How to properly maintain your computer hard drive

1, the fatal weakness--vibration

Hard disk is a mechanical product, vibration can be said to be a hard enemy, hard disk internal structure is quite sophisticated, the head from thousands of rpm per minute of the surface of the disc only a few microns high, once the vibration is stronger then there will be read and write anomalies or even caused the disk or magnetic head physical damage, the consequences are quite serious.

Hard disk reading and writing is forbidden to move: In fact, the hard disk in the case of not working, can withstand a certain collision, or the hard drive can not be moved around the world. But the hard drive at work, can withstand the vibration is quite small, a small vibration may lead to extinction. Especially for DIY users, like the PC toss, often diagram convenient not shut down the computer to operate, so that the hard disk in the work of moving, such operations are undoubtedly quite dangerous, the loss of data, the weight of the hard disk directly scrapped. So be sure to remember that when the hard drive is working, it cannot be moved.

The chassis and hard disk can not have a common vibration phenomenon: the hard disk is in a stable state of rotation at work, such as the current mainstream PC hard disk is 7200 rpm. In the regular rotation of the hard disk may be in the same common with the PC chassis, so that the hard disk will be in the state of shaking, although the amplitude is very small, but for a long time in such a state, the damage to the hard disk is very large, the quantitative changes will evolve to a qualitative change, and finally lead to hard disk problems. We can avoid the resonance of the hard disk and the chassis by adding rubber pads, etc., and also reduce the noise caused by the common vibration of the hard drive and the chassis.

First prepare four pieces of 1 mm thick, the size of the nail shell rubber pad, and then with scissors in the middle of the rubber pad opening, as long as the hard drive screws can be passed. Next, load the hard drive into the chassis's hard drive rack, and note that the rubber pad is stuck between the hard drive and the hard drive, and that the open port is aligned with the drive's fixed screw port. Finally, tighten the hard drive screws through the rubber pads. In addition, you can use the elastic rubber strip to make a suspension system, that is, using a rubber strip to hang the hard disk under the hard drive carrier, so as to avoid the hard drive and the carrier rigid connection, but also avoid the resonant noise.

The computer table must be smooth: Most PC users use a computer desk (or desk) to place a computer. But the attention to the computer table is not enough, the design or poor quality of the computer table in the use of a long time after the phenomenon of shaking, especially in the user's typing when shaking large, for the game users, in the fierce fighting, the computer table will be shaken more damage; And some users like to use the computer with the feet of the remote movement of the computer desk, these are very bad for the hard disk operation. Therefore, we suggest that users in the purchase of computer desk desks to choose the perfect material products, but also to develop the use of computers do not shake the table habit.

Other operations: In the temporary access to the hard disk, as far as possible to put it properly, preferably fixed on the hard drive bracket, do not hang casually on the chassis. Many users think that just temporary exchange of data, put the hard drive casually placed. In this case, the hard disk to read and write data, while shaking, the damage to the hard disk is self-evident. In addition, the hard disk is best not temporarily placed in the working state of the CD-ROM, the optical drive when the vibration is larger, or even the drive on the hard disk on the vibration shift, so that the damage to the hard disk is also quite obvious.

　2. Hard enemy of HDD--high temperature

Hard disk capacity is constantly increasing, in which the disc density, disc number and speed are in the forward development. However, the problem of hard drive temperature has always been one of the headaches of manufacturers. Because of this, 7200 turn to the market is still the mainstream consumer speed, continued for several years can not smooth transition to 10000 RPM of the low-cost high-capacity hard drive up, among which fever is a problem. Of course, the heat of the hard disk itself can only be solved by the manufacturer, the user can only improve the use of the hard disk environment, the specific considerations are as follows:

Hard disk up and down space to be enough: the hard drive will continue to heat when working, then the user can only do is to let its heat dispersed. Hard disk Most of the heat is through its upper and lower sides to dissipate, so the upper and lower space of the hard disk must be left enough, try not to block the hard disk up and down space. A lot of users in the installation of dual hard disk when it is not considered this, or the chassis does not have enough space to install, the two hard drives installed to a very close position, so that the heat dissipation of the hard disk is quite unfavorable.

The cooling duct of the chassis should pay attention to: In many cases, the heat inside the chassis if not effectively excluded, then all the PC accessories temperature will rise, naturally also includes the hard drive. So the design of the chassis can not be neglected, good air duct design will effectively reduce the temperature inside the chassis, so that the heat of the hard disk is effectively lost.

About the improvement of the air duct design matters here is not much, to remind you that the point is, do not simply think that the use of the chassis fan will be able to effectively dissipate heat. To use the chassis fan carefully, the fan should be placed in the proper position to play its due role, otherwise there may be anti-effect situation. For most enclosures, installing more fans is not conducive to heat dissipation, and is prone to interfering with the wind path, resulting in poor heat dissipation. Therefore, to ensure that the cooling of the chassis, in addition to the front of the chassis into the fan, rear or the top of the exhaust fan is necessary, in fact, as long as the reasonable construction of the internal chassis air duct, the other location of the fan can not be used.

Do not use the PC for a long time in a non-air-conditioned environment in the summer: the hard drive has started its slow aging process since the day it began to use it. Long-time use of hard disk, hard disk accumulation of heat will become more and more high, because not all users have a good air duct design, so the heat emitted by the hard disk and the emitted heat may not be equal, so long-running after the hard drive temperature will be higher, causing failure. Generally speaking, we should not use the PC continuously for more than 24 hours, especially in the summer non-air-conditioned environment, if it is necessary to continuously use, it is recommended to open the chassis, with large fans of the overall chassis cooling operation.

3, other harsh environment to minimize the use of PC

In fact, not only the temperature, vibration on the hard disk has a great impact, some other harsh environment on the damage to the hard disk can not be ignored. such as low humidity, strong magnetic field, large dust and voltage instability of the place. Let's take a look at the hazards of each of them.

Humidity Hazard: Humidity is divided into absolute humidity and relative humidity, absolute humidity refers to the quality of water vapor contained in each cubic metre of air; relative humidity refers to the degree to which water vapor is saturated in the air and 100%rh when saturated. When absolute humidity is constant, the higher the temperature, the smaller the relative humidity. In fact, the average person thinks that humidity is too high when the hard disk will be more harmful, but not. Because the hard disk is a well-sealed precision parts, and not because of the humidity and damage, and in the factory has been on the humidity adaptability testing, and the hard disk on the circuit board are SMD components, SMD components of a good thing is the sensitivity of the humidity is low, and will not be affected by the high humidity work; In addition, the hard disk interface is already done anti-oxidation measures, and will not because of the humidity is too large to be oxidized to cause poor contact and so on.

In fact, the hard disk is afraid of humidity is too low, in fact, is a dry environment. When dry in winter, the body will often carry static electricity, if it is in the carpet-laying environment. When the human body comes into contact with the hard disk or the chassis, static electricity will threaten the security of the hard disk, the hard disk can withstand the voltage is not big, so in the low humidity environment in the use of the PC, the human body must be aware of touching the grounding object to contact with the PC to prevent static damage to PC accessories.

The harm of electromagnetic interference: in fact, most of the magnetic material accessories are subject to strong magnetic field interference. For a simple example, the tape we used before, the magnetic head is the use of strong magnetism for the washing operation. Hard drives also have similar reasons, so it's best not to use them in a strong magnetic environment. For example, the high-power subwoofer in the speaker will produce a strong magnetic field, although the manufacturers have repeatedly claimed to be anti-magnetic design, but as long as you take the test instrument to detect it will know that the magnetic water is not small, and the speaker in the use of the process of magnetic leakage of the opportunity or some. Other electrical appliances such as some high-power motor products will also produce a strong magnetic field, should be maintained with these products 1 meters or farther away.

Dust hazards: Dust has always been a chronic killer of PC accessories, how many accessories appear strange problem is caused by dust. The same is true for hard drives, although the hard disk is sealed, but the surface of the hard disk circuit board and the spindle motor near if the adsorption of excessive dust, the same will damage the hard disk, so if the PC in a large dust environment, the user should pay attention to do regular dust removal work.

The harm of voltage fluctuation: voltage instability is also a big killer of hard disk, data strange loss, the system can not find hard disk and other strange phenomenon is caused by voltage fluctuations. Here the voltage fluctuations in two cases, one is the mains voltage itself is unstable, here are more than 46 cities and some mountainous areas. If the electricity is not stable, then it is best to equip yourself with a high-power power supply regulator, the computer can be equipped with a UPS power supply, not only can play a stabilizing role, but also to ensure that power outages continue to power the PC, do not let the hard drive in the work of sudden power loss. Another situation is that the PC power supply voltage is not stable, some inferior power supply or shrinking power supply (power supply of the actual power is too small) will occur this phenomenon, the user as long as the replacement of better quality power. In addition, if the user hangs up too many devices, it will also cause the PC power supply is not enough to cause voltage instability, at this time need to replace the power of higher power.