Can dropping a hard drive damage it?

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Can dropping a hard drive damage it

Out of the blue – can dropping your hard drive really damage it?

Imagine this familiar scenario – you’re carrying around your portable hard drive and accidentally drop it. Your heart skips a beat as it hits the floor. Will your precious data survive the impact of the fall, or did that unlucky moment just destroy your digital life?

Before panicking, it helps to understand what’s inside that shiny metal box and how it withstands impacts. Hard drives store data on quickly spinning disks coated in magnetic material. A read/write head floats just above the disk surface, accessing data as the disk spins. The disks, head, and other components are protected inside a metal case sealed tightly against outside contaminants. While today’s drives are engineered to withstand shocks to a degree, a significant impact can potentially damage internal components and make data inaccessible.

In this article, we’ll take a deep dive into examining how and when drops can damage hard drives. You may be surprised at how resilient modern drives can be, but also learn why gravity remains an enemy. Let’s crack open those metal enclosures and explore what happens when you drop a hard drive.

How Hard Drives Work

Hard drives store data on magnetic platters that spin at high speeds. The platters are made of rigid aluminum or glass and are coated with a magnetic material like iron oxide or cobalt. There are typically multiple platters stacked inside the hard drive which maximize storage capacity.

Data is written and read by a read/write head that hovers just above the surface of the platters. The read/write head is attached to an actuator arm that allows it to move inwards and outwards across the platters. As the platters spin, the read/write head can access data along concentric tracks etched onto the platter surfaces.

When writing data, an electric current is sent through a coil in the read/write head. This current polarizes the magnetic material on the platter below it into a positive or negative magnetic field which represents the binary 1s and 0s of data. The patterns of magnetic polarity encode the data. When reading data, the read/write head senses the magnetic fields on the platter and converts them back into binary data.

Hard drives store immense amounts of data thanks to the ability to magnetically polarize very small sections of the platter surfaces. Modern hard drives achieve incredible areal data densities – over 1 terabit (1 trillion bits) per square inch. The precision required for the read/write heads to accurately write and read such densely packed data is remarkable.

Sources:

https://visual.ly/community/Infographics/computers/hard-drive-components

Factors in Hard Drive Damage

Several factors determine how much damage can occur when a hard drive is dropped, including:

Height of the Drop – Dropping a hard drive from a greater height imparts more energy when it hits the ground, increasing the chance for damage. Even a short drop of a few feet can potentially damage a hard drive if it lands badly.1

Surface Landed On – What the drive lands on greatly affects the impact. Landing on a hard surface like concrete is more likely to cause damage compared to a soft, cushioned surface. The texture of the surface also matters – a smooth, flat floor spreads out the impact, while a rough surface can focus the energy on a single point.2

Orientation When Dropped – The angle and orientation of the drive as it hits the ground influences how the energy dissipates through it. Dropping it flat on a surface spreads out the impact, while falling at an angle concentrates the forces unevenly.

Impact Forces

When a hard drive is dropped, the physics of acceleration and impact can result in major g-forces that could damage the drive. According to one computer hardware forum Hard Drive Shock Tolerance, hard drives are designed to withstand up to 250Gs of shock over 2 milliseconds when parked. That’s equivalent to accelerating at 2,500 meters per second squared. However, hard drives are much more vulnerable to damage when in use.

According to Crucial, an SSD company, a traditional hard drive when powered off can survive up to 250Gs of shock. But when in use, the threshold is only about 75Gs. The g-forces generated from dropping a drive depend on the height and surface it lands on. Dropping even a couple feet onto a hard surface can easily exceed 100Gs. With the delicate components inside, it doesn’t take much of an impact to damage the drive.

Overall, hard drives are not built to withstand significant impacts, especially when in use. Even small drops have the potential to generate high g-forces that could damage components or knock the drive heads off track, resulting in data loss or failure.

Physical Damage

When an external hard drive is dropped, the physical components inside can sustain damage. The most vulnerable parts are the platters and read/write heads.

Platters are thin, circular disks made of metal or glass that store all the data. They spin very fast while the read/write heads float just above them, reading and writing data. If a drive is dropped, the platters can warp or become misaligned. This throws off their rotation and makes data access unreliable or impossible.

The read/write heads are extremely fragile. They move rapidly back and forth across the platters on an arm, locating and modifying data. If a drive is dropped while powered on, the heads may crash into the platters. This can destroy both the heads and the platters, gouging the surfaces and rendering data unrecoverable.

According to one data recovery company, even a short drop can cause the heads to hit the platters. The severity depends on factors like how far the drive fell and which angle it landed on. But physical damage usually makes data recovery difficult and expensive, if possible at all.

Logical Damage

Logical damage refers to corruption of the file system and data on a hard drive without any physical damage to the drive itself. Dropping a hard drive can potentially cause logical errors and bad sectors to occur.

File system corruption happens when key data structures that organize files on the drive become damaged. This can make it impossible for the operating system to access files and folders properly. Signs of file system corruption include missing files, inability to save new files, and various read/write errors.

Bad sectors refer to parts of the hard drive platter that can no longer reliably store data due to magnetic issues or physical damage. Dropping a drive may cause the read/write heads to damage the platters at specific sectors. These sectors will become inaccessible, leading to data loss. The drive will attempt to remap bad sectors, but multiple bad sectors usually indicate an unreliable drive.

While logical damage is better than physical damage, significant file system corruption and bad sectors will likely make a drive unusable. Professional data recovery services may be able to rescue data, but logical damage often progresses, so it’s important to recover data from a dropped drive as soon as possible.

To avoid logical damage, one should always handle hard drives gently and properly eject them before transporting them. Dropping hard drives, even a small distance, can cause physical and logical damage.

Best Practices

To avoid damage, it is important to handle and store hard drives properly. One of the easiest ways to protect a hard drive is to keep it in a padded, shock-absorbing case when not in use. The case cushions the drive and prevents the internal components from being knocked out of alignment if the drive is accidentally dropped or banged against another object. Cases designed specifically for external hard drives are available from electronics stores or online retailers.

Hard drives should also be stored in a clean, dry, temperate area away from magnets, excessive heat, and cold. Do not store hard drives in places like the garage, attic, or basement where temperature extremes can occur. Follow the storage guidelines provided by the manufacturer.

Backing up your data regularly is one of the best ways to prevent data loss in case of hard drive failure. Make sure to maintain at least one backup copy stored in a different physical location than your computer. Cloud backup services provide an easy way to automatically backup files on a schedule. For the highest level of protection, utilize both local and cloud backups, and be sure to backup the drive before transporting it anywhere.

While following proper handling procedures and backups cannot prevent all hard drive problems, they significantly decrease the chances of damage occurring.

Data Recovery

There are a few options when it comes to recovering data from a damaged hard drive:

Software solutions:

Professional services:

  • Using a professional data recovery service, success rates can be high for recovering data from damaged drives depending on the extent and type of damage. Costs vary based on amount of data recovered.
  • Services may involve repairing the drive hardware itself or bypassing it to copy the raw data off the disk platters.

When choosing a data recovery service, it’s important to research reputation, capabilities, and costs. While expensive, professional recovery has the highest chance of retrieving critical lost data from a damaged drive.

Solid State Drives

Solid state drives (SSDs) are generally more resilient to drops and physical shocks than traditional hard disk drives (HDDs). This is because SSDs have no moving parts that can be damaged by impact (How much more durable is a Ssd compared to a hard drive). SSDs use flash memory chips rather than spinning platters, making them better able withstand accidental drops and bumps.

However, SSDs are still electronic devices and not completely invincible. While they can withstand more G-force shock than HDDs, a significant impact can still damage an SSD. The solder joints or components on the circuit board could crack if dropped from a high enough distance onto a hard surface (SSD vs. HDD: Which Do You Need?). SSDs are more durable for typical day-to-day use, but they can still fail if subjected to extreme physical abuse.

In general, SSDs are recommended for laptops and mobile devices that are more prone to being dropped or transported. But for mission critical data, it’s still a good idea to handle any drive with care and use proper backup practices. Dropping an SSD from several feet could potentially cause irreparable damage and data loss.

Conclusion

In summary, a hard drive can absolutely be damaged by dropping it. Hard drives contain sensitive mechanical components like read/write heads that float just above the drive platters. Even a minor impact from a short drop could cause the heads to hit the platter surface, resulting in irreparable physical damage. Logical damage like corruption of the file system is also possible from drops, even without visible mechanical damage.

To protect your data, handle hard drives carefully and avoid drops and shocks. Keep backups of important data, as physical damage can make recovery difficult or impossible. Consider solid state drives which have no moving parts and can better withstand impacts. But regardless of drive type, make sure to handle storage devices with care to avoid potential damage from drops or shocks. Follow best practices like proper packaging for transport and storage to keep your drives safe and your data secure.