gamer87 wrote on 2024-12-11, 10:21:

I use hdd2.5" + enclosure case usb3.0 orico 25pw1 or kesu 2530 i ejected safely remove hardware in Windows 10 without disconnect the USB3.0 cable from the case + HDD2.5" after ejection and my hand hit the HDD case and it moved on the table. Did this hit the read/write heads scratch the magnetic disks? my disks are 2013 WD10JPVX-08JC3T5 and HGST HTS541010A99E662

it will take more of an impact than that to cause any damage, ive got a 2.5 external drive ive knocked harder than that quite a few times and its still good, also i have a 3.5 western digital external drive and ive knocked it on the floor from nearly a foot high plenty of times while plugged in and it didnt damage it, what did kill it was when a small metal switchbox fell off a shelf on top of it with enough force to put a chip in the solid metal case, when i plugged it back in it was making a scraping noise and windows asked me to format it, i selected no as i planned to recover the drive with R-Studio, next time i plugged it in, my pc wouldnt detect it even in the bios, it was completely dead. it was a 2tb that held all my important files/pictures from the past 20years.

i bought another drive and started transfering files from my pc, while copying files a dodgy power connector caused the power to cut in and out repeatedly and it corrupted the master boot record and i lost more files, i was absolutely gutted, at that point i was f-ing done with computers!

a small knock wont cause any damage, but unplugging the drive/cutting power while writing files to it will, it can corrupt the master boot record, usually theres a backup of the master boot record, so if you do it once you may be lucky, do it 2 times or more in a row and you're screwed, if windows tells you the drive needs formatting your most definitely screwed but not completely if you follow my advice,

for anyone thats had this happen dont format (whether its a hdd/ssd/usb stick/sd card), use R-Studio recovery and you will be able to recover the drive with the original file structure with all your files intact with original file names and extensions, if you format it and then try to recover, you will be able to recover files but they will lose their file names and correct extensions, and you wont know whats what.

It may be a matter of habit, but in Windows 10 there is actually not necessary to use eject safely function, so it is waste of a time. Just don't unplug cord when programs write files to external hdd.

https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/8/18300734/mi … eded-windows-10

Most new discs can safely withstand about 1m drops.