| Today when we speak of the storing capacity of | | | | Such standards ensure that the atmosphere in a |
| a hard drive, we talk in terms of gigabytes or | | | | class 100 clean room has 100 submicron particles |
| terabytes. Gone are the days when the initial hard | | | | the size of 0.5 micron in one cubic foot of air. The |
| drives typically stored around 10 megabytes of | | | | cleanest a room can be is class 10. |
| information. And, faster hard disks now spin at an | | | | Necessity of Clean Rooms for Data Recovery |
| rpm ranging from 5,000 to 15,000. | | | | Data retrieval from a hard disk necessitates its |
| Such sensitive storage devices contain data worth | | | | opening in a clean room. This invasive procedure |
| thousands or millions of pounds. Any problem of | | | | requires a totally dust free environment. |
| the computer hardware or software necessitates | | | | The read write head flies over the magnetic |
| the opening of the hard disk for data retrieval. | | | | platters, in a thin film of air at submicron distances |
| Opening of the hard disk in a normal room would | | | | of 1 to 2 micro inches. Even human hair measures |
| mean exposing it to 300,000 micron particles in | | | | 10 micro inches and a speck of dust 4-8 micro |
| one cubic foot of air. And, this would immediately | | | | inches. Such extreme measures are required to |
| lead to a permanent loss of data well beyond the | | | | prevent the lodging of any pollen, bacteria or dust |
| point of retrieval. | | | | on the magnetic platters. Any contaminant on the |
| To overcome such problems data recovery | | | | platter makes the read write head bounce back. |
| specialists operate in class 100 clean rooms. | | | | The magnetic coating on the platters is physically |
| What are Clean Rooms? | | | | and magnetically very sensitive. And, the head is |
| Clean rooms are contamination-free zones. Here | | | | made of thin film technique that contains a |
| are some features of Clean Rooms: | | | | material strong enough to scratch the magnet off |
| - To eliminate external or internal contamination, | | | | the surface. |
| the very construction of the room is from | | | | The minute particles dislodged from the scratched |
| matter that will not attract volatiles from | | | | magnetic surface would lead to further head |
| adhesives and particulate matter. | | | | crashes. |
| - The air entering the clean room is filtered to | | | | The hard disks spin at high speeds generating |
| exclude dust and other particles. The cleanliness in | | | | much heat. If a hard disk spins at an rpm of |
| the clean room is achieved by the distributed air | | | | 7,200, the edge of the platter travels at a speed |
| changes in a room. Usually air flows from the | | | | of 120km/hr. A crash overheats the read write |
| ceiling down to the vents in the floor. More than | | | | head. The temperature in the clean room has to |
| 450 air changes in one hour bring about a class 1 | | | | be controlled to ensure the proper workability of |
| clean room. | | | | the hard drive. The air conditioned also ensures |
| - The data recovery specialists working in a clean | | | | the maintenance of other equipment in the room |
| room enter through an air shower and wear | | | | apart from ensuring a good working environment |
| protective covering like masks and suits that | | | | enhancing the productivity of the data recovery |
| prevent contamination. | | | | specialists. |
| - Even the furniture and equipment used inside a | | | | However, building and maintaining a clean room is |
| clean room is specially designed to produce low | | | | extremely expensive. The cost of construction of |
| particle numbers. | | | | a clean room varies according to the level of |
| - Clean rooms are lab environments that have | | | | cleanliness maintained. The clean rooms for |
| controlled temperature levels. | | | | recovering data from a hard drive cost £ |
| - The pressure inside the room is kept at low | | | | 750,000 and above for their construction and |
| levels to prevent electro static discharge. | | | | maintenance. Yet, they are necessary for, |
| - The humidity levels are also under strict control. | | | | opening a hard drive in atmosphere other than |
| - High sanitary levels are required. Once | | | | the one in a clean room damages data |
| contaminants enter the room removing them is | | | | permanently and its retrieval becomes |
| difficult. | | | | impossibility. |