Hard disk Failure ?

RaaRaa SG

What is or what causes hard disk failure ? I have already got hard disk failure on 2 different laptops in the past year. Is there anyway I can prevent it from happening again. Crying or Very sad

hiphop2009 SG

keep ur laptop temp low.

high temp = killing ur harddisk!

abao SG

Sorry for hijacking your thread, but I have a related qns and dont wish to create another similar sounding new thread. Embarassed

So, a friend of mine said that her hard disk is making loud noise and her PC is very slow. (I know there are many causes of slowness but I'm not going to look into tt for now...) She suspects her hard disk is dying. So I gave her PCWizard and asked her to check SMART info.

SMART info said: Hard Disk Health 98% Rolling Eyes

Is SMART inaccurate???

Mayi's explanations would be much appreciated. Smile

RaaRaa SG

So after a few hours I have to turn it off to let it cool down. So how long is this duration huh ? Shocked

abao SG

Just turn a fan on and get it blowing at the laptop. Works wonders.

Or if you are more affluent you can switch on the air-con on 24 degrees. Conduction should work well enough to cool the hdd. And your processor gets cooler air too.

orionlight SG

Hard disk failure may be attributed to different reason but more often than not it's just wear and tear.You must know that the hard disk is actually a platter spinning very fast while the head basically reads the information on the surface of the platter.Over time, the magnetic film on the surface may be scratched by the head and there you have it, a hard disk failure.

As for Abao's question, use the hard disk manufacturer diagnostics tool to run a check on the hard disk instead of Pcwizard, if you friend is worried, you can ask him to backup the data first.

BrUtUs SG

if ur lappie hot or ur laptop always gets knocks here n there, high chance it will spoil fast...

BrUtUs SG

yes her hdd dying... so ask her backup her data...

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Some questions:

1. How often do you save files, then delete them away?

2. How often do you reformat and reinstall Windows?

ndmmxiaomayi SG

Does her hard disk support SMART? If it doesn't, it's like useless...

And SMART is a hit and miss affair. For some hard disks, they are accurate, others, it can report good health even if the hard disk is dying.

Anyway, has she defragged the hard disk? The files may be too fragmented, and is making it work extra hard to retrieve the files, thus producing those noise.