PCA Forums

can you tell me why most hard drives die . what is the main failure found to be when a hard drive go.s bad ? :

too much pr0n

For me, every HD to go bad has been a spindle arm lock up or crash. It's horrible when you plug a computer in, boot it up, and hear the screech of the arm scratching the disk... *shivers*

#1 - Heat. Heat kills hard drives, pure and simple

#2 - Mechanical wear and tear. After 4 or 5 years (especially of hard use) inevitably the spindle bearings dry out or the head actuator wears out.

#3 - Shock. NEVER move or bump your computer while it's running.

#4 - Power surge/spike. Always use a surge protector or (ideally) a modern UPS Battery backup - something better than the $40 special at Office Depot (the better UPS units continuously smooth the power even when the power hasn't failed).

Also, a bad or cheap power supply can cause a power spike (usually when the system is turned on or off - I see this a lot) that will kill your drive. Use a modern dual 12 volt rail PSU and check for bad capacitors occasionally. Bad caps leak a brown ooze which, in the hot environment of a PSU, will soon turn to a hard dried brown crud (ignore any white goo you see slopped over the caps - that's just an epoxy that's used to keep the caps from moving around). Since opening the PSU will void it's warranty, just shine a flashlight into the fan and vent openings and look for leaking or bulging capacitors as demonstrated in the photos here: http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=195


Also be aware that there ARE differences in quality between HDDs. If the manufacturer only gives you a 1 year warranty, that should tell you something. I prefer Seagate drives right now because you get a 5 year warranty.

Hope this helps...