If you need data recovery, but you can’t quite afford it, you might consider putting your hard drive (or solid state drive, or other device) into storage until you’re able to get the money together.  Clients often ask us whether...

For years, “unsafely ejecting” a USB flash drive was a serious misstep — one that could lead to corruption and permanent data loss — but in 2024, it’s not as big of an issue.  Here’s why: Operating systems have implemented...

Flash memory isn’t as susceptible to physical damage as hard disk drives (HDDs). Even so, physical damage occurs — particularly for microSD, SD, and other media formats that are designed for portability.  If you’ve accidentally bent an SD card, the...

While SD, microSD, and related formats are generally reliable, no storage device is perfect. One common cause of data loss is overheating — or, rather, damage to the components of the card caused by overheating. Heat issues are often caused...

If a hard drive can be plugged into your computer, it should work in most circumstances. You’ll need to format the drive to use a filesystem that is compatible with your operating system. For example, if you use Windows, the...

Recently, we had a client ask whether data has a physical weight. This isn’t a bad question — although if you understand the basics of magnetic data storage, there’s an obvious answer. A hard drive filled with terabytes of data...

Hard disk drives (HDDs) can function in a fairly wide range of conditions, but high operating temperatures can lead to mechanical issues.  Generally, manufacturers recommend that hard drives operate within a range of 77-133 degrees Fahrenheit (25-45 degrees Celsius). Your...

Solid-state drives (SSD) generally read and write data much faster than conventional hard disk drives (HDDs). After all, that’s one of the major advantages of the technology.  Hard drives must move their read/write heads to different portions of the platters...

SD (Secure Digital) is a popular data storage format developed by the SD Association, a joint partnership between several major flash manufacturers.  The SD format encompasses a number of related technologies:SDHC microSD miniSD SDIO SDXC SDUCAll SD formats...

Hard drives store data magnetically — the read/write heads float above platters, which are disks coated with a thin layer of magnetic material.  The actuator heads rely on magnetism, so it’s logical to wonder whether another magnet could interfere with...