Hard Drive Crash

A Hard Drive Crash Strikes Fear Into Computer Owners

The phrase hard drive crash strikes fear into the hearts of all computer users. A drive crash is an unexpected and unwanted event in which the computer's hard drive stops working. Hard drives that crash are not likely to resume functioning in the future. Hard drives that crash usually do so catastrophically. The crashed hard drive is often useless after these horrible events. All permanent data on the computer is stored on the hard drive. That is why drive crashes are such terrifying events.

What would cause a hard drive to crash? There are many reasons, although the unfortunate computer owner might never know which reason caused the crash. One reason is mechanical failure. The hard drive is one of the few moving parts in the computer. Nearly everything else is circuits and chips. Hard drives contain several horizontal magnetic platters supported by a vertical axis or spindle. These platters spin at amazing speeds while the computer is active. Read-write heads of the hard drive float over these platters, reading or writing data to the magnetic platters. A mechanical drive crash might be caused by the motor wearing out. An extreme bump or jolt might also cause the read-write heads to impact the surfaces of the platters.

Electrical events can also cause a hard drive to crash. The computer's power supply converts regular household current into tiny currents and voltages suitable for the delicate computer components. An electrical spike, such as a nearby lightning strike with one of Virginia Beach's many storms, can cause a hard drive to fail. Electrical surges are likely to cause many computer components to fail, in addition to the hard drive crashing. All computers should have surge protection devices, and should be turned off and unplugged during electrical storms.

When hard drives crash, the data they store are almost always destroyed too. There are specialty companies which might be able to recover the data. However, this is too expensive for the home user. It is best to keep multiple, up to date backups. Have all your installation disks together, and a list of websites from which you have downloaded software. Preparation and vigilance are the best tools against the chaos caused by a hard drive crash.