Why Do Hard Drives Fail? Physical vs Logical Failures.
Hard drive failures are relatively common despite significant advances in HDD technology. According to some manufacturers, about 1-2 percent of hard drives fail each year, and the average lifespan for a hard disk is anywhere from 3 to 7 years depending on the drive's features and specifications.
All hard drives eventually fail as mechanical components begin to wear out and break down.
There are two major types of HDD failures: physical failures, which include read/write head crashes and other mechanical or electrical damage, and logical failures, which include data corruption, accidental file deletion and other non-mechanical issues.
Environmental Factors and Physical Hard Drive Failure
Physical hard drive issues affect tens of thousands of computer users every year. When a hard drive stops functioning normally, some files may suddenly become inaccessible or the entire HDD could stop responding to user commands.
Common symptoms of physical hard drive failures include:
- Clicking and Whirring Sounds
- Failure to Mount or Recognize
- Burning Electronics Smells
- Disappearing Files or Folders
- Bad Sectors
- Excessively Slow Operation
- Incorrect HDD Model Number in BIOS
A hard drive's operating environment can directly affect its reliability. For instance, if a hard drive does not have adequate ventilation, it may overheat, causing permanent controller board damage. Excessive vibration can throw the hard drive's read/write heads off track or force them into the magnetic platters that store data. Sudden physical or electrical shocks can also cause hard drives to fail.
While environmental factors can contribute to physical hard drive issues, all hard drives will eventually fail regardless of their environments due to normal mechanical wear. In many cases, hard drives due not present detectable symptoms before failing. Computer users should keep a consistent backup of important files in order to avoid data loss.
File Corruption and Other Logical Failures
Logical hard drive failures are often difficult to diagnose and may share symptoms with physical hard drive failures. Common non-mechanical failure scenarios include file corruption, virus damage, accidental deletion, RAID rebuild failures and formatting issues.
File corruption occurs when a hard drive cannot finish writing a file due to an interruption, leaving the file garbled or unreadable. Corruption is common when a computer locks up or suddenly shuts down due to a power issue.
Some severe logical hard drive failures can result in disappearing files or slow computer operation. If you cannot access files on a hard drive or if you notice any symptoms of a physical or logical failure, you should immediately turn your HDD off. Do not attempt to run data recovery software or physically repair your hard drive, as this may result in permanent media damage.