In fact today’s hard drive is capable of storing Terabytes of data. Nature of computer hard drive has changed astronomically what we used in beginning. Changes have occurred in the size of the hard, capacity, nature and weight. Have we ever though how these hard drive works. We have never given the importance of its working just we know to store our valuable data and retrieving it when needed. So let’s understand the basic component of the computer hard drive.

The computer hard drive which we use consists of seven basic elements, the enclosure, spindle, motor, platter, actuator arm, and interface and logic board. Enclosure is nothing but a simple case of the hard drive which holds the other five components inside it. Logic board is attached on the back side of the hard drive.

Logic Board

As we have said logic board is attached to the underside of the hard drive is an important piece which handles important elements. Logic board can be termed as a brain of the hard drive as it gives the instruction manual for computer attempting to access the hard drive. It give the computer an idea how big size of the hard dive, what cables are connected to the hard drive and how to access the drive in different operating system. If the logic board goes dead then our computer will never be able to detect our hard drive.

Spindle Motor

Now if we look into enclosure of the hard drive then the most basic thing is spindle motor. Spindle motor is one which rotates the platters or the disk where our data is stored. The spindle motor is connected to the spindle. The spindle moves at a speed of about 150 rotations in one second. And the distance between the spindle and platter is about 1 micro millimeter. Even if any dust particles comes in between them then spindle gets damaged.

Hard drive Platters

Platter is thin disk of glass or aluminum coated with an ultra-thin layer of a cobalt alloy, which is naturally magnetic. Data is written on the sector which outward from spindle called track. Sectors are organized into concentric ring. Collection of sector form clusters which are rouped together by the file system. Without clustering disk performance would be very slow due to the file system's inability to access data quickly.

it's absolutely necessary to plan ahead for the possibility of losing important data

Whether you're dealing with your business or personal files, the loss of data can be tragic. Businesses that loose significant amounts of data are much more likely to fail within a short period of time, and losing personal data can mean that projects, plans, or possibly even family photos or other irreplaceable memorabilia are gone for good. Obviously no one wants to lose data from their notebook computer or network, but what happens if the worst case scenario comes to pass and that data does get lost? This is where developing a strong data protection strategy comes into play. Instead of going about business as usual and hoping for the best, it's absolutely necessary to plan ahead for the possibility of losing important data. Below are suggestions on how you can go about protecting your data as well as ways that you can become proactive in preventing data loss in the first place.

Scheduling Backups

The core of a successful data protection strategy lies in making regular backups of your work and archiving them so that you can recover from any unexpected loss of data or a system crash. By backing up your files on a regular basis, you will have recent copies of everything that you need in the event of data corruption, hacker attacks, virus infestation, or anything else that might cause you to lose important data that you otherwise might not be able to replace. Make backing up important data a part of your regular routine; you might back up your system monthly, weekly, or even daily. The more frequently you make these backups, the more likely you're going to be to have recent copies of vital files in the event of data loss. Periodically test your backups as well, making sure that they aren't corrupted or otherwise damaged.

Virus and Malware Protection

One major cause of data loss is malicious software such as viruses and other forms of malware. Even the most careful computer user can get some of these nasty programs on their system on accident, so it's important that your system is set up to scan itself daily for viruses, adware, and other forms of harmful programs. Make sure that your virus definitions are updated as often as your antivirus and antimalware software permits; most software of this type can be set up to automatically download updates daily.

Preventing Intrusion and Theft

Just as having a good antivirus can prevent a nasty virus from getting onto your system, having a good firewall can prevent hackers from gaining access to your computer or network. Software firewalls can be very effective at hiding your system from prying eyes, and you can also purchase routers with firewalls installed or a dedicated hardware firewall to help protect your entire network. Make sure that user accounts and any sensitive folders or files are password protected; choose passwords that contain both letters and numbers in combinations that wouldn't be easy for someone to guess. Don't keep a copy of your password written down near your computer, or else it may be found by someone who has no business gaining access to your user account.

Protection against System Failure

Not all data loss is caused by harmful programs or hackers, of course; when it occurs, the reason is often much less malicious. Having a computer to crash with documents open or a program to encounter an error can lead to corrupted data, and hardware failure can cause some data to be damaged or temporarily inaccessible. To help prevent this, make sure that you save any documents that you're working on often so that if there is a problem then there will be a recently saved version of the file available for recovery. Even if a hard drive fails and the data on it becomes inaccessible, there are programs and data recovery experts available who can get most if not all of your files back. Provided you've been making regular backups of your work, most of your data should be able to be recovered from those archived backups as well.

Power Loss Protection

For years, a power outage was one of the biggest fears of people who worked primarily on a computer... while they could take steps to prevent other problems; they had no control over when a sudden loss of power might put them in the dark while their hard work simply disappeared. Most businesses now use what's known as an uninterruptible power supply to help prevent data loss due to power outages, which is essentially a large battery that will keep your system running for long enough to save your data and shut the system down. Surge protectors are also vital, as they will prevent damage to your system from power surges or sudden dropouts.

It's a fact of life that bad things happen to good people's data every now and then. And when it does, too often the victim is not prepared for it. Are you prepared in advance for a complete loss of critical files and data on your computer or on your computer network?

If you aren't prepared in advance, you will most likely have to use a data recovery service or data recovery software solution to help get back as much as you can of what was lost. This can be a very good idea if there is no other way to recover your files, but it doesn't have to come to that in most cases.

This is a classic situation of where an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. A very simple backup routine that is adhered to on a daily basis can usually solve any data loss situation quickly and fairly painlessly. And it won't cost you anything but the time neded to restore the data files from your backups, and maybe the program files from the original disks.

There is a wide choice of media that you can backup your files to, including CDs, DVDs, external or internal hard drives, etc. They all work, it's just that each media choice has it's own pros and cons regarding ease of use, data storage capacity, and so on. A discussion of those limits is beyond the scope of this article, but the most important thing to remember is that the best backup is the one that works. That means that regardless of the media you choose, just make a choice and stick to a backup schedule like glue.

There are several good backup programs out there that work very well and will do a fine job, but most Microsoft Windows users have a great backup program included with their operating software. If you are a Windows XP user that program is called NTBackup. If it's not already installed on your computer insert your Windows CD, find the folder titled ValueAdd\MSFT\ntbackup, and run the program in that folder called ntbackup.msi. It will set up the backup software for use on your computer in no time and you will even have simple to use wizards that will walk you through doing file backups and restores simply and easily.

Once the Data Recovery software is installed, it is now up to you to use it faithfully to prepare for data recovery when it is needed. Maybe you never will need it. But don't count on that. You will be so glad that you have a solid reliable way to restore lost files if disaster ever happens on your laptop. It's truly the easy way to data recovery.