Top Reasons for Hard Drive Failure

Types of hard drive failures

Here’s a breakdown of the reasons behind hard drive failures that we receive for our
data recovery service at The Data Rescue Center:

• PHYSICAL TRAUMA: Dropped, crushed, water or fire damage.  This could be as minor as setting your laptop down too hard or as severe as being driven over with a car.

• Larger hard drives for desktops are more fragile than smaller ones designed for laptops.
• Limit how much you move around a desktop computer, especially when it is powered up and running (meaning your hard drive is spinning).
• Don’t move your laptop until the hard drive has stopped spinning.
• Use some kind of energy saver to limit the unnecessary time your drive is spinning.
• Don’t let your hard drive get overheated (make sure the internal fan is cooling the drive properly).

• FAILED ENCLOSURE (electrical components): Power surge, power outage, unplugging the drive while it is still running.  This can occur after a storm where the power has went out and without the proper surge protector, the surge in power can damage the hard drive’s electrical components.

• Use a properly grounded power supply.
• Make sure to ground or have a professional install / swap out any components.

• USER ERROR (accidental file deletion or volume format): Formatted the wrong drive, deleted files that you thought you had a backup of.  Accidentally began reinstalling the OS without a current backup?

• Stop using your computer and download the demo of  Data Rescue file recovery software.  If you need assistance Prosoft offers FREE technical support via phone or email.

• STANDARD USE (end of life): Normal usage of a hard drive puts wear-and-tear on your hard drive components.  Over time, these components can simply wear out, causing head failure, slower performance or clicking and seizing.

• Be prepared for these unpredictable failures and backup your hard drive.
• There are several easy backup options available:  online backups, backup software, etc.

• MANUFACTURER (unforeseen defects): Sometimes hard drives can have a faulty design or a batch run that doesn’t have a solid yield. This is a fairly rare occurrence though.

• FILE CORRUPTION (OS related): Shutting off the computer without properly unmounting and powering down your hard drives first, viruses, or general directory corruption can occur.

The Data Rescue Center has professional, highly skilled data recovery specialists to help with all types of data loss scenarios.  Contact us for a free evaluation.

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