Myth #1 : |
Formatting a hard disk drive will kill it! |
Truth : |
To put it shortly, formatting your hard disk drive will NOT reduce its
lifespan. Yes, formatting is popularly thought to reduce hard disk drive's lifespan
but that is nothing more than a myth.
Formatting is NOT a stressful event for a hard disk drive. The read/write
heads do NOT touch the platter surface, so damage to the platter only
occurs if there is any shock to the drive during operation.
You can
format your hard disk drive 20 times a day, 365 days a year and it will be no more likely to fail than a hard disk drive that is not formatted at all. |
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Myth #2 : |
Formatting a hard disk drive causes a layer of <insert material / dust of choice> to be deposited on the platter surface, creating bad sectors. |
Truth : |
Formatting will not deposit any layer of "anything" on
the platter. The read/write heads are not in contact with the platters, so it is physically impossible for them to deposit anything on the platter surface.
In addition, the hard disk drive is a sealed environment assembled under clean room conditions, so there is very
little dust inside the hard disk drive. Even if there is dust, why would formatting
deposit anything on the platter? The platters are constantly spinning - any dust would not be able to deposit itself on the platter, much less create bad sectors or an alien colony. |
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Myth #3 : |
Formatting the hard disk drive will stress the needle (head
actuator). |
Truth : |
Formatting is done contiguously. This means formatting is done in
a serial order - sector 500, sector 501, sector 502, etc. There
is very little movement of the head actuators. Therefore, formatting will NOT stress the head actuators, which is why you don't see jokes about psychiatrists prescribing Prozac to head actuators. |
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Myth #4 : |
Defragmenting the hard disk drive will stress the needle (head
actuator). |
Truth : |
This myth has some truth in it, albeit misplaced. Defragmenting the hard disk drive may involve a lot of seeking as the hard disk drive rearranges its data in
a contiguous fashion. This allows the read/write heads to read large
amounts of data without seeking all over the platters.
However, after defragmentation, the hard disk drive no longer needs to seek
all over the platters for your data. This reduces the amount of head
actuator movements as well as greatly increase the hard disk drive's performance.
Therefore, while it may be technically correct to say that defragmenting
your hard disk drive will stress the head actuators, the truth is defragmenting
your hard disk drive will reduce the amount of seeking from then on and thus
reduce the head actuators' workload. |
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Myth #5 : |
If your hard disk drive has bad sectors, formatting it will cause
more bad sectors to appear! |
Truth : |
If your hard disk drive has developed bad sectors from recurrent head crashes, then
the number of bad sectors is GUARANTEED to increase as time goes by. It doesn't matter if you are formatting it or just using it.
There is some truth in this myth though. You will probably notice more bad sectors after formatting. However, the reason is because when you format your hard disk drive, the format utility
also checks for bad sectors. Hence, the appearance of new bad sectors after a format. They were already there, the formatting process just reveals them.
So, formatting will not increase the number of bad sectors in a failing
hard disk drive. It just reveals the presence of bad sectors. |
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Myth #6 : |
Downloading too much *stuff* from the Internet will reduce
your hard disk drive's lifespan. |
Truth : |
Downloading "stuff" into your hard disk drive all the time will
not reduce its lifespan. Even filling up the hard disk drive completely will not make a difference in its reliability.
Hard disk drives are like a car's fuel tank. They are designed to store data, like the fuel tank is designed to store fuel. Will your car be more likely to die if you keep filling it up with fuel, or even fill it up completely? Illogical, isn't it? |
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Myth #7 : |
Insufficient power causes bad sectors in hard disk drives. |
Truth : |
Insufficient power or power cuts won't create bad sectors in your
hard disk drives. Whenever there is no power, or insufficient power, the head
actuators automatically park the heads so that there is no risk of head
crashes on the platters. So, there is no way insufficient power can cause bad sectors.
However, a bad power supply can kill your hard disk drive. It won't cause bad sectors, it will just fry the circuit board and maybe burn out the motor. |
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Myth #8 : |
Cheap power supplies will "slowly kill"
your hard disk drive. |
Truth : |
Cheap power supplies will NOT "slowly kill" hard disk drives. If a cheap power supply fries and sends a power surge to your
hard disk drive, it kills the drive instantly. |
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Myth #9 : |
If your hard disk drive keeps spinning up and down, that is because
the power supply does not have enough power to keep the platters spinning. |
Truth : |
The spin-up, spin-down activity is actually a symptom of the hard disk drive's recalibration process. The hard disk drive recalibrates to account for changes in temperature (which changes the position of data bits on the platter).
It also recalibrates when it cannot read data off the platters properly. Therefore, if your drive does that a lot, it could be a symptom of a dying hard disk drive. Do note though that hard disk drives are often programmed to spin down to save power, and only spin up when there's work to be done.
However, it's unlikely for insufficient power to cause such symptoms. If insufficient power is supplied to hard disk drives that do not support hot-plugging, they will power down and cause the computer to hang. Even if full power is
restored, the hard disk drive will not resume normal operation.
You will need to reboot the computer. |
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Myth #10 : |
Head parking is the cause of loud clicks from your hard disk drive. |
Truth : |
Loud clicks are usually a symptom of the hard disk drive's thermal recalibration
process or they can be due to head crashes on the platters. Head parking is a quiet process in all 3.5" and most 2.5" hard disk drives.
In some 2.5" hard disk drives that use ramp load/unload mechanism (to park the drive heads), audible clicks can be heard when the heads park. Manufacturers have successfully dealt with the problem in newer generations of 2.5" hard disk drives and they no longer produce audible clicks whenever they park their drive heads.
3.5" hard disk drives that employ ramp load/unload technology, on the other hand, do not produce any click noises whenever their heads are parked.
Thanks, Espen Overaae and mikegas! |
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