Plenty of reasons lead to a hard disk crash and all these reasons share a few facts in common. The hard disks crash when you least expect it and these hard disk crashes are beyond your control. You can do nothing to prevent it.
Hard disks are the most important component in your computer that works the maximum. Till long, people believed that hard disks that work a lot, crash faster. And drives require cooler temperatures to survive longer. Both, these facts we believed are only mildly true to a limited extent. All crashes are not completely related to temperature and over usage.
Reasons for Hard Disks Crash
Hard disks can experience a logical failure, mechanical failure, electronic failure or damage to the firmware zone.
Logical Failure of the Hard Disk
Logical failure of your hard drive is a problem that can either be easily dealt with or prove too difficult to handle. Problems like an invalid entry in the File Allocation Table are easily solvable. While complex problems like the loss of file system on a severely fragmented drive are extremely difficult to deal with.
All logical problems are either caused by human error or mishandling of the computer. Some problems, though, cannot be accounted to human error; rather they are a deliberate introduction of malicious programs. These cause widespread damage and once introduced they are beyond human control. Logical errors are typically identified by missing folder, files, partitions or a file that contains partial, nil or incorrect data.
Mechanical Failure of the Hard Disk
Mechanical problems indicate themselves by regular ticking or clicking noises. They give the user ample time to create a back up of all data. If you hear such a noise from your computer it indicates the failure of the very internal parts. A loud screeching noise is also indicative of a mechanical problem. A failed spindle motor makes a high pitched noise. Excessive heat from a failed bearing leads to an expansion of the drive shaft that immediately seizes the spindle motor. There are a few precautionary measures you can take to keep your hard drive safe. Keep the computer cool if it is placed in an enclosed environment. However, every computer user will not be lucky enough to be cautioned by warning noises.
Electronic Failure of the Hard Disk
If you switch on the computer and the hard drive may appear dead and remains unrecognisable. This is a common symptom indicating an electronic failure. This is the failure of the electronic circuit board at the bottom of the disk. The computer interfaces the hard drive at the circuit board. Such a failure can occur at any time either due to a faulty installation or a faulty component. When data recovery experts work upon such hard drives they also come across disks containing electronic burn marks caused by sudden power surges. These also damage the electronic board turning the hard disk undetectable to the BIOS. Such damages usually leave the data undamaged. They can be recoverable albeit with great effort.
Firmware Zone Failure
If the firmware of a hard disk turns unreadable the computer cannot interact correctly with it. It is quite possible to recover the data once the computer is repaired. Computer failure of any kind turns data inaccessible. Panic is the most expected of all reactions for the data that disks contain are worth millions of pounds.
Reactions to Hard Disk Failure
Any user would be simply numbed into inaction upon experiencing unexpected data loss. So disastrous are the consequences of data loss that it is not wrong to compare a hard disk failure to a calamity. After the initial shock every computer user enters into a frenzy of action. Either the DIY data recovery software is tried or the data recovery experts are contacted. All decisions are however, based on the significance, value, cost and possibility of recreating the lost data.
Hard disks crash and we are usually not able to control or prevent the causative factors. When the hard disks inevitable crash people greatly fear the loss of data rather than the damage caused to the computer. Data recovery service is a million dollar industry for the simple reason that hard disks crash and quite frequently they crash for reasons beyond our control.
If you are concerned that a malicious hacker has interfered with or penetrated your network it is advisable to contact a Computer Forensics expert witness.