1. Hard Drive Clicking-if a hard drive suddenly begins making clicking noises, (literally) then chances are it is too late to save or backup data on the hard drive. However, if the hard drive is still operating and allowing access, then we highly recommend backing up any important data right now—don’t even finish reading this article! In most cases though, the hard drive will not allow windows to boot up.

When a hard drive begins to click, it is just telling us that it has internal damage to parts and pieces. There is never a sure fire way to detect when or why this happens at a certain point. I have seen people who purchased a brand new hard drive that began clicking within a few months of use. I have also seen people use the same hard drive for 8 years with no problems, but then it suddenly starts clicking. It’s not that one brand is better than another or has fewer known issues. Hard drives are mass produced and put together, so as with anything, malfunctioning parts can be unknowingly used to create a drive, which can cause the drive to begin clicking within a few months of use. The other reason hard drives begin clicking is just from use over time and wearing out. There are many components to a hard drive. Sometimes these just wear out, or even become loose over time, creating scratching or use-wear to platters of the drive. Even dust and dirt can gain access to a hard drive, which can cause scratches to surface platters as well.
These platters are vital to the operation of the hard drive. It is similar to a DVD that has been scratched to the point that it can not recognize the disk enough to even start the movie. That is what happens when a hard drive is clicking and windows will not boot up.
So, what is the solution for this problem, or is there one? Yes, there definitely is an answer. However, it is not a home remedy that will fix this issue. In fact, any home remedies or fixes will cause more damage to this drive in such a fragile state already. When a hard drive begins clicking, the chances of recovering the data off of it have been reduced versus other failures. Because this type of drive has mechanical failure, the drive must be taken apart and parts must be replaced in order to get the drive running just enough to read and image the data to get a full recovery. When a drive is clicking, the only chance for recovery is using a professional data recovery company who recovers data from this type of hard drive everyday and has the experience to do so. Recovery really depends on the severity of internal damage and if any other recovery options have been tested on the drive. In cases of a clicking hard drive, a technician usually only has one opportunity to retrieve data from the hard drive after replacing parts. Even if the same parts are replaced through another recovery company, the drive most likely will not be recognizable.
Before a person makes any decision on a drive that is clicking, it needs to be thought out and made sure that is the final decision they want to live with in this situation.

 Luckily, there are many wonderful anti-virus programs out there that will help keep the viruses off of your computer. However, even anti-virus programs are not 100% effective. Just last month I was talking to a software developer who told me his computer was acting really strange for several days. He hadn’t done anything out of the norm that should have cause the change in behavior, so he started running anti-virus and searching files and programs for a virus attack. It took him a couple of frustrating days to finally realize that the virus had attached itself to one of his regularly used programs and actually hidden itself as part of the vital functions!

Recovering data loss after a virus attack is almost always 100%!

Not to worry though, if you have been the victim of an unwarranted virus attack. ADR Data Recovery is here to repair damaged and deleted partitions and corrupt operating system files that are preventing you to access your data. Believe it or not, virus recovery is actually one of the easiest recoveries possible, because the hard drive has not been damaged physically. All of your files are still there and accessible, but they do need a little professional help to fix the damaged parts, before they can be seen.

Steps to take when you have experienced Virus Data Loss:

• Turn off your computer-do not use anymore
• Do not attempt any type of self-recovery, or take it to a computer repair shop. By this point, your hard drive needs the equivalent to a heart specialist to repair it. That is where data recovery comes in.
• We do not recommend DIY software recovery. They can be helpful in some cases, but more often than not, you are actually putting your data at further risk for complete recovery. This is because hard drives are delicate internally, and many times recovery is a one shot deal. If a program does not complete the recovery successfully, you are greatly limiting your chances of a professional completing the job.

We perform free evaluations on all drives suffering data loss from virus attacks. Once the evaluation is completed, we will provide you with an exact cost to complete the recovery. You will not be charged more than the price we quoted you while the drive is in our hands. This means, there is absolutely no risk to find out if your data is recoverable and what the price will be.

If you can not afford recovery at the moment, we have a couple of options for you.

1. We have a payment plan, with several options to suit your needs and what you can pay per month.
2. Because recovering data can be a one shot deal, we do recommend recovery at the time of evaluation. However, if you can not afford it now, but will want the data eventually, you should consider letting us recover it. After the recovery, we will put the data onto a new drive and store it in a secured facility, until you are able to make the payment. After that, we will send your data and new drive to you.

 First off, most data IS recoverable, even if it has been damaged by natural disasters!

 When disaster strikes, ADR Data Recovery is on your side! We provide the knowledge for you to make crucial, quick decisions when it comes to knowing if your data is recoverable or not.

 There are many types of damages thunderstorms can cause as they hit an area:

•  Lightning strikes
• Power surges
• Flooding
• Fire
• Tornadoes

 Lightning:
          Damages from lighting can be minor or major, depending on how close it actually hit to a home. If it is just static electricity that hit the house, damages could be on the minimal side. However, if lighting is a direct hit to the home and creates a fire, then the damage could be extensive and need clean room work. This is where recovery specialists are able to take apart a drive, un-solder parts and replace them with new components, in order to get the drive running to extract data off of it.

•  Do not attempt to turn on or run a burned drive. It can cause extra damage to internal mechanisms.
• Do not shake the drive.
• Do not try to clean the drive up at all. (If it was burned and then in a flood, follow tips for flooding, but still DO NOT clean a burned drive.)
• Package the drives in enough bubble wrap to prevent any shifting.
•  Attach the prepaid, overnight shipping label (provided by us.) 

Flooding:
             ADR was able to lend a hand during the flooding in Tennessee during May. We had many clients who had hard drives buried among mud and debris, and thought they would never see their data again. After following a few tips on how to store, clean, and send the drive into us, we were able to provide 100% recovery! 
        
Here are the tips we gave the people of Tennessee:

• Don’t let the drives dry out, if possible (keeping the drives wet prevents rust and corrosion.)
• Rinse off the drives—for drives with mud/grime (preferably in purified or distilled water.)
• Double bag the drives in sealable plastic bags.
• Package the drives in enough bubble wrap to prevent shifting.  
• Attach the prepaid, overnight shipping label (provided by us.) 

Power surges:
            When a computer is damaged via a power surge, the hard drive components actually get melded together. It is recoverable, however, the drive must be handled by specialists who know how to intricately un-solder each piece, take it apart, and solder new pieces back to the drive, so that the drive is readable to extract the data off of it.

•  Do not attempt to run/turn on the computer with fried drive.
• Do not shake the drive
• Package the drives in enough bubble wrap to prevent any shifting.
•  Attach the prepaid, overnight shipping label (provided by us.) 

 Fire:
      Hard drives that have been damaged by fire are most likely able to be recovered. They do require special clean room work though, because a technician will have to carefully replace, many parts of the internal drive.

•  Do not attempt to turn on or operate a burned drive. It can cause extra damage to internal mechanisms.
• Do not shake the drive.
• Do not try to clean the drive up at all. (If it was burned and then in a flood, follow tips for flooding, but still DO NOT clean a burned drive.)
• Package the drives in enough bubble wrap to prevent any shifting.
•  Attach the prepaid, overnight shipping label (provided by us.) 

     Again, time is a crucial element here. The faster we get the drives, the easier and higher recovery rate we will have on the drive. We are completely risk free and will do everything possible to get your data back to you.

Benefits of using ADR Data Recovery:

• Fast recovery times
• Competitive pricing
• Professional, knowledgeable, friendly service
• You only pay if your data is recoverable
• Free evaluation for natural disaster clients
• 95% success rate
• Free overnight FedEx shipping

 Call now to talk to one of our friendly receptionists, to help put your mind at ease.

 1800-450-9282   We will get your data back.

Last week we left off on when to use a computer repair shop vs. data
recovery. There is an endless amount of explanations and answers for the everyday computer user’s quandary, but which solutions work best for which situations? How is a person supposed to determine whether to use an IT, computer repair, DIY software, a friend, or data recovery? Which one of these operations will give the results a user is looking for, or if it will even be purposeful to employ any of them?

Just as data recovery techs are specialists in their industry, computer shops are in theirs. Just to get it straight, computer shops are meant to repair or fix issues related to software malfunctions, upgrade memory, even replace parts such as sound cards, cooling fans, and controllers. However, most computer shops do not have the capabilities or understanding to actually get into or take the hard drive apart and fix the necessary parts in order to get pictures, documents, and other data off of it. We have seen clients who took their hard drive to computer shops first, because the technician there talked them into letting them “experiment” on recovering the data. The results were not good. Not only did the computer repair shop not get the files off of the drive, but destroyed parts of it so badly that we were not able gain access to all the files on the drive. As you can see, computer repair shops are a great answer to your questions about hardware, software, and upgrade issues.

With today’s technology, it is easy for the average computer user to be clueless when it comes to the terminology and lingo of “geeks” or professionals. Even a person who considers themselves savvy in the dialects of computers and malfunctions, can find themselves baffled when their hard drive goes down and someone on the other end of their phone tells them, “The hard drive head crashed and is smoking. We will have to replace platters, actuators, and fix any other damage to the OS, before we can recover the data on your hard drive.”

A Story About “Computer Mice”
             A computer company I work for placed an order for computer mice from Japan. After the normal delivery period had elapsed, we contacted the airport to enquire what had happened to the consignment. The official in charge said that it was nowhere to be found and should be reported as missing. Some time later the official contacted us to say that the package had been found. When we asked where it had been, he replied sheepishly, “In quarantine.”

So, just what is data recovery? What does it do? What does it mean?
Why would one need it? In essence, data recovery is having a professional company be able to use software, as well as manual techniques to get into a hard drive and repair the damage it has sustained, in order to retrieve any and all data off of it. Professional data recovery companies are specialists in their field—it’s what they do every single day. When it comes to extracting data off of a bad hard drive, a person really should go straight to a professional data recovery company rather than a friend, computer shop, or DIY software.

Read next week’s article to see when and why you should use a computer shop instead of data recovery.

Hope everyone has a great Memorial day weekend!

Restoring data and retrieving files when you need them!

Anything from deleted files, damaged or deleted partitions,  to crashed, clicking, failed, hard drives that won’t boot…

There are many reasons why you need to restore data and files from a hard drive. From deleting files or wiping out your partition while trying to expand or increase the size to accidentally formatting the wrong drive. These types of data loss situations occur every day and when they do, the best thing you can do is stop, relax and take stock of your situation. The worst thing you can do is to restore an old backup or image file onto your hard drive because you will overwrite your files making restoration extremely difficult or impossible.

Never attempt to restore files back to the hard drive you want to restore data from because you will overwrite your files and lose your data for good.

Do you need to restore data from a hard drive that crashed or failed and won’t boot? There are many things that cause a hard drive to crash or fail. Wear, heat, power outage, being dropped, jarred or shut down improperly are just a few of the major causes. Some of the symptoms leading up to a complete crash include unusual lagging, blue screen errors, extra slow booting and messages about damaged or corrupt system files.

If you notice unusual sounds, abnormal clicking while trying to access files or your system wants to run checkdisk or other diagnostic utilities you should consider these as warning signs that your hard drive may be starting to fail. If you stop and copy your files to another hard drive or external USB drive you will save yourself a lot of grief and expense. If you need help getting your files off your failing drive, give us a call. At this point we can usually save your files to a new drive for you at minimal cost. If you ignore these warning signs you could end up with a catastrophic failure that requires extensive work and expensive procedures to recover your data. 

Here’s what you need to know about restoring data from a hard drive…

First: determine if you have a mechanical failure:

•  Your hard drive is constantly clicking
•  Your hard drive is not recognized by your computer
•  You smell something burning or see smoke
• Your hard drive is beeping or making other musical sounds
• Your hard drive is not spinning
• Your hard drive is making scratchy, grinding or whirring sounds

 All of these indicate your hard drive has completely failed. There is nothing you, your tech friends, Geek Squad or computer repair shop can do to recover your data!

The fact is, turning your computer off and on, connecting your hard drive to a USB enclosure or running data recovery software will cause more damage and may even result in the permanent loss of your data. 

When it comes to recovering data from a physically damaged or mechanically crashed hard drive you need to get professional help. It’s like brain surgery or heart surgery; If you want to save your data, you want the most experienced, highly trained, successful surgeon to perform the operation. 

Second: stop and think about what files you lost and Don’t Panic!

• Did you lose important business documents, sales and accounting data, a database, or family pictures, years of genealogy, tax records, or anything else that you’ve spent a lot of time or money on. Are they stored somewhere else?
• Can you recreate them?
• How much time and money will it cost to do it over?  

In most cases, the biggest mistake most people make is to panic and begin trying to undo the problem. They forget what files and data they had and in the rush to fix the problem often end up losing data they shouldn’t. If you will stop and think you will reduce the risk of making a bad situation worse.  

Third: ask yourself, what will happen if I don’t get my data back?

• If you answer to that question is nothing, then you have nothing to worry about.
• But, if you can’t afford to lose your data or if it will be virtually impossible to recreate then you need to get professional help.
• It simply isn’t worth the risk of going on the cheap and losing it for good, is it?

Since 1995, ADR Data Recovery has performed over 3/4 million data recovery operations for companies and individuals just like you. Our engineers are highly trained, have extensive experience and have one of the highest success rates in the industry.

We restore data and retrieve files when you need them!

Call for a free, no obligation quote today. 1-800-450-9282

Individuals and business owners with crucial data learned that all was not lost. Companies like ADR Data Recovery jumped in and went to work providing expert data recovery services. Businesses were able to get back on line.  And we were able to help idividuals recover pictures and documents that told stories of thier lives. Among the drives sent in for recovery, we received a significant number of tapes and RAID drives.

Here is the step by step process we took our clients through in preparing their drives to be sent in for recovery.

• Don’t let the drives dry out if possible (keeping the drives wet prevents rust and corrosion)
• Rinse off the drives (preferrably in purified or distilled water)
• Double bag the drives in sealable plastic bags.
• Package the drives in enough bubble wrap to prevent shifting.  
• Attach the prepaid, overnight shipping label we provided for them. 

We encourage the customer to get the drives into our clean room as quickly as possible. Here, at ADR Data Recovery we take great precautions in handling these types of situations and our technicians have been able to recover 90% of all the data from these flooded drives.

We hoped for the best! And  prepared for the Worst! Nearly every drive we received had been rinsed and double bagged, making recovery that much easier. We did receive a few drives double bagged but still packed in mud. Many drives are coming in bagged and dried out. this is simply due to the time it is taking the client to collect and prepare the drives. One client had drives in different locations all over the city, that took time.

We have had an astounding rate of success! 90% of these flooded drives are being completely recovered…Our technicians demonstrate their expertise, skills, and abilities in the successful handling and recovering of these drives. Most, if not all of the data is being recovered, saved on to new external drives, and returned to the customer. 

We are still receiving damaged hard drives from the Tennessee flood. Most have dried out by now, but we are still able to recover their data at a 90% Success Rate!

If you have flood or storm damaged hard drives, please, get in touch with ADR Data Recovery and one of our data recovery advisors will be standing by to assist you. 800-450-9282.

If your memory card files were deleted, formatted, lost, they can be recovered.

Whether you just deleted or formatted your memory card, not realizing you hadn’t downloaded the photos to your computer.

You thought you had downloaded your pictures to your hard drive so you erased the memory card, then found out it really didn’t download!

OR

Your memory card had an error or something just happened without your knowledge that lost every photo on the memory card,

It is devastating that any one of these happened. You wonder how that could have possibly happened to you and will you ever see all those cherished pictures again? We will help you discover the answer to this problem!

Almost every data recovery company you find states they are the best in the industry or have the highest success rate of recovery.

Who is the judge of that, where do they come up with saying they are the best?

With so many companies out there and their claims to success, how are you supposed to choose a company?

What we do know is even though there are many good companies out there; we were built upon the foundation of honesty, integrity, and one American who was in the same place you are now and had the stubbornness to find a solution not only for him, but to help other people in the same situation.

Even after 14 years in the data recovery industry, Kevin still works side by side with his techs, giving them support and advice.

He will not stop until he makes sure that every avenue is exhausted for a recovery.

Once you have been quoted a price, we will honor it. Even if we get the drive and it ends up taking longer or requiring extra parts that we have to pay for, we will never charge more than we initially stated.

He works every day in our main office, located in Montana and is constantly on the phone working with our offices located throughout the US. He keeps them up to speed on what’s going on and makes sure they have the same tools and knowledge our techs in Montana have.

Ø      Recovering pictures from a memory card

Ø      How remote recovery can be the best choice

Remote Recovery

In many cases we can recover your pictures from the comfort of your home. Here are some reasons why you should choose remote recovery when possible.

Ø      Very cost effective-These types of recoveries take much less time and tools so we are able to keep your cost down, to make recovery of precious pictures possible 

Ø      Fast turnaround-With remote recovery, we can have your pictures back in just hours!

Ø      Saves time & money-you don’t have to find a box, pack, label, and pay for shipping or worry about data being damaged during shipping.

Ø      A live technician-one of our technicians will walk you through a couple of set up procedures to allow us access to your hard drive, flash or memory card. After that, you can go on with your day, we will do the rest!

Ø      No set up fees-For remote recovery there are no set up or diagnostic fees. You only pay what you are quoted.

Ø      No recovery, no charge-If we can not recover your photos, you will not be charged anything! Even software programs can’t give you that guarantee!

Ø      We double check-At the end of recovery, we will make sure your photos did recover completely. Now all you have to do is enjoy them once again!

See all the benefits from remote recovery and how easy it is?

Recovering memory cards

Ø      We can recover virtually any type of memory card.

Ø      If there is no damage done to the memory card and the photos have only been deleted or formatted, you can have your memory card recovered remotely.

Ø      Recovery rate on this type of situation is about 95%

Ø      Remote recovery is very competitive to photo recovery software, with all the extra benefits listed above.

You can save hundreds of dollars with remote recovery

If you call us as soon as you realize your memory card photos are gone and you need them back, you will save hundreds of dollars, because we have lots of experience and work on these recoveries every day. We will make sure the job gets done right the first time and don’t take chances with your pictures.

If you try to get it back yourself or try photo recovery software that is not successful, it can actually create files over the deleted pictures that will make them become lost forever.

Don’t take this chance with your precious pictures!

You can have your pictures back in just hours!

No shipping costs, packing troubles, or lost time!

No set-up or diagnostic fees!

You only pay if your pictures are recovered!

For less cost than taking the family skiing, you can have your old photos back and be ready to make new memories!

Call us now and you can get your photos back today!

406-210-0860

 Determine whether your computer is infected with a computer virus, a worm, or a Trojan Horse

Why viruses are such a problem:
The biggest problem with today’s viruses is that even with an
up-to-date anti-virus, viruses can easily trick you into downloading them, saying it is an upgrade to your current software, or bypass your anti-virus altogether. They then link themselves to your data and begin the corruption process or sending it on through email.

Once a virus is on your computer it can shut down security and allow trespassers onto your system.

Computer viruses are either spread by opening attachments in emails, instant messaging or from downloading files on the internet. Viruses are hidden or embedded in images, music, and other files.

About Us:
We have been performing data recovery, repairing damage to hard drives, and giving advice for over 14 years now. We strive to be and are considered one of the most advanced, knowledgeable, and professional companies in our industry.

Our qualified technicians are able to recover data from your hard disk drive without voiding the warranty. For over 14 years we have consistently proven that we have the highest percentage recovery rate of any data recovery company!

Our experience:
Getting a virus is so frustrating because sometimes you don’t even know that your hard drive has been infected. It just runs slow, you have lots of
 pop-ups, some programs will not open, or files will not load. Your computer

re-boots itself or you get lots of errors.

The longer you have a virus on your computer, the more at risk you are. Viruses can hack your passwords to bank accounts, email, and other personal information.

Viruses don’t cause physical damage to your hard drive; they just cause corruption to data and files on the hard drive. This jumbles the code needed to read and open material. Once it has been corrupted, you can not re-write the corrupted code unless you have specific tools and knowledge.

What is involved in the solution:

Ø      Discovering if you have a virus on your hard drive, which virus, and what files are infected is very important before a recovery of corrupt data can be completed. 

Ø      Corrupted files can be repaired and recovered with the right tools and experience.

Time is of the essence here; the longer a virus is effecting your hard drive, the more damage it is going to cause to valuable data and the allow hackers to access your information and passwords to bank accounts and other personal information.

The Solution:

Symptoms of a Virus

These are symptoms your hard drive may be exhibiting that means you could have a virus infection.

Ø      Your computer is running slower or sluggish.

Ø      The computer comes up with errors or freezes.

Ø      Your computer restarts on its own.

Ø      Files and programs are no longer accessible or work incorrectly

Ø      Drive are no longer accessible

Ø      Strange error messages pop up

Ø      Double extensions on image files you opened

Ø      Antivirus software is disabled for no apparent reason

Ø      Antivirus can not be re-installed or ran

Ø      Icons appear on your desktop that you did not put or install there.

Ø      Strange sounds or music plays from speakers

Ø      Programs disappear even without you removing them.

Ø      Viruses don’t always show up with a virus scan

These are all common signs that you have been infected with a virus.

If your computer has any of these signs or you have lost data due to a virus, you should call a professional immediately. 

Symptoms of Worms & Trojan Horse Viruses

More specific symptoms that mean you have a virus on your hard drive

Ø      An infected file may copy itself

Ø      After copying itself, it will then send itself to all recipients in your emails address book. 

Ø      The virus may install pirated software that will then be sold and distributed from your computer!

Ø      The virus can reformat your hard drive, causing data to be deleted.

Ø      The virus can reduce internet security which allows third parties to access your computer.

These are some scary situations that have unfortunately happened to many of us. This is why you want to make sure you get every bit of the virus removed as soon as you suspect infection.

Corrupted files can be repaired and recovered

Using a professional data recovery company with the tools and experience can get rid of a virus and recover the corrupt data.

Ø      We have the tools to correctly fix and recover any data that has been corrupt from a virus infection.

Ø      We make sure to back up all of your data before we start any recovery process.

Ø      Corrupt data can not be recovered without the correct knowledge. Our technicians know how to do this quickly and efficiently. 

Having someone with the right tools and experience will save you money and heartache in the long run.

Our guarantee will save you time and money:

Send us your virus infected drive for a 100% Risk FREE Offer

We will repair erased or corrupt data due to the virus

We will completely remove the virus from your hard drive

We will perform a clean up on the drive to free up space taken from infected files.

We will recover the corrupt or erased data, programs, etc

We will verify the data we have recovered and that we have successfully removed the virus before sending the drive back to you.

We can have your drive back to you in as little as 3 days!

You are charged what you are quoted

We will honor our original quote to you, no matter if the situation ends up being more time consuming or requiring extra parts.

Receive regular updates

We will call you with updates on your data so you aren’t sitting around wondering what’s going on. If you feel like giving us a call to find out where we are at, we will have an update for you immediately!

We have a 95% to 100% recovery success rate!

Can’t figure out how to take your laptop apart to extract the hard disk? Not a problem, just send us the complete laptop and we will do it for you, no extra charge.

Laptops are subject to a lot of handling, shaking, dropping, and other rough manuevers that can result in damage or corruption to the hard drive on top of the normal problems from bad sectors, file deletion, virus, natural disasters and more. This is why we make sure our technicians have all the latest and greatest information and tools just for laptops and their hard drive disks. You can be assured your laptop hard drive is in the most secure, competent hands out there.

Part of our laptop data recovery servieces are that we will keep you updated regularly on the status of your hard drive. Because we assign just one techinician to your drive he knows everything that is going on with it and what procedures have been taken and is able to correctly update our database so if you call for any information our receptionist is able to tell you exactly what the status of your laptop drive is.

All these are preventive measure that you can take to help protect your computers data and also your computer. If you experience any grinding, clicking or wired noise coming from your computer please visit http://www.adrdatarecovery.com/.

Drive Casing
The drive casing is the rectangular shaped box that holds all of the internal components of the hard disk.  A cover mounts to the casing using multiple screws.

Spindle
The spindle rotates the platters at a certain speed measured in RPM.  

Platters
In the center of the hard disk, there are platters which hold all of the data on the hard disk.  A disk can contain one or more platters depending on the capacity. A spindle with a motor holds the platters together and rotates them at a certain speed measured in RPM. This creates air pressure that lifts the read/write heads off the platters.

EXTERNAL HARD DRIVE PROBLEMS

All internal and external drives are prone for failure. Here are some reasons that external drive failures may occur:

• Dropped the hard drive- With external hard drive being portable, there has been an increase in incidents of drives being dropped during transportation. This can cause the drives internal components to become damaged and render the drive unusable
• Hard Drive falls from a surface- Many external drives fall from a desk, table or work area due to the drive being to close to the edge of the surface. Also drives that are designed to sit upright on a surface are prone to tipping over the external drive. It is a good idea to make sure that you external hard drive is laying flat on a surface and that it is away from any edge that could cause the drive to be knocked over.
• Spaghetti mess of cables- Excess cabling from the drive should be properly pulled out of the way so that your hands and feet do not get tangled in the cords and pull your external drive off  its surface to the ground.
• Using the wrong power cord- People usually can make the mistake of plugging in the wrong power adapter to there external drive which causes a power surge, which can overheat the drive. When plugging in your external drive check to make sure you have the proper power cord for your external hard drive.

COMMON EXTERNAL DRIVE ERROR MESSAGES/SYMPTONS

• delayed write fail
• external hard drive crashed
• external hard drive noise
• external hard drive corrupted ask to be formatted
• external hard drive not recognized in OS
• drive stopped working
• input/output error
• drive does not power up