Our computers aren’t designed to have a long lifespan. Hard drives are fragile systems, which are prone to general wear and tear. Unfortunately, an ageing, faulty or broken hard drive can lead to loss of your valuable data. We are therefore looking at the three biggest cause of a hard drive failure.
Physical Damage
Shock, water, and heat can all pose a significant risk to both an internal and external hard drive. Water or heat can each result in physical damage to the electronic parts within a hard drive, which are not protected against liquids or extreme temperatures. A physical impact, such as a drop from a height, can also affect the mechanical components, such as the read/write head colliding with the magnetic platter, which can cause irretrievable data loss.
Avoid overheating by ensuring the computer’s fan isn’t blocked, so you can provide the appropriate ventilation for a device. A sign of poor ventilation is a computer that is hot to the touch. In the event of water damage, turn off the computer immediately.
Logical Failure
A logical failure is a non-physical issue with your computer. The problem is often a result of damage to a hard drive’s software or file structure, and not the hardware. Various issues can lead to a logical failure, such as malware infections, corrupted files or human error.
Your hard drive might be in trouble if you experience the following issues: disappearing data, a sluggish operating system, disk error, computer crash or the dreaded “blue screen of death”. If you experience any of the above issues, we recommend backing up your files as soon as possible.
In serious cases, the issues can lead to a system reboot failure. If this happens, we recommend talking to a hard drive data recovery expert at SecureDataRecovery.com, who can locate and recover your files, so you can restore them onto another computer.
Mechanical Failure
While a computer is made from mostly electrical components, the hard disk is comprised of a variety of mechanical parts. For this reason, a computer is not built to last. A mechanical failure can often take place when the read/write head, magnetic platters or another component experiences a fault, which is commonly caused by general wear and tear.
Signs of a mechanical failure can include a clicking, grinding or screeching sound. Just like a logical failure, freezing or computer crashes can also be a serious symptom of a mechanical failure.
Conclusion
A hard drive failure can be due to a multitude of reasons, which will be under the umbrella of a logical, physical, or mechanical failure. You must therefore look for the signs to avoid bigger problems down the road, such as the loss of sensitive data. So, whether your computer is experiencing a crash, freeze, unusual sounds, or slow performance, don’t take any chances and backup your sensitive data immediately. It is important to act quickly to prevent losing your important documents or software.