Hard Disk Drive Motor Failure

Hard Disk Drive Motor Failure: A typical hard drive motor usually spins between 4200rpm and can go up to 15000rpm in high-end desktop or server hard drives. This is precisely controlled by firmware- information held in the system area of the hard drive-to enable synchronisation for reading the data from the platters.

Hard drive motor can fail in two ways;

  • it won't either spin or
  • won't start.

In this case the motor gets stuck and you can usually feel a slight vibration or hear a humming sound on the drive when it powers up.  Erratic speed variations of the motor may cause the drive to take an extended period of time to come to the 'Ready' state. Please note that prolonged or repeatedly powering up the hard drive could cause further damage.

Turn the computer off or disconnect the hard drive and talk to one of our technicians on (08) 6102 2919 who would advise you what to do next.