Data corruption is among the most common computer errors. Unlike a bug, which occurs because of improperly written or executed code, data corruption happens when code is intentionally or unintentionally changed from its original, correct form. Corruption can be systematic or random, and even a small change can fundamentally break a program or render a file useless. . These are some common symptoms of data corruption,
- Disk hangs or performs slow
- File error comes – “invalid file format”
- File permissions and attributes are changed
- Files are renamed with gibberish characters
- Files and folders are displaced or lost
- Computer regularly crashes and hangs without obvious reasons
- Disk actions seem to be very busy even there is no much things going on
Causes of Data Corruption
There are many causes of data corruption. Some are:
Corrupt due to bad program
Bad program is a common reason of data corruption. This happens due to improper shut down or restart of the system or you can say; unknowingly switching-off or restarting the system because of some reason. Sometime intentionally you switch-off the system when you are in hurry or sometime unintentionally it happens due to power failure. Sometimes, your system errors can freeze your machine. In such cases, restart your computer manually by pressing power button. Sometime, file corruption occurs due to incomplete source code of a file.
Malware occupies the system
Data corruption occurs due to Malware infection too. Malware is basically a software application created to present exact loss to a system. Malware occurs due to excess of work load or excess of data comes from internet. When virus enters to the system slows down your computer/application, corrupt the opened data of an application/ system.
Poor software and hardware
Data corruption happens because of software and hardware issue also. Some software comes with bug, when we use that software for some purpose, hangs the whole system and corrupts the data.
Data corruption happens due to many kinds of Hardware failures including; hard drive failures, bad sectors, bad RAM, etc.
Strategies to prevent data corruption
Take a complete Backup and use it often
Taking complete backup of all essential data is important which prevent your data from hard drive failure or other problems, unintentionally. It’s a good habit because we also don’t know when system gets hang or shut down due to heavy work load and we can loss the data.
Hard drives or any other storage media are very useful and sensitive, very soon get fail. We never get to know, when Hard Drive internal part fails and Hard Drive stop working. So, taking backup of all data is the best solution to prevent your data which is inside the Hard Drive or any other storage media.
Use best antivirus software in your system and always update it
Antivirus is very useful for system when you share applications between two system or disk, downloading software and add-ins from Internet, or opening e-mail attachments. Antivirus scans all above things before placing into the computer. It is very much important for computer uses internet to download stuffs maximum number of time.
Use security mechanisms to protect your data
Any file, document and application data can be protected by using passwords, data encryption, and physical security.
Any hardware and software can be protected using password. You can keep PowerOnPassword to your computer (stored in your computer’s CMOS) before anyone start your computer.
Regularly, troubleshoot the application and system issues
Try to resolve system and application issues in the initial stage, otherwise that issues can never be resolved and can create problem for system and application. The operating system, on which your application is running, provides many troubleshooting techniques which can be helpful in resolving System or application issue running on the system.
Or, you can take the help of internet too, surely you will get many ideas.
