Bits'n'Bytes

As heard on CJCD

Episode 35

If you own a computer, I can almost guarantee you or someone you know has had their hard drive "crash" and all the data was lost. But was it really? That depends on what kind of hard drive crash you experienced.

A true, physical hard drive crash occurs when the head, or reader, of your hard drive comes into contact with the plates where the data is stored. When this kind of contact happens, your hard drive will start making weird noises that sound a lot like sandpapering wood. In this case, your data is most likely toast. There are a few programs that can be used to try to get the data back, but the odds aren't great - or you can spend some serious money and send the drive to a lab where they may or may not be able to recover your data - whether they can recover the data or not, you pay them for trying.

Another type of hard drive crash isn't really what it seems. Quite often, the problem is with Windows system files or the registry in your computer. If your system experiences a power bump or is shut down at exactly the time Windows is writing an entry to your registry, it becomes corrupt and your system won't start. The hard drive didn't actually crash, but your operating system did. Just relax and let go of your kid's throat. Your files are most likely still there and it really wasn't his or her fault. It just happens sometimes.

To get back on track we need to fix the damaged files. With Windows 98 that means using one of the StartUp disks it asks you to make when you install it. For Windows XP it depends on how the drive was formatted to begin with. If it was formatted using FAT32, you can use a Windows 98 startup disk. If it was formatted using NTFS, you'll need either a second computer or a special pre-installation CD. Chances are very good everything can be retrieved or even put back exactly the way it was.

Stay tuned next week when I talk about saving your email stuff when you change computers.

I’m Computer Dave, thanks for your time.