True. But at that point it would have been to late in all cases I had. First there was that noise, and seconds later the drive died on me. And that is what I would love to know: Would monitoring ever show something like that coming? I guess not, but that's just a wild guess. And 'Your SMART values are dropping!' while hearing the click of death - I don't need that. Thats like having a red-shirt lying on the ground and bones being like "he's dead Jim"

 

I once accidentally had two antivirus programs running simultaneously, which then destroyed my hard drive. Then I heard the click-clack sound! I was surprised that you could ruin your hard drive like that. That was a one-off incident—it never happened to me again.

I even had a cable fire in my PC once!!! The unconnected floppy disk drive had power, but the other connector touched metal, causing a short circuit, i.e., a cable fire, resulting in a burnt cable.

A vacuum cleaner also burst into flames; I unplugged it and put it out in the bathtub!

 

Last edited: Jan 24, 2026 at 5:56 PM

Which electrical appliances are common causes of fires?

One of the main causes of fires in offices is defective or improperly used electrical appliances. Devices that are constantly switched on or not properly maintained, such as computers, printers, or coffee machines, can overheat and ultimately cause fires. It is estimated that around 30% of office fires are due to electrical appliances.

How dangerous are improperly laid cables?

Another common cause of fires in offices is improperly laid or damaged cables. Cables laid under carpets or bent too sharply can easily be damaged. This damage can cause short circuits and thus lead to fires.

What role does human error play?

Human error is another common cause of fires. Whether it's forgetting to switch off electronic devices, smoking in the building, or improperly storing flammable materials, human error contributes significantly to the outbreak of fires

 

I specifically installed a bottom fan with 800 RPM for cooling, in addition to the two front fans with 800 RPM for sufficient cooling; in summer you should keep an eye on the temperatures and if it gets too hot, switch off the PC!

I asked Seagate what the ideal temperature should be for a hard drive, and the answer was 27 degrees!

I even once used a fan controller with four connectors to attach a fan directly under an HDD to get down to 27 degrees, which worked but the background noise was too loud.

Why do high temperatures damage your hard drive?

- Heat can cause lubricants to become too thin and evaporate into unwanted areas inside the drive.
At high temperatures, the density of the air decreases. This reduces the force exerted on the read/write head, causing it to move closer to the disk surface and increasing the risk of contact, or a "head crash."

- Greater heat means more electron movement. This increases the risk of a bit flipping, where a 1 becomes a 0 or vice versa.

 

Last edited: Jan 24, 2026 at 6:47 PM

Right. There was a time when I believed otherwise, I had a SCSI system 500 MB drive where I could fit OS and personal data (1995-96). Then I bought a removable Iomega Jaz 1G drive for backup.
Believe it or not, I had malfunctions on the sys drive and after replacing it I wanted to recover backup files and boom! Jaz drive died. Nothing recovered. Then I discovered that Jaz was not a reliable drive, even if not used much.

The only thing I noticed was that opening files (txt, whatever) took ages. Then armageddon within hours.

 

Every six weeks or so I stick it up my ass and let it marinate for 24 hours. Hasn't failed me so far.

 

Exactly, like I said just like when you park a car "by ear". Well, one clack is usually enough...

Damn, I know a lot of PC stuff but haven't tried that. With or without vaseline ?

 

Vaseline kills the bytes. I only use Crisco.

 

Then we both had our awakening call at the same time.
My akai libs desaster was with a zip scsi drive on an akai S2800.

The akai had a backup routine where it would copy one disk to another, but the target had to be formatted first if I remember correctly. So I formatted the backup disk and then stupid me was a little unfocused and copied the empty backup disk over the original, writing zeros over the whole zip.

I still remember the pain the moment I found out.
All my instruments gone of all my songs, I was in tears.
Today I'm glad it happened. I never lost data after that.

 

be sure to store on blue-ray everything that seems important for you on your hard drives. also.. invest in latest tech of hard drives not the older ones even if you dont play games a circut drive might be better than the older rotating ones.. ssd is better..

honestly i use hardware monitor.

 

i Use sata ssd's
i have an external dock that allows me to hardware clone drives. i can take my drive and put one of equal or greater size into my dock hit two buttons and in 5 minutes have a spittting image of my main drive. if i drop it into my computer the computer doesnt even knw the difff, recent file searches everything identical. i do this about once a week and then i dont monitor my ssd's health and life is a hell of a lot easier

the only effective method to protect your data is to back it up.