What Is a Lost Hard Drive Partition?

In data storage technology, a partition is a container with a file system. The file system allows the data storage device to manage files.  Every popular data storage device uses partitions. Without partitions, a device might still contain the magnetic...
April 12, 2023

Why a Hard Drive Reads as a RAW Drive

If your computer identifies a hard drive (or other data storage device) as RAW, that means that the file system has become unreadable. The operating system cannot understand how the data is organized, so the drive is treated as unformatted. ...
April 11, 2023

Common Problems with Disk Drill Data Recovery Software

Disk Drill is a (mostly) free data recovery utility for Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. The software claims to be able to recover files from “virtually any storage device,” including internal hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-state drives (SSDs),...
April 5, 2023

World Backup Day: A Good Reminder to Protect Your Data

March 31st is World Backup Day. It’s sponsored by a number of companies, and as you might expect, all of those sponsors offer some type of product or service related to data backup. But with that said, we appreciate any...
March 31, 2023

Do Most Hard Drives Fail Before the 3-Year Mark?

Conventional wisdom holds that a hard drive lasts for about 3-5 years — and most manufacturer warranties tend to support that assumption.  But it’s important to remember that despite precise engineering, hard drives are profoundly sensitive devices. Recently, we’ve seen...
March 28, 2023

What Are Common Causes of SSD Failure?

Solid-state drives (SSDs), like all other data storage devices, can fail.  In fact, SSDs have a set lifespan — eventually, the floating gates SSDs use to store data become less reliable, as we discussed in our article about SSD wear ...
March 16, 2023

How Heat Affects a Solid-State Drive (SSD)

Solid-state drives (SSDs) are often considered more reliable than conventional hard drives — and there’s some truth to that.  Hard disk drives (HDDs) have moving mechanical components, so they’re much more susceptible to physical damage than SSDs. But both storage...
March 15, 2023

Dropbox Prepares to Use HAMR Drives in Data Centers

Dropbox, one of the world’s leading cloud storage providers, has announced plans to use hard drives featuring heat-assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) in its data centers.  HAMR uses a heating component attached to the hard drive actuator head assembly. By heating...
March 14, 2023

Cryptocurrency Prices Fall Following Silvergate Liquidation

Silvergate Capital, a bank offering cryptocurrency-friendly services, has announced its impending liquidation, sending Ethereum and Bitcoin markets tumbling by about 2%. The last 12 months have been difficult for crypto investors, though the market has shown some signs of...
March 9, 2023

What Does it Mean to “Bake” an Analog Video Cassette?

Media preservation can be a tricky business. Due to age, humidity, or other factors, legacy formats like Sony U-Matic, Betacam, and other analog video cassettes can become warped, distorted, and unplayable. One well-known tape preservation method is baking tapes, which...
March 7, 2023