Spinning magnetic storage media or hard drive, disks, HDD, fixed disks, fixed drives as they are also known and referred to have been with us now since their development via IBM labs on September 13th 1956 more than fifty years have passed however the storage capacity has grown significantly more than 50 times!
Classed as on volatile storage unlike RAM random access memory which will lose all data when power is ceased the hard drive will hold the information stored when powered down utilizing the magnetic properties of the disk surface.

Hard disks are comprised of several components, internally there is the platter(s) either a single or multi platter configuration will be arranged based on the total capacity of the media these platters are made from glass, ceramics, or metals, and are covered with a process called spluttering this process is not exact and as such there may be areas of the disk where the coating is ‘uneven’ if the quality is not up to specification then it is rejected.

Platter speeds vary from 4200 RPM revolutions per minute to 15 thousand RPM with the latter faster speeds being employed by SCSI small computer system interface and some newer SATA hard drives the increased speed reduces overhead and increases read and write times as the disk revolution per millisecond are improved considerably.

Video recorders, digital Almost exponential growth of hard disks have created a boom in consumer electronics such as personal cameras, PDA, audio players, and gaming consoles
The user data has to go through many process’s before it is either read or written to and from the surface of the drive in binary format 0 and 1 such systems employed previously are RLL run length code, MFM, PRML partial response maximum likelihood the next level up from the binary is the hexadecimal stage.

Data from the surface is read and written by the head stack assembly HSA via MR magneto resistive and GMR giant magneto resistive head stages which will typically assign one head per surface.
No contact should be made between the platter and HSA in the user data area on some hard drives the heads do park on the surface of the media however most ramp off to the outer diameter of the media if the heads do come into contact with the surface particularly when the platters are spinning serious damage to the surface may occur and data loss experienced this failure type is commonly known as a head crash.

Our labs have researched this failure type which occurs for a number of reasons such as power fluctuations causing the drive to oscillate or effect the rotational winds and fly height of the HSA, bearing issues which create vibration beyond tolerance, and thermal changes to the HSA and disk enclosure.
Control for the HSA is from the VCM voice coil motor which is capable of controlling the position of the heads to within <1 Micron.

A preamplifier is connected to the HSA as the signals from the heads are very weak and need boosting considerably the signal is then sent to the PCB printed circuit board for further processing, encoding and decoding stages.

Thermal calibration bad sector marking and bad sector lists are dealt with by the firmware and on board processor on the PCB and help create the translator for access to the logical and user space geometry of the hard drive this process is continually updated and adjusted to ensure smooth performance of the hard drive.

SMART self monitoring analysis report tool can suggest issues with the media and warn of any imminent danger to the user data areas however it has been observed that this facility may not warn fast enough or to late and many computer system BIOS basic input output systems are not configured for smart.
Magnetic storage does have a finite life cycle which is based on basic physics and the deterioration of the magnetic surfaces of the disk and stop start cycles of the HSA as such all users should keep a backup of the important data.

LHC or Large Hadron Collider to many name doesn’t conjure up anything particularly inspiring or interesting but nothing could further from the truth!
Based at Switzerland at CERN the particle accelerator is due for partial beam switching in August 2008, this awesome device will be some 7 times more powerful than any other particle accelerator ever made and will probe into the Higgs filed or Higgs particle or so called God particle.
A collaboration of over two thousand physicists from all corners of the globe have worked on this project which hopes to start collisions some 2 months after initial beaming, calibration and feedback from initial stages.
The 27Km (17M) circuit of superconducting magnets x 1600 in total!, which has a diameter of 3.8 meteres will focus the counter rotating beams will accelerate lead hadrons near speed of light speed then smash them together! Don’t worry its all under strict control, although there have been some musings of the possibility of creating mini black hole, albeit for picoseconds.
How quickly will the particles take per circuit?
The real science though will look at what Dr. Peter Higgs postulated and how electromagnetism and W and Z bosons interact will electromagnetism and is part of the standard model of Quantum physics, will the higgs filed exist? Well be sure to get your up to date news here

iPod’s have truly revolutionised the music scene in a similar way that the Sony Walkman did in the 1980’s.
Portable, sleek, cool are just some of the adjectives that describe the iPod and with massive storage storage allows music lovers to store their favourite tunes on mass and be able to listen to them on demand whenever and wherever.

Of course it goes without saying that over the years the music collection investment can be considerable.
its dead or making strange noises or presents you with a sad face icon, then one day you switch on to listen to your music at a time you least expect it the iPod does not respond LCD screen.
What now? All those tracks, songs, time, money, the family and personal pics all lost, but you did back up?
No? well actually most user rarely backup their personal computer hard drive let alone their iPod after all this kind of technology never goes wrong does it?
The actual storage device inside the iPod varies from model to model many utilize the Toshiba range of hard drive media newer NANO models employ solid state technology as this does offer some extra benefits of being more robust and free from the knocks and bumps of daily use of the device.
Opening iPod device for the uninitiated may appear to be daunting and thought must also be given to if the device is still under Apple warranty as opening the device may invalidate your warranty however pitched against this is the cost and time of the actual music data on you iPod is it worth it? In most cases the answer is a resounding YES! most definitely.
If opening the iPod is not for you then you must consider dealing with a data recovery company that has all the tools and experience in dealing with this product and have recovered many other iPods.
Software recovery can be of some help occasionally however for physical issues this will not help and in fact the more that the player is on and attempts made at recovering the data then the chance of recovery diminishes considerably.
The iPod player file system is based on FAT File Allocation Table system FAT32 and Apple proprietary system for the folder and file structure of the tunes to recovery any data you must be able to access the file system from LBA 0 to the end of the LBA logical structure and then be able to copy the data to a reliable media such as a hard drive then you must be mount the cloned data and reconstruct the data based on the above information.
For more information and help or if you require data recovery services to your iPod please contact an engineer where they will be pleased to assist you further.

After careful selection of choosing your preferred data recovery service provider it can be nothing less than devastating to then be informed that your data is unrecoverable, but is this really true?
For sure there can be situations where your data is not recoverable, very often this can be from the most innocuous failure types, for instance your hard drive may be functioning perfectly well with no warnings or indications of failure from the S.M.A.R.T or unusual noises emanating from the disk enclosure when without warning its stops functioning and you get either a blue screen or similar messages via the BIOS informing you NO FIXED DISK PRESENT or similar wordings.
The diagnosis and plan of action is now very important in the quest to retrieve your data, this is where a calm approach is paramount to the success of the attempted recovery.

Following the diagnosis of the media by a professional data recovery lab the media will be examined at all levels along with the end users information of how and when and if any attempts at recovery have been made.

Hard drives are truly spectacular pieces of engineering and individually tuned at the point of manufacture for such issues as defects and thermal adjustments these details create a piece of technology which has very little margin for error and requires exacting precise standards for any recovery to take place.
Most users are not aware for instance that the hard drive has its own unique code encoded directly onto the disk surface(s) which is vital for the operation of normal disk performance and repeated reliability if this area becomes damaged then access to the user data area will not be possible with ordinary means.

The failure discussed at the beginning of this article could be such a failure in which the drive has suffered from extensive damage to the disk area and as a consequence the data may now be unrecoverable, however there are exceptions to this rule such as how much damage has occurred and who is conducting the attempt not all data recovery companies are equal in this discipline.
The failure type may have occurred because of heat or power fluctuations to which the user may not be aware of where as an external hard drive that has been knocked over while in operation clearly the failure type is identified.

Another point worth mentioning is that very often there is a finite amount of time to recover data from hard drive storage media with second and third attempts affecting the quality of any possible recovery, that being said a second opinion must be sought where the data is of value both financially and personally.

USB memory storage media or flash NAND devices have recently grown in popularity due to their lox cost, relatively fast access and portability, however there can be some issues relating to this technology and loss of data.

Due to their inherint design they are suseptable to physical damage such as being snapped or broken while inserted into the computer system or knocked accidentally while connected to the computer system.~
There are developed techniques to recover snapped or broken USB memory sticks the key to a successful recovery is not to attempt to use the device after it has been broken, this action has been taken by some who are desperate to gain access to their data this usually happens when the device is not snapped in to two pieces and can still be inserted into the computer, please avoid this at all costs as further damage may occur.
Software solutions will not help either, the only course of action is hands on from a specialist engineer with SMC and hot air skills and specialist flash NAND equipment that can deal with the specific algorithym and chipset for each specific device.

The bad blocks that are on the device are mapped and dealt with in various ways such as the wear algo and like modern hard drive media it has translation schemes to put this out of reach to the user data area and thus keep the device functioning within specification and allow the data user to store their data safely without loss.
Thermal runaway is another situation which may occur and even though the device is solid state it may fail due to excessive heat on the controller PCB if a component changes its value in ohms or becomes short.