Good point!
Defragmenting makes data recovery much easier. The easiest files to recover are pictures because they get written in 1 piece. The hardest files to recover are things like email and databases where a little bit is added to the file all day long. Then it get fragmented all over - with out the master file table you got nuttin...
(I do this daily alandata.com)
I do data recovery every day (www.alandata.com)
The first thing we try to recover is the master file table - which has all the names and maps the files.
Often we find their is damage in the master file table. This is because the heads go there more than anywhere else.
Without this its pretty messy - no names or paths - unless you just want pictures which usually self identify.
drives use fluid dynamic bearings these days. Extremely tight tolerance. If they run hot then the fluid can gas out and they seize.
usually people drop them and cause them to seize.
wacking a drive is very risky - you can pretzel the heads or detach them.
Now if it does spin you are scraping bare metal arms across shiny platters - this is a bad thing...
On the other hand you have nothing to lose except your data.
The freezer trick doesnt work much anymore - it used to work on older drives with termal compensation issues or hot electronics parts.
Now not so much.
On the other hand its not likely to damage the drive - unless condensation forms.
I know, I do this daily (www.alandata.com)
most manufacturers stopped using separate rom chips years ago.
Now its stored in the cpu which is a large 128 pin 4 sided surface mount chip.
Good luck swapping that with a how air gun....
I do this daily - www.alandata.com
The problem with doing this with a new drive is the alignment. Once you loosen the screws you have changed the alignment - it may never come ready again. The dust is not such a big deal, the drive has an insternal filter to catch the loose particles. The first time it spins up it will likely knock off any dust or particles.
I wouldnt store my digital photo collection there...
Microsoft loves to create incredibly complicated, undocumented and fragile data structures. Consider word: the internal structure of a word document as itself a filesystem, it has a root, a FAT and a bad block list. If even 1 block is damaged the file is useless. There are few repair tools because the internal layout is secret and undocumented. Access and SQL files are worse. In data recovery we frequently recover 90% of the files from volumes that have thousands of bad blocks or other damage. That wont work with WinFS. Are you going to store you precious digital photos on your $80 WesternDigital 80gb drive with its new 1 year warranty? Microsofts (and WD's) attitude will be that you should have backed it up. How do you easily back-up 80gb anyway?
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Good point! Defragmenting makes data recovery much easier. The easiest files to recover are pictures because they get written in 1 piece. The hardest files to recover are things like email and databases where a little bit is added to the file all day long. Then it get fragmented all over - with out the master file table you got nuttin... (I do this daily alandata.com)
I do data recovery every day (www.alandata.com) The first thing we try to recover is the master file table - which has all the names and maps the files. Often we find their is damage in the master file table. This is because the heads go there more than anywhere else. Without this its pretty messy - no names or paths - unless you just want pictures which usually self identify.
drives use fluid dynamic bearings these days. Extremely tight tolerance. If they run hot then the fluid can gas out and they seize. usually people drop them and cause them to seize.
wacking a drive is very risky - you can pretzel the heads or detach them. Now if it does spin you are scraping bare metal arms across shiny platters - this is a bad thing... On the other hand you have nothing to lose except your data. The freezer trick doesnt work much anymore - it used to work on older drives with termal compensation issues or hot electronics parts. Now not so much. On the other hand its not likely to damage the drive - unless condensation forms. I know, I do this daily (www.alandata.com)
most manufacturers stopped using separate rom chips years ago. Now its stored in the cpu which is a large 128 pin 4 sided surface mount chip. Good luck swapping that with a how air gun.... I do this daily - www.alandata.com
do you just make this stuff up? the top and bottom heads are definitely used. loading ramps are generally only used in laptop drives.
The problem with doing this with a new drive is the alignment. Once you loosen the screws you have changed the alignment - it may never come ready again. The dust is not such a big deal, the drive has an insternal filter to catch the loose particles. The first time it spins up it will likely knock off any dust or particles. I wouldnt store my digital photo collection there...
the big AV companies are behind it all....
Microsoft loves to create incredibly complicated, undocumented and fragile data structures. Consider word: the internal structure of a word document as itself a filesystem, it has a root, a FAT and a bad block list. If even 1 block is damaged the file is useless. There are few repair tools because the internal layout is secret and undocumented. Access and SQL files are worse. In data recovery we frequently recover 90% of the files from volumes that have thousands of bad blocks or other damage. That wont work with WinFS. Are you going to store you precious digital photos on your $80 WesternDigital 80gb drive with its new 1 year warranty? Microsofts (and WD's) attitude will be that you should have backed it up. How do you easily back-up 80gb anyway?