Data Recovery and the Hit It/Drop It Myth
It’s a given expectation that when using a computer with a hard drive for data storage, it will surely fail at some point in its life time. How many people have learned their lesson for backup storage after a hard drive fail? The first time a user experiences the loss of data from no backup is a driving force for their next purchase to be a backup storage system. For some of us, the loss of data is severe, so we search for answers of how to recover the data that has been lost.
The first thing most people do is find a spare machine or drive to a friend’s house searching for the answers on the Internet. Unfortunately for the misguided person, the Internet has incorporated many myths regarding data recovery and how to juggle a broken hard drive back into motion. There are about a half dozen popular myths circulating the Internet, and if the desperate user follows some of this very bad, yet popular, advice they may find their data loss to be more severe than when the hard drive first crashed. This article covers one of the more popular myths that somehow circulated the Internet – Hit It and Drop It.
Hit It and Drop It for Data Recovery
While sifting through all the data recovery methods being posted on forums and in blog articles, you will likely find the Hit It, Drop It, Bang It, Tap It, and many other variations of this myth. This myth formulated from very early years where the spindle would stick to the platters from dust or other sticky material. This phenomenon was labeled “stiction spin.” It is an obviously created word used to describe what happens to the drive. It’s a contraction between two derived English words – “stick” and “friction.” The spindle sticks to the drive and the motor does not have the appropriate power to release the spindle from the part of the drive that is holding it in place.
Back when this term had been popular, the answer to the problem was to hit, drop, or somehow bang on the hard drive to get the spindle unstuck. The avid computer user could then continue on with what he was doing. Nowadays, hard drives are much more precise, technologically advanced, and probably more sensitive to jarring motion that comes with hitting it with a screw driver or other devices that are suggested. Additionally, these more highly advanced hard drives of today rarely, if ever, get the stiction defect.
When attempting to create a clean room of your own, you can irreparably damage the platters once opened. They become contaminated from the harmful elements in the air and decrease your chances to recover the hard drive fully. Professional clean rooms are designed with a level 100 in quality air rating. The 100 mark means that there are only 100 or less contamination particles in the room per square inch. They use high quality, extensive high technology air filters to remove particles from the air to keep air at this high expectation.
The fact is that your hard drive isn’t an old television that can be punch, banged, or jostled into working. Hard drives are extremely delicate and need to be in a secure, room temperature room to keep it in better condition. Hitting or dropping the drive can lead to even additional damage that completely breaks the drive’s motor or damages the platters which hold the information. When trying to find good data recovery advice, don’t use this method or you can be in a worst position for data loss.
