HD Doctor Blog

1. Raid 1 Data Recovery FAQ

Q: What is the definition of a “RAID 1″ volume?
A: “RAID 1″ refers to a “Redundant Array of Inexpensive (or Independent) Disks” that have been established in a Level 1, or mirrored, drive set. A RAID 1 volume is a set of disk drives that are configured for data to be written to 2 volumes simultaneously. This configuration provides complete data redundancy in the event of a drive failure.

Q: What is meant by the term “mirroring”?
A: Within a mirroring (RAID 1) volume, the exact same information that is written to one disk is also written to a second disk, creating a “mirror image”, or clone, of the orginal hard drive.

Q:…

This level uses byte level striping with dedicated parity. In other words, data is striped across the array at the byte level with one dedicated parity drive holding the redundancy information. The idea behind this level is that striping the data increasing performance and using dedicated parity takes care of redundancy. 3 hard drives are required. 2 for striping, and 1 as the dedicated parity drive. Although the performance is good, the added parity does slow down writes. The parity information has to be written to the parity drive whenever a write occurs. This increased computation calls for a hardware controller, so software implementations are not practical. RAID 3 is good for applications that deal with large files since the…

Hard drives are usually nearly silent but some do make a muted clicking sound when they’re being accessed – this is normal. On the other hand, if you start hearing noises only occasionally or noises that you’ve never heard before – like clicking, grinding or squealing – your hard drive may be failing.

The steps below will help you determine what to do next before all of your precious data is gone for good.

• Run free hard drive diagnostic software, already available on most PCs or available on the Internet. Additionally, more advanced diagnostic software is available for a cost from third party software developers.Note: At best, diagnostic software will only mark the areas of the hard

…

1.  RAID 5 Data Recovery FAQ

Q: What is the definition of a “RAID 5″ volume?
A: “RAID 5″ refers to a “Redundant Array of Inexpensive (or Independent) Disks” that have been established in a Level 5, or striped with parity, volume set. A RAID 5 volume is a combination of hard drives that are configured for data to be written across three (3) or more drives.

Q: What is “parity” or “parity data”?
A: In a RAID 5 configuration, additional data is written to the disk that should allow the volume to be rebuilt in the event that a single drive fails. In the event that a single drive does fail, the volume continues to operate in a “degraded”…

Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic is free hard drive testing software designed for Western Digital branded hard drives. Data Lifeguard Diagnostic will also run diagnostics on hard drives from other manufacturers as long as the primary drive is Western Digital.

The Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic software installs on Windows operating systems and allows for a number of hard drive tests. See the installation instructions from Western Digital in the link below for details.

Download: Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostics

How to test a drive for problems using Windows Data Lifeguard Diagnostics?

How can you use Windows Data Lifeguard Diagnostics to do the following:

• Perform a quick test on a drive for problems
• Get the serial number

…

Hitachi Drive Fitness Test is free hard drive diagnostic software available for use on most drives available today.

The Drive Fitness Test (DFT) quickly and reliably tests SCSI, IDE and SATA drives. The DFT analyze function performs read tests without overwriting customer data.

Get More: Hitachi Drive Fitness Test

1. Microsoft Windows Built-In Error Checking
Error Checking, sometimes referred to as chkdsk, is a hard drive diagnostic tool that comes with Microsoft Windows that can scan your hard drive in search of a wide range of errors. This tool can also attempt to correct a number of hard drive problems.

2. How To Scan Your Hard Drive Using Error Checking
Scanning your hard drive using Error Checking can help diagnose and even correct a wide range of hard drive errors. Error Checking replaces older Windows hard drive diagnostics such as “scandisk” and “chkdsk“.

Here’s How:
1. Open My Computer by double-clicking on the icon on the desktop.
2. Right-click on the drive letter that you wish to…