When you speak of myths and stories, the fact of the matter is that their only place is in books and certainly not your beloved hard disk. Over the course of time, there are various myths that have been attached to the idea of data recovery, which—if put into action—will obviously do more harm than good. Here are a few of such myths:
The Freezer Trick
One of the most common urban legends, prevailing in the world of data recovery, is that you can actually “freeze” your hard drive for fixing it. We will let that sink in for a moment. According to their piece of advice, in case the heads of a hard drive are stuck in the platters, then the only thing that you need to do is freeze your drive and everything will be (somehow) taken care of. These self-proclaimed students of Einstein put forth the idea that freezing the drive will shrink the platters, which will cause the heads to become free again. After all, that how physics works, right?
If you think about it with even the slightest measure of common sense, you will realise that freezing the hard drive and then powering it up will, actually, short out the electronics, owing to the moisture. This is so because the freezer will cause the platters to condense which, in turn, will result in irreparable damage to your hard drive. Just like other electrical equipment, hard drives are meant to be used under conditions of room temperature and pressure. How can anybody believe that a deviation from this might serve to curb any problems that the hard disk might be facing? Well, that beyond us as well!
Tapping It with a Hammer
If you have got a failed hard drive, then some of the geniuses will suggest that you need to tap your hard drive with a hammer in order to get it working again. We all know how hard drives are made up of thin, circular discs and tiny metal arms that are called the write/read heads. According to these geniuses, the heads, at times, tend to get stuck in their place, or to the platters, causing the hard disk to fail. They argue that tapping the hard disk with a hammer will cause these read/write heads to become unstuck, getting the hard disk working again in the process.
Those who are acquainted with hammers and what they can do, however, will hope to argue otherwise. The internal components of a hard disk are extremely sensitive, capable of being damaged at the mere application of a force, let alone a “tap” from a hammer. Tapping your hard drive with a hammer, therefore, for recovering your data, or for getting a failed hard drive to work, is a bad idea, owing to how it has got the potential of damaging your disk further.
Turning to the Manufacturer
Another myth that you’ll often here when it comes to data recovery, is that you need to turn to the manufacturer for getting all of your concerns catered to. While such an advice might appear to be good on paper, the fact of the matter is that it’s rarely the case. When you speak about the manufacturers of hard drives, it’s nothing short of a fact that their primary (read: only) focus is the production and repairing of hard disks. On top of that, when you consider how they usually advise in their instruction manuals that the data is supposed to be backed up, the fact that they will not pay a great deal of attention when you go to them with a request for data recovery should not come as a surprise.
In all honesty, not only is data recovery not a job of interest for hard disk manufacturers, they lack the capabilities required for the job also. Think about it: hard disk companies focus on the production, selling and repairing of hard drives. Why would they hire such individuals who specialise in recovering data from them? So, turning to the manufacturer as a solution to the problem might be wise for a number of instances, but the recovery of data is certainly not featured on the list.
Backing Up Is A Waste of Time
This myth is not exactly about data recovery, but it certainly involves it. A majority of the users argue that there’s no need for them to create a backup for their data, considering how their hard drive is working perfectly. These are the people who suffer the most when their “perfectly” working hard drives fail them. When you speak of the failing of hard drives, the fact of the matter is that hard drives are prone to failing out of the blue, especially if you haven’t invested into a solid-state drive.
Considering the risk associated with hard drives, it is of utmost importance for users to have their data backed up so that they don’t have to suffer from the need of data recovery in the first place. If you think about it, it is much easier to create a backup for your precious rather than to recover it once it has been lost.
Use Professional Data Recovery Software
When it comes to the recovery of your data, you should not be depending upon these myths; rather you should be investing in data recovery software to recover the data for you. Some of the best programs that you have got the option of choosing from, for this purpose, include Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery and Minitool. Not only do these programs allow you to recover data from inaccessible and lost partitions, but they allow you to test them out before you end up paying for them as well. For instance, Stellar Phoenix Data Recovery allows you to recover 1 GB data for free before you are asked to pay anything for the services. When you take it all into perspective, it’s no wonder that it’s, perhaps, the most effective data recovery software available for you to benefit from. So, invest in one of such revolutionary software programs instead of tapping your hard drive with a hammer for recovering your data!
