At some point in time, you are going to come across the anguish of hard drive failure. Photos, work documents, financial data, video game saves, downloaded media, and so on – all of these things reside on your hard drive, and all of them are in peril once it decides enough is enough.
So, why do hard drives have a limited lifespan? Well, think of it like purchasing a brand new car. At first, everything is running smoothly with no noticeable issues. Then, as time goes on, and due to a by-product of age, it might start to perform sluggishly and produce unsettling noises. It also goes without saying that crashing the car could have severe consequences to its general condition. In the same vein, a hard drive – whether it is due to age or your own accountability – can experience similar hardship.
Before it becomes an expensive paperweight, however, there are ways to diagnose and possibly treat your hard drive.
Complete a diagnostics test
Simply running a diagnostics test might fix whatever concerns you have with your hard drive.
Although operating systems typically have diagnostic utilities built-in, these are usually not the best bet for deciphering hitches with hardware. What is recommended though, is that you find out the manufacturer of the hard drive, and see if they have their own specific diagnostic tools that are ready to download for free. Most major manufacturers – including the likes of Hitachi, Seagate and Fujitsu – will have such tools available.
Defrag the hard disk
While you might believe that your hard drive is on its last legs, it could just need optimizing.
To see if this actually the case, a disk defragmenter is recommended. While they run automatically or on a schedule with newer versions of macOS and Windows respectively, a recent problem may not have been corrected yet – and this will possibly restore the hard drive to its original state as a result.
Scan for malware
If you haven’t recently scanned your computer for malware, it might well be some form of adware or spyware that is having a negative impact on your hard drive.
Most computers these days will feature competent antivirus program. Although if this doesn’t reveal (or resolve) anything, it won’t hurt going with a second opinion and trying a different free antivirus software package.
Contact a professional
Yes, it’s the only solution listed that will see you have to open your wallet. It is also the most logical – and success-driven – option available.
If this is the way you want to solve your hard drive issues, switching your computer off ASAP would be advised. This is because if you leave a computer running, it can potentially cause further damage to the hard drive the more that it’s used.
When it comes to finding a suitable expert to take care of your concerns, make sure to search through data recovery software reviews. These reviews should identify an appropriate company that will provide the best chance for recuperating the data from your hard drive.