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Beware The Dreaded Head Crash - Hard Drive Failure And How To Avoid Disaster - Data Recovery Tips
October 17 2007
Here's a good piece of advice — if you believe you are experiencing hard drive failure, stop everything and consider your next move! Our friends at DriveSavers (especially their grief counselor) have been asking us to pass along that a very high number of the drives sent in for recovery lately have suffered a head crash and are unrecoverable.
If your hard drive emits unusual noises (clicking, grinding or metal scraping), turn it off immediately! This symptom typically indicates a head crash that can destroy your data. Hard drives spin with extreme speed - from 7,200 to 15,000 revolutions per minute - therefore extensive damage can occur in a short period of time.
Listen to some samples of drives that are failing so you can identity the potential problems. The point is to not try a desperate move. Just stop and analyze the situation, and if you are unsure, get that drive to a professional recovery service. If booted up, back up any critical files. Shut down the computer and DO NOT reboot.
Listen to sounds of bad drives (links open in a new window), including bad bearings, grinding sound, cycle click, excessive clicking, and the ray gun.
Here are some interesting facts and stats about hard disk failure and recovery:
- The average service life of a modern hard drive is 3-5 years.
- Disk drives have annual failure rates of 0.3%-3% per year, with hard drive manufacturing companies claiming a 1% failure rate per year.
A 2003 study estimated that the cost of data loss-including technical services for repair, lost productivity, and the value of lost data — is approximately $3,400 per episode, or a total loss of $18.2 billion dollars per year for US companies ("The Cost of Lost Data: The importance of investing in 'that ounce of prevention'" by David M. Smith, PhD.)
- 31% of PC users have lost all of their files due to events beyond their control
- 93% of companies that lost their data center for 10 days or more due to a disaster, filed for bankruptcy within one year of the disaster. 50% of businesses, that found themselves without data management for this same time period, filed for bankruptcy immediately. (National Archives & Records Administration in Washington)
- According to a MacInTouch survey of 4,000 iPod users, accounting for 8,926 iPods, 1,416 failed in the 5 years since Apple started selling iPod products. Some models showed a failure rate as high as 29.9% (iPod Reliability survey)
- Hard drives are more sensitive to altitude than other components and have a higher rate of failure at heights over 10,000 feet
- According to the Harris/Symantec Data Back-Up Survey 2006, just 57% said they back up their data, with digital pictures the most commonly backed up files. The other 43% don't back up — ever-despite the fact that nearly a quarter of the respondents (24%) admitted to losing data from a computer crash over the past six months.
- Gartner estimated that 5% of desktop PCs purchased in 200-2006 will break within the first year and that 12% will break within four years. In contrast, 15% of laptops will break within a year and 22% will break within four years.
If you ever need data recovery, try DriveSavers, we have a special discount deal with them (see below). For on-site backup we use a Seagate FreeAgent Desktop 250 GB USB external hard drive. These have ample room at a really great price. For daily off-site backup (email, photos, websites) I use a multitude of SanDisk 4 GB Cruzer Micro USB flash drives. I love them. And for big off-site backups (all content from all workstation towers) we use a series of 120GB Firelite portable hard drives.
DriveSavers Exclusive 10% Savings — Use Discount Code DS1-32-30
We are an Authorized DriveSavers reseller. Mention Discount Code DS1-32-30 and receive a 10% Discount on your invoiced recovery fee. You'll also be eligible for DriveSavers' exclusive No Attempt Fee – if data is not recoverable, there is no charge.
U.S. & Canadian Customers: TOLL FREE: 1-800-440-1904
U.S. & Canadian Customers: DIRECT LINE: 1-415-382-2000
International Customers: (your country access code) + 888-440-2404
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Photoshop CS4 & Photoshop CS4 Extended - Best Deals From Adobe
Photoshop CS4 and Photoshop CS4 Extended feature a newly refined, tab-based interface in a single, integrated window, with self-adjusting panels arranged in docked groups. Automatically keeping tools well organized and away from your work area means you get greater efficiency, less clutter, and better results, faster than before.
Delivering all the features of Adobe Photoshop CS4 software, including the new Adjustments and Masks panels, Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended also provides breakthrough 3D editing and compositing power to paint directly on 3D models, create 3D animations, convert 2D images to 3D objects, and more; richer motion graphics editing; and more powerful and flexible image analysis and tracking. Learn more on our Photoshop CS4 Tutorials Page. To download the free trial, see details on our Photoshop CS4 Free Trial Download Page.
Find upgrade options and package deals at the Adobe USA Store. Teachers and students get special pricing at the Adobe Education Store. You can also buy in your country currency and language at the following Adobe International Stores:
Adobe United Kingdom | Adobe Germany | Adobe France | Adobe Eastern Europe
Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium - Complete CS4 Bundle
Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium software is the designer's dream toolkit for print, web, and mobile publishing. Creativity is rarely confined to one medium, so put your vector illustrations in motion, moving fluidly between Adobe Illustrator CS4 and Adobe Flash CS4 Professional. And use Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended to design and slice a web page for publishing with Adobe Dreamweaver CS4.
Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium combines essential tools for producing everything from professional page layouts to rich interactive experiences in a unified, intuitive environment. Also includes Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro, Adobe InDesign CS4, plus Adobe Fireworks CS4.
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Enter our exclusive discount coupon code - PSSPPT06 - during the checkout process at onOne Software for an instant 10% discount on any onOne product. This includes Genuine Fractals and their amazing Photoshop Plug-In Suite.
onOne Software's Plug-In Suite combines full versions of six essential software tools — Genuine Fractals Print Pro, PhotoTools Pro, PhotoFrame Pro, Mask Pro, PhotoTune and FocalPoint — an affordable combination that includes everything a photographer needs to make their images look their best.
Why do you need plugins? Photoshop is an amazing image editing application that has forever changed graphic design and digital photographic editing, but like any tool, if you don't have time to fully learn it, you can't get the most out of it.
Plugins for Photoshop allow you to either do something that you cannot do with the features included in Photoshop or they allow you to do something easier, faster or better than you could do in Photoshop without the plug-in. Whether it is color correction, resizing, masking or creating an effect, you can find a Photoshop plug-in that can help you be more efficient with your time.
Did You Know You Could Create An Entire Website In Photoshop?
SiteGrinder Photoshop Plugin - Create Websites Instantly
There often seems to be a strict division of labor within the world of web design and development. Creative professionals tend to stick to the Photoshop domain, while those well-versed in scripting are left to the task of implementing their work. Indeed, the two realms are quite different from each other, to which any of us even vaguely familiar with either can easily attest.
Essentially, Photoshop is a no-holds-barred design studio, offering the artist a seemingly endless array of creative options. On the other hand, HTML, CSS, Java and the like follow strict rules of engagement, requiring the developer to take any number of esoteric concerns into consideration in order to ensure that designs are properly displayed on the web.
Turn Photoshop Into A Complete Web Design Tool
SiteGrinder seeks to bridge this gap between design and development. Basically, this program turns Photoshop into an easy-to-use and fully functional web design tool. With SiteGrinder, designers will now have the freedom to totally let their creativity loose and then, without skipping a beat, transfer their designs to the web. Bringing esthetic concerns together with more practical considerations, this program is an amazingly powerful tool that would make a fantastic addition to any web designer's bag of tricks.
Generate Your Web Pages Directly From Photoshop
By generating web pages directly from Photoshop, you'll be able to spend much more time on the creative end of the spectrum, since you'll know right off the bat how well particular designs will translate to the web. No more going back to the Photoshop drawing board after getting a phone call from your development team, telling you that what you had envisioned doesn't have a chance of being displayed on the web. You can immediately visually and interactively test your designs, which permits you to then make changes to either esthetics or functions while it's still relatively early on in the design process.
Pricing and Availability
Mac OS X and Windows versions of the SiteGrinder unlockable demo are available now via download. SiteGrinder can be ordered from Media Lab's online store.
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Available At The Adobe Store
Adobe has announced the immediate availability of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 software, the photographer's essential toolbox for managing, adjusting and presenting large volumes of digital photographs. With new enhancements such as dual-monitor support, radical advances in non-destructive localized image correction, and streamlined search capabilities, Photoshop Lightroom 2 is a compelling upgrade that simplifies photography from shoot to finish. Visit the Adobe site to download a free 30 day Photoshop Lightroom trial free download.
As Adobe’s first application to support 64-bit for Mac OS X 10.5 Macintosh computers with Intel processors and Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit operating systems, Lightroom 2 also provides improved memory performance for dealing with large scale images. Find the latest Lightroom 2 tutorials on our Photoshop Lightroom 2 Tutorials page.
Photoshop CS4 Book - Photoshop CS4 Essential Skills - By Mark Galer And Philip Andrews
Brimming with beautiful pictures, Photoshop CS4 Essential Skills guides you through a project-based, progressive curriculum so that you can build all the essential skills to enhance photographs creatively and professionally with Photoshop CS4. If you are an aspiring professional or a student learning photography, digital imaging, or design graphics, you'll be amazed at the stunning results you can achieve. A DVD is included free.
The Essential Skills Photography Series from Focal Press uniquely offers a structured learning experience for photographers of all ages, with both the underlying theory and loads of invaluable 'how to' and real-life practice projects - all from the most talented photography practitioners/educators in the world.
Read 2 free sample chapters:
Skin Retouching Tips In Photoshop CS4
Transforming Smart Objects In Photoshop CS4
Find more Photoshop CS4 tutorials on our Photoshop CS4 Tutorials Page.
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Photoshop CS3 Book - CS3 Essential Skills - By Mark Galer And Philip Andrews
Brimming with beautiful pictures, Photoshop CS3 Essential Skills guides you through a project-based, progressive curriculum so that you can build all the essential skills to enhance photographs creatively and professionally with Photoshop CS3. If you are an aspiring professional, enthusiastic amateur photographer, or a student learning photography, digital imaging, art and design, or design graphics, you'll be amazed at the stunning results you can achieve. A DVD is included free.
The Essential Skills Photography Series from Focal Press uniquely offers a structured learning experience for photographers of all ages, with both the underlying theory and loads of invaluable 'how to' and real-life practice projects - all from the most talented photography practitioners/educators in the world.
Read 2 free sample chapters:
Adjusting Exposure in Adobe Camera Raw CS3
Photoshop CS3 Tutorial High Dynamic Range
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