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ISC2 CC An IT administrator for a small business Practice Question
You are an IT administrator for a small business. The company has a backup system that performs nightly full backups of critical servers to an external hard drive. One morning, a user reports that they accidentally deleted an important file from a shared drive. You need to restore the file from last night's backup. However, when you connect the external hard drive to the backup server, the drive is not recognized, and you hear clicking sounds. The backup software shows that the most recent backup job completed successfully with no errors. What is the most likely cause of the problem?
⚠ Common exam trap
ISC2 often tests the distinction between software-reported success and actual hardware integrity, trapping candidates who assume a successful backup log guarantees recoverable data without considering post-backup physical failure.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
The external hard drive has suffered a mechanical failure.
The clicking sound from the external hard drive is a classic symptom of a mechanical failure, typically caused by a stuck read/write head or a failing spindle motor. Since the backup software reported a successful completion, the data was likely written to the drive, but the drive's physical components have since failed, preventing the system from recognizing it. This is a hardware-level issue that cannot be resolved by software or driver updates.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✓
The external hard drive has suffered a mechanical failure.
Why this is correct
Clicking sounds are a common symptom of a damaged hard drive read/write head.
- ✗
The backup software did not actually write the data.
Why it's wrong here
The backup software reported success, so data was likely written.
- ✗
The file was not included in the backup job.
Why it's wrong here
While possible, the clicking sound suggests hardware failure rather than software configuration.
- ✗
The backup server has a driver issue.
Why it's wrong here
A driver issue might prevent recognition but would not cause clicking sounds.
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Written by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
This CC practice question is part of Courseiva's free ISC2 certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the CC exam.