Even though the hard drive’s capacity has been going on a positive upsurge, they are mechanical devices and by nature and will, either through usage or by the influence of other factors, break down at some point in the future.
But you can delay this process if you prevent some of the main causes of hard drive failure from affecting your hard drive. The most important ones, from which you can guard yourself, are:
- Vibrations
A hard drive, like any computer component, is a complex mechanical device, with multiple circuits combined in a small device with specific functions. Its main components are the platters, which are responsible for holding the data and the drive’s heads, which are the components responsible for accessing, reading, the information by floating a micron on the platters. The information is read with high precision. If the drive is subjected to large vibrations, then the reading head will be set on a different portion of memory storage forcefully and it will lead to a hard drive crash. A way to avoid this type of crashes is to position the computer on a stable surface, preferably on the ground or on a fixed surface so that there are vibrations. What you should avoid are desks with compartments for tower computers which are not correctly assembled and lead to vibrations, as these are the most common cases.
- Heat
High temperatures may lead for electronics to crash or may cause even other problems. A way to prevent this is to ensure that the ventilation on your unit is working, that it is not blocked by any object and that there is a minimum space of 20cm between the ventilation and any immediate object, so that the stream of air is not blocked, because, if blocked, the heat will not be removed and it will lead to overheating. Also, you may need periodically to clean the main ventilation system if it is possible, especially in Laptops or Macs. Another solution is to install individual additional fans and cooling hardware to help improve the cooling of the system.
Also, you may want to occasionally view internal temperature of your system. A way to do this is by accessing the BIOS or even from Windows. By doing this you could see if your system might be in threat of overheating and so of mechanical failure.
We recommend that you put aesthetics on the second plan and keep your unit in spacious place.
- Static Electricity
When you are handling a hard drive, you need to protect yourself from causing any static electricity, because this will cause severe damage to your hard disk and especially to its components. Mostly affected by this is the PCB board (the area on the bottom of the drive where you can see the green circuit board).
To avoid this, you should eliminate any static electricity before handling a hard drive and a way to do this is by touching a metallic surface like the metal back of the computer’s case when it is not plugged in.
Another tip is not to touch the PCB board of a hard drive when transporting it in a room with a carpeted floor, as it will cause static electricity and will affect the drive.
- Power Surges
Power surges and fluctuations are another cause for hard drive failure. Even though they are not a common presence, they still appear with heat waves, thunderstorms, heavy snow or even because the electrical line went down. This causes the system to crash and may lead to hard disk failure. Also, power fluctuations and differences in tension may lead to the wearing or even the destruction of some internal components leading to the same result as before.
To avoid this, you should buy a surge protector for your unit. It is not costly and will ensure that you will not lose your data.
These are the main threats to your hard drive and if you keep them into consideration, you prolong its life to well above 5 years. Also, if you have any problems, we recommend that you use the services of a hard drive recovery company. They might salvage your hard disk or the information you had on it.