Dead Hard Drive Recovery

What Does Dead Hard Drive Recovery Mean?

Dead hard drive recovery is the process of recovering, restoring and copying data from a hard disk that is technically dead, unusable or inaccessible.

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It involves the use of manual and automated methods to recover a dead hard drive experiencing software- or hardware-based problems.

Techopedia Explains Dead Hard Drive Recovery

A hard drive can be considered dead due to two primary reasons:

  • Logical/software problem such as a damaged file system or firmware
  • Technical/hardware problem such as a faulty drive controller board or IC malfunction

Typically, dead drives with logical errors such as bad file systems can be viewed on a Linux system as long as the file system is Windows based. Moreover, some data/disk recovery software can bypass file systems and can directly access the data. Dead hard drives with hardware problems can be recovered by repairing or replacing faulty components.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…