DDD Data Storage Solutions Blog

Data Storage Solutions Reviews & Advice

DDD-Blog keeps you posted on the latest Data Storage Solutions, Reviews and Advice on Hardware, Online Storage, Maintenance and Backup Software.

How to Prevent Data Loss and Hard Drive Errors.

a) Regularly Backup Important Data

By having your important data on another device, online or both you can always be sure that your important files are safe from harm and that you can pick up your work where you left it as soon as possible.  It's handy to have more than one backup location for contingency purposes.  With backup applications you can automate the process of backing up specific data to one or more locations regularly.  Certain folders or file types can be specified in backup jobs that can be scheduled or run manually.

DDD offers a choice of Storage Solutions that when combined with a good backup strategy can help you avoid the devastating effects of loosing important documents, hours of work or years of memories.

b) Hard Drive Care

A Hard Drive is a machine with working parts and like any machine it possess the potential to fail. Like most machines Hard Drives require regular care and maintenance to ensure they are performing at their best. Neglecting a Hard Drive's health can lead to poor performance and early failure.

All Hard Drives, internal and external, large and small, require ventilation to remove heat generated during operation. Heat is one of the main causes for Hard Drive failure and incorrect ventilation is a large contributor. PC cases should be checked for adequate ventilation and for any inlet/outlet that is being blocked by dust. Laptops are extremely susceptible to heat damage and caution should be taken to not block or smother the ventilation ports. This can happen when the laptop is sat on pillows, blankets, bed sheets etc, especially for long periods. Using laptops out in direct sun for long periods should be avoided as it can significantly effect the internal heat levels.

Computers, especially laptops should be rested after long periods of use as many of the other components are also susceptible to heat which can build up faster than ventilation can remove it, particularly in warmer weather. There is a large amount of software available to read sensors on the cpu, motherboard and hard drive and display the temperature of each with indicated safe ranges. If your PC is prone to overheating you could consider installing an extra case fan to increase airflow and remove heat faster.

c) Hard Drive Maintenance

As a Hard Drive operates it writes new data to the free space on the drive. At the beginning of it's life there is plenty of free space so it can write new data at its fastest rates. As space on the disk begins to fill the Hard Drive looks for free space wherever it can find it and often it is not all in one place. This leads to fragmented files where parts of the same file are spread across different physical locations on the disk. When you access a file with fragments scattered across the disk the read head must move between the pieces leading to read/write delays and reduced performance. This is what often leads to increased noise coming from the drive when accessing heavily fragmented files.

While most operating systems are quite capable of dealing with fragmented files the benefits of having sequential file pieces and continuous free space on a disk make Defragmentation a worthwhile maintenance task. Defragmentation processes can be run manually or set to run in the background with speicalised software.

Free Defragmentation Software and other Clean-Up and Tweak Tools