Students and working professionals need to transfer data for their projects. Family members and relatives share precious documents and photos with one another as well. As such, thumb-drives and portable USB drives have become almost a necessity. The proliferation of mobile technology has also engendered the burgeoning popularity of cameras and PDAs. Smartphones can double up as devices to store MP3, movies and also photos.
Generally, there are different types of removable media such as solid state memory; optical; and magnetic. Let’s take a look at the different types of devices.
Solid State Memory Data Media
USB thumb drives, smart media cards, memory sticks, multimedia cards, mini SD cards and xD Picture Cards all fall under the umbrella of solid state memory data media. They are extremely light but come with a large storage capacity. They are however prone to virus attacks, bad sectors as well as denying of file access. When they become kaput, dialogue boxes prompting a reformat will pop up.
Optical Data Media
These optical data media include CDs, mini CDs, DVD and magneto optical. In the past, they were used to store and back up important data. Problems such as not being able to access the data, missing directory information and blank information are common with this type of media. Strange characters or garbage display will also pop up. There are also times when the computer would freeze when trying to access the media files. As a result, the data becomes unreadable.
Magnetic Data Devices
Floppy diskettes, Iomega Zip or Jazz disks fall under these categories. Once popular and ubiquitous, they have now become increasingly rare. The devices are made up of soft data platter -right where the data is stored magnetically as bits and bytes. They are susceptible to physical damage as well as dirt contamination, which come after prolonged usage. The common problems include errors such as “disk not formatted”, “click of death” which results in inability to access the media and freezing of system.
Recovery
It is important to note that the data is recoverable. When data loss occurs, it is crucial to stop all operations on the device and do a proper ejection. Any attempts to fix the disks may cause further damage without the help of a professional. Always seek the expertise of a certified technician. He will be able to help you recover the data safely, lowering the risk of unrecoverable situation.
