Dropping an external hard drive can be a frightening experience. The sounds of it hitting the floor, the worry that precious files may be lost forever – it’s enough to make your heart skip a beat. Though advances in technology have produced hardier devices, today’s portable external drives remain susceptible to damage when dropped.
In this article, we’ll take an in-depth look at what happens when you drop a Seagate external drive. We’ll examine the ruggedness of Seagate externals, factors that determine the extent of damage, best practices for avoiding drops, and options for recovering data from a damaged drive.
Anatomy of an External Hard Drive
The key internal components of a hard drive include:
- Platters – These are the circular disks inside the drive that are coated with a magnetic material for data storage. Data is written onto each platter in concentric circles called tracks (Smallbusiness.chron.com, 2022).
- Read/Write Heads – Each platter has a read/write head that moves over the surface to read or write data. The heads float over the platter surface on a cushion of air as they move into position (Hddscan.com, 2022).
- Spindle – This is the rod in the center of the disks that rotates the platters at high speeds during operation.
- Actuator Arm – This arm positions the read/write heads over the correct track location to access data.
As the platters spin, the read/write heads can access any location along the tracks to magnetically record binary data. The data is stored in these magnetic patterns on the platters until it needs to be accessed again. The heads move to the correct track and read the stored magnetic patterns, converting it back into binary data the computer can interpret (Smallbusiness.chron.com, 2022).
Height Matters
The height at which an external hard drive is dropped greatly affects the impact force. According to the Transcend website, their rugged hard drives are tested by dropping them 26 times from a height of 1.22 m (about 4 feet) [1]. Higher drops can generate enough force to damage the internal components.
For example, one Reddit user reported their Western Digital external hard drive stopped working after being dropped from about 5 feet onto a hard floor [2]. The higher drop likely generated an impact force that exceeded the drive’s shock tolerance. Another post on Ars Technica discussed tests showing portable 2.5″ HDDs can withstand over 1000G of force, but drops from 6-10 feet onto concrete can exceed those limits and cause physical damage [3].
Angle of Impact
The angle at which an external hard drive impacts the ground can significantly affect the amount of damage sustained. When a drive falls, the force of the impact is distributed across the surface area that makes contact with the ground. However, if the drive lands at an angle, the force becomes concentrated onto a smaller point of impact rather than being distributed.
For example, if a drive lands flat on its side, the force is dispersed across the entire surface touching the ground. But if the drive tips over and lands on just one corner, all the impact energy focuses on that single point of first contact. This concentrates the force into a much smaller area, increasing pressure dramatically. Just a slight angle can mean the difference between a distributed impact and a concentrated hammer-like blow.
Visual evidence bears this out. External hard drives dropped at a steep angle often sustain severe damage at the initial point of impact. The exterior case may show localized crushing, cracks radiating outward from the corner, or a visible dent. Inside, the delicate internal components directly under this crush zone are likely to be deformed or shattered.
In contrast, a drive landing flat exhibits damage across a wider area if any visible exterior damage at all. The internal components are subjected to much lower pressures and are less likely to suffer catastrophic failure at first impact.
So in summary, impact angle can profoundly influence the severity of damage. Glancing blows distribute force while steep angles concentrate it, resulting in more intense localized damage directly under the initial point of contact.
Cushioning
The casing and enclosure of an external hard drive provides important cushioning against drops and impacts. This cushioning helps absorb shock and prevent damage to the internal components, especially the sensitive read/write heads and platters inside the hard drive.
Naked or bare hard drives lack any casing or enclosure around them. So when they experience an impact or drop, the full force is directly transferred to the internal components. Without cushioning, bare drives are much more prone to failure from physical impacts.
Enclosed external hard drives have a plastic or metal casing, along with foam padding or bumpers inside. This helps provide protection against moderate drops. For example, according to comments on Reddit, some brands like LaCie use thick rubber around the edges to absorb shock.
While enclosures don’t guarantee data safety after a major fall, they do offer significantly more protection versus bare drives. The casing cushions the most vulnerable components and decreases the chance of failure.
Moving vs Stationary
Whether an external hard drive is moving or stationary when dropped can significantly affect the level of damage. According to Salvagedata (source), if the drive is dropped while it’s spinning and heads are moving, this greatly increases the chance of disk and mechanical damage. The sudden impact can cause the read/write heads to collide violently with the platters.
From a data recovery perspective, a drive dropped while stationary has the best chance of recovering data (source). The heads are safely parked and platters are still, minimizing physical damage. However, even stationary drops onto hard surfaces can still cause components like the controller board or connectors to break. Overall, avoiding any drops, especially while powered on and spinning, is critical to preserve the drive and recoverability of data.
Logical vs Physical Damage
There are two main types of damage that can occur to an external hard drive – logical damage and physical damage (Tunilab).
Logical damage refers to file corruption or operating system errors that prevent access to the data. This type of damage does not physically alter the hard drive. Files can become corrupted due to things like sudden power loss, accidental deletion, malware, or file system errors. With logical damage, the files are still physically intact on the disk, but the “roadmap” to access them may be corrupted.
Physical damage occurs when the hard drive hardware components are damaged in some way. This could include damage to the platters, head crash, circuit board, or other internal components. Physical damage directly affects the integrity of the data stored on the platters. Files may become partially or completely inaccessible.
The possibility of recovering lost data depends on whether the damage is logical or physical. With logical damage, files can often be recovered using data recovery software as long as the physical components of the drive are still functioning. However, physical damage usually requires a specialized data recovery service to attempt extracting data from the damaged drive.
Best Practices
There are several best practices you can follow to help avoid dropping your external hard drive and potential data loss:
When handling your drive, be sure to grasp it firmly and avoid picking it up by the cord. Carry it with care and don’t swing it around. Consider a carrying case or sleeve for added protection when transporting your drive.
When the drive is not in use, store it on a shelf or in a drawer, rather than on an edge where it could be knocked off. Don’t stack objects on top of it.
To mitigate potential data loss resulting from a drop, be sure to regularly back up your data. Back up to a second external drive and/or a cloud backup service. This provides redundancy if your primary backup drive fails or is damaged.
Following these simple practices will help you avoid a disastrous drop. But even with great care, accidents happen. So rely on regular backups as your ultimate safety net.
Data Recovery Options
There are two main options for recovering data from a damaged external hard drive – software and hardware recovery. Software recovery involves using data recovery software programs like Recuva or EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to scan the drive and recover files. These programs can recover deleted files and files from formatted or corrupted drives.
The advantages of software recovery are that many programs are inexpensive or free, and you can try recovering the files yourself without needing to ship your drive off. However, success rates vary widely based on the type of damage, and software tools may not be able to recover data from drives with physical damage like a failed read/write head.
Hardware data recovery involves opening up the external enclosure and working with the drive internals directly. This requires special tools and a clean room environment to prevent further contamination. Professional data recovery services like DriveSavers and Ontrack use specialized equipment to extract data from damaged drives. Hardware recovery can cost $300 to $3000 or more depending on the extent of the damage and amount of data, but it offers the best chance of recovering data from a physically damaged drive.
Conclusion
In summary, dropping an external hard drive, especially while it’s in use, can result in physical damage and/or data loss depending on several factors. The height of the drop, angle of impact, whether cushioning breaks the fall, and if the drive is in motion or stationary when dropped all affect the likelihood and severity of damage.
While modern external drives are designed to withstand reasonable shocks, drops from higher than 4 feet onto hard surfaces are likely to cause problems. Dropping at an angle can also increase impacts. For best results, always avoid dropping drives, use on flat secure surfaces, allow them to spin down before moving, and handle gently.
If a dropped drive is no longer working or accessible, recovery options like professional data recovery services may be able to salvage data depending on the damage. But prevention is always preferable when handling sensitive or critical data. Following best practices, like keeping backups, can minimize potential data loss from accidental drops.