Hard Disk Drive Myths Debunked! - Page 5

Mac Daddy · 27th May 2008, 06:15 AM

An article before my time here interesting read for sure and cool on the additions

BillyBuerger · 27th May 2008, 11:44 PM

I was going to say you should mention the whole thing about why a 1TB is really only 931GB. As I remember seeing customer reviews complaining about things like that. But after looking again, it seems most people get it now. So maybe it's not that big of a deal. But you still see the occasional thing like "698 GBs is below 750GBs, but thats the price w/ all drives NTFS formatting." Or "Wish there was a way to get all 750 gigs useable, but 698 gigs is still great!" And a lot of comments say the formatted capacity is 698GB. Which seems to suggest that they may think that formatting has something to do with it. Or they could understand but are just posting that so that people do go on *****ing that they didn't get all their gigabytes.

Adrian Wong · 28th May 2008, 10:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BillyBuerger

I was going to say you should mention the whole thing about why a 1TB is really only 931GB. As I remember seeing customer reviews complaining about things like that. But after looking again, it seems most people get it now. So maybe it's not that big of a deal. But you still see the occasional thing like "698 GBs is below 750GBs, but thats the price w/ all drives NTFS formatting." Or "Wish there was a way to get all 750 gigs useable, but 698 gigs is still great!" And a lot of comments say the formatted capacity is 698GB. Which seems to suggest that they may think that formatting has something to do with it. Or they could understand but are just posting that so that people do go on *****ing that they didn't get all their gigabytes.

Oh yeah, we missed the part about how storage companies count bytes differently from software companies.

As for NTFS / FAT formatting, they do take up some space for the meta files.

ElBeano · 8th Aug 2008, 01:15 PM

Edit: I know I am resurrecting this post from the dead a bit, but I just saw this article linked to off of a website I frequent and had something to add.

Great article, but I'd like to add a little note here as well to help out...

The "myth" about freezing a hard drive isn't really a myth at all... I've personally had it work for me before and can point you to other articles and personal stories stating the same thing. Why it works I can't exactly say myself, other than re-iterating some of the other reasons I've read that have made sense.

It's not a cure-all by any means (in fact, it's a low success rate, last resort trick), and based on what you posted, it probably isn't good for newer generations of hard drives either... but it definitely can work, and it is worth a try if you aren't planning on paying a professional to recover the data and are about the chuck the drive anyways. Just throw it in a zip-lock bag and leave it in the freezer for a while, remove the drive and attach it to an external enclosure, and cross your fingers!

Here is a sample article sharing a success story:
geeksaresexy.blogspot.com/2006/01/freeze-your-hard-drive-to-recover-data.html

Adrian Wong · 8th Aug 2008, 09:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElBeano

Edit: I know I am resurrecting this post from the dead a bit, but I just saw this article linked to off of a website I frequent and had something to add.

Great article, but I'd like to add a little note here as well to help out...

The "myth" about freezing a hard drive isn't really a myth at all... I've personally had it work for me before and can point you to other articles and personal stories stating the same thing. Why it works I can't exactly say myself, other than re-iterating some of the other reasons I've read that have made sense.

It's not a cure-all by any means (in fact, it's a low success rate, last resort trick), and based on what you posted, it probably isn't good for newer generations of hard drives either... but it definitely can work, and it is worth a try if you aren't planning on paying a professional to recover the data and are about the chuck the drive anyways. Just throw it in a zip-lock bag and leave it in the freezer for a while, remove the drive and attach it to an external enclosure, and cross your fingers!

Here is a sample article sharing a success story:
geeksaresexy.blogspot.com/2006/01/freeze-your-hard-drive-to-recover-data.html

Oh good! Someone who actually tried it and worked. Can you tell us about your own circumstances and how it worked?

mikegas · 9th Aug 2008, 09:25 AM

I am not sure what freezing would heal. Maybe need to find out what kind of defect is it. Hard defect such as scratches, head degration, an even pcb burned .. sure is non recoverable in any means.

zy · 9th Aug 2008, 08:28 PM

no idea what freezing would do ... most likely slow down the movement of some components or something.

freezing it is like letting it cool down.

sometimes maybe heat causes it to have problem in the first place

Adrian Wong · 23rd Dec 2008, 02:24 AM

This guide was written in response to the numerous fallacies about the hard disk drive that are still being propagated in many forum discussions. Although many articles have covered these topics, it is apparent that hard disk urban legends are still more popular than the simple truth.

So, let's get down to basics and examine some of these common fallacies or myths and debunk them! Here are the latest list of updates :

Quote:

- Added Myth #28 and Myth #29.
- Updated Myth #10 with information on click noises due to ramp load/unload technology.

Link : Hard Disk Drive Myths Debunked! Rev. 3.3

DXMage · 25th Dec 2008, 02:23 AM

I would say on 25 that you can't really use a hard drive with out software that the hard drive manufactures cheated and should go to prison =)

26 and 27 are not entirely accurate.

26. On older drives where the bearings are not fluid and worn out the method has worked on more than one occasion (four different customers) . It isn't required to freeze the drive either. Only to get it MUCH cooler than normal. This is also is helpful with drives that are failing to recalibrate properly, you get a little more time cooling the drive down significantly. Again it isn't required nor recommended to freeze them. But if you are having issues getting data off the drive and you don't want to spend a thousand bucks on getting the data off it is certainly worth a shot and has worked for me. Cooling the drive to 40 degrees Fahrenheit should be a good start point.

27 Actually Google did a study on this and found that cooling the drives beyond a certain point caused failure rates to increase slightly research.google.com/archive/disk_failures.pdf The thing here is that at temps over 40c the failure rate shot up significantly at least at the three year mark. The report also mentioned that certain brands have a higher failure rate but Google wouldn't state what brands those were.

Over all a pretty good read.

Outcast · 25th Dec 2008, 03:56 AM

Hi and Happy Holidays!

Just a quick question/myth, does cloning hard disk reduce lifespan?

27th May 2008, 06:15 AM	#41 (permalink)
Mac Daddy Pickin' Da Gitfiddle Join Date: 19 Nov 2007 Location: Canada Posts: 2,051 Reputation: 802 Rep Power: 13	An article before my time here interesting read for sure and cool on the additions __________________

9th Aug 2008, 08:28 PM	#47 (permalink)
zy Dead Join Date: 16 Dec 2002 Location: Buffalo NY / Penang MY Posts: 13,336 Reputation: 2158 Rep Power: 41	no idea what freezing would do ... most likely slow down the movement of some components or something. freezing it is like letting it cool down. sometimes maybe heat causes it to have problem in the first place __________________

25th Dec 2008, 03:56 AM	#50 (permalink)
Outcast Newbie Join Date: 25 Dec 2008 Posts: 1 Reputation: 0 Rep Power: 0	Cloning Hi and Happy Holidays! Just a quick question/myth, does cloning hard disk reduce lifespan?

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27th May 2008, 11:44 PM	#42 (permalink)
BillyBuerger Newbie Join Date: 6 Oct 2006 Posts: 4 Reputation: 0 Rep Power: 0	I was going to say you should mention the whole thing about why a 1TB is really only 931GB. As I remember seeing customer reviews complaining about things like that. But after looking again, it seems most people get it now. So maybe it's not that big of a deal. But you still see the occasional thing like "698 GBs is below 750GBs, but thats the price w/ all drives NTFS formatting." Or "Wish there was a way to get all 750 gigs useable, but 698 gigs is still great!" And a lot of comments say the formatted capacity is 698GB. Which seems to suggest that they may think that formatting has something to do with it. Or they could understand but are just posting that so that people do go on *****ing that they didn't get all their gigabytes.

8th Aug 2008, 01:15 PM	#44 (permalink)
ElBeano Newbie Join Date: 8 Aug 2008 Posts: 1 Reputation: 0 Rep Power: 0	Edit: I know I am resurrecting this post from the dead a bit, but I just saw this article linked to off of a website I frequent and had something to add. Great article, but I'd like to add a little note here as well to help out... The "myth" about freezing a hard drive isn't really a myth at all... I've personally had it work for me before and can point you to other articles and personal stories stating the same thing. Why it works I can't exactly say myself, other than re-iterating some of the other reasons I've read that have made sense. It's not a cure-all by any means (in fact, it's a low success rate, last resort trick), and based on what you posted, it probably isn't good for newer generations of hard drives either... but it definitely can work, and it is worth a try if you aren't planning on paying a professional to recover the data and are about the chuck the drive anyways. Just throw it in a zip-lock bag and leave it in the freezer for a while, remove the drive and attach it to an external enclosure, and cross your fingers! Here is a sample article sharing a success story: geeksaresexy.blogspot.com/2006/01/freeze-your-hard-drive-to-recover-data.html

9th Aug 2008, 09:25 AM	#46 (permalink)
mikegas I'm a regular Join Date: 7 May 2008 Posts: 464 Reputation: 206 Rep Power: 4	I am not sure what freezing would heal. Maybe need to find out what kind of defect is it. Hard defect such as scratches, head degration, an even pcb burned .. sure is non recoverable in any means.

25th Dec 2008, 02:23 AM	#49 (permalink)
DXMage Newbie Join Date: 26 Sep 2006 Posts: 3 Reputation: 0 Rep Power: 0	I would say on 25 that you can't really use a hard drive with out software that the hard drive manufactures cheated and should go to prison =) 26 and 27 are not entirely accurate. 26. On older drives where the bearings are not fluid and worn out the method has worked on more than one occasion (four different customers) . It isn't required to freeze the drive either. Only to get it MUCH cooler than normal. This is also is helpful with drives that are failing to recalibrate properly, you get a little more time cooling the drive down significantly. Again it isn't required nor recommended to freeze them. But if you are having issues getting data off the drive and you don't want to spend a thousand bucks on getting the data off it is certainly worth a shot and has worked for me. Cooling the drive to 40 degrees Fahrenheit should be a good start point. 27 Actually Google did a study on this and found that cooling the drives beyond a certain point caused failure rates to increase slightly research.google.com/archive/disk_failures.pdf The thing here is that at temps over 40c the failure rate shot up significantly at least at the three year mark. The report also mentioned that certain brands have a higher failure rate but Google wouldn't state what brands those were. Over all a pretty good read.