How to Handle a Hard Drive Crash?

While many people believe the believe OS and hard drive crash to be the same thing, there is a lot of difference between the two. If the operating system of the computer-whether it is Mac, Linux or Windows- crashes, it is called Logical Failure. On the other hand, if the hard drive crashes or malfunctions, it is called Physical Failure. In both the cases, though the data is still present in the system, it is not readily accessible for your use. A proactive approach to back up all the data stored in the drive may prevent any loss that you may otherwise encounter because of the hard disk crash. For individuals who are not familiar with hardware repair, it is always better to seek help of a desktop computers repair professional. If you are, however, well-versed with the technicalities, here's a step to step guide to handle a situation when your hard drive crashes.

Find Out the Cause of the Crash

The first step is to find out the cause of the failure, which may be logical or physical. In case your computer crashes, it will not boot to the OS. The same error will be reflected in case the crash was caused by logical or physical failure. If the computer doesn't boot and you hear clicking or whirring sound, this might be a sign of physical drive failure. It is advisable to avoid trying to boot the computer or reload the OS in case of physical drive failure.

Physical Hard Drive Failure

If the hard drive has crashed as a result of any kind of malfunctioning in the hard drive, chances are high that the data will be accessible and intact. You can try to boot the computer to get an image of the drive or clone the hard drive, though it is a risky process. However, don’t start the computer to copy the files to an external disk as it may add onto the stress and result hardware failure. The safest way to copy your data is to remove the hard drive, put it into a different system and fetch the important data through a Data Recovery Software. If the data is retrieved, you can buy a new hard drive and reinstall it in the computer.

Logical Hard Drive Failure

When the hard drive is in good condition but is unable to boot into the OS, it results in a logical failure. A human error, virus, system driver conflict or software malfunction may trigger the failure. The methods of imaging or cloning won't be of any help in this situation. You are also advised not to reinstall the OS or run any other tools such as CHKDSK. The data recovery software may help in dealing with the problem.

It is advised that you seek help of a home computer repair expert in case of logical failure so that the data can be retrieved safely. Hard drive crash is a common problem but may cause major damage, if you don't backup your data regularly.

Viruses that Rattled Microsoft Windows

Viruses are not new to the computer world. They have been around for as long as tech savvy people can remember and have caused irreparable damages from time to time. From initial day worms that corrupted data on the floppy dick, to current day viruses, which steal identity and are capable of causing losses in multimillion dollars, these smart programs have come a long way. A virus attack today is so damaging that companies usually have to resort to immediate damage control and need strong hard drive data recovery service.

Creating a virus is a challenging task and the people who manage that are nothing short of evil genius. The efforts and the eye to details is so meticulous, that viruses have successfully defeated IT giants like Microsoft on many occasions.

Melissa

Melissa took advantage of the porn fetish to spread itself and infect millions of computers in 1999. It was designed to take over Windows 98 and it managed to overload Microsoft servers, so much so that the company had to temporarily shut down its servers.

Melissa was named after a stripper and was designed by David L Smith with no intention to cause mass destruction in the computer world. The code and its planning was so successful, that it managed unimaginable reach and was on millions of computer within no time.

The mail containing the virus usually arrived from a known person and promised passwords of almost 80 pornographic websites. Once the file was opened, it mailed itself to the first 50 email ids on the computer and like that it was in and out with the blink of an eye.

Sasser

Sasser was developed by an 18 year old boy who managed to give big shots like Goldman Sachs sleepless nights. The worm was aimed at seizing Windows XP and Windows 2000. It targeted the LSAS function of windows and ensured that a computer cannot be turned off without switching it off from the socket.

IT industry was dumbfounded at the irony that LSAS is supposed to protect a computer by monitoring user logins and password changes and how easily an 18 year old school going lad could change the game. Many companies including Microsoft spent endless man hours, on virus removal services, to fix the problem and clean up the blot a kid had left on their reputation.

Concept

Concept Virus was created by Microsoft itself and is one of the few viruses known to have badly infected Microsoft word. It was circulated accidentally in the year 1995 through a CD rom and was widespread even before Microsoft took note of the issue. It is considered as one of the first macro worms to infect computers.

Conficker

Conficker is a virus of modern times. It was created in 2008, when world was at its peak of internet usage, so it managed to infect 15 million computers. This virus was one of the trickiest ones to handle in Microsoft’s history. Conficker was completely armed with the capabilities to crack administrator passwords and also knew how to copy itself to the USB drives and spread.

Conclusion

Computer viruses are created using the same codes that are used to develop software. Yet the difference in their utility is worlds apart. One is used to cause damage to other computers while the latter to improve life. They are like the two side of the same coin and will stay like that till they have the evil human mind supporting them. Computer Virus are the proof of the fact that our curious and careless nature will always land us in self-created technological doom.