What makes hard drives prone to failure?
The most common causes of hard drive failure are:
- Mechanical failure of the drive caused by being dropped, bumped while in use, wear and tear, manufacturer defect, or even simple day-to-day wear and tear.
- Data corruption or directory damage caused by forgetting to eject disks before removing them (unplugging or powering them down), computer crashes, power loss, or plain bad luck.
- Environmental disasters like fires, floods, power surges, or extreme heat and humidity.
Drive technology is improving all the time—they have “loading ramps” and “Sudden Motion Sensors” and “Perpendicular Recording” and other acronymizable features. Newer SSD disk drives don’t have mechanical problems but are still susceptible to data corruption. Every day they figure out how to cram more data into less space, so while they are making the drives smarter and safer, they are also making the data denser and more fragile. Backups are the safety net that can turn a disaster into no big deal.
Published March 24, 2009 12:00 PM
Last modified on November 25, 2011 12:16 PM
Related Links
Online Backup Options for MacsTime Machine: How do I restore my user account?
How to create a bootable clone backup
How do I choose a backup strategy?
What is a backup?
Time Machine: I can’t see any of my backups.
Why should I back up?
Time Machine: When I try to backup, it fails immediately or after copying some of the data.
Time Machine: I use FileVault and Time Machine doesn’t seem to work.
Why does directory damage occur? Can I prevent it?
Time Machine: I use Aperture and I’m having backup issues.
What should I back up my data onto?
Time Machine: I use Anti-virus software and I’m having issues.
Not only computers need backing up...
How often should I back up?
Why should I make multiple backups?
How to reformat and partition a new external hard drive for backup.
Start a bootable clone backup with SuperDuper!
How to startup your Mac from an external hard drive.
Time Machine: How do I start using it?
Time Machine: How do I restore individual files?
Time Machine: How do I restore my entire system?
Time Machine: What should I do when my backup drive fills up?
Time Machine: Fills up my backup drive too fast.
< Return to Mac FAQ Home