For the millions of Americans who use computers daily, coping with corrupt data is inevitable. There's no running from it. Though annoying and potentially destructive to your hard drive, corrupt data is not necessarily a major cause for alarm. Understanding how to diagnose and fix corrupt data can save you many frustrating hours trying to get your data back.
Data refers to both files that you have created as well as operating system code and software. Corrupt data is a common problem and can be caused by a lot of different issues including power outages, an improper shutdown of your computer, a failure to eject an external hard drive or other device before turning them off, a hardware corruption, incorrectly managed data or programming issues within data files. Operating system data may also suffer from data corruption due to failed or aborted software updates.
Any of the issues mentioned above can lead to a corruption of the hard drive directory. It may appear that files have been lost when they are actually still present. This can give birth to a discrepancy between the amount of information stored on the drive and the actual degree of free available disk space.
There are specific actions the user can perform to shield against the sorts of problems that will affect the performance of any computer system.
Schedule Consistent Backups
Backing up with an external drive is inexpensive, simple to do and effective. For as little as one hundred dollars, electronic retailers offer external hard disks that can handle up to 2.5 terabytes. Plan out a good backup schedule and stick with it. Most vendors recommend a weekly backup for a good degree of safety. Ensure you do not power down the system before ejecting all external drives, including IPods. Missing this step may result in corruption.
Get Yourself Ready for Recovery
Users are urged to prepare recovery disks so as to be ready in cases of full file system crash. Check under "System and Security" and "Backup and Restore" on a Windows based computer for details about how to make a recovery disk. This task will require a number of blank writeable disks. These recovery disks will be a superb parachute if the operating system appears to go south and needs to be re-installed because of a computer crash.
Get Anti-Viral?
Get yourself a robust anti-virus application that will regularly scan for difficulties with the directory and files. A good program will fix most of the typical issues before the user is even aware that a problem exists. It's best to do a "deep" or "full" scan at least once per month to rid the system of malware and viruses that might have crept in since the last time the system was checked.
Power surges can be a source of serious file system issues. This is easy to prevent by plugging the computer into a common surge-protected power strip. These devices can be found in most retail outlets for less than $25 and they can be plugged into any ordinary household outlet.
Following the above rules will go a long way in helping you avoid the pitfalls and damage that corrupt data is responsible for.
Data refers to both files that you have created as well as operating system code and software. Corrupt data is a common problem and can be caused by a lot of different issues including power outages, an improper shutdown of your computer, a failure to eject an external hard drive or other device before turning them off, a hardware corruption, incorrectly managed data or programming issues within data files. Operating system data may also suffer from data corruption due to failed or aborted software updates.
Any of the issues mentioned above can lead to a corruption of the hard drive directory. It may appear that files have been lost when they are actually still present. This can give birth to a discrepancy between the amount of information stored on the drive and the actual degree of free available disk space.
There are specific actions the user can perform to shield against the sorts of problems that will affect the performance of any computer system.
Schedule Consistent Backups
Backing up with an external drive is inexpensive, simple to do and effective. For as little as one hundred dollars, electronic retailers offer external hard disks that can handle up to 2.5 terabytes. Plan out a good backup schedule and stick with it. Most vendors recommend a weekly backup for a good degree of safety. Ensure you do not power down the system before ejecting all external drives, including IPods. Missing this step may result in corruption.
Get Yourself Ready for Recovery
Users are urged to prepare recovery disks so as to be ready in cases of full file system crash. Check under "System and Security" and "Backup and Restore" on a Windows based computer for details about how to make a recovery disk. This task will require a number of blank writeable disks. These recovery disks will be a superb parachute if the operating system appears to go south and needs to be re-installed because of a computer crash.
Get Anti-Viral?
Get yourself a robust anti-virus application that will regularly scan for difficulties with the directory and files. A good program will fix most of the typical issues before the user is even aware that a problem exists. It's best to do a "deep" or "full" scan at least once per month to rid the system of malware and viruses that might have crept in since the last time the system was checked.
Power surges can be a source of serious file system issues. This is easy to prevent by plugging the computer into a common surge-protected power strip. These devices can be found in most retail outlets for less than $25 and they can be plugged into any ordinary household outlet.
Following the above rules will go a long way in helping you avoid the pitfalls and damage that corrupt data is responsible for.
About the Author:
Maureen Davies is an experienced data recovery technician and editor of http://www.harddriverecovery.org. Find out more about professional hard drive data recovery services here.
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