Common Indications And Symptoms Of Hard Drive Failure

You cannot think of your daily life without a P.C. or laptop in this modern time era. You have many important documents and information stored in the hard drive of your machines. Losing any of them is like a nightmare to you. But that may happen in case the hard drive of your device fails. If your device stores your data for a long time, it will eventually fail. According to Forbes, S.S.D is gradually replacing hard disk drives due to their proven reliability for a long duration. 

If you have never faced any issue of hard drive failure to date, you are pretty lucky. However, you can check the health of your hard disk drive here https://setapp.com/how-to/how-to-check-your-mac-hard-drive-health.

This article will discuss the common warning indications and symptoms that your device shows when your hard drive is malfunctioning or on the verge of failure. That will help you take precautions and necessary action to save your valuable data.

Type And Effect Of Hard Drive Failure 

There are two types of hard drive failures, physical and logical. Physical failure means a part of the hard drive or a few hard drive components has been physically damaged and stops functioning. That leads to booting issues of the operating system and data loss. 

Logical failure occurs due to the damage of the software or the file structure of the hard drive. That may lead to corruption of the operating system and files getting corrupted, disappeared, or inaccessible.

Symptoms Of Physical Hard Drive Failure

Following are the most common symptoms of physical hard drive failure,

Overheating

If you feel that your device is generating more heat than usual, even after working for a short duration, your hard drive may malfunction.

Unusual Noises 

You can also detect a hard drive failure from the strange sounds of your disk. For example, if you hear an unusual clicking or grinding sound from your hard drive, you need to be alert. Your hard drive is on the verge of a crash at any moment, and you need to back up your data immediately.

The Hard Drive Stops Spinning

When the spindle motor stops working, the hard drive can’t spin and makes a buzzing sound. It indicates a hard drive failure. 

Blue Screen Of Death

If your device frequently freezes and crashes with the appearance of the blue screen of death, that may be due to your failing hard disk drive. 

The Device Fails To Boot

When you start your device, if it fails to boot on a single shot most of the time, it indicates a hard drive failure.

Increase In The Number Of Bad Sectors

A bad sector is a portion of the hard disk that is inalterably damaged, and the data stored in that part is also lost forever. If the number of such bad sectors increases, that indicates a failing hard drive and calls for immediate action.

Symptoms Of Logical Hard Drive Failure

Following are the most common warning signs of logical hard drive failure,

Frequent Errors

If you get frequent error messages while performing regular tasks on your device, your hard drive may fail.

Files Or Folders Malfunctioning

If you cannot access a few files or folders or if they are disappearing, that indicates a failing hard disk drive.

System crash and disk errors

If your system crashes irregularly and shows disk errors, your hard drive is on the verge of failure.

Name Changes Automatically

If the name of a few files or folders changes automatically, that indicates hard drive failure.

The Operating System Fails To Boot

If the operating system of your device fails to boot, it indicates a hard drive failure.

S.M.A.R.T. Status Shows An Issue

S.M.A.R.T. (Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) is a monitoring functionality that provides an internal status monitoring feature in the hard disk drives. Modern hard drives with built-in S.M.A.R.T. features can inform hardware failures in advance by performing self-monitoring. When the S.M.A.R.T. data detects any probable disk failure, the software of the host system informs you by showing issues with S.M.A.R.T. status. That helps you to take preventive action in advance.

Conclusion

If you have not faced a hard drive failure, do not think it can never happen. Maybe your hard drive is at risk, and you are unaware of that. Check your hard drive’s health status at least twice a month to ensure that your valuable data are not under any threat. If you notice an overheating or any unusual noise from your hard drive, do not ignore it. If your device fails to boot frequently, shows the blue screen of death, or bad sectors rise, your hard drive is at risk and can crash any time. It will help if you take the necessary actions in advance to save your data.