Have you ever been through a computer crash? Computers can crash land at times if you are having a bad luck in the middle of a busy day without giving any warning signals. A computer crash can be caused by an operating system crash, application crash, a virus infection, as well as a hardware related one like hard drive crash etc.
A crash (or system crash) in computing is a condition where a program (either an application or part of the operating system) stops performing its expected function and also stops responding to other parts of the system. Often the offending program may simply appear to freeze. If this program is a critical part of the operating system kernel the entire computer may crash.
One cause of crash is a race condition in communication between processes. One process may send a signal to a second process and then stop execution until it receives a response. If the second process is busy the signal will be forced to wait until the process can get to it. However, if the second process was busy sending a signal to the first process then both processes would wait forever for the other to respond to signals and never see the other’s signal (this event is known as a deadlock). If the processes are uninterruptible they will hang and have to be shut down. If at least one of the processes is a critical kernel process the whole system may crash and have to be restarted.
An operating system crash commonly occurs when a hardware exception occurs that cannot be handled. Operating system crashes can also occur when internal sanity-checking logic within the operating system detects that the operating system has lost its internal self-consistency.
An application typically crashes when it performs an operation which is not allowed by the operating system. The operating system then triggers an exception or signal in the application.
A head crash, occurs when the read/write heads inside a hard disk physically come into contact with and crash into the platter, the magnetic data storage surface of a hard disk. A head crash is catastrophic to the drive operation, roughly analogous to the severity of a computer crash to computer software.
Whatever the cause, this is a situation where the computer might not come back to its original state and need to do something to correct it. I have been though some computer crashes a couple of times myself, and it has been quite tedious, time consuming, and sometimes very expensive too. What are the precautions that are required in case of a computer crash ?
1) The first and foremost rule in minimizing the effects of a computer crash is to backup your important files, backing up in another storage device either internal or external storage device at a given interval.
2) When you are running a program such as a MS word or any other editing program, start adjusting the settings to save automatically every 2 minutes or so.
3) Always plug your computer, monitor, and other peripheral devices to an UPS device which protect the system from external power surges and power failures.
4) Take precautions to place your computer in a suitable optimum environment that is temperature controlled and a stable surface that is devoid of any vibrations etc.
5) Take precaution by disconnecting your computer internet connection and power cords when you are off for a long leave etc. to prevent damage by lightning attacks.
1) How critical is your data?
2) Do you process high volumes of information?
3) How often do you have to layoff with work?
The more information you process, the more often you need to back up. For high volume or critical files you need to backup daily.
Different types of back up options:
1) Internal Hard Drive: Backup in a separate internal hard drive. You can keep an extra drive as a backup drive for backing up data in case the primary master drive fails.
2) External Hard Drive: Maintain an external hard drive which may provide back up as and when it is needed or at regular intervals by connecting to it.
3) CD and DVD drives: Permanent drives such as CD or DVD drives can be used for regular back ups of essential data for a later use.
4) External USB device: External USB drives are useful when you need data any time and anywhere as it is an easily transportable device and it also gives better storage space too.
5) Online Storage Spaces: There are various online storage services which provide back of important work that may be restored back later, which may depend on the speed of the internet connection etc. Different services give different storage space for individuals and companies for free and also by a fee.
If you do nothing, you are guaranteed to have a disaster sooner or later. Backup frequently in a timely manner is the key to prevent loss of data at a crucial time as a computer crash, which one cannot predict.
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