Signs Of Hard Drive Failure

Your hard drive is like a car in many ways. You know how it performs, how it sounds, how it looks, and how long it takes to get from point A to point B on a daily basis. If something begins to feel askew with your car, you typically can sense it happening and can tell the end is nigh. The same thing goes for your computer’s hard drive. That being said, make sure to routinely back up your hard drive, especially if you repeatedly experience the symptoms below.

You should be familiar with how your computer typically sounds, thus keep an eye (and an ear) out for any unusual noises that may point to a damaged internal mechanism. For example, atypical clicking could indicate an issue with the read-write arm, while persistent grinding could foreshadow potential problems with the spindle motor or bearings. The sounds may be subtle, so don’t hesitate to lean in and take a good listen if hear anything unusual. Check out data recovery company Data Cent’s heart-wrenching collection of failing hard drive noises if you need a better idea of what giving up the ghost sounds like from a strictly audio standpoint.

As far as performance issues go, there a couple things that may or may not be indications of hard drive failure. Although frequent freezing and the occasional corrupted file can result from a multitude of issues, including malware and other non-hard drive related problems, they are also plausible signs of a dying hard drive. The time it takes to carry out the most basic tasks, such as saving or moving a file from the desktop to a specified folder, may also be warning signs of impending hard drive failure, as is Windows’ fabled Blue Screen of Death.

Physical appearance can also be a tell-tale sign of hard drive failure. However, dust and other airborne pollutants can easily damage your drive’s surface given its incredible sensitivity, so avoid opening the drive and exposing the inside components to the outside elements. Carefully remove your computer’s hard drive and inspect it for obvious signs of damage such as bent pins and or broken pieces. It’s unlikely your hard drive suffered much in the way of physical damage while housed in your computer, but it warrants a look either way.