5 Warning signs your Hard Drive is about to fail

[koolkat]

We all know, or dread, the problem caused by a drive suddenly failing, taking our system and data with it. Fortunately, it usually gives warning signs before this happens. Bear in mind that once damage starts, it progresses quickly and you don’t have much time. So back up your data and replace the drive immediately.

So without further unnecessary intro, here are five signs that you should keep an eye (or ear) out for, warning you that the drive is nearing its end.

1 It doesn't sound right

Today's HDDs are designed to be near silent in their operation. So anything louder than a faint whirring and clicking is a sign that things are not well (or that it's just an old design). And if you hear any high-pitched metallic noises, loud or otherwise, then the drive will probably be damaged inside.

Of course, USB memory sticks, and solid state drives (SSDs) are noiseless.

2 Where's my data gone?

Another classic sign that your drive is failing is when a file or several files have just gone missing. The operating system may report a file as being corrupt or state that it could not find it at all.

USB memory sticks typically have a much shorter lifespan than SSDs, so you should expect them to fail without much warning. So never use a USB memory stick as a critical backup device!

3 This is taking its time...

A sudden change in overall performance can be a sign that your storage drive is failing.

Of course, it could well be a software problem, such as an update to the operating system that's messed up a configuration somewhere, or even malware that's causing the CPU to work excessively in the background. But if you haven't updated anything recently and the computer is well protected, then unexpected changes to performance may be down to the main storage drive failing. But look out for other signs as well before replacing the drive.

4 Boot won’t go

One day all is fine, the next a dreaded BIOS message appears on your screen: "insert boot disk and press any key,"

There may be other explanations for this. For example, it can be caused when a new BIOS has just been installed. But if there's been no changes or updates performed, then it can be a sign that the boot drive refuses to do the job.

Before booting up fails completely, you may also see your PC crashing during boot randomly.

The best way to deal with boot failure is by taking preventative actions: namely, just have the operating system on one drive, and store all important files on a separate one (or always keep a separate backup of critical files

5 Blue Screen of Death (BSoD)

This is perhaps the most indeterminable one, as it can have several other explanations, but can also be a sign of drive failure.

Most of the advice involves uninstalling new programs or drivers, as these are the prime culprits. But if that doesn’t help, it could be a bad storage drive.

Final Advice

I it's always better to be prepared than be caught out. So you should make regular backups of your important files, and if they're really important, backup the backups!

You can easily replace a storage drive -- the same can't be said about data.