quoting:
w_tom wrote:
Hard drives can be corrupted for various reasons based also
upon what the filesystem is. For example, if using FATxx
filesystems, then a loss of electrical power at the right time
can even erase files from that drive. Just another reason why
the technically informed want NTFS filesystems on drives; not
FAT.


The files aren't actually gone forever. If the power fails during the
writing of the file, but the FAT have not been updated yet, the data will be
found as "lost clusters" by Scandisk. It'll probably be in a bunch of
pieces though, due to fragmentation.

There are little backup programs that back up the disk's FAT's, boot sector,
etc. in the event that that any of the disk's reserved sectors get
obliterated by some other means.