head crash

how succeptible is hdd to shocks and vibration?

in 3.5" or 2.5" hdd,
would shaking a HDD enclosure (eg. accidentally bumping on it and causing it to wobble side to side), or moving it while it is running, would cause the HDD head to crash into the platter, or damage it in any way??

 

it can, yes. some HDDs have sensors that detect vibration and "lock" the heads in safe position, but not all drives have this feature. at any rate, shaking a HDD is not a good idea

why do you ask?

 

well i got WD mybook (1tb studio), which i forget to turn it off at the plug before cleaning, im not sure if its on while i was doing it (coz it sometime turn on while the light is completely off), well i accidentally knock it a bit not so much that it falls, causing it to rock side to side quite rapidly.

just wondering if it will cause any damage to the drive inside (caviar green). wheter its on or off.

the drive is connected to power plug but not the at the usb. so, i doubt that it is on, but just a paranoid of me, coz somtime the thing spins up without any light indicator, and because i store more than 500gb in there. and there is no hard switch making sure its completely off.


sorry if its hard to understand, im just wondering the limit of shocks and vibration of a harddrive. the manufacturer's specification doesnt explain really well...

and i have paranoia about not knocking the computer or desk once it is running.

this all started when i lost my data along with my hdd.

 

Your username indicates you are unstable, so you may want to get a SSD

In either drive, the heads are the same size, the only difference is the size of the actuator arm to compensate for the circumference of the discs.
The head should never come into contact with the harddrive platter. The head usually hovers over the platter by like the thickness of a blade of hair. So if you are always wobbling/shaking the drive the head may come in contact with the spinning platter. This will result in the generation of bad sectors and so forth, and will result in premature drive failure.

K-TRON

 

Typical 2.5" laptop hard drives have a tolerance of 350g (ie can withstand a deceleration of around 3,500 m/s/s) during operation and 1000g at a non-operating state. Depending on how much shock your laptop can absorb and the material that it falls on, your hard drive will usually decelerate and decrease the amount of shock impacting the drive. For simplicity's sake, let's say we have only the HDD unit in hand and a concrete surface to drop it on. With 1000g tolerance, the hard drive should be able to survive a ~30" inch drop.

 

LOL

i got an ssd in my x300. no paranoia of knocking it there

i wish, oh i wish the day when all is solid state. including external ssd.
though i still dont completely trust solid state, coz of its, data retention issue and limited write cycle.

i had a hdd die on me, and it is not a pleasant experience

 

That's for sure

One died on me, when I was but a n00b
Lost everything because I never used to make backups

 

i did a backup fortunately, but of course, not all file is intact, (i did not backup everyday) i lost around 20gb or so of data i think.

 

I lost over 100gigs of data

That hurt,,,,,,,,,,,,, a lot

 

hmmm this is what im looking for

got any more like this data?

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/perf/qual/z_q_shockevents.gif

 

Some discussion here:
http://blog.orebokech.com/2007/05/hard-drive-shock-resistance-specs.html

I used to have a pdf page which listed drop heights and shocks; and it said that a 6 inch drop was sufficient to fry a HDD.
I also remembe that a stationary 3.5 HDD has as much shick tolerance as a running 2.5" HDD.

This was at least 3 years back

 

thanks wearethebog,

i wonder how about the g-shock tollerance when the drive is not-operating?

yesterday, My Mybook Studio, w/ WD Caviar Green. while the drive is not operating, i accidentally knock the enclosure like around 40degrees though it doesnt fall, and it goes back to stand position while wobbling side to side for few second...

i turn on the drive, no weird noises, or performance degrade (i wasnt expecting it to have that big of impact anyway, but just to make sure) although is this type of shock/vibration even effect the drive in anyway? should i think that during shipping the drive experience far worse condition?

 

What does that mean

I can't make head or tail of it

PS - Thanks wobble, returned the favor

 

is knocking the drive over while its not operating damaging in anyway?

i tip the drive over around 40degrees while cleaning. it doesnt fall. it bounce back and shaking back and forth.

 

They ship it in a protective cushioning material.
When you use it, however, there is no cushion around it, hence you have to be careful.

 

do you think i did any harm/damage to my drive?
what damage does things like shaking the drive lilke that inccur? (the spindle motor?)

head crash? but i just remember, does the WD caviar Green GP 1TB on mybook studio, has head ramp park?

 

Depends on exactly how it happened, what kind of material is there on the enclosure, how the HDD is attached to the enclosure.

Its all about the maximum shock generated, lasts for milliseconds. Your HDD may fall to a thicly carpetted floor, and it may be OK. But a bump of the HDD against the laptop casing at the wrong angle during install will be enough to fry it.

 

LOL.....