Is the power button able to damage harddrive?!

Hey Niel,

Does it damage any of the components of the computer or just the data? Also, when the Mac unexpectedly shuts-down because of a power surge, does that damage your Mac even though its connected to a surge protector?

Shutting down the computer by pressing down the power button has a chance of damaging data on the hard drive because the computer hasn't prepared the hard drive to be shut down and may be in the process of writing data to it at the time.

(44082)

There is no physical damage to the hardware in either case you outline. As Neil points out, unexpected shut downs can result in directory damage, which—when severe—can result in the inability to mount your boot volume. The giveaway indicator is a flashing question mark. Running a repair utility such as Disk Utility can generally correct all but very severe damage.

When power is cut off or sags, a machine—unless protected by an uninterruptible power supply—will typically shut down. Again, no physical damage will result - only directory corruption typically will. When the power us suddenly restored and if the machine is not properly protected by an adequate surge protector, physical damage can result because of the sudden application of electro-motive force. Surge protectors must periodically be replaced, as most are subject to 'wear' and offer lowered levels of protection over time.

Yes and no. Forcing a shut down via the power button should not cause any physical damage though it can cause data corruption. A power surge without surge protection can cause physical damage. While a good surge protector is supposed to suppress any surge that could cause damage. One step better than a surge protector would be a UPS.

George

The power surge caused by activating the power button, either to turn a system off or back on, would not be affected by any external surge protector. A good surge protector or, better, a power conditioner or UPS is as you say highly recommended even so.

REgards.

Wow Thanks Mike for the info. I feel much more confident now that my Mac is okay cause I really love this computer. Do you think I should run some test from the Disk Utility from the boot disk??

Another question for you. Not saying that it has happend to me before, but what if Mac OS X renders completely unresponsive? What would be the proper procedure to take?? Thanks Mike!

Thanks a lot George. Great tech help!

You can verify—but NOT repair—your directory using Disk Utility if you have booted from the volume you wish to repair. Most users elect to run Disk Utility from a Mac OS X install or upgrade DVD for that reason.

You might instead install applejack, a shell for unix routines in Mac OS X, which you can boot into using your boot volume—once the utility has been installed—and repair you direction, repair disk permissions, empty cache files, validate preference files and delete unneeded virtual memory files. You can find that open source utility here.

Unresponsive? Mac OS X is hardly likely to do that, particularly if you perform the most basic disk repair maintenance periodically, and don't forcibly shut down the machine.

Should your drive not mount because your directory has become seriously corrupted, and Disk Utility is unable to deal with it, then you should use a more sophisticated directory maintenance tool like Disk Warrior. You are unlikely to ever need it, but if you do, it's worth every penny of the $ 99.95 suggested retail price.

Alright! Thanks Mike! Really helpful stuff!