Losing data can be an extremely frustrating experience, especially for business owners, employees or students. Jumia Travel, the leading online travel agency, shares 6 ways to prevent your hard drive from being corrupted and prevent the incidence of data loss or hard drive failure.

Proactively Monitor the Health of the Hard Drive

Users should proactively monitor the health of the hard drive regularly with the S.M.A.R.T tool (if your hard drive is compatible with it), to help detect errors or issues on the hard drive. The S.M.A.R.T (Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology System) tool basically advises users about the condition of the hard drive and promptly informs of error or issues on the drive.

Use a Very Good Antivirus Software on Your System and Update It Often

Having a good antivirus software installed on your computer system is very important because you typically share applications, documents and files between your system and hard drive. Malware infection is one of the major causes of hard drive corruption. A good antivirus software helps to prevent malware infections and thus prevent hard drive corruption.

Properly Eject Hard Drives from Computer Systems

When you want to remove an external hard drive from a computer system, you remove it through the ‘safely remove’ option rather than just yanking it out. This eliminates the risk of electrical damage when the power to the drive is shut down.

Take Proper Care of the Hard Drive

Due to how portable external hard drives are, there is the risk of unconsciously manhandling them when you carry them around. It is ill-advised to move or bang these devices at any point. It is also advisable to carry hard drives around in a soft case to protect it from any damaging impact, especially those that can harm the magnetic media of the hard drive.

Avoid Using the Hard Drive Near Extreme Temperatures

Extreme temperatures can damage the electronic components of the hard drive. Exposing the hard drive to solar flares can also corrupt the data in the RAM. Suitable temperatures and proper airflow should be available to the hard drive to prevent data corruption and loss. It is more appropriate to use a hard drive at room temperature.

Avoid Using Hard Drives with Unstable Power Supply

Power surges and sags are bad for hard drives especially for those in a computer system. Ensure there is good quality and uninterrupted power supply when making use of hard drives, either external hard drives or system hard drives, because power surges, unstable or poor quality power supply is one of the major causes of hard drive corruption and failure. A UPS is great for helping to regulate power supply.