Laptop hard disks have more failures than desktop hard drives due to portability versus delicacy - an accidental bang against a hard surface could result in a surprise when an attempt is made to boot there may be a blue screen with some heart-stopping message from Windows or a continuous clicking sound to ruin your day.
Laptops can be damaged easily so it's common to run into problems serious enough that the hard drive will need a technician rather than a novice to retrieve the data. Depending on the brand and model of laptop there are at least 3 locations where the hard drive can be accessed and removed. There are panels that have to be removed on the top of most notebooks, some newer ones have panels on the bottom, and some older Dell models have a simple side panel where the hard drive can be screwed out.
You might drop your laptop and break the video card; this will require replacement of the whole motherboard since the two are integrated in most modern laptops. However the hard drive will still contain the data and can be installed in the repaired notebook.
If the problem is with the hard drive and its data it can be couriered to a recovery firm. When removing the hard drive care has to be taken not to pull the ribbon connected to the touchpad once a panel is taken off. Using the right size of screwdriver will help prevent damage. From this point it's probably best to avoid playing handyman and send it to someone at a company who can perform data file recovery.
Laptops, notebooks, and tablet PCs take regular abuse and they will fail in time for a percentage of users. These are the least frequently backed up of computers since the owners tend to be on the go and may forget to stick to a back up routine. Each year the data involved is more voluminous and important than it may have been in the past and may represent a sizable amount of work, possibly messing up a business project deadline.
Luckily there are data recovery services that can solve the problem in less than 48 hours in most cases. The industry of retrieving data and repairing hard drives has become busier than ever despite the monumental leaps and bounds in high-tech security and design integrity of computers. It seems that the factors that create problems have kept pace with the increasingly complex computer technology that was expected to prevent hard disk drive failure or conditions that cause logical damage to the file system.
Storage devices and hard disks that have been physically damaged can't usually be repaired by the end user; If a hard disk is opened in a regular environment dust may get between the platter and the read/write head and could cause more head crashes. A sterile room is used for removing printed circuit boards and procedures where delicate parts are exposed to the air. The miniature nature of laptops calls for a technician to work gingerly with the specialized equipment and tools designed for data recovery jobs.
Pat Boardman is an SEO consultant writing in respect to CBL Data Recovery North America, a computer service firm specializing in data recovery services for hard drives, laptops, RAID arrays, disks, tapes, and servers across the U.S.A. and Canada with labs in San Diego California, Atlanta Georgia, and Toronto Ontario.
