ESD are integrated circuits: processors, memory, cache chips and expansion cards. This damage can be immediate, resulting in melting, junction breakdown or oxidation. Even scarier, you could electrocute your drive and never even know it – the effects of ESD are difficult to trace and often do not affect the drive until several days to several months after the ESD occurrence.
PREVENTION TIPS
Luckily, a few simple steps can help you avoid ESD damage and promote long life for your disk drive.
• Keep your drive in an ESD bag until you handle it – an ESD bag is specially designed to prevent ESD.
• Always wear an ESD wrist strap grounded to an unpainted surface on the chassis of your computer.
• If a wrist strap is unavailable, touch an unpainted surface on the chassis of your computer before handling your drive.
• Only touch the connector pins on your drive with the proper cabling ends or jumpers. Never use a bare finger or non-insulated tool.
• Protect your drive from sources of high voltage power such as fans or vacuum cleaners.
• Never try to plug a power or data cable into a drive unless power to the box is completely off.
Finally, by controlling the temperature, you can also help limit ESD. By increasing the relative humidity of the room where the computer is located, you can greatly reduce build-up of ESD. Static builds up more readily in dry environments than in moist ones; this is why you get zapped much more often in the winter time in northern climates than in summer.
So what happens if by some freak accident your hard drive experiences ESD and your data is lost? Don’t panic, because your best solution is only a phone call away. Many ‘Data Recovery’ companies have experience dealing with hard drives damaged by ESD and will apply the most advanced technology in the industry to perform data recovery. Contacting these immediately upon discovering ESD damage is the best option to keep you and your clients working and productive.
Knowing that ESD exists is the first step in prevention. By following ESD handling procedures and understanding the dynamics behind “static electricity,” you can ensure that working with a hard drive is never a shocking experience.
Article Source: http://www.articlewheel.com
How To Perform A Full Backup Of Your Hard Drive Fast
By: otis
We all know that we should back up our system as soon
as possible.But if you're like most of us,you will get to it
tomorrow.The problem is that tomorrow rarely ever comes
until you experience a serious computer failure and then
its too late.
Taking the time to backup your data or entire hard drive
is not as painstaking as it may seem.And the rewards of
doing so will be great should your system experience a
crash.
If you have Windows XP you will need to install the new
Windows backup utility from the Windows XP cdrom.Just
place the WinXP cdrom in your cdrom drive and locate
the line D:\VALEADD\MSFT\NTBACKUP.
Here you see the first letter as D but if your optical drive
have a different drive letter,exchange the D with your
drive's letter.To install the utility,click on the file named
NTBackup.msi.
The backup utility will be installed to the system tools
group.Click Start,All Programs,Accessories,System
Tools,and Backup.There is a neat wizard that will walk
you through the backup process.
WinXP's backup utility will backup your entire hard
drive and will make a recovery disk to boot.
One neat third party backup software you can try is
NewTech InfoSystems at http://www.ntius.com where
you can download their trial version and put it to use
for 30 days.And if its your cup of tea,the full version
will run you about $79.95
You should back up your entire hard drive when you
perform your first backup.After that it is best to perform
an Incremental backup.This type of backup only allow
you to backup files that have changed since your last
performed backup.
Differential Backups copy changed files and files that
have been added since you last did your entire backup.
This type of backup is more detailed than incremental
backups and is easier to restore.
You can backup your files on cdroms and have the files
compressed to save both space and backup time.WinXP
will compress folders,subfolders,and files during backup.
You can purchase compression software that will do the
same saving you cdrom storage space.The compressed
files are automatically uncompressed once they are
restored unto your hard drive.
You can also use a second hard drive as your backup
storage device.We use two backup hard drives to be
certain Ultimate PC Repair is up and running 24/7.
You can either purchase an internal hard drive in install
it to your ide cable or you may want to purchase an
external hard drive that connects to your Universal Serial
Bus or USB Port.
The advantage of the external drives is that they have very
large amount of storage space,transfer data fast,and can
be moved from your computer to any other computer.
We use the Western Digital 170 Gigabyte External Hard
Drive and we simply bounce it around to either one of our
four computers with the greatest of ease.
You may also consider online services for backing up
your data.If you lose all your backup data,say due it a
natural disaster such as a flood,your online data is
right there waiting for you.
Another advantage of online backups is that you can
access,upload,or download your data from any location.
It is best to use high speed internet access if you're
considering online data storage.
One such online backup service is Istorage located at
http://www.iomega.com/istorage and charges from
$2.49 a month for 50MBs to $17.95 a month for a big
1,000MBs of storage.
Or you can check out FilesAnywhere located at the url
http://www.filesanywhere.com
Still another online service to try is CapSure located at
http://www.capsure.com
Backup your system now in one way or another if you
have not done so.If you have critical data that you simply
cannot due without,take the time to invest in a backup
device or one of the many online backup services.
Stop and perform those backups as soon as possible.
You will be thankful you did should something go wrong
with your computer.Its always better to be safe than sorry.
Article Source: http://www.articlewheel.com
We all know that we should back up our system as soon
as possible.But if you're like most of us,you will get to it
tomorrow.The problem is that tomorrow rarely ever comes
until you experience a serious computer failure and then
its too late.
Taking the time to backup your data or entire hard drive
is not as painstaking as it may seem.And the rewards of
doing so will be great should your system experience a
crash.
If you have Windows XP you will need to install the new
Windows backup utility from the Windows XP cdrom.Just
place the WinXP cdrom in your cdrom drive and locate
the line D:\VALEADD\MSFT\NTBACKUP.
Here you see the first letter as D but if your optical drive
have a different drive letter,exchange the D with your
drive's letter.To install the utility,click on the file named
NTBackup.msi.
The backup utility will be installed to the system tools
group.Click Start,All Programs,Accessories,System
Tools,and Backup.There is a neat wizard that will walk
you through the backup process.
WinXP's backup utility will backup your entire hard
drive and will make a recovery disk to boot.
One neat third party backup software you can try is
NewTech InfoSystems at http://www.ntius.com where
you can download their trial version and put it to use
for 30 days.And if its your cup of tea,the full version
will run you about $79.95
You should back up your entire hard drive when you
perform your first backup.After that it is best to perform
an Incremental backup.This type of backup only allow
you to backup files that have changed since your last
performed backup.
Differential Backups copy changed files and files that
have been added since you last did your entire backup.
This type of backup is more detailed than incremental
backups and is easier to restore.
You can backup your files on cdroms and have the files
compressed to save both space and backup time.WinXP
will compress folders,subfolders,and files during backup.
You can purchase compression software that will do the
same saving you cdrom storage space.The compressed
files are automatically uncompressed once they are
restored unto your hard drive.
You can also use a second hard drive as your backup
storage device.We use two backup hard drives to be
certain Ultimate PC Repair is up and running 24/7.
You can either purchase an internal hard drive in install
it to your ide cable or you may want to purchase an
external hard drive that connects to your Universal Serial
Bus or USB Port.
The advantage of the external drives is that they have very
large amount of storage space,transfer data fast,and can
be moved from your computer to any other computer.
We use the Western Digital 170 Gigabyte External Hard
Drive and we simply bounce it around to either one of our
four computers with the greatest of ease.
You may also consider online services for backing up
your data.If you lose all your backup data,say due it a
natural disaster such as a flood,your online data is
right there waiting for you.
Another advantage of online backups is that you can
access,upload,or download your data from any location.
It is best to use high speed internet access if you're
considering online data storage.
One such online backup service is Istorage located at
http://www.iomega.com/istorage and charges from
$2.49 a month for 50MBs to $17.95 a month for a big
1,000MBs of storage.
Or you can check out FilesAnywhere located at the url
http://www.filesanywhere.com
Still another online service to try is CapSure located at
http://www.capsure.com
Backup your system now in one way or another if you
have not done so.If you have critical data that you simply
cannot due without,take the time to invest in a backup
device or one of the many online backup services.
Stop and perform those backups as soon as possible.
You will be thankful you did should something go wrong
with your computer.Its always better to be safe than sorry.
Article Source: http://www.articlewheel.com
Data Recovery Services: What To Do When Your Hard Drive Fails
According to most people, there are two types of hard drives: those that have failed and those that will fail. But for folks who use Data Recovery Services, there is a third type of hard drive: one that does not fail.
A hard drive is the most vulnerable part of a computer; it has moving gears and is hence prone to wear and tear. So when you need hard disk data recovery, you must deeply consider the service and practice of the various repair companies in your area. A company that has been around the block more than a few times is ideal.
But more importantly, experts that ask questions and appreciate your situation are a necessity; companies that approach your needs in an impersonal way simply cannot diagnose your computer problems properly. For example, an expert who is on hand to ask specific questions about your hard disk will know whether or not to go about repair with mere software or through more professional means.
There are a variety of problems that lead to hard drive failure. If the hard drive is part of a mirror set, mirrored stripe set, or stripe set with uniformity, then all you will need to do is replace the drive – any lost data will mechanically regenerate.
A local service company can handle all your concerns though. Fixing a hard drive yourself is a tedious process, requiring lots of time and even research. Your next-door neighbor might be a computer geek, but that doesn’t mean his or her advice is remotely accurate. After all, a computer can fail for many different reasons and they are not always easy to pinpoint.
The ideal solution is usually to replace a failed drive and re-establish your backup. This does not always work though, as many people find the necessary backup is outdated or sometimes, non-existent.
If a hard drive is beyond repair, data recovery is obviously not an option. So prepare for unexpected charges; you might have to buy a whole new drive. In this case, just be careful when replacing it, as you don’t want to lose your data.
By: Stu Pearson -
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
A hard drive is the most vulnerable part of a computer; it has moving gears and is hence prone to wear and tear. So when you need hard disk data recovery, you must deeply consider the service and practice of the various repair companies in your area. A company that has been around the block more than a few times is ideal.
But more importantly, experts that ask questions and appreciate your situation are a necessity; companies that approach your needs in an impersonal way simply cannot diagnose your computer problems properly. For example, an expert who is on hand to ask specific questions about your hard disk will know whether or not to go about repair with mere software or through more professional means.
There are a variety of problems that lead to hard drive failure. If the hard drive is part of a mirror set, mirrored stripe set, or stripe set with uniformity, then all you will need to do is replace the drive – any lost data will mechanically regenerate.
A local service company can handle all your concerns though. Fixing a hard drive yourself is a tedious process, requiring lots of time and even research. Your next-door neighbor might be a computer geek, but that doesn’t mean his or her advice is remotely accurate. After all, a computer can fail for many different reasons and they are not always easy to pinpoint.
The ideal solution is usually to replace a failed drive and re-establish your backup. This does not always work though, as many people find the necessary backup is outdated or sometimes, non-existent.
If a hard drive is beyond repair, data recovery is obviously not an option. So prepare for unexpected charges; you might have to buy a whole new drive. In this case, just be careful when replacing it, as you don’t want to lose your data.
By: Stu Pearson -
Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com
How Easy Is Recovering The Data In Your Hard Drive?
By:
I recently had my hard drive crash. I don't mean that windows decided to be bitchy and make me reinstall itself, It's been a long time since I've been idiot enough to run Microsoft programs, thank you very much. I mean that my hard drive, spinning away quietly at it's ungodly speeds, suddenly emitted a scratching, screeching sound which could only be described as sickening, and immediately wiped out vast swathes of data like some primordial plague lord reaper scorching the continent of Europe with the bubonic. It was hellish, but nothing compared to the misery which began once I hired a hard disk data recovery service.
Data recovery, as the techie patiently explained over the phone to me, is not always a simple or straight forward affair. To complete a successful recovery can either be a simple matter or a complex one, and either expensive, or ridiculously expensive, depending on the severity of the problem. Sometimes, the only problem is that something is not working with the loading mechanism of the hard drive. There are dozens of programs and macros which have to load to enable the computer to boot successfully, and if any one of these becomes cross linked, or has any error at all with one of it's files, it can potentially cause a crash and necessitate a hard disk data recovery. Fortunately, this is the easy kind, it is even possible to perform the recovery yourself with a little know how and an extra hard drive. Simply slave boot the hard drive to another one, and extract the data off of it, easy as pie.
If you actually scratch the disk's surface, however, hard disk data recovery becomes a much more difficult and problematic affair. Often there are several solutions. One of them is to do a simple software upgrade, where you pull as much data off of the hard drive as you physically can, and hope the scratch hasn't taken place in a spot where it ruined too many of your files. If the hard drive has been physically wrecked, that is, if it is badly scratched and won't spin without doing further damage, or at all, then it must be taken apart physically, and the plates must be analyzed by sophisticated, expensive machinery. And that is where hard disk data recovery can get into the range of thousands of dollars, don't get frustrated, talk it easy and things will go alot smoother.
Article Source: http://www.articlewheel.com
I recently had my hard drive crash. I don't mean that windows decided to be bitchy and make me reinstall itself, It's been a long time since I've been idiot enough to run Microsoft programs, thank you very much. I mean that my hard drive, spinning away quietly at it's ungodly speeds, suddenly emitted a scratching, screeching sound which could only be described as sickening, and immediately wiped out vast swathes of data like some primordial plague lord reaper scorching the continent of Europe with the bubonic. It was hellish, but nothing compared to the misery which began once I hired a hard disk data recovery service.
Data recovery, as the techie patiently explained over the phone to me, is not always a simple or straight forward affair. To complete a successful recovery can either be a simple matter or a complex one, and either expensive, or ridiculously expensive, depending on the severity of the problem. Sometimes, the only problem is that something is not working with the loading mechanism of the hard drive. There are dozens of programs and macros which have to load to enable the computer to boot successfully, and if any one of these becomes cross linked, or has any error at all with one of it's files, it can potentially cause a crash and necessitate a hard disk data recovery. Fortunately, this is the easy kind, it is even possible to perform the recovery yourself with a little know how and an extra hard drive. Simply slave boot the hard drive to another one, and extract the data off of it, easy as pie.
If you actually scratch the disk's surface, however, hard disk data recovery becomes a much more difficult and problematic affair. Often there are several solutions. One of them is to do a simple software upgrade, where you pull as much data off of the hard drive as you physically can, and hope the scratch hasn't taken place in a spot where it ruined too many of your files. If the hard drive has been physically wrecked, that is, if it is badly scratched and won't spin without doing further damage, or at all, then it must be taken apart physically, and the plates must be analyzed by sophisticated, expensive machinery. And that is where hard disk data recovery can get into the range of thousands of dollars, don't get frustrated, talk it easy and things will go alot smoother.
Article Source: http://www.articlewheel.com
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