What Causes Hard Drives to Fail?

Before getting into what causes HDD failure, I must link to the exceptional tests & statistics published by backblaze regarding hard drive reliability across brands & models. Their work is incredible!

12 Reasons - What Causes Hard Drives to Fail?

Mechanical Failures

1. Wear and Tear

Hard drives have moving internal components in them like platters and read/write heads. Over time, these parts wear out due to constant use; just like the innards of a vehicle transmission. Continuous motion causes parts to degrade, and eventually fail.

2. Head Crashes

A head crash happens when the read/write head touches the spinning platter, which stores data. This can damage the magnetic surface, leading to permanent data loss. Head crashes are usually caused by physical shocks or excessive vibration, like being dropped.

3. Motor Failure

The spindle motor that spins the platters can fail, which keeps the hard drive from running. This is usually due to wear over time, or sudden mechanical shocks like being dropped.

Electrical Failures

4. Power Surges

Sudden power surges can damage the electronic components of a hard drive. This includes the circuit board, which controls the drive.

5. PCB Failures

The PCB controls the communication between the hard drive & your computer. If the PCB fails, the hard drive can stop working properly. PCB failures are often due to manufacturing defects or external electrical damage.

6. Firmware Corruption

Firmware is the software that controls the hard drive. Corruption in firmware can make the drive unusable & impossible to access; this can occur due to software bugs, failed updates, or malware.

Environmental Factors

7. Temperature Extremes

Hard drives are designed to operate within certain temperature ranges. Overheating can cause components to fail,

8. Humidity

High humidity can cause condensation inside a drive, causing corrosion & electrical shorts. Keeping your hard drive in a controlled environment can help prevent these issues.

Human Error

9. Accidental Damage

Dropping or bumping your hard drive can cause physical damage, leading to failures. This is most likely what led you to this page looking for data recovery! Dropping external drives is the most common cause of someone becoming a data recovery customer. Always handle your drive with care and avoid moving it while it is operating.

10. Improper Handling

Opening a hard drive outside of a clean room means dust getting into the drive, and can lead to platter damage as well as read errors. Always leave hard drive repairs at this level where platters & heads are exposed to professionals to avoid this type of damage.

Logical Failures

11. File System Corruption

Improper shutdowns(hitting the power button rather than clicking shut down/power off), software crashes, or malware can corrupt the file system, causing the drive to not boot up properly.

12. Bad Sectors

Bad sectors are areas on the hard drive that become unreadable due to physical damage or wear. Over time, bad sector counts build up and can lead to data loss as well as slow access speeds.

Preventative Measures to Avoid Hard Drive Failure

#1: Don't drop it!!

Avoid physical shocks and handle your hard drive carefully. Ensure it is securely mounted in your computer to prevent vibrations and impacts.

There's no #2 here really... this is the most common cause of hard drive failure.

When dealing with a noisy hard drive that makes ANY sort of noises, professional data recovery services offer the best(and often only) chance of retrieving your data. Here’s why:

Expert Diagnosis: Professional technicians have the tools and expertise to accurately diagnose the problem. Whether it’s a mechanical failure, firmware issue, or logical error, they can pinpoint the cause and develop a tailored recovery plan. Certain approaches can permanently damage the platters & the drive under certain circumstances; understanding what the circumstances are of your particular drive are critical prior to taking any action!
Clean Room Facilities: Hard drive data recovery labs are equipped with clean rooms or laminar flow benches that are free from dust and other contaminants. This environment is important for safely opening and repairing modern hard drives without causing additional damage. Drives have stayed the same physical size, even as we've gone from 128 megabytes to 4 terabytes. A sliver of dust you can't even see might not have done much harm in 1992. That same sliver of dust could corrupt 100s of gigabytes of data today! Further, when the heads contact the platters with material on the platters, this can lead to the platters becoming scratched, scraped, and permanently damaged. Think of it like cleaning your car with a dirty towel rather than a clean microfiber cloth. As you "clean" the car, you are leaving scratches & scrapes that are easily visible if you look at it underneath a light. These scratches & scrapes represent where your DATA USED TO BE!
Advanced Tools and Techniques: Recovery experts use specialized tools like the ACELAB PC3000, Deepspar Disk Imager, and other proprietary technologies to recover lost data from damaged drives. These tools are not available to the general public and require extensive training to use effectively. While ddrescue often works to recover drives with mild issues and costs $0, the tools necessary to work on drives that beep, scrape, grind, and click can quickly add up to a $30,000 lab.

Choosing the Right Data Recovery Service

When selecting a professional data recovery service, consider the following factors:

Reputation and Reviews: Look for a company with a strong track record and positive customer reviews THAT WERE NOT PAID FOR! If you see several reviews mentioning that they were left in exchange for a discount, you are dealing with the business equivalent of a 90 year old man dating a 21 year old woman. For instance, drivesavers has come under fire for what appear to be obviously faked reviews.
No outsourcing: Reputable data recovery services aren't sending your drive off to another facility and collecting a middleman fee to your recovery cost while adding no value to the transaction. For instance, going to Best Buy's Geeksquad often results in a more expensive recovery and less detailed communication as a result of outsourcing. Ask the facility you are using if they are doing the recovery themselves, and feel free to ask probing questions to ensure they have an understanding of what they're doing.
Transparency and Communication: Choose a service that communicates clearly and transparently about the process, costs, and chances of success. Avoid companies that make unrealistic guarantees.

Preventative Measures

To lower the risk of future hard drive failures, consider the following

Regular Backups: The best defense against data loss is regular backups. Use an external hard drive, cloud storage, or a network-attached storage (NAS) device to keep copies of your important files.
Monitor Drive Health: Use software tools that monitor the health of your hard drives, such as SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology) tools. These can alert you to potential issues before they become critical.
Handle with Care: Physical shocks and drops can damage hard drives. Always handle your drives carefully! Don't let people like this borrow your drive!

When your hard drive starts making noise, it wants help. Turning it off quickly is what makes the difference between us being able to recover your data at an affordable price, or losing it forever. At Rossmann Repair Group, we specialize in professional data recovery services, offering the expertise and tools necessary to handle even the most challenging cases. If your hard drive is making noise, don’t delay—contact us today for a free, no-obligation consultation!