Hard Drive Failures

Failure of hard drives are the stuff of nightmares. Imagine loads of data going down the drain; that thesis you've been working on all semester, a year's worth of photos including a visual chronicle of your African safari, or maybe the first 15 minutes of your very own feature film that you're sure was going to be the next indie hit.

There are various reasons for a hard drive failure. One of the most common is the head crash. This happens when the drive head, which is used to read and write data, scrapes the platter surface. The platters hold the magnetic media which is the actual storage of the data. This damages the magnetic media and makes the data inaccessible.

Flaws in the magnetic media is also another cause for hard drives to malfunction. Hard drive platters which are made of glass substrate are also susceptible to shattering especially those which are in mobile gadgets. To avoid this type of hard drive failure, manufacturers are using other more shock-resistant materials.

It is inevitable for hard drives to fail at some point. They may conk out prematurely due to mishandling or manufacturing flaws or they could just as well succumb the natural process of deterioration as parts wear out due to repeated use.