9 Ways To Help Protect Your Hard Drive

1. Don't Move A Computer That's On 

Your hard drive's workings are "parked" when your computer is off.    If you try moving your computer while it's on and bump the machine, the delicate servos inside can break or scratch the actual drive.   As you can guess, both are bad.  

2. Defragment Every Three Months

Data is constantly written and erased from your hard drive. Erasing leaves behind gaps on the surface of the drive, and your computer will break files into pieces to fill in those gaps.   This means extra work for your hard drive that eventually can wear out the motor.  Defragmentation finds all the pieces of individual files and, by shuffling the empty spaces around, rearranges the data on your hard drive so files can be stored intact in one place on the drive.   Running a defragmentation program every 90 days should help keep things in order.

3. Clean Your Computer

Maintain your computer by regularly removing dust and dirt from inside the case to help prevent overheating. Your computer has several moving parts, including several fans that move air around inside the case and keep the components cool.  Dust builds up on those fans over time, and just that little bit of dust can make the fan weigh more so that the motor works harder.   Slower fans mean less air movement, leading to heat that damages all the precious chips and internal parts.  

4. Upgrade your RAM

While running, computer programs move as much of their required data as they can from the hard drive to memory.  If you give your computer more memory, the programs won't have to access your hard drive so much.  That saves a lot of wear and tear.    

5. Use an Uninterrupted Power Source.

More than a simple surge protected power strip, an Uninterrupted Power Source, or UPS, will protect your computers from power surges and brown outs. Computer circuits are designed to carry milliwatts of electricity. Power surges through these delicate connections are the same as too much pressurized water trying to surge through a pipe. Too little power, however, can cause mechanical devices, such as fans and hard drives, to run too slowly.  And you already know that slow fans can cause a computer to overheat. A slow moving hard drive will not be able to copy and record data properly and can cause corruption of files and premature hard drive failure. A UPS will ensure your hard drive always has the power it needs, is protected from surges and is properly grounded.

6. Give your PC or Mac room to breathe

Standard home and small business computers are air cooled, using a combination of fans and radiator fins to remove excess heat from the surfaces of microchips and the interior of the computer. It is a delicate configuration that allows fans to pull hot air out of the box and pull in fresh cool air to replace it. Many modern office furniture designs put the computer inside a cabinet. Computers are also frequently placed under a desk with their back against the wall. Both scenarios limit proper air flow within the computer, will cause overheating and damage components including the hard drive.

7. Use Quality Computer and Network Security Programs

Malware is designed to harm your computer in any number of ways. Viruses can steal information, use your PC to reflect spam, corrupt the boot record, erase all the files, add the word "wazoo" to every Word document... you get the idea. All the added activity of the virus writing and deleting pieces of files causes your hard drive to work continuously. The work load is so far above and beyond what the drive would normally experience that drives can reach their operational life span years ahead of schedule. Spend a little extra for a quality anti-virus program, keep it current, and you'll prolong the life of your computer's hard drive.

8. Protect Your Computer From Vibration

Most of us today work on laptops because they pack all the computer components into a single neat package that fits neatly on our desk at work.  Then we close and take the laptop home with us when the business day is done. This places the guts of the computer, and specifically the hard drive, right under your hands which are banging away on the keyboard. It also means that we take our computers into places they aren't commonly meant to be used, like cars, job sites and work rooms.

The mechanical arm inside your hard drive has to move with amazing precision over a silicon disc spinning at several thousand revolutions per minute. This is a difficult feat even under ideal conditions. Subjecting your computer to frequent vibration while in operation is almost the same as dropping it.  The magnetic writing head inside the drive may skip as it is trying to write, corrupting data and possibly damaging the drive. To protect your computer, and your hard drive, from vibration damage remember not to bang the keys no matter how you feel! Hitting the enter key harder will not make the computer do what you want any faster. If you are using a desktop and it is under your desk, avoid kicking it repeatedly and remember that a PC is not a footrest. Finally, avoid pounding on the case or even the desk next to your computer... not matter how good a song it is.

9. Don't Get Physical With Your Computer.

Never strike a computer – no matter how angry you are. This falls under the same category as "don’t drop it" and "protect it from vibration." Your computer is a delicate collection of fragile components. Even laptops, which are drop-tested and designed to be mobile, can be severely damaged by physical abuse while they are running. Even seemingly minor offenses, such as shutting the screen too hard as your laptop is shutting down, can cause irreparable damage to your hard drive. So remember to respect your computer and it will reward you with years of loyal service.

In The End, Hard Drives Fail...

Even if you do all these things, 80% of hard drives fail between 36 and 60 months after going in service. Rather than wait for a catastrophic hard drive failure and loss of data, you should schedule with HaveTex to replace your PC's hard drive every 3-4 years.