Head crash

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A head crash is a hard-disk failure that occurs when a read–write head of a hard disk drive makes contact with its rotating platter, slashing its surface and permanently damaging its magnetic media. It is difficult to recover data from a head crashed drive. It is most often caused by a sudden severe motion of the disk, for example the jolt caused by dropping a laptop to the ground while it is operating or physically shocking a computer. Laptop 2.5 drives are significantly more likely to have a head crash due to their mobile nature despite having higher shock resistance than 3.5 desktop drives. Desktop drives being larger are more prone to damage if dropped but are usually in one place like in a computer/server so they are overall less likely to have a head crash.