Hard disk failure: protect your drives

Hard disk drives are mechanical devices and are vulnerable to external factors. The following are examples of external factors which may damage hard disk drives and lead to corrupt camera databases:

Vibration (make sure the surveillance system server and its surroundings are stable)
Strong heat (make sure the server has adequate ventilation)
Strong magnetic fields (avoid)
Power outages (make sure you use an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS))
Static electricity (make sure you ground yourself if you are going to handle a hard disk drive).
Fire, water, etc. (avoid)