Frequently
Asked Data Recovery Questions
Q.: My drive is making a ticking, clicking,
or banging noise. What should I do?
A.: Power-down the device. You need help!! Attempts to power the
device WILL CAUSE ADDITIONAL DAMAGE!!!.
Q.: My hard drive doesn't spin up. What should
I do?
A.: Over the years there has been a lot of
bad advise circulating regarding fixes for this type of problem.
Including "smacking" or "hitting" the computer
or device until it runs. These actions are pure and simple computer
abuse. In reality these actions can result in misalignment of the
head assembly and/or ripping the head off of the arm assembly and/or
damage to the recording surface. These devices are delicate instruments
and damage WILL occur if abused.
Q.: What can I do to overcome an "HDD
Controller Failure", "General Failure Reading Device..."
or "SAD MAC" error?
A.: Attempt to boot the computer from a bootable
floppy disk or CD-Rom. If the computer boots, attempt to access
the hard drive in question. If the unit is accessible, attempt to
backup the data to another device. If the computer won't boot or
the drive is not accessible, seek professional assistance. Do NOT
run utility programs, save data or add programs. Do NOT use backup
programs to attempt to save your data. They all write to or add
files to your hard drive during the back-up process.
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Q.: I'm ready to upgrade my computer. Should
I do something with the data before I do?
A.: Yes. Backup the data and verify that it
can be restored before you upgrade any hardware or software.
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Q.: My computer is reporting "Sector
Not Found Error Reading Drive". Should I run a chkdsk.exe or
scandisk.exe?
A.: Attempt to boot the computer from a bootable
floppy disk or CD-Rom. If the computer boots, attempt to access
the hard drive in question. If the unit is accessible, attempt to
backup the data to another device. If the computer won't boot or
the drive is not accessible, seek professional assistance. Do NOT
run utility programs, save data or add programs. Do NOT use backup
programs to attempt to save your data. They all write to or add
files to your hard drive during the back-up process.
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Q.: The partition has been deleted from my
hard drive. What should I do?
A.: Standard algorithms employed by utility
programs do not always provide satisfactory results in this area.
In AS-FAILED condition this is usually recoverable with all the
original directory structure in tact. Do NOT run utility programs,
save data or add programs. Do NOT use backup programs to attempt
to save your data. They all write to or add files to your hard drive
during the back-up process.
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