Corrupt Data Prevention

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Corrupt Data Prevention

How To Protect Yourself From Data Corruption
For the millions of Americans who use computers daily, dealing with corrupt data is inevitable. It's going to happen at some point. Though annoying and potentially destructive to your hard drive, corrupt data is not necessarily a major cause for alarm. Knowing how to diagnose and deal with corrupt data can save you many frustrating hours attempting to recover the affected data.

Data refers to both files that you have created as well as operating system code and applications. Corrupt data is a common problem and can be caused by a variety of issues including power outages, an improper shutdown of your computer, a failure to eject an external hard drive or other device before turning them off, a hardware failure, incorrectly saved data or programming issues within data files. Operating system files may also experience data corruption due to failed or aborted software updates.

The above actions or issues can cause corrupt data, which will cause a corrupted hard drive directory. When this occurs, files appear to be lost when they in fact exist; causing a discrepancy in the amount of disk space that appears to be available vs. the amount of data that actually exists on your hard drive.

If corrupt data has led to performance issues within your hard drive in the past, there are several strategies you can use to avoid data corruption from harming your computer in the future.

Backup - Cheap, And Effective

First, back up all files frequently using an external hard drive. Powerful external hard drives with up to 2.5 terabytes of storage can be purchased for about $100 at major electronics retailers. Create a schedule to back up data - many experts suggest weekly data back up - and follow it. Ensure that all external hard drives and external storage devices are ejected properly before turning them off. Failure to do so may cause corrupt data.

Ready Yourself To Recover Now

In addition to backing up all files and programs, create recovery disks for your computer. On Windows platform computers, instructions to create recovery disks can be found under "System and Security" and then "Back up and Restore". Hard drive recovery disks will allow you to recover lost data if corrupt data causes a hard drive failure. You will need several blank writeable disks to create recovery disks. Having these disks on hand will be a life-saver if your computer crashes and operating system must be re-installed.

Got Anti-Virus??

Use trusted anti-virus software to regularly perform system scans, which can catch file and drive directory corruptions before they have a chance to cause major issues. At least once a month, perform a high-level scan, also known as a "deep scan" or "full scan" to rid your computer of potential hidden corruptions, malware and viruses.

Protect your computer against corrupt data caused by environmental issues, such as power surges. This can be prevented by plugging your computer into a surge-protected power strip, rather than a regular wall outlet. Power strips are inexpensive, with most costing less than $25, and are available at most major retailers and discount stores.

Sticking to these guidelines will go a long way in helping you avoid the pitfalls and damage that corrupt data can cause to your computer.

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