| External hard drives, also called portable hard drives, | | | | be able to draw enough power from the USB or |
| are a popular choice for data storage among | | | | Firewire connection alone. |
| consumers for both business and personal use. | | | | Recovering Data From Your External Hard Drive |
| External drives offer the convenience of allowing for | | | | Data loss on external hard drives is fairly rare as long |
| expanded storage capacity for your data, the ability to | | | | as you care for your drive properly, but it still can |
| back up your internal drives and the ability to easily | | | | occur. There are several reasons that might cause |
| move files from one computer to another. They are | | | | your external drive to lose data, such as: |
| particularly convenient for laptop or notebook users. | | | | |
| They are usually relatively light weight and compact, | | | | - Physical damage |
| while still able to store a significant amount of data. | | | | - Deleted partition or logical drives |
| An external hard drive is a hard drive that connects to | | | | - Files written to bad sectors |
| your computer from an outside port. There are a | | | | - Virus attacks |
| number of popular interfaces for external drives, | | | | - Accidentally deleted files |
| including: | | | | - Corrupt backup or application data |
| | | | | - Accidental reformatting |
| - Firewire (a popular interface for Mac users) | | | | - Power surges |
| - Universal Serial Bus or USB. USBs are able to | | | | |
| connect a large number of devices, including MP3s and | | | | Always keep in mind that the more important your |
| PDAs as well as external hard drives. | | | | data is, the more likely that you should take the failed |
| - eSATA is the newest interface for external hard | | | | drive to a professional data recovery lab to retrieve |
| drives. eSATA external drives follow the same | | | | the files. But if any of these happen to you, there are |
| protocol as internal drives, which allows for better | | | | some steps you can take to recover data from your |
| performance from your external drive. | | | | external hard drive. |
| - Ethernet connections. These are less common, they | | | | |
| act like file serves to store your data. | | | | 1. Boot your computer as you normally would, with the |
| | | | | external drive attached to your computer. |
| External drives are relatively inexpensive, allowing you | | | | 2. Download or run a data recovery program and |
| to take your data with you anywhere you go and | | | | install it on your main computer drive. Make sure that |
| access it on almost any computer, due to their | | | | you don't install any programs on your external drive, |
| portability and ease of use. These hard drives come in | | | | as this may write over some of your lost data. |
| a wide range of different models, all with different | | | | 3. Run the data recovery program. You will likely get |
| speeds and data storage capabilities. | | | | options to recover deleted files, find your lost hard |
| In selecting the right model for you, you need to know | | | | drive if it is not responding and recover data lost due |
| the amount of data you need to store, as that will | | | | to formatting. |
| determine the storage size of the drive that you | | | | 4. Select the drive containing the lost data and scan |
| require. Keep in mind that your data storage needs will | | | | for the files. Save all recovered data on your internal |
| almost certainly increase over time, and be sure that | | | | hard drive. |
| you buy one that will cover not just your short term | | | | 5. Send your external drive to a professional computer |
| but also your long term needs. | | | | technician or company to have it repaired. It isn't likely |
| You'll also need to consider the cache size of the | | | | that you will be able to repair it yourself, particularly if |
| drive. The cache size controls how quickly you can | | | | there is significant physical damage to the drive. |
| store data on the drive. The larger the cache, the | | | | |
| faster you can copy files to your drive. The higher the | | | | The best protection against data loss is to regularly |
| cache size, the more expensive your drive will be, so | | | | back up your system and protect your external hard |
| let your individual needs and situation determine your | | | | drive(s) from extreme heat, moisture and physical |
| purchase. | | | | damage. Be sure to protect your drives against power |
| One of the benefits of using an external hard drive for | | | | surges or other electrical problems. Taking good care |
| data storage is that it you can add to size of your | | | | of your equipment could save you the time, money |
| backup drive as your storage needs increase. You | | | | and hassle of having to recover lost files. If you have |
| can add more storage as the amount of your data | | | | the unfortunate experience of losing the data stored |
| increases. As the size of the drive increases, your | | | | on your external hard drive data recovery firms are |
| device will likely need its own power source as it won't | | | | just a click or call away to help you retrieve it. |