HD Doctor Blog

You need the Ultimate Boot CD if you want to:

• Run floppy-based diagnostic tools from CDROM drives. More and more PCs are shipped without floppy drives these days, and it is such a royal pain when you need to run diagnostic tools on them.
• Free yourself from the slow loading speed of the floppy drive. Even if you do have a floppy drive, it is still much much faster to run your diagnostic tools from the CDROM drive, rather than wait for the tool to load from the floppy drive.
• Consolidate as many diagnostic tools as possible into one bootable CD. Wouldn’t you like to avoid digging into the dusty box to look for the

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ECC On-the-Fly
A hardware correction technique that corrects errors in the read buffer prior to host transfer without any performance penalties. These error corrections are invisible to the host system because they do not require assistance from the drive’s firmware.

EIDE (Enhanced Integrated Drive Electronics)
The primary interface used by desktop PCs to handle communication between hard drives and the central processing unit. The equivalent interface system in most enterprise systems is SCSI.

Embedded Servo Control
The embedded servo control design generates accurate feedback information to the head position servo system without requiring a full data surface (which is required with a “dedicated” servo control method) because servo control data is stored on every surface.

Encoding
The…

Database
A collection of data stored on a computer system medium, such as a hard drive, CD-ROM, etc., that can be used for more than one purpose.

Data Lifeguard
A Western Digital exclusive data reliability feature that automatically detects, isolates and repairs problem areas on the hard drive before data loss can occur.

Data Synchronizer
An electronic circuit that uses a clock signal to synchronize data to facilitate interpretation.

Dedicated Landing Zone
The designated radial zone of the disk, usually at the inner portion of the disk, where the heads are stored to avoid contact with the data cylinders when power to the drive is off.

Defect Free
A term used to describe recording surfaces that…

Cable Select (CSEL)
An alternative option which can be used in place of setting Master/Slave jumpers in the designation of drives in a dual drive configuration. Master/Slave designation is based on the position of the drives relative to the cable. Special cabling is required by the system manufacturer to selectively ground the CSEL signal on one of the IDE cable connectors. For example, when one of the drives is connected to the grounded CSEL conductor, it configures itself as the Master. When the second drive is connected to the other connector, on which CSEL is not grounded, it becomes the slave. This eliminates the need for unique jumpering configurations between the Master and Slave drives.

Cache
High-speed RAM used…

Bandwidth
The amount of data that can be sent over a given circuit. See also buffer bandwidth.

BIOS (Basic input/output system)
A program or set of programs that control the basic functions of the computer.

Bit
An abbreviation for a binary digit which can be either 0 or 1. A bit is the basic data unit of all digital computers. It is usually part of a data byte, or data word; however, a single bit can be used to control or read logic ON/OFF functions. A bit is a single digit in a binary number. Bits are the basic unit of information capacity on a computer storage device. Eight bits equal one byte.

Bit density
Expressed…

Scan the web for data recovery providers, and you’ll find hundreds of companies promoting data recovery capabilities. Choosing the right provider can be a deciding factor in whether you will get your lost data back – and if so – how long you will have to wait. The information below will help you identify misleading sales tactics and select the provider that offers the highest level of professional service and overall best value.

Step 1: Identify companies that have the technology and resources to solve a wide array of data loss challenges.

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Computer data may be one of your company’s most valuable and vulnerable assets. According to our experience, the primary threats to your data include:

• Hardware or System Problems
• Human Error
• Software Corruption or Program Problems
• Computer Viruses
• Natural Disasters

These five major threats to your computer data share two things in common: they are unpredictable and, in many cases, uncontrollable. Therefore, the precautions taken by IT professionals to safeguard company data cannot always prevent a data loss.

Computer users and many experts often consider lost data permanently destroyed, with no hope of recovery. Information about lost data can be complex, inconsistent or inaccurate, so it’s not surprising that data loss and data recovery are…