Different Types Of Hard Drive Failure And Data Recovery Solutions

In this digital era, hard drive failure is a common incident so, when this happens, along with data loss, it also harms the organization’s reputation. Indeed, hard disk data backup may help you to regain your lost data, but the catch is that we need to backup data on a regular basis.

Furthermore, there are many options to recover lost data, but dealing with a failed drive is quite overwhelming. It is also risky and can impact your data. Thus, a professional data recovery service becomes a must-have.

Before focusing on the recovery option, let’s have an overview of the causes of hard drive failure and their solutions.

Top 6 Reasons for Hard Drive Failure

• Logical Failure
• Electrical Failure
• Firmware Failure
• Mechanical Failure
• Complex Failure

Let’s look into each in detail.

1. Logical Failure

It can be counted as the easiest or the most challenging recovery process, depending upon the state of failure.

Symptoms of Hard Drive Logical Failure

• Essential Files become damaged due to virus attacks or turn corrupt
• Unable to access the system

Reasons for Hard Drive Logical Failure

• Virus Attacks or Malware
• File or system corruption
• Software bug
• Accidental Deletion or format

Preventive Measure

• Shut down the system properly
• Say No to faulty software installation

Ideal Solution

Go for professional recovery software or Data Recovery Services.

2. Electrical Failure

The PCB is the integral part that helps in establishing communication, control, and coordination between the system and the hard disk to read and write data. When it gets damaged due to a power spike or power surge, the data saved on it also becomes inaccessible as a result.

Symptoms of Hard Drive Electrical Failure

• Abrupt Startup Failure due to damaged PCB
• Generation of clicking sound
• The hard drive fails to spin and creates a fuzzing sound
• The hard drive is powered but fails to be detected by the System BIOS

Reasons for Hard Drive Electrical Failure

• Use of an undependable power source
• UPS is unable to deliver adequate power

Preventive Measure

• Say yes to the popular brand UPS
• Shutdown system when not required

Ideal Solution

Use professional solution—software or service as desired.

3. Firmware Failure

Firmware is a code that the hard drive manufacturers asses to check the hard disk state. Usually, it is on the PCB board and data platters. If the platter area is affected, the drive will appear as failed even if both mechanical and electrical components are still functional.

Symptoms of Hard Drive Firmware Failure

• Unable to detect the hard drive
• The drive is wrongly recognized due to illogical characters
• Unable to boot due to system hangs or does not boot at all

Reasons for Hard Drive Firmware Failure

• No specific reason as these are manufacturer-level faults

Preventive Measure

• Contact manufacturer for Return Authorization

Ideal Solution

Seek a professional data recovery solution

4. Bad Platter Area

Also known as Bad sectors, these are inaccessible data sectors or blocks during a read or write operation.

Symptoms of Hard Drive Bad Sectors

• Constant Cyclic Redundancy Errors
• Inaccessibility to files or folders
• Hanging or sluggish performance of Hard disk though being accessible

Reasons for Hard Drive Bad Sectors

• Head Crash
• Tracking Errors
• Platter surface wear and tear

Ideal Solution

Depending on the severity of the level of the bad sector, you can either choose data recovery software or data recovery service.

5. Mechanical Failure

This type of hard drive failure is a result of internal components failures such as read-write heads and motors. These elements become faulty and without any warning.

Symptoms of Hard Drive Mechanical Failure

• Grinding or clicking noise
• No movement at all due to the motor freezing
• Generation of sound during disk power up

Reasons for Hard Drive Mechanical Failure

• Degradation of hard drive moving parts
• Non-functioning of the spindle motor

Preventive Measure

• Run antivirus
• Update the system on the regular interval

Ideal Solution

Go to Stellar Hard Drive Data Recovery Service

Additional Reading: How To Retrieve Data From Internal Hard Disk

6. Complex Failure Mode

Majorly, the reason for hard drive failure is not a single mode but there is a combination of failure modes that result in hard drive failure. For example, a read-write crash. It can lead to corrupt firmware code as well as the file system. As per the scenario, you can choose a reliable professional data recovery approach.

Data Recovery solution  

Data Recovery Software	Data Recovery Service
Works only in case of logical failure	Works in case of logical as well as physical failure
Designed for software issues	Designed for both software and hardware issues
You need to execute the recovery process using a specialized software	You just need to hand over your failed hard drive to a renowned service provider such as Stellar Data Recovery

The Bottom Line

We can now state that the Data Recovery Service is the most suited approach. We also cater to both logical and physical data loss scenarios. Here, we recommend the top-rated Data Recovery Service provider—Stellar. With its state-of-the-art technology, latest deployment techniques, Class 100 Clean Room Recovery Lab with Biometric Controls, and ISMS compliance, the client’s needs are fulfilled diligently!