The Comprehensive Guide to Data Backup Hard Drives

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
class="articleContents">

Figuring out which data backup systems to use to secure your files and programs is a challenging process, but this series of guides can help you easily select products and solutions for backing up and storing data.

Any computer user should know that backing up your data is an essential thing to do, as a failsafe against computer crashes, memory wipes, or viruses. If your computer somehow becomes corrupted or compromised by a virus or a mechanical failure, it is possible to access all of your data from where it is backed up. Using hard drives to back up your computer's data is a great way to make sure that no matter what happens to your computer, all of your files and programs can still be accessed from that hard drive.

External Hard Drive Reviews

click to enlargeKnowing what type and which brand of external hard drive you should buy is not a clear cut decision. There are many products available with different features across a broad spectrum of prices, and figuring out which one is the best can take some research. Thankfully, these reviews and round ups examine a number of different types of external hard drives, as well as a large number of specific hard drives ideal for backing up data.

Seagate Versus Hitachi: Hard Drive Brand Comparison External Hard Drive Solutions Top Three Small Business External Hard Drives Western Digital Versus Iomega Hard Drive Solutions Desktop Versus Portable Hard Drives ioSafe Solo External Hard Drive Review Seagate BlackArmour External Hard Drive Review Top Portable External Hard Drives for Mac Top 5 Self Powered External Hard Drives Samsung G2 External Hard Drive Review Transcend Storejet 25F External Hard Drive Review Iomega Versus LaCie Data Storage Comparison //This is for the ATF unitTmnAdsense.display(options = {'adFontFamily':'Arial','titleFontSize':15,'titleDecoration':'Underline','titleFontColor':'0153a5','titlePaddingTop':5,'titleMarginBottom':1,'descFontSize':12,'linkPaddingTop':8,'linkFontColor':'666666','adsbyColor':'333333','adstyle':'twolineurltop','adsbyposition':'bottomright','width':640,'ad_width':500,'max_ads':3,'adsOnRow':1,'row_margin':16,'channel_id':'0736364053'});Hard Drive Partitioning Guides

Partitioning a hard drive is a good idea if you want to allocate memory to certain categories of files, and can be a great way to organize your backup hard drives. These articles will walk you through how to partition a hard drive, and the best software available for external and internal hard drives.

How to Create a Partition on an External Hard Drive How to Partition a Hard Disk in Windows 7 Top 5 Partition Programs for External Hard Drives How to Partition a Hard Drive in Windows Vista How to Delete Partitions in Windows Vista Creating Hard Drive Partition in Windows XP External Hard Drive Formatting Tips

Formatting a hard drive refers to wiping away all of the files stored on the drive so that it can essentially work as good as new. Wiping an older hard drive that has stored data on it for a while is a great idea because it will allow the hard drive and any computers connected to the drive to work much faster than before.

How to Reformat a Hard Drive How to Reformat a SSD in Windows 7 Why Can't I Reformat my External Hard Drive? How to Format a Hard Drive with the NTFS File Format How to Install an Unformatted Hard Drive The Best Ways to Erase a Hard Drive Recovering Hard Drive Data

Unfortunately, hard drives used to back up data can sometimes become corrupted, and the data is erased or otherwise unusable. Thankfully, even if the hard drive has become corrupted, it can still be used once you reformat the drive. But what about the data that was on the disk? Can you still access it even after the disk has been wiped? In fact, you can, and these articles can help walk you through the process of data recovery in external hard drives, and set up recovery drives to back up your data.

Top 7 Free Backup Programs for Windows 7 How to Recover Data from an External USB Hard Drive How to Perform an External Hard Drive File Recovery Data Recovery Tips After a Computer Crash How to Create a Windows Vista Recovery Disk How to Create a Bootable Recovery Disk in Windows 7 How to Create a Recovery and Utility Disk How to Recover Programs from Crash External Hard Drives Hard Drive Installation Guides

After you have purchased a hard drive, you then have to install it to the computer that you are going to use it with to back up data and files. Adding a new hard drive is not overly complicated, but it is important to know what you are doing to avoid the risk of ruining the computer or hard drive through faulty installation.

How to Install a Hard Drive How to Install a Second Hard Drive on Your Computer How to Add a New Hard Drive in Windows XP Performance Testing - Install SATA Hard Drives Internally or Externally? How to Install a SATA Hard Drive How to Add an External Hard Drive to Time Machine on a Mac How to Install an Unformated Hard Drive in Windows Vista/7 Always Back Up on a Hard Drive

These guides contain valuable information regarding how to back up your data on hard drives, and hopefully convinced you that a hard drive is the best place to store your data. With all of your important files saved on an external drive, there is very little risk that your information will ever be lost.

ReferencesImage Credit: Canada Computers, http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=15_210_212&item_id=037031&sid=sc1l8k8vr7dasspfrn21hi9d52 Next Article ?#sharevertical{background-color:#f5f5f5;border:1px solid #d4dadc;width:100px}#sharehorizontal{width:630px;margin-top:15px}#sharehorizontalbox{background-color:#f5f5f5;border:1px solid #d4dadc;height:50px;margin-top:10px}hr{border:0 none;border-bottom:1px dotted #b5b5b5;margin-bottom:10px;margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px}.box,.box2{cursor:pointer;cursor:hand}.box2{float:left}div.box:hover,div.box2:hover{opacity:.75}.fleft{background-repeat:no-repeat;height:32px;width:100px;margin-bottom:10px}div.fbButton{background-image:url("http://s.brighthub.com/s/netstorage/sharethis_32x32_sprite.png");background-position:0 0}div.twitterButton{background-image:url("http://s.brighthub.com/s/netstorage/sharethis_32x32_sprite.png");background-position:0 -32px}div.linkedinButton{background-image:url("http://s.brighthub.com/s/netstorage/sharethis_32x32_sprite.png");background-position:0 -64px}div.stumbleuponButton{background-image:url("http://s.brighthub.com/s/netstorage/sharethis_32x32_sprite.png");background-position:0 -96px}div.emailButton{background-image:url("http://s.brighthub.com/s/netstorage/sharethis_32x32_sprite.png");background-position:0 -128px}div.sharethisButton{background-image:url("http://s.brighthub.com/s/netstorage/sharethis_32x32_sprite.png");background-position:0 -160px}.fleft .countbox{margin-left:40px;height:25px;background-image:url("http://s.brighthub.com/s/netstorage/countBubble.png");background-repeat:no-repeat;background-position:0 4px;color:#727272}.fleft span{display:block;padding-left:18px;padding-top:6px;font-family:"lucida grande","trebuchet ms","myriad pro",arial,sans-serif;font-size:11px}#sharethiscount,#sharethiscount2{text-indent:-5px}#commentsFlag{float:right}.cfLink{color:#888;text-decoration:none}.cfLink:hover{color:#000;text-decoration:underline}.cfSpacer{color:#ccc;margin-left:5px;margin-right:5px}Comments|FlagcommentsURL="http://"+location.host+location.pathname+"#comments";flagURL="http://"+location.host+"/clienttools/problem/?postid="+articleInfo.postId;commentsFlagHTML=document.getElementById("commentsFlag").innerHTML;commentsFlagHTML=commentsFlagHTML.replace(/commentsURL/gi,commentsURL);commentsFlagHTML=commentsFlagHTML.replace(/flagURL/gi,flagURL);document.getElementById("commentsFlag").innerHTML=commentsFlagHTML;document.getElementById("horizontal2").innerHTML=commentsFlagHTML; We Also Recommend... How to Create a Bootable Recovery Disc in Windows 7 How to Perform a Clean Install of Windows 7 How to Format an External Hard Drive with the NTFS File Format Can I Move an Installed Program to Another Hard Drive? How to Get a Detailed File Fragmentation Report in Vista or Windows 7//Change the values below for each configuratorvar page_pc_configName = "Laptop";var clickURL = "http://www.brighthub.com/content/laptopconfig.aspx";var showLog = true; //Define adCreative Below, if adding new creative be sure to use a new name for reporting purposesvar productConfig = {"adCreative": [{"name": "Laptop1_slideUp","displayType": "slideUp","divContainer": "slider1"},{"name": "Laptop2_slideUp","displayType": "slideUp","divContainer": "slider2"},{"name": "Laptop2_BOA","displayType": "display","divContainer": "display2"}]}.slider1 {background-color: #4789b3;border-bottom:2px solid #004337;display: none;position:fixed;left: 0;width: 100%;height: 139px;z-index: 100001;}.slider1 .banner {background: url("http://www2.brighthub.com/configurators/laptop/laptop_adcreative_banner.jpg") repeat-x scroll left top;display: block;height: 100%;overflow: hidden;width: 980px;margin:8px auto; position:relative;}.slider1 .click {float:left;width:650px;height:120px;cursor: pointer; cursor: hand;}.slider1 .click2 {font-family:arial;color:#fff;font-size:12px;float:right;width:200px;height:20px;bottom:0px;cursor: pointer; cursor: hand;margin-top:100px;margin-right:120px;}Not interested? 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Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Computer Hard Drives

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AppId is over the quota
class="articleContents">

Learn how to replace, upgrade, and repair hard drives in this comprehensive guide to computer storage.

The hard drive is where all the data is stored inside your computer. If it goes out, so does the system. Although computer systems are slowly adopting the more expensive SSD (solid state drive) option, there are still plenty using the standard mechanical drive. The problem with these types of drives is that they have more moving parts than any other component of the computer, and as such they tend to wear out more quickly and have more problems. Unless you've made an effort to back up your files and keep recovery options on hand, it could spell disaster if you turn on your PC one day and hear a clicking sound accompanied by a message on screen about your hard drive not being readable or the operating system not being found.

New Hard Drives

Whether you are replacing the hard drive in your system or adding a secondary one for data storage, there are some things you need to know. For example, some sites like Newegg.com sell OEM hard drives that are unformatted, and Windows won't know what to do with them until they have been initialized and then formatted. Another thing to consider is when you need to replace a laptop hard drive because those types of machines only support one internal drive at a time. With computers, thankfully there is usually more than one way to approach some issues, but not without a little technical know-how or spending some money.

//This is for the ATF unitTmnAdsense.display(options = {'adFontFamily':'Arial','titleFontSize':15,'titleDecoration':'Underline','titleFontColor':'0153a5','titlePaddingTop':5,'titleMarginBottom':1,'descFontSize':12,'linkPaddingTop':8,'linkFontColor':'666666','adsbyColor':'333333','adstyle':'twolineurltop','adsbyposition':'bottomright','width':640,'ad_width':500,'max_ads':3,'adsOnRow':1,'row_margin':16,'channel_id':'0736364053'});

click to enlarge

New Hard Drive Guide How to Install an Unformatted Hard Drive in Vista and Windows 7 How To Install a Serial ATA (SATA) Hard Drive Installing a Slave Disk Drive Hard Drive Upgrades for your Netbook How to Clone a Laptop Hard Drive with Acronis True Image The Best Ways to Erase Your Hard Drive The Best External Hard Drive Enclosures Upgrading Your Laptop with a New Hard Drive How to Clone Windows 7 Installation to New PC or Hard Drive How to Perform a Clean Install of Windows 7 How to Format an External Hard Drive with the NTFS File Format Solid State Drives Explained

Maintenance and Troubleshooting

You can't run a car constantly without eventually changing the oil, nor can you expect your PC to run indefinitely without doing a tune-up from time to time. Other than the occasional bit of dusting, most computer maintenance is really hard drive maintenance. For example, defragging the hard drive will optimize free space and reduce file corruption and can prolong the life of the drive. A little bit of time spent keeping your drive fresh can also make for increased performance, and who wouldn't want their computer running as fast as possible?

Instant Defrag Windows Using Diskeeper 2011 Auslogic Disk Defrag: A Quick and Free Way to Speed Up Your Hard Disk How to Get a Detailed File Fragmentation Report in Vista or Windows 7 Windows 7 Check Disk for Consistency Eight Tips to Protect Your Computer Hard Drive Simple Tips for Faster Access to Your Hard Disk Reclaiming Your Hard Drive’s Space and Speed Troubleshooting USB Hard Drive Format Errors Motherboard Not Recognizing Hard Drive? What to Do if You Can't Run Check Disk Using CHKDSK on Windows 7

Recovery Software and Techniques

Hard drives are sensitive devices that can be irreparably damaged with the slightest bump or electrical interference. If your laptop won't boot up after you've dropped it, then chances are you did something to damage the hard drive. Because they have motors and moving parts inside, hard drives also wear out over time and that's when they start having trouble reading and writing files. Thankfully, a variety of utilities are available for recovering data from damaged or corrupted hard drives. You can even get back files that have been deleted.

click to enlarge

Detecting Hard Disk Failure Before It Happens Data Recovery Tips Following a Computer Crash Top Five Free Hard Drive Recovery Tools Top Five Tools for Corrupted Hard Drive Recovery Bringing Your Hard Drive's Data Back from the Dead How to Recover Data from an Overwritten Hard Drive Techniques for Hard Drive Recovery After Overwrite How to Scan a Reformatted Hard Drive to Recover Files How to Recover Data from an External USB Hard Drive Step by Step Guide to External Hard Drive File Recovery How to Use a SATA Hard Drive Enclosure for Recovery Hard Disk Dead? The Data Can Be Saved!

Brand-Specific Help

Not all drives are the same, and sometimes special utilities are needed to help with the configuration and file recovery for certain brands. If you have a specific model hard disk that is having trouble, you may need less generalized help information. Sometimes, a simple download from the manufacturer will contain the diagnosis tools you need. If you're in the market for a new drive, perhaps you could use a little help in figuring out which brand is best and you would like to read some comparisons.

Hitachi Hard Drive Data Recovery Methods Troubleshoot a Gateway Computer Hard Drive Problem Dell Computer Won't Boot with USB Drive Installed HP Pavilion: Getting Files From an Old Hard Drive Sony Vaio Not Recognizing Your Hard Drive? What to Do If a Hard Drive Is Not Showing Up on Your HP Laptop Western Digital vs. Seagate Internal Hard Drives Western Digital vs. Seagate External Hard Drives Using Seagate SeaTools Hard Drive Diagnostics Utility Western Digital vs Maxtor Comparing External Storage Options from WD and Iomega

Dealing with hard drives can be a hassle although sometimes 'plug and play' actually works. If you need more advice or help, or if you have any comments about these articles, please use the feedback section below.

ReferencesImage credit: Hard drive, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_hard-drive.jpg, Public DomainImage credit: Red Plaster, http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1114174 Next Article ? We Also Recommend... Choosing an Operating System for Your New Build Installing a Keyboard: Shouldn't It Just Work? Windows Service Hardening Bright Hub Review of Tracks Eraser Pro 8.5 Which Backup Software and Method is Best?//Change the values below for each configuratorvar page_pc_configName = "Laptop";var clickURL = "http://www.brighthub.com/content/laptopconfig.aspx";var showLog = true; //Define adCreative Below, if adding new creative be sure to use a new name for reporting purposesvar productConfig = {"adCreative": [{"name": "A","displayType": "slideDown","divContainer": "slider"},{"name": "B","displayType": "slideUp","divContainer": "slider"}]}.slider {background-color: #4789b3;border-bottom:2px solid #004337;display: none;position:fixed;left: 0;width: 100%;height: 139px;z-index: 100001;}.banner {background: url("http://www2.brighthub.com/configurators/laptop/laptop_adcreative_banner.jpg") repeat-x scroll left top;display: block;height: 100%;overflow: hidden;width: 980px;margin:8px auto; position:relative;}.click {float:left;width:650px;height:120px;cursor: pointer; cursor: hand;}.click2 {font-family:arial;color:#fff;font-size:12px;float:right;width:200px;height:20px;bottom:0px;cursor: pointer; cursor: hand;margin-top:100px;margin-right:120px;}Not interested? Hide this message

Best Laptops

The Comprehensive Guide to Data Backup Hard Drives

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AppId is over the quota
class="articleContents">

Figuring out which data backup systems to use to secure your files and programs is a challenging process, but this series of guides can help you easily select products and solutions for backing up and storing data.

Any computer user should know that backing up your data is an essential thing to do, as a failsafe against computer crashes, memory wipes, or viruses. If your computer somehow becomes corrupted or compromised by a virus or a mechanical failure, it is possible to access all of your data from where it is backed up. Using hard drives to back up your computer's data is a great way to make sure that no matter what happens to your computer, all of your files and programs can still be accessed from that hard drive.

External Hard Drive Reviews

click to enlargeKnowing what type and which brand of external hard drive you should buy is not a clear cut decision. There are many products available with different features across a broad spectrum of prices, and figuring out which one is the best can take some research. Thankfully, these reviews and round ups examine a number of different types of external hard drives, as well as a large number of specific hard drives ideal for backing up data.

Seagate Versus Hitachi: Hard Drive Brand Comparison External Hard Drive Solutions Top Three Small Business External Hard Drives Western Digital Versus Iomega Hard Drive Solutions Desktop Versus Portable Hard Drives ioSafe Solo External Hard Drive Review Seagate BlackArmour External Hard Drive Review Top Portable External Hard Drives for Mac Top 5 Self Powered External Hard Drives Samsung G2 External Hard Drive Review Transcend Storejet 25F External Hard Drive Review Iomega Versus LaCie Data Storage Comparison //This is for the ATF unitTmnAdsense.display(options = {'adFontFamily':'Arial','titleFontSize':15,'titleDecoration':'Underline','titleFontColor':'0153a5','titlePaddingTop':5,'titleMarginBottom':1,'descFontSize':12,'linkPaddingTop':8,'linkFontColor':'666666','adsbyColor':'333333','adstyle':'twolineurltop','adsbyposition':'bottomright','width':640,'ad_width':500,'max_ads':3,'adsOnRow':1,'row_margin':16,'channel_id':'0736364053'});Hard Drive Partitioning Guides

Partitioning a hard drive is a good idea if you want to allocate memory to certain categories of files, and can be a great way to organize your backup hard drives. These articles will walk you through how to partition a hard drive, and the best software available for external and internal hard drives.

How to Create a Partition on an External Hard Drive How to Partition a Hard Disk in Windows 7 Top 5 Partition Programs for External Hard Drives How to Partition a Hard Drive in Windows Vista How to Delete Partitions in Windows Vista Creating Hard Drive Partition in Windows XP External Hard Drive Formatting Tips

Formatting a hard drive refers to wiping away all of the files stored on the drive so that it can essentially work as good as new. Wiping an older hard drive that has stored data on it for a while is a great idea because it will allow the hard drive and any computers connected to the drive to work much faster than before.

How to Reformat a Hard Drive How to Reformat a SSD in Windows 7 Why Can't I Reformat my External Hard Drive? How to Format a Hard Drive with the NTFS File Format How to Install an Unformatted Hard Drive The Best Ways to Erase a Hard Drive Recovering Hard Drive Data

Unfortunately, hard drives used to back up data can sometimes become corrupted, and the data is erased or otherwise unusable. Thankfully, even if the hard drive has become corrupted, it can still be used once you reformat the drive. But what about the data that was on the disk? Can you still access it even after the disk has been wiped? In fact, you can, and these articles can help walk you through the process of data recovery in external hard drives, and set up recovery drives to back up your data.

Top 7 Free Backup Programs for Windows 7 How to Recover Data from an External USB Hard Drive How to Perform an External Hard Drive File Recovery Data Recovery Tips After a Computer Crash How to Create a Windows Vista Recovery Disk How to Create a Bootable Recovery Disk in Windows 7 How to Create a Recovery and Utility Disk How to Recover Programs from Crash External Hard Drives Hard Drive Installation Guides

After you have purchased a hard drive, you then have to install it to the computer that you are going to use it with to back up data and files. Adding a new hard drive is not overly complicated, but it is important to know what you are doing to avoid the risk of ruining the computer or hard drive through faulty installation.

How to Install a Hard Drive How to Install a Second Hard Drive on Your Computer How to Add a New Hard Drive in Windows XP Performance Testing - Install SATA Hard Drives Internally or Externally? How to Install a SATA Hard Drive How to Add an External Hard Drive to Time Machine on a Mac How to Install an Unformated Hard Drive in Windows Vista/7 Always Back Up on a Hard Drive

These guides contain valuable information regarding how to back up your data on hard drives, and hopefully convinced you that a hard drive is the best place to store your data. With all of your important files saved on an external drive, there is very little risk that your information will ever be lost.

ReferencesImage Credit: Canada Computers, http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=15_210_212&item_id=037031&sid=sc1l8k8vr7dasspfrn21hi9d52 Next Article ? We Also Recommend... How to Create a Bootable Recovery Disc in Windows 7 How to Perform a Clean Install of Windows 7 How to Format an External Hard Drive with the NTFS File Format Can I Move an Installed Program to Another Hard Drive? How to Get a Detailed File Fragmentation Report in Vista or Windows 7//Change the values below for each configuratorvar page_pc_configName = "Laptop";var clickURL = "http://www.brighthub.com/content/laptopconfig.aspx";var showLog = true; //Define adCreative Below, if adding new creative be sure to use a new name for reporting purposesvar productConfig = {"adCreative": [{"name": "A","displayType": "slideDown","divContainer": "slider"},{"name": "B","displayType": "slideUp","divContainer": "slider"}]}.slider {background-color: #4789b3;border-bottom:2px solid #004337;display: none;position:fixed;left: 0;width: 100%;height: 139px;z-index: 100001;}.banner {background: url("http://www2.brighthub.com/configurators/laptop/laptop_adcreative_banner.jpg") repeat-x scroll left top;display: block;height: 100%;overflow: hidden;width: 980px;margin:8px auto; position:relative;}.click {float:left;width:650px;height:120px;cursor: pointer; cursor: hand;}.click2 {font-family:arial;color:#fff;font-size:12px;float:right;width:200px;height:20px;bottom:0px;cursor: pointer; cursor: hand;margin-top:100px;margin-right:120px;}Not interested? Hide this message

Best Laptops

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Computer Hard Drives

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota
class="articleContents">

Learn how to replace, upgrade, and repair hard drives in this comprehensive guide to computer storage.

The hard drive is where all the data is stored inside your computer. If it goes out, so does the system. Although computer systems are slowly adopting the more expensive SSD (solid state drive) option, there are still plenty using the standard mechanical drive. The problem with these types of drives is that they have more moving parts than any other component of the computer, and as such they tend to wear out more quickly and have more problems. Unless you've made an effort to back up your files and keep recovery options on hand, it could spell disaster if you turn on your PC one day and hear a clicking sound accompanied by a message on screen about your hard drive not being readable or the operating system not being found.

New Hard Drives

Whether you are replacing the hard drive in your system or adding a secondary one for data storage, there are some things you need to know. For example, some sites like Newegg.com sell OEM hard drives that are unformatted, and Windows won't know what to do with them until they have been initialized and then formatted. Another thing to consider is when you need to replace a laptop hard drive because those types of machines only support one internal drive at a time. With computers, thankfully there is usually more than one way to approach some issues, but not without a little technical know-how or spending some money.

//This is for the ATF unitTmnAdsense.display(options = {'adFontFamily':'Arial','titleFontSize':15,'titleDecoration':'Underline','titleFontColor':'0153a5','titlePaddingTop':5,'titleMarginBottom':1,'descFontSize':12,'linkPaddingTop':8,'linkFontColor':'666666','adsbyColor':'333333','adstyle':'twolineurltop','adsbyposition':'bottomright','width':640,'ad_width':500,'max_ads':3,'adsOnRow':1,'row_margin':16,'channel_id':'0736364053'});

click to enlarge

New Hard Drive Guide How to Install an Unformatted Hard Drive in Vista and Windows 7 How To Install a Serial ATA (SATA) Hard Drive Installing a Slave Disk Drive Hard Drive Upgrades for your Netbook How to Clone a Laptop Hard Drive with Acronis True Image The Best Ways to Erase Your Hard Drive The Best External Hard Drive Enclosures Upgrading Your Laptop with a New Hard Drive How to Clone Windows 7 Installation to New PC or Hard Drive How to Perform a Clean Install of Windows 7 How to Format an External Hard Drive with the NTFS File Format Solid State Drives Explained

Maintenance and Troubleshooting

You can't run a car constantly without eventually changing the oil, nor can you expect your PC to run indefinitely without doing a tune-up from time to time. Other than the occasional bit of dusting, most computer maintenance is really hard drive maintenance. For example, defragging the hard drive will optimize free space and reduce file corruption and can prolong the life of the drive. A little bit of time spent keeping your drive fresh can also make for increased performance, and who wouldn't want their computer running as fast as possible?

Instant Defrag Windows Using Diskeeper 2011 Auslogic Disk Defrag: A Quick and Free Way to Speed Up Your Hard Disk How to Get a Detailed File Fragmentation Report in Vista or Windows 7 Windows 7 Check Disk for Consistency Eight Tips to Protect Your Computer Hard Drive Simple Tips for Faster Access to Your Hard Disk Reclaiming Your Hard Drive’s Space and Speed Troubleshooting USB Hard Drive Format Errors Motherboard Not Recognizing Hard Drive? What to Do if You Can't Run Check Disk Using CHKDSK on Windows 7

Recovery Software and Techniques

Hard drives are sensitive devices that can be irreparably damaged with the slightest bump or electrical interference. If your laptop won't boot up after you've dropped it, then chances are you did something to damage the hard drive. Because they have motors and moving parts inside, hard drives also wear out over time and that's when they start having trouble reading and writing files. Thankfully, a variety of utilities are available for recovering data from damaged or corrupted hard drives. You can even get back files that have been deleted.

click to enlarge

Detecting Hard Disk Failure Before It Happens Data Recovery Tips Following a Computer Crash Top Five Free Hard Drive Recovery Tools Top Five Tools for Corrupted Hard Drive Recovery Bringing Your Hard Drive's Data Back from the Dead How to Recover Data from an Overwritten Hard Drive Techniques for Hard Drive Recovery After Overwrite How to Scan a Reformatted Hard Drive to Recover Files How to Recover Data from an External USB Hard Drive Step by Step Guide to External Hard Drive File Recovery How to Use a SATA Hard Drive Enclosure for Recovery Hard Disk Dead? The Data Can Be Saved!

Brand-Specific Help

Not all drives are the same, and sometimes special utilities are needed to help with the configuration and file recovery for certain brands. If you have a specific model hard disk that is having trouble, you may need less generalized help information. Sometimes, a simple download from the manufacturer will contain the diagnosis tools you need. If you're in the market for a new drive, perhaps you could use a little help in figuring out which brand is best and you would like to read some comparisons.

Hitachi Hard Drive Data Recovery Methods Troubleshoot a Gateway Computer Hard Drive Problem Dell Computer Won't Boot with USB Drive Installed HP Pavilion: Getting Files From an Old Hard Drive Sony Vaio Not Recognizing Your Hard Drive? What to Do If a Hard Drive Is Not Showing Up on Your HP Laptop Western Digital vs. Seagate Internal Hard Drives Western Digital vs. Seagate External Hard Drives Using Seagate SeaTools Hard Drive Diagnostics Utility Western Digital vs Maxtor Comparing External Storage Options from WD and Iomega

Dealing with hard drives can be a hassle although sometimes 'plug and play' actually works. If you need more advice or help, or if you have any comments about these articles, please use the feedback section below.

ReferencesImage credit: Hard drive, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Open_hard-drive.jpg, Public DomainImage credit: Red Plaster, http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1114174 Next Article ? We Also Recommend... Choosing an Operating System for Your New Build Installing a Keyboard: Shouldn't It Just Work? Windows Service Hardening Top Seven Best Free Backup Programs for Windows 7 & Vista Bright Hub Review of Tracks Eraser Pro 8.5TmnAdsense.display(options = {'adFontFamily':'Arial','titleFontSize':14,'titleFontColor':'0153a5','titlePaddingTop':2,'titleMarginBottom':1,'descFontSize':12,'linkPaddingTop':8,'linkFontColor':'666666','linkFontSize':12,'adsbyColor':'333333','adsbyposition':'topleft','width':640,'ad_width':205,'max_ads':3,'adsOnRow':3,'col_margin':10,'channel_id':'0863484718'});

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