Dropped my hard drives

[RCBH928]

Hello,

I got a 320GB external WD hard drive, which I made an investment in(cost me something like $130),
I store on it my old computer hard drive back up, and my current computer backup, not to mention extra information(3 partitions)

I was carrying it and it slipped from my hands on the wooden floor, parquet.
I just want to know if I should worry, it has important information. I only have used it like 10 times or so, because as I said I just use it for backups like once every month.

I plugged it in , and it was recognizable , and all 3 partitions worked. I am just scared that it looks good now, and in time it will just die.

[CRTGAMER]

Defrag NOW to be sure.

[D.D.D.]

As long as it wasn't on, hdds can take a beating.

[D.D.D.]

Defrag NOW to be sure.

How would that help? Dropping an ext.hdd won't fragment files... They're not literally physical files that got shuffled around.

[Hobie-wan]

Indeed, if it wasn't powered on then the heads were not above the platters and they can survive a lot more than you would think. You might do a scandisk though just to make sure. If it doesn't report any issues you're probably fine. Just make sure anything important has a copy elsewhere.

[slowslow325]

If it does die in the future, there's nothing you can do about it now. If it's working now, I doubt it's going to die from that fall (not to say it won't die from something else).

Plus, HDD are actually sturdy when they aren't on because they aren't moving inside. That's why some laptops have meters inside them to detect drops, so they can shut down the HDD.

[CRTGAMER]

Defrag NOW to be sure.

How would that help? Dropping an ext.hdd won't fragment files... They're not literally physical files that got shuffled around.

Not fragmented files, a verify. A full defag which includes scandisk will verify every sector.

[avrame]

As long as it wasn't on, hdds can take a beating.

True, so true. As long as the HDD wasn't on, they are pretty dang indestructible. I had a 1TB external HDD, my fiancee brought it to her parents house, and dropped it while it was copying files, poof, out of sync, out of balance, out of life.

The 320 GB external HDDs for laptops nowaday are pretty durable as well. They have an accelorameter that freezes the HDD if it detects it's failing. When that happens, same effect as a HDD that isn't plugged in, it's safe.

[Ivo]

I have one of these, and find the "advert" very funny

[brendanraymond]

how hard is it to repair/recover a hdd that was dropped when on?

i have the same problem with my laptop hdd... windows cant recognise it. the bios can see it, restore programs can see it, but as soon as it tries to read/write, it just loops forever and nothing happens. is this a typical symptom of a dead reading/writing head? if so, is a diy swap do able if a do it in a dust free room?

its got about 500gb of data i dont want to loose but im not wanting to spend 600 plus to get it back.