The following rules are very important after realizing the basic principles of hard disk drive:
Select lower leveled IDE, SATA or higher leveled SCSI/NAS/RAID hard drives depends on needs.
Install hard drive horizontally instead of vertically.
Using proper capacity hard drives instead of high capacity ones.
Avoiding high RPM hard drives if not necessary. Safety in operation is the first priority.
Execute Low Level Format before using hard drives ( Notice: The data inside will be cleaned up). The purpose of this execution including media defect check and clean up all remaining data.
Application tools are available on website of each HDD manufacturer:
Hitachi HDD¡Gwww.hitachi.com
Maxtor HDD¡Gwww.maxtor.com
Seagate HDD¡Gwww.seagate.com
WD HDD¡Gwww.westerndigital.com
Add UPS+On Line can prevent unstable voltage and unexpected power failure before using HDD.
Avoid collision, damp and heat.
Select HDD in capacity lower than 8GB for creating FAT32 Partition. Use NTFS system if higher capacity is needed. Avoid using Dynamic Hard Drive unless it is necessary. The partitions should be made as following:
Install Windows system & program only on first partition.
Store important data or others on second partition.
Store important data or others on third partition and take record for memory.
Considering about the recovery method while start to use the new HDD. Recommend to create at least 2 Partition. Install Windows, AP (Office, frequent used programs. The saving path of Outlook mail should be put in other Partition.). The second and third partitions are kept for storing important data in future. Execute Ghost Partition> Image file (Recovery CD) after normal testing of HD+OS. Save another copy with D or E disk. Recovery can be done from D or E to the OS of C which won¡¦t destroy data in D/E.
HDD usage tips:
Don¡¦t push hard of screws while installing HDD to avoid its body twisting.
Organize stored data frequently and delete/remove unnecessary folders to hasten the read/write speed. It will also easier for data recovery if needed.
Frequent backup could save the valued data since hard drives will still be failure sometimes.
Do not remove the drive frequently. Wait until the Spindle Motor stop completely and pack it carefully to avoid vibration.
Updating the anti-virus software frequently and make backup at any time.
Making defragment will improve seeing time.
Make Ghost to another blank hard drive while the operation is not smooth. Using application tools to scan & low formatting it to mark bad sectors & clean up all data in sectors. Ghost again to recover data.
