COMMON REASONS FOR A HARD DRIVE CRASH

There can be many different reasons for a hard drive crash.  It can occur gradually over time or abruptly.  A hard drive has
the potential to last for many years before malfunctioning.   However, as with any mechanical device, a hard drive can and will eventually wear down.  Sometimes this can happen sooner than expected.

Physical damage is the leading cause of premature hard drive failure.  When a hard drive is powered off, the read-write heads park on a special area of the platter that protects the heads and platter from damage.  When a hard drive is powered on, the heads are designed to move back and forth across the platter surface.  If a hard drive suffers any physical damage during this time (such as bumping or jostling), it is more likely it will suffer a head crash.   A head crash is one of the most common reasons for drive failure and occurs when the read-write heads make contact with the platter surface where the data is stored. 

Also located inside the hard drive is a motor that provides power to the platters and other moving parts inside the drive.  Over
time, the motor will eventually wear down causing the parts to move at incorrect speeds. 

What To Do If You Suspect Your Hard Drive Failed
 

Physical Reasons FOR HARD DRIVE FAILURE

A hard drive can fail due to many physical problems including scratched platters, broken read/write arm, hard drive motor failed, humidity or moisture in the drive, manufacturer defect, firmware corruption, bad sectors on disk, overheated hard drive,
head crash, power surge, and water or fire damage to the hard drive.
 

LOGICAL Reasons FOR HARD DRIVE FAILURE

Logical causes for hard disk failure include failed boot sector, master boot record failure, drive not recognized by BIOS,
operating system malfunction, accidentally deleted data, software crash, corrupt file system, cross-linked files, employee
sabotage, improper shutdown, disk repair utilities, reformatted hard drive, repartitioned hard drive, software malfunction,
scandisk error, data corruption, and computer virus damaged the hard disk.