External data storage has become the preferred method with home users and small businesses to back up vital data. People who use computers at home have more data than ever before, and most find their storage needs are not sufficient. Users are turning to external storage to quench their thirst for extra storage, which means more hard drive failures. We have listed below the common physical problems that can cause external hard drives to fail:
Hard drive being dropped or knocked over.
There have been numerous times where the drives have accidentally been pulled or knocked over by the user. Most external drives are engineered to stand upright on a flat surface, which could lead to it tipping over. Best way forward is to lay it flat or store it somewhere away from edges of a surface.
Twisted Electrical Cords and Cables
Loose cords and electrical cables build over time under desks and small corner tables where we tend to have our laptops and desktops plugged in. These are the perfect breeding grounds for a mishap for external drives being pulled off a surface onto the floor. It only takes a small fall for the drives to suffer a failure. It is important to keep these areas nice and tidy, maybe use cable ties or clips to keep things neat. Make sure power cables are not stretched taught to the wall socket as a jittery connection could cause a power surge. Always keep the cords away from traffic in the room to prevent the drive from being accidentally pulled down to the floor.
Inserting the wrong power adaptor
Many times over you will have three to four different power adaptors in the same areas as where you plug your external drive in, so it is important to make sure you use the correct one! There have been many instances where a user has plugged a different power cord into their external hard drive causing a power surge which will overheat the drive. A good idea is to label the cords with a small white label to ensure you are using the correct cord for the device you are using.
Power Surges from Lightning Strikes
If you live in an area that has a lot of lightning storms, it is important to unplug your external storage hard drive during these storms (or when not in use). A power surge from lightning strikes can cause external hard drive failure by overheating the drive or by causing the heads to crash to the disk surface. This can result in the dreaded clicking sound otherwise known as “click of death” and you will need hard drive data recovery.
Contact us if you have experienced external hard drive failure.
