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Hard Disk Drive Myths Debunked Rev. 4.0
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Hard Disk Drive Myths Debunked!

This guide was written in response to the numerous fallacies about the hard disk drive that are still being propagated in many forum discussions.

As you read through this guide, you may think that some of these myths may have been made up. We wished that was true. We collected these myths from various discussions we heard or read over time.

To be honest, many articles have covered these topics. It would have been easy for someone to do a quick search online before imparting their opinions to newbies. Unfortunately, it became apparent to us that some folks just prefer to trust their innate instincts over logic and knowledge. As such, these hard disk drive urban legends have remained more popular than the simple truth.

So, let's get down to basics and examine some of these common fallacies or myths and debunk them!

Page

Hard Disk Drive Myths

1.

Introduction
Questions & Comments

2.

Formatting a hard disk drive will kill it!
Formatting a hard disk drive deposits a layer of dust on the platter.
Formatting the hard disk drive will stress the head actuator.
Defragmenting the hard disk drive will stress the head actuator.
If your drive has bad sectors, formatting it causes more bad sectors!

3.

Downloading too much *stuff* will reduce your hard disk drive's lifespan.
Insufficient power causes bad sectors.
Cheap power supplies will "slowly kill" your hard disk drive.
Your drive keeps spinning up and down because of insufficient power.
Head parking is the cause of loud clicks.

4.

The head actuators' motor can fail due to excessive use.
Frequent parking of the heads will make the head actuators' motor fail earlier.
The hard disk drive only spins up when it needs to read or write data.
It is better to spin down the hard disk drive to reduce stress on the motor.
Sudden power cuts can cause bad sectors!

5.

Bad sectors can be repaired by reformatting the hard disk drive.
You can "erase" bad sectors by formatting the hard disk drive.
You must format your hard disk drive to improve performance.
The hard disk drive can only be installed in the horizontal position.
You must reformat the drive in the vertical position before using it in that position
.

6.

Scanning for viruses several times a day can kill your hard disk drive.
"Excessive" head movements are bad for high-speed hard disk drives.
The small holes on the hard disk drive allow dust to enter and damage it.
It's okay to drop a hard disk drive as long as it is not running.
Hard disk drive companies cheat in the way they calculate storage space!

7.

If your hard disk drive dies, freeze it to retrieve its data.
Hard disk drives run better / last longer below ambient temperatures.

You will lose 64 KB of capacity every time you format the hard disk drive.
The platters lose their magnetic propeties after being formatted xxxx times.
The more you write or modify data, the deeper you burn into the substrate.

8.

Quick NTFS formatting causes bad sectors to appear.
Constantly rebooting the computer will damage the hard disk drive.
Formatting the hard disk drive causes changes in the surface of the platters.

If you know of any myth that have not been covered by this guide, please tell us about it. We would love to add them to the current list of myths.

 

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Questions & Comments

Please feel free to post your questions or comments here!

Date Revision Revision History
16-03-2004 1.0

Initial release.

18-03-2004 1.1

Added Myths #18-20.
Edited Myth #9.

07-06-2007 2.0

Revamped the entire guide.

17-07-2007 2.1

Redid the layout of the guide.
Corrected Myth #16 to differentiate between logical and physical bad sectors.

27-05-2008 3.0

Added Myth #21, Myth #22 and Myth #23.
Improved the menu.

02-06-2008 3.1

Added Myth #24 and Myth #25.
Added additional information to Myth #18.

08-08-2008 3.2

Added Myth #26 and Myth #27.

23-12-2008 3.3

Added Myth #28 and Myth #29.
Updated Myth #10 with information on click noises due to ramp load/unload technology.

23-07-2010 4.0

Revamped the entire guide.
Added Myths #30 to #33.



Next Page : Myth #1 - #5 >>>

 
   
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