| Here are another seven signs of eminent hard drive | | | | slower. |
| failure. If your hard drive is having any of these | | | | Sign 11 - The System locks-up during boot up, |
| seven symptoms then you must take immediate | | | | repeatedly |
| action to backup your files... | | | | Okay, even the best of machines, even |
| "Back up my hard drive? How do I put it in reverse?" | | | | brand-new-outta-the-box ones will misbehave by |
| ~ Unknown | | | | locking up occasionally. Occasionally... If you start have |
| While doing regular backups is very important, | | | | lockups every other time you boot up your machine, |
| sometimes people believe that backups are some | | | | the drive can be having lots of read/write errors that |
| kind of magic bullet so they let themselves get over | | | | overwhelm it. Time to go shopping. |
| confident and let bad hardware issues get out of | | | | Sign 12 - ScanDisk or a third-party utility shows bad |
| control. By paying attention and seeing if your | | | | sectors |
| machine is experiencing any of these seven signs of | | | | Windows' drive diagnostic tool Scandisk if one of my |
| eminent hard drive failure, you may be able to save | | | | faves. By running it and setting it to "automatically |
| yourself hours of wasted time and an expensive | | | | fix" errors, you can see if your drive has physical bad |
| repair bill. | | | | "spots" or sectors on the disk platters. You can also |
| Sign 8 - Disappearing files and folders | | | | use a third-party program. All the major hard drive |
| As a drive goes bad it will often display subtle | | | | manufacturers have free utilities on their websites. |
| indications of trouble. One of the most overlooked | | | | Sign 13 - Error message: Disk can't find the Windows |
| are "vanishing" files or folders. If you notice that you | | | | Master File Table (MFT) or Master Boot Record |
| can never find your files anymore or that folders you | | | | (MBR) |
| "know" were there are now gone, then your hard | | | | You may have a bit of luck with this one. The good |
| drive maybe slip sliding away. | | | | news, a virus or piece of spyware has taken over |
| Sign 9 - Folder and file names that have been | | | | your drive and rewritten or "hidden" the MFT (on |
| scrambled and changed | | | | Windows 2000 and later) or MBR (Windows 98/Me |
| A related issue is that you can find the folder or file | | | | and earlier). You may be to repair this with some |
| you want...or at least you think you have. The | | | | technical help. The bad news, is that the MFT/MBR |
| filename is messed up but when you open it, it's the | | | | files rarely get corrupted or become infected, so this |
| letter you were looking for. But you have a set way | | | | is almost a sign of drive gone bad. |
| of labeling your files it is way wrong. A sign of things | | | | Sign 14 - The drive is running hot |
| going badly quickly. | | | | This one sign you probably will never notice since, it |
| Sign 10 - You experience really loooong waits to | | | | requires that the case be removed from your |
| access folders and files | | | | computer. Instead of sign this should actually be |
| Another related issue. You can find the file fine but | | | | classified as a more of a test. If you notice any of |
| you notice that over the last little bit, it's been taking | | | | the other problems mentioned above, then you can |
| practically forever to open folders or files. Once you | | | | pop your PC case and lay your hand on top of hard |
| click on a file, you can get up, grab a coffee, and | | | | drive while in operation. It should be warm but not |
| read the front page of daily paper before it opens | | | | hot to the touch. A hot device is positive physical |
| up. Just joking, but accessing files are noticeably | | | | sign of early failure. |