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Solve : Can softwares damage HDD permanently?? |
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Answer» I had a rather simple question: Absolutely not. I don't know if I am supposed to make another post to ask another question(don't want to flood these forums :-? ), so I'll just go ahead and ask in this post: If it's not the windows suddenly revolting(I knew it didn't make much sense. *censored* "professional"...), what might cause the HDD to malfunction? I ask, because I have owned two computers before this one(one used from 1994 to 1998, one used from 1998 to 2004) and I didn't even know a HDD could actually fail. The only difference, as far as I know, between this one and the ones I've owned previously is that this one was "built" and the rest were branded(Del, etc). May be the builders of this particular computer decided to put cheaper stuffs in(now that I think about it, CD/DVD ROM was defacted and was exchanged two days after purchase, motherboard had its "volts(don't remember exactly)" burned out and was needed to be replaced, and now HDD... My apologies for making the post longer than intended to be, I always tend to make things longer than needed What I want to know the most at this point: Does the type of HDD make significant difference in a computer's performance? I know that it affects how much a HDD can store, but does it affect the performance as in SPEED and stability? Any recommended brand/specs I can use to purchase a new one?Quote what might cause the HDD to malfunction? Poor construction, poor design, excessive heat, power surges, random occurrence, bad luck, act of God...the list goes on. Quote I ask, because I have owned two computers before this one(one used from 1994 to 1998, one used from 1998 to 2004) and I didn't even know a HDD could actually fail. ALL hard drives die eventually. It is just a matter of when. They are electo MECHANICAL devices. Quote Does the type of HDD make significant difference in a computer's performance? I know that it affects how much a HDD can store, but does it affect the performance as in speed and stability? Any recommended brand/specs I can use to purchase a new one? Some people will rant and rave that one brand is better than another (based usually on their personal experience with one drive failing). The only thing that affect how much it can store is the design and size. This is all determmined when the drive is manufactured. Newer, larger drives run hotter and will no doubt last shorter periods of time, due to this and the usual Windows thrashing about during use. There are basically 3 major makers of widely available consumer drives - Western Digital, Seagate, and Maxtor. Other brands can be found in branded machines, but are generally less available at Best Buy, etc.- Hitachi, Samsung, etc. As I mentioned all will have their fans and detractors. If someone says something like "all Maxtors are crap" then they are probably full of Maxtor. There is a Software program i Think is Built for Frying HDD's Its Called Telexper, it a Video Recording Program, For a CCTV system, it has Fryed Many a Maxtor, so i Try a few other Brands Seagate Western Digital, They All Fryed the Same, Went back to Maxtor Purely for Cost(Maxtor are the Cheapest). Don't use Telexper DVR's they Do in fact Suck, I have been installing them for the last 6 Years. Alto you might find allot of them Suffer The Fate of a bad environment. And the ones they Made 6 years ago worked much better. Any way thats Off topic. From what you said a bout how many parts in you PC BROKE , i would put it down to a Bad Build, the Guy you bought it from was not very Good at his jobI'm going to go against the flow here and say yes, it is theoretically possible for software to wreck a hard drive. The most obvious way would be to instruct the disk subsystem to constantly retrieve files at opposite positions on the hard drive platters. This results in something called "thrashing", where the read heads are going backwards and forwards rapidly. The physical hard drive controllers can MITIGATE this (I believe) by caching for example, but only to a limited extent. If you have a detailed knowledge of how the physical interface works and its limitations, I do think it would be possible to write low-level code to overtax the drives and cause premature failure.Thank you so much I learned a lot! The help and information you guys provided were A+ and at no cost! A++++ would buy from again 8-)Aaugh! Duped into helping with homework! /me cringesFor the record, That guy who stole the source for Half Life 2 before it was released, was later imprisoned for that theft, along with releasing a virus that Destroyed HDD's I assume through methods similar to those mentioned by Rob above * scary thought * (although the virus didn't really spread out, so it was never a major threat, Still got him quite a few years in prison though ) - DoomsayerBut back to whether or not the pirated Windows caused it, I still vote no. |
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