Can static electricity from a carrying case "blow out" a hard drive?

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Can static electricity from a carrying case "blow out" a hard drive?

My one-month old MacBook Pro's hard drive died today. The Apple store employee said a number of things could cause it (like dropping it), but I have taken good care of it (never dropped it). The only thing I can think of is that when I take it out of the sleeve I have for it, sometimes I get a static electricity shock. Could this have blown the hard drive? If so, where can I get a nonstatic electricity case? (I got a new computer today.) Thanks!

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Feb 27, 2013 7:27 PM

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Answer 1

Kappy

Level 10

362,023 points

Feb 27, 2013 7:31 PM in response to ryguy1089

It's quite unlikely that static electricity would affect the HDD. You may just have had a defective drive or there was some other event that damaged the drive such as leaving the computer running while in your carrying case or doing an abnormal shutdown or an electrical surge when it was connected to the AC adaptor, for example.

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Answer 2

steve359

Level 6

17,187 points

Feb 27, 2013 7:32 PM in response to ryguy1089

HDs have floating arms with read/write heads. Plus several control boards.

HDs die eventually, and some die quicker than others. And My HD only went after 18 months, and others can last for 5 years.

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Answer 3

ryguy1089 Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 27, 2013 7:33 PM in response to Kappy

Thanks, Kappy. I appreciate that. But there was no electrical surge in my memory while the comp was connected to AC power. And, I leave it running in the case, but it never seems to get hot while it's in there in "sleep" mode. So, I will go with defective drive, I think.

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