What is ESD?
When two electrically charged objects, such as the human body and an electronic device, in this case, a hard disk drive, come into contact with each other, static electricity is discharged. This phenomenon is called ESD (Electrostatic Discharge). ESD generated from the human body can be of the order of several thousand volts. This high voltage pulse enters the electronic device that is touched, resulting in a malfunction or destruction of the IC circuits inside it. To prevent the destruction of a product or system due to the intrusion of ESD into an electronic device that was touched, it is necessary to install countermeasure components that suppress or remove ESD. This can be achieved by touching a grounded metal object before touching the hard drive. For this Western Digital recommends shipping your product back in an ESD bag.