Cause of Hard Disk Failure

Hello All

A question came up on a different NG about whether the constant
changing, rearranging, formatting or otherwise manipulating data to
and from their hard drive wears out the hard disk surface.

Does the pick up on the hard disk actually touch the surface of the
disk and if so is there any wearing of the surface as in vinyl records
and or audio and videotapes?

Generally what is the usual cause of failure was a hard disk?
Albert