In the 1990s, many of us sat for hours in front of a screen with big, colored rectangles that slowly morphed into big, identical rectangles. Something like this:Defragmenting (or defragging) a hard drive was once part of standard computer...
If your internal hard disk drive (HDD) keeps disconnecting, you’ve got a potentially serious problem — and if the drive holds critically important data, we strongly recommend shutting down the affected system before taking any additional steps. In the vast...
If you need to sanitize (or, in less technical terms, wipe all data from) a hard drive, you can’t just delete it: You need to overwrite the file on a block level. And if the file is especially sensitive, the...
If you’re determined to destroy your data, we’ve got good news: Contrary to popular misconception, it is possible to securely sanitize storage media in a way that prevents even the most advanced data recovery techniques from restoring your files. To...
Hard disk drives (HDDs) are mechanical devices — and unless the laws of physics suddenly change, every hard drive will eventually fail. But while some of the issues that cause drive failures are out of your control, you can take...
Astronauts need to store a lot of data. Do they use hard drives, solid-state drives (SSD), or some other technology? The answer: Hard drives can function in outer space, although solid-state storage may be a more appropriate choice for modern...
Hard drive shipments have fallen in recent years, and somewhat dramatically: By one estimate, the total number of shipped hard drives dropped by 33.5% from the first quarter of 2022 to the first quarter of 2023. For modern consumers, solid-state...
The state government of Maine has announced a major cybersecurity incident, which may have exposed the personally identifiable information (PII) of nearly all of the state’s residents. “On May 31, 2023, the State of Maine became aware of a software...
An I/O Device Error is a potentially serious symptom that occurs when a computer cannot interface (trade data) with a storage device. It’s commonly associated with Windows, though input/output errors can occur on any operating system. You might encounter an...