NAND cell read disturb is a rare failure scenario that affects flash storage devices including (but not limited to) solid-state drives (SSDs).  Unlike a mechanical head crash or a firmware brick, read disturb is a form of data corruption....

Automatic RAID rebuilds fail most often because of secondary drive failure or an unrecoverable read error (URE) on a surviving disk. While RAID arrays are designed for redundancy, the rebuild process is intensive; if hardware is near its breaking point,...

Storing an old hard drive in a desk drawer is not a safe long-term strategy if you want to ensure the data remains accessible. A drawer might protect a drive from direct sunlight and spilled coffee, but it does nothing...

Windows triggers a Preparing Automatic Repair loop when the operating system fails to boot successfully and the built-in diagnostic utility cannot resolve the underlying error. It can indicate anything from storage media failure (which is where we usually get involved)...

Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR) is an automated RAID management system that allows users to create storage volumes with mismatched drive capacities. It’s flexible by design — and that flexibility has made it a popular choice for NAS users.  The tradeoff:...

Unraid is a proprietary operating system that stores complete files on individual disks; it doesn’t stripe them, as is typical with RAID arrays (hence the “un”). As a result, recovering data from an Unraid setup is generally more straightforward than...

A No Bootable Device Found error means your computer’s BIOS or UEFI — the firmware that starts your hardware — cannot locate an operating system to load.  Usually, you’ll see this error when you’ve changed your computer’s hardware in some...

Windows will issue a “checking file system” message when it encounters errors that prevents it from accessing your data; if you’re stuck on a screen that says Checking file system on C: (or another drive letter) for hours, the operating...

The “Semaphore timeout period has expired” error (System Error 121) occurs when your computer attempts to transfer data to or from an external drive or network location and fails to receive a response within a set timeframe. You’re most likely...