Hardware Damage to Data Storage Devices

Time was when floppy drives were considered state-of-the-art media with a capacity of 1.2 MB, while hard drives were huge, clumsy and expensive devices that boasted a storage capacity of a grand total of 2 GB, which was considered phenomenal at the time.

As Bill Gates famously remarked once: “About 1 MB should be enough storage capacity for anyone’s needs, now or in the future.” How things have changed since!

The relentless march of technology has ensured that every two or three years, brand new storage technologies enter the market, their capacities go up substantially, prices crash and everything becomes more affordable and convenient for computer users. The customer today is spoilt for choice as far as data storage devices are concerned. There is a device to suit every need and budget, right from the floppy disk and hard drive to optical disk, USB drive and tape drive.

However, you have to handle the digital storage media carefully; otherwise it can lose data due to various hardware errors. Some of these errors are given below for various devices.

Hard Drives

Hard drives are either screwed inside computers, laptops and other digital devices such as mobile phones and DVD players, or they can exist as standalone devices in the shape of portable hard drives. The biggest disaster that can hit a hard drive is a head crash. In this, the read / write head makes physical contact with the platters that constitute the data-recording surface. The latter gets scratched badly, thus leading to a serious case of data loss.

The spindle motor that spins the platters may fail as its ball bearings give way, become worn out or get stuck. The controller card or circuit board may get damaged, while a lightning strike or power surge may fry the inner circuitry of the disk. Hard drives may also be damaged by impact trauma, that is, by hitting hard a surface (such as by being dropped on the floor from a height). Natural and man-made disasters involving floods and fire are other enemies of hard drives which can damage them quite badly.

Hard drives have a normal life cycle of about five years or about 25,000 hours of use. After this, their components get worn out and they are bound to go kaput sooner or later without any warning. That is why it is prudent to keep changing your hard rives every three or four years to avoid nasty surprises.

Optical Disks

The problem with optical disks is that their data-recording surface is exposed to the elements. Because of this, it is easily corrupted or damaged. The biggest reason for this damage is scratches that the disks acquire over time. Then there are finger prints and smudges. All these obscure the pattern of microscopic pits on the recording surface. As a result, the laser emitted by the read / write lens of the drive is unable to make sense of the data and hence the computer cannot read the disk. This results in data loss.

The optical disk is made of tough polycarbonate plastic. It is difficult to break, but it is not unbreakable. If you apply too much pressure on it, it may snap into tiny pieces, taking all your data with it. Also, you have to be very careful not to keep it exposed to a heat source, such as on the dash-board of a car in the afternoon sun or near a campfire. This may bend it out of shape and thus make it unreadable by the optical drive.

USB Drives

These are quite small, about the size of your thumb. There is not much that can go wrong with these drives because they do not have any moving parts inside, unlike a hard drive. However, since they are tiny devices, there is always a danger of their being crushed underfoot or under a heavy object. They may also fall in water or fire and suffer surface damage. The memory card inside may also get structurally damaged. However, the thick, protective plastic casing of USB drives protects it effectively in most cases.

Tape Drives

Tape drives store data on magnetic tapes that are safely enclosed inside plastic cartridges. The latter are inserted into a drive where a motor spins the tape which runs forward and backward brushing past the read / write head. The tape may get stuck in the drive mechanism and get broken or twisted out of shape, thus leading to data loss.

If stored improperly in a humid and hot environment, the tape may grow fungus or mould. After some years of constant use, the tape gradually becomes worn out and the magnetic coating on it becomes dangerously thin. Data loss may result due to the bad quality of such old tapes.