We tend to store everything on our phones and computers. The humble hard drive has quite the responsibility keeping all that data safe and accessible. That makes it very important to know what’s wrong if you’re having hard drive problems and how to fix them. That’s what this page is all about.

If you’re having problems with your hard drive, you can always bring it to Dave’s Computers in New Jersey. Our team of hardware and data recovery experts can troubleshoot and fix all manner of problems and recover data should any be lost.

There are some things you can do yourself too.

Overheating disk

If your computer keeps shutting itself down or doesn’t sound the same, it could be overheating. Computers produce a lot of heat and use fans to keep components cool. If your computer begins sounding quieter or different, check all your fans to make sure they are working. If your computer shuts down for no reason, download a temperature monitor program and see if your computer is getting too hot.

To fix, check fans and keep them free of dust and debris. Make sure the exhaust port on your computer is free of dust too.

Files won’t open

If you cannot access a file, this could be down to file corruption, being accidentally damaged or malware. You need to be careful here. Run an antivirus scan and malware scan to make sure you’re not infected. Open a CMD window in Windows and type ‘chkdsk /f’ and hit Enter. Allow the process to fix anything it finds.

If your data is still not accessible, bring your drive to us to recover the data.

Human error

If you have accidentally changed the disk type from Dynamic to Basic, deleted files or folders, used a disk cleaner and deleted files, you’re not the first and won’t be the last. I have done this a few times myself.

First check the Recycle Bin or Trash depending on your computer. Recover all files from there. If you deleted files, right click the folder that held them and select Recover Previous Versions. If that doesn’t work, bring your computer to our data recovery team.

Virus or malware

As well as contributing to files not opening, some malware and viruses delete files altogether. Ransomware does the same thing if you don’t pay up. Some malware will overwrite the data so it cannot be recovered but not all of them do. Try running a full antivirus and malware scan and cleaning up anything it finds.

For most malware situations, you’re going to need professional help. Most home data recovery programs just aren’t powerful enough to recover data from a malware or ransomware attack. While you can do the basic cleaning, it’s up to us to recover your data.

It isn’t just enterprise that uses SQL servers. Small to medium-sized businesses use them too. As do web developers, web hosts, eCommerce stores and anyone who wants to store lots of data in an organized way. If your server goes down but you have a backup, how can you restore it?

I’ll use SQL Server 2012 as an example as I have one here at Dave’s Computers in New Jersey. It isn’t the latest version but it is still widely used out there in the world. That makes it a prime candidate for our data recovery exercise.

Restore SQL Server 2012

If you use a database server then backups should be a part of life. There’s no point using a database to store and organize your data if you’re going to leave it exposed. If you have an offsite or viable network backup, you can restore SQL Server 2012 in no time at all.

Here’s how:

1. Start the SQL Server Management Studio and connect to the instance you need to restore.
2. Find Object Explorer and right click database.
3. Select Restore Database to… and verify the source and destination database.
4. Select either the Last Backup or Specific Date and Time.
5. Select OK.
6. Select Options from the left and select Restore Options.
7. Select to Restore with Recovery.
8. Select OK to begin the restore process.

The restore shouldn’t take long. Much depends on the speed of the connection, the size of the database and the speed of the servers in question.

You don’t have to choose Restore with Recovery if you don’t want to as you have three options.

• Restore with Recovery is the default setting and will restore the database and drop any uncommitted transactions.
• Restore with NoRecovery will restore the database but not bring it into production. If you need to perform more maintenance before making it live, choose this option.
• Restore with Standby restores the database but leaves it as read only. It also creates a log file of any uncommitted transactions in case you need to catch up between time of backup and time of failure.

As long as you’re not trying to recover from database corruption, virus or malware or where the database became inaccessible for some reason, you should be up and running in no time. If you did suffer downtime for any of those three reasons, you should restore a backup to an isolated machine and not live so you can perform maintenance or security checks beforehand.

If you need help with databases, restoration, data recovery or backups, Dave’s Computers can help. Contact us to find out more!