Core Data Recovery

1. Backup, Backup, Backup. Use a good offsite backup service and maintain good onsite backups. I have been recommending iBackup to my clients for a couple of years now and have been pleased with ease of use and performance.
2. If you hear funny noises, shut down your computer and have it looked at immediately. Clicking and chattering are not normal.
3. Use a good anti-virus software and anti-spyware software. These help cut down on software damaged drives. See my Discounts page for some of the software options I recommend, or email me for specific recommendations for your situation.
4. Purchase and maintain a good UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply). This is important because about 30% of the drives we see are electronically damaged in brown-outs.
5. Clean the inside of your computer out (canned air is a wonderful thing!) and change the power-supply once every year. (Especially servers.) Maintenance is a good way to avoid damage. Dust seals in the heat and keeps the air from getting to the aluminum to wick off the heat. Aluminum radiates less than 2% of its energy so air/metal contact is a must. Clean more frequently if you work in a dusty environment.
6. On critical systems, implement a RAID architecture. Mirroring or RAID 5 or more is preferred. This means it takes more than one drive failing to cause a crash.
7. Restore your backups on a semi-annual basis to check that your backups are complete.
8. Do not, under any circumstances, while running or not, shake or hit the drive. This can lead to irreparable damage. This would seem like something I don’t have to tell you, but you’d be surprised how many people use the old “kick it and see if that fixes it” mentality.
9. Do not have food around your computer, particularly laptops. Sodas are the number one reason laptops seem to die (At least the ones sent to me)
10. Finally, do not immerse in water. Water will destroy your drive. Why? Hard disks are exposed to the air so they can properly maintain a pressure inside the drive. Water will seep inside the drive and corrode the surface.

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