Quick Answers
Dropping a hard drive can definitely damage it and cause data loss. The severity of the damage depends on factors like:
- The height it was dropped from
- The surface it landed on
- Whether it was powered on or off
- The design and build quality of the drive
Even short drops of just a few feet onto a hard floor can damage hard drives. The internal components are delicate and shock sensitive. Dropping a drive risks head crashes, disk warping, motor/bearing damage, and electronics failures.
To minimize damage, power off the drive before moving it. Use padded cases and wrap drives to cushion any impact. But there is no guarantee a drive will survive a drop unscathed. Always back up data and be prepared for a dropped drive to fail.
How Dropping Can Damage a Hard Drive
To understand how dropping can damage a hard drive, it helps to know the basic internal components and how they work:
Platters: Platters are thin circular disks made of rigid aluminum or glass that store data magnetically. They spin at high speeds while the read/write head accesses data.
Read/write heads: The heads fly just above the drive platter surface, reading and writing data. They are attached to the end of an actuator arm.
Actuator arm and motor: This arm precisely moves the heads across the platters. A motor and bearing connects it to the base and allows it to move.
Firmware and control circuitry: This provides electrical connections to components and controls the access to data.
Some ways dropping a hard drive can damage components:
1. Head crashes
A head crash is when the read/write head makes contact with the platter surface. This can scrape off the thin magnetic coating and cause data loss.
During even a short drop, the heads can bounce upon impact and hit the platters. Dropping while powered on is especially risky because the platters are spinning fast underneath.
2. Disk warping
The high-precision platters can warp or bend from the shock of impact. This throws off their shape and prevents the heads from properly reading/writing.
Platter damage is most likely with high-RPM drives. The faster motion makes them more sensitive to precise alignment.
3. Broken actuator arms
The actuator arm is not designed to handle impact shocks. The force can break internal components like the pivot bearing and coils critical for head movement.
Not only does this damage make data potentially unreadable, but loose debris inside can cause additional head crashes.
4. Motor and electronics failure
Though more protected inside the housing, the spindle motor and circuit board can also be jarred loose, disconnected, or otherwise damaged from drops. This can disable them completely.
Factors That Affect Severity of Damage
Several variables determine how severely dropping will damage a hard drive:
Height of the Drop
The higher the drive falls from, the greater the velocity it hits the ground with. This amplifies the shock forces and energy it must dissipate through its components.
Even falls as minor as 2-3 feet onto hard flooring can damage portable drives. Severe drops from 6+ feet are almost guaranteed to catastrophically damage components.
Surface Landed On
A smooth, hard surface like concrete transmits the full shock and vibration into the drive. Dropping onto carpet or grass helps cushion the impact slightly, but the risk is still high for critical damage.
Power State
A drive powered off during the drop has additional safety from heads parked in a locked position away from platters. This prevents head crashes. However, physical components remain vulnerable.
A fall while powered on almost ensures head crashes from heads jolted across platters during impact. The damage potential is much higher.
Drive Design and Build Quality
Enterprise and NAS rated drives generally have more shock resistance with sturdier component mounting, ramps for parking heads, and enclosures that allow some internal movement. Consumer models are built more lightly to save costs.
Rugged, armored external drives provide much better drop protection than most portables without extra padding. But no consumer drive is ever drop-proof.
Best Practices to Avoid Drop Damage
While accidental drops can always happen, following best practices greatly reduces the risks:
- Handle drives gently, never lifting or moving while powered on
- Use protective padded cases or bags when transporting drives
- Place drives on secure, stable surfaces and anchors racks securely
- Wrap drives in foam or bubble wrap if shipping or transporting in bags
- Consider enterprise class drives designed for durability if mobility needed
- Avoid placing drives where they can be accidentally knocked over or fall
- Secure cables neatly to avoid pulling on ports
- Back up data redundantly in case a drive is damaged
Being mindful of hazards, using restraint, and taking basic precautions goes a long way toward protecting hard drives from drop damage events. Carelessness significantly raises the risks.
Can Dropped Drives Be Recovered?
For drives that do get damaged, prompt professional data recovery can retrieve contents in many cases. But there are no guarantees.
Minor drops may just cause some reallocated sectors without major data loss. But more substantial drops usually result in mechanical and logical failures:
- Severe head crashes causing scratched platters and seized actuators
- Misaligned or warped platters hitting heads
- Shattered platters and damaged components producing debris
- Unresponsive PCB control boards
- Firmware corruption and failed initialization sequences
Many of these require invasive repairs in a certified cleanroom to attempt recovery:
- Replacing broken or seized actuator arms
- Swapping out damaged control boards
- Platter transplants from donor drives
- Bypassing failed components like motors and firmware
- Adjusting or replacing heads
- Repairing connectivity problems from cracks and broken solder joints
This is a complex, manual process with no guarantee intact data can be saved from platters. The techniques also cannot repair shards of shattered platters.
Unfortunately, the cost of recovery service often exceeds the value of many consumer drives. But critical data warrants the expense for professional lab data recovery whenever possible.
Can Dropped Drives Be Fixed or Repaired?
While data may potentially be recovered, most hard drives cannot be repaired after substantial drop damage for continued reliable use. The intricacy of components and precision tolerances require factory conditions to properly bring back to working order.
Some of the barriers to DIY or third-party hard drive repair include:
- Recalibrating and replacing heads
- Rebalancing and truing warped platters
- Reseating internal connectors and cables
- Reassembling complex component assemblies
- Accessing small form factor drive internals
- Testing with specialized equipment
The delicate parts like the platter media and headstack are irreparable outside a cleanroom. And component mismatches can cause failures. So end users should not typically attempt repairs themselves, even if a drive powers back on after a drop.
Long term reliability will be compromised. It’s recommended to replace any drive subjected to substantial shock with a new, undamaged model instead.
Best External Hard Drives with Drop Protection
For portable external drives where drops are a concern, several models provide additional shock absorption and ruggedization:
LaCie Rugged RAID Pro
With protective bumpers and a rigid enclosure, this drive survives 4 foot drops. It also handles 1 ton truck runs over the case. Dual 7200 RPM drives configured in RAID provide speed.
ioSafe Solo G3
This heavy duty external drive is waterproof, fire resistant, and crushes resistant with a solid aluminum case. It meets military drop test standards and keeps drives safely running after a 15 foot fall.
Adata HD710 Pro
Surviving drops up to 1.5 meters, this budget drive has a cushioned housing meeting IP68 dust and water proof standards. It comes in several large capacities up to 5TB.
Silicon Power Armor A60
Shockproof with a rubber frame and inside slip-resistant silicone, the military-grade A60 drive handles drops from up to 4 feet. It’s a slim but robust option.
Transcend StoreJet 25M3
This popular rugged drive meets US military drop-test standards, surviving 5 foot drops. Durable anti-shock silicone helps protect the HDD from impact and vibration forces.
Final Thoughts
Dropping external hard drives, especially while powered on, subjects them to severe shocks and G-forces well beyond what internal components are designed to handle. Head crashes, failed motors, bent platters, and damaged read heads are common mechanical failures.
Careful handling and protective padding helps reduce the risks. But the only real way to avoid potential data loss is upfront backup to a second separate drive. With backups in place, if a drive is dropped and damaged, the impact to data is minimized.