What to Do and Not to Do if you have a failed Drive

Hardware malfunction in storage devices and data corruption can cause anxiety and can force us to take wrong decisions which we may repent later. It is imperative for us to understand the kind of failure we have experienced. Drive failure can be of many types which include:

These failures in the storage media can lead to the loss of a large amount of important and strategic data that might be essential for a company. Retrieving data as soon as possible from the failed drive is essential to save it from being lost completely. However, there are some points which must be kept in mind in order to ensure successful data recovery from a failed drive.

Stand Alone Drive Breakdown

In case of a stand alone drive malfunctioning, the following DO’s and DONT’s should be kept in mind.

DO’s

Try to slave the drive into a properly functioning system in order to check the file system integrity.
Find and download a demo version of an undelete program from the internet. If you find that it can help you solve your problem, purchase the tool.
Seek professional assistance if you are not completely sure about what has to be done.
Back up your data beforehand and as often as possible.

DONT’S

Do not open up your hard disk and expose it. It should be opened up only by a qualified hard disk data recovery expert, that too in a clean room environment.
Don’t attempt to swap the circuit boards on the modern drives. It would lead to a system area conflict which can result in severe problems.
Never put the hard drive inside the freezer before trying to spin it. This can cause head contact and damage the hard disk completely.
Do not depend on home remedies to recover lost data from a damaged hard disk. Seek professional help to recover corrupted data.

RAID Collapse

In case of a RAID collapse, always remember not to make any attempt to rebuild an array until you are sure when and which hard drive failed. Recalculation of RAID incorporating the old data from the drive which failed first will corrupt the entire data. Never try to do anything unless you are familiar with the problem, its configuration and controller routine.

SQL Corruption

In case of an SQL corruption, never create a backup of database on the same drive. In case the SQL database corruption happened due to bad sectors, RAID collapse or check disk utility, do not use the array or the disk. Don’t try to retrieve an SQL database without making a copy of the current files. Often it happens that the restoring procedure overwrites the original data if the backup is corrupted or outdated. Make a copy of database and the log files to another physical drive before attempting any process.

Exchange corruption

An exchange corruption can best tackled by seeking a professional help. To prevent data loss, regular backups should be taken as a matter of policy.
The corresponding table briefly summarizes the important do’s and don’t for your reference.

Type of Drive Failure	Do's	Don'ts
Stand Alone Drive Breakdown	Try making the drive as a slave in another system, Seek professional help	Do not open the drive by yourself or play with its circuitry
Exchange Corruption	Do not try to repair without backup, Do not defragment	Backup your data regularly
RAID Collapse	Do not try to recreate an array	Get Professional help
SQL Corruption	Do not backup on the same drive, Do not try to repair without professional expertise	Do make a backup copy on another drive

References: WhattoDoandNottoDoifyouhavefailedDrive PDF | DOC | TXT

What to Do and Not to Do if you have a failed Drive

What to Do and Not to Do if you have a failed Drive ?

Do's and Dont's