Buying used hard drives can save you money, but “refurbished" storage media carries significant risks. Here’s what you need to know.

All electronic devices need to be connected to a surge protector, and that’s particularly true for devices that store data. Hard drives rely on controllers, which allow the drive to transfer information to (and from) your computer. A sudden surge...

An improper PC shutdown probably isn’t a big deal — but it could cause a hard drive failure. Here’s an overview of the risks.

Operating a hard drive at over 10,000 feet can put data at risk. Here’s an explanation of why HDD failures are more common at high altitude.

The VCRs of the world are breaking down. Functioning film projectors are increasingly hard to find. Tapes and film degrade with every viewing. To preserve your analog video collection — and to share it in digital channels, from Facebook to...

If your family recorded home videos between the 1930s and the 1970s, odds are they captured that vacation or piano recital on 8 mm film. (Super 8, Kodak’s hugely popular take on the original amateur film format, debuted in 1965...

You’ve got a big box of VHS tapes, Super 8 reels, or other analog video films sitting in your attic. Are they still playable? How long can you store them safely? And if they’re showing clear signs of damage, what...

Converting VHS tapes to modern formats can be risky, but the right video conversion team can help — even when your media is degraded or damaged.

A hard drive’s RPM does not affect its lifespan directly, but faster drives offer better performance overall. Here’s an overview.

Solid-state drives offer significantly faster read/write speeds than hard drives, and they’re less susceptible to physical damage. Dropping a hard drive can cause extensive damage to the read/write heads and other moving parts, but a solid-state drive has much fewer...