Typical Symptoms/Characteristics of a Common Data Loss Situation

• Accidental deletion of data
• Accidental reformatting of partitions
• Hard disk crash or hard disk component failure
• Ticking or grinding noises from the hard disk
• Computer won't boot. Blue or black screen after power up. The system will not load Windows (or other O/S)
• Applications that are unable to run or load data:
  • Try and fail to start an application such as Excel or Word
  • Try and fail to load a file while running Excel or Word
  • Folders that should be full of files appear empty
• Inaccessible drives and partitions
• Corrupted data
• Visible fire or water damage
• Media surface contamination and damage

You could determine your hard disk problem by detecting it in BIOS. To get to CMOS, press either F1, F2, F10 (for most laptops) or Del button (for most PCs) on your keyboard while starting up your computer. Auto detect your hard disk in Standard CMOS setting. If your hard disk is detected by CMOS then the problem is most probably software error. If it is not, most probably the hard disk is experiencing hardware failure. Shut down your computer and unplug your hard disk (carefully) and call us for advice.