This is a misunderstanding. The disk system (hardware, micro-code on disk hardware, I/F board (hardware and also micro-code) in conjunction with O/S driver and O/S does a lot. I have a prototype IBM drive that after 11 years is failing. I lost a Seagate and a WD drive last year during a massive power failure.

ALL of these sub-systems thing fail. I am not saying different. The question appeared to be "how to do I simulate a failure"? I tried to help with that question. All hard drives will fail. It is not "if". It is just "when". I tried to help simulate "when".