'External hard drive suddenly stopped working' the line itself is so scary which reminds me about lots of data stored on my external hard drive. Really scary right? If so, then take a little care of your external hard drive and keep it away from failure. Here, I have listed out some simple techniques which could help you in extending external hard drive life span.
Caution-When hard drive stops working, don't come to conclusion that it is failed. First, check whether USB cable is properly connected or not. If not, connect it properly.
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Tip 1: Avoid Physical Damage
There are some physical factors which lead to external hard drive failure, such as dust, fire, power fluctuation, etc. I know, it is difficult to take care of these things, but you must be careful and take a proper care of your drive to keep it away from failure.
Tip 2: Monitor External Hard Drive Health. You can keep an eye on your hard drive health using Chkdsk and S.M. If you find any problems, then you can fix it easily then and there, thus avoiding hard drive failure. Tip 3: Don't Overload your External Hard Drive. Don't fill your external hard drive with unwanted data.
Tip 2: Monitor External Hard Drive Health
You can keep an eye on your hard drive health using Chkdsk and S.M. A. R.T programs. https://software-streams.mystrikingly.com/blog/ssd-portable-storage. If you find any problems, then you can fix it easily then and there, thus avoiding hard drive failure.
Tip 3: Don't Overload your External Hard Drive
Don't fill your external hard drive with unwanted data. Remove unwanted files as it reduces wear and tear it receives from being over full. If you don't want to delete any files, then compress it to make space on your external HDD.
Tip 4: Handle with care
Don't just throw it out anywhere, as it contains your important data. External HDD should be handled with more care. Make sure you have kept it in a right place. When you carry it to one place to another, wrap it in a padded box.
Tip 5: Choose External HDD Surface carefully
External hard drive must be placed on a level, flat and non-slip surfaces. Any physical damage to external hard drive can result in failure.
Tip 6: Do not play with USB Plug
Catalina spa instruction manual. USB cable should be removed carefully from the cable connecter. If you pull it abruptly from the connecter, then it may damage the connecter. Also, check whether USB connecter is damaged or not. If it is damaged, don't use such USB connector.
Tip 7: Defrag the drive periodically
Every once and a while defrag your hard drive to secure it from failure.
Tip 8: Prevent Over Heat
Continuous spinning produces extensive heat in External hard drive which is not good for it. So, set spin down to manage over heat issue in external drive.
Tip 9: Stop Unplugging External Hard Drive Abruptly
While removing external hard drive from computer, use 'Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media' option, instead of just pulling it out. This will reduce chances of external drive corruption which eventually results in its failure.
| Additional Info: When external hard drive gets corrupted due to abrupt removal, then next time when you plugin it may show you an error stating that 'USB drive is not formatted; Do you want to format it now?' In such cases, you have to format the drive in order to reuse it. If you didn't had data backup, then you can just use a recovery software and restore data from formatted external hard drive within few minutes. So your external hard drive will be safe and your data too. |
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Tip 10: Get Rid of Bad Sectors
Excessive number of bad sectors on external hard drive leads to drive failure. Hence, use Windows built-in tool to fix the bad sectors and extend the external drive life span.
| Remember!!! File corruption error message, disappearing files from the drive, very low transfer rate, etc.… If you come across these signs, then it indicates that your external drive is about to fail. Hence backup your drive before it is too late. |
Before you put all of your files on a wireless external hard drive, wouldn't you like to know that they were secure—that a hacker couldn't just drive by your house or office and copy off anything he wanted? Here's what you need to know.
Tip 8: Prevent Over Heat
Continuous spinning produces extensive heat in External hard drive which is not good for it. So, set spin down to manage over heat issue in external drive.
Tip 9: Stop Unplugging External Hard Drive Abruptly
While removing external hard drive from computer, use 'Safely Remove Hardware and Eject Media' option, instead of just pulling it out. This will reduce chances of external drive corruption which eventually results in its failure.
| Additional Info: When external hard drive gets corrupted due to abrupt removal, then next time when you plugin it may show you an error stating that 'USB drive is not formatted; Do you want to format it now?' In such cases, you have to format the drive in order to reuse it. If you didn't had data backup, then you can just use a recovery software and restore data from formatted external hard drive within few minutes. So your external hard drive will be safe and your data too. |
Safest External Hard Drive 2017 Ford
Tip 10: Get Rid of Bad Sectors
Excessive number of bad sectors on external hard drive leads to drive failure. Hence, use Windows built-in tool to fix the bad sectors and extend the external drive life span.
| Remember!!! File corruption error message, disappearing files from the drive, very low transfer rate, etc.… If you come across these signs, then it indicates that your external drive is about to fail. Hence backup your drive before it is too late. |
Before you put all of your files on a wireless external hard drive, wouldn't you like to know that they were secure—that a hacker couldn't just drive by your house or office and copy off anything he wanted? Here's what you need to know.
Wireless External Hard Drives As Secure As Your Network
What kind of encryption does your home or office wireless network use? If it's no encryption, then hackers can read the contents of your files as you transfer them from your wireless external hard drive to your computer.
If you use WEP encryption, which is the older wireless encryption standard, then hackers will have to sit outside your house for at least a few minutes before they can start to access your files, but they'll still be able to get to them.
If you use the current standard encryption, WPA, your files will remain secure to remote hackers (unless you foolishly give them the password to your network). Therefore it is up to you to improve your network security to ensure your wireless external hard drive is secure.
How Hackers Can Still Access Your Wireless External Hard Drive
Unfortunately, hackers don't necessarily need to wirelessly access your hard drive to get to your files—they can get to them the old-fashioned way by stealing your hard drive.
You may think this is rare, but a wireless external hard drive just sits in the same place all the time, unlike your portable laptop, and it's much smaller than a full desktop computer, so it's easier to steal.
You can protect your wireless external hard drive by putting it somewhere that's not immediately visible to thieves. (That's a nice advantage of it being wireless.) But even if your drive gets stolen, there's a way to protect your data.
Many higher-end wireless external hard drives come with the option to encrypt the disk with a password. Without this password the thief won't be able to access your files even if he has your hard drive connected directly to his computer.
There are two downsides of an encrypted hard drive. The first is that you'll need to enter the password from your computer every time you power on the drive. This can be somewhat mitigated by using software on your computer which remembers the password for you and automatically enters it—but using password automation software means someone can access the drive by stealing both the drive and your computer.
The other disadvantage of an encrypted hard drive is that if you forget the password, you'll lose access to all of your files and nobody will be able to decrypt the hard drive for you.
Is a Normal External Hard Drive Safer?
Not really. Just think about it. You might leave your external hard drive connected to your computer, that is unfortunately part of an unsecured network, open for hackers to invade. Again the hacker may physically remove your external hard drive and then access your files that way.
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The same network security threats apply either way.
But if you want to store confidential files, I can only recommend that you use both WPA wireless security and full-disk encryption to keep safe the data on your external hard drive, wireless or not.
