The Anal-Retentive Guide to Drive Failure & Recovery (Mac & PC)

Assuming you are actually anal-retentive, we’re assuming you already keep multiple backups of your stuff. This guide details what to do when your hard drive actually does fail.

This weekend, the RAID array in my MacBook failed (one of the two Seagate 500 GB hard drives developed bad sectors). The guide below details what I did, and what you should do when a hard drive fails.

Before we get started, I want to stress the importance of regular hard drive diagnostics. If you have a PC, use your hard drive maker’s disk diagnostics, and run the extended test either monthly or bi-monthly at the latest. If you have a Mac, Drive Genius Demo offers free sector scanning, even in demo mode.

First, if your hard drive is still functioning somewhat (common if you have bad sectors), you should make a duplicate of the drive. Yes, you have your backups, but odds are that some bad sectors aren’t affecting your data. This will give you an additional backup, plus easy recovery when the drive is replaced.

To do this, there are many tools. On the Mac, they’re mostly free. SuperDuper! and Carbon Copy Cloner, as well as the Disk Image function in Disk Utility are great choices. For Windows, Windows Backup will work (though many XP and Vista versions lack the imaging functionality of Windows Backup). Acronis TrueImage is the best (albeit, not free) alternate route, and DriveImage will also work in a pinch. Norton Ghost and NTI Backup are other options on Windows.

Now, you want to backup to a fresh hard drive, right? Wrong. Zero sectors or run a sector scan on your recovery drive first. Disk Utility on a Mac will do this for free. On Windows, you’ll need a different tool, such as your HDD manufacturer’s tools. In addition, this is often necessary to repair hard drives that are locking up due to a few bad sectors. Zeroing all sectors unfreezes the disk controller by reallocating the sectors properly. If you can re-zero the drive, re-test it… you may be surprised to find it passes all tests now.

Myself, I used SuperDuper! to image my 1 TB Seagate RAID over to a Western Digital 1 TB MyBook. I chose to do a file-for-file copy, rather than create a disk image. Because this is a Mac, I can boot from it and use my MacBook just as before, even while the hard drive is out for replacement. Of course, the Mac isn’t very portable during the warranty shipping… but at least all my files open and work as before.

Note that Time Machine and Windows Backup volumes are generally inaccessible unless restored. You typically can only access one file at a time with these backups. That’s why you may want a spare, large drive on hand for restoring these images, so you can continue working while your hard drive or machine is in the repair shop or RMA process.

Now, you’re about to send that hard drive or computer off for replacement, right? Wrong. You didn’t wipe the failing drive!

Many people think it’s just safe to put a failing hard drive in the mail… after all, it’s failing, right? If you can access your files from the failing drive, so can a thief. Mail is not secure, thus, your files just became a big moving target. Wipe the drive, zeroing all sectors several times before putting it in the mail for replacement.

Apple reccomends up to 35-pass wipes, but even Apple agrees that seven pass wipes are more than sufficient.

If your hard drive is out of warranty, dispose of it. That’s actually not an easy task if you are in California (where it is illegal to throw away anything with a printed circuit board). Many experts suggest Californias throw them away across state lines, and simply store them until that is easy to do. Most recyclers will not accept hard drives, due to the liability risk if one is stolen and data is recovered from it.

Finally, test the new drive using Drive Genius Demo on Mac, or your hard drive manufacturer’s tools on PC. Congratulations, you now have your computer back to normal again.

P.S. Does your Hard Drive manufacturer lack a tool (here’s looking at you Fujitsu and Samsung)? PC users can download Hitachi’s DFT Boot Disc or Seagate’s SeaTools for Windows. Both offer testing of hard drives made by any manufacturer.

For those that are lazy, here are the download links to most popular hard drive manufacturer test tools:

• Fujitsu (None… fail. Use Hitachi’s…)
• Hiachi Drive Fitness Test
• Seagate SeaTools (Windows or Preferrable DOS/Boot CD)
• Toshiba (None… fail. Use Hitachi’s.)
• Western Digital (WinDLG (Windows) & DLGDIAG (DOS/Boot CD))