{"id":3274,"date":"2024-05-14T20:08:35","date_gmt":"2024-05-14T20:08:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/?p=3274"},"modified":"2024-05-15T19:56:33","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T19:56:33","slug":"top-signs-of-hard-drive-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/top-signs-of-hard-drive-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Signs of Hard Drive Failure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/velocitymicro.com\/img\/blog\/harddrive\/1.jpg\" alt=\"Top Signs of Hard Drive Failure banner\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1001\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Hard drive failure can be a demoralizing disaster, resulting in system crashes or even permanent data loss. And there\u2019s nothing worse than losing a lifetime\u2019s worth of family photos, videos, and important documents. The good news is that there are warning signs that can indicate an impending hard drive failure, giving you time to take action. In this post, we&#8217;ll explore the top signs of failure, so you can take proactive measures to protect your data.<\/p>\n<h2><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"https:\/\/velocitymicro.com\/img\/blog\/harddrive\/2.jpg\" alt=\"hard drive sounds\" width=\"2500\" height=\"591\" \/><\/h2>\n<h2><strong>Strange Noises<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>A failing drive can oftentimes produce strange noises, such as the following. Bear in mind though, these are more applicable to HDD (aka mechanical drives) rather than SSD:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Clicking or ticking sounds<\/strong>: Indicating a mechanical failure or a faulty head assembly.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Whirring or grinding sounds<\/strong>: Signaling a motor or bearing failure.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Beeping or buzzing sounds<\/strong>: A sign of a failing power supply or electrical issue.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/velocitymicro.com\/img\/blog\/harddrive\/3.jpg\" alt=\"corruptData\" width=\"2500\" height=\"591\" \/><\/h2>\n<h2><strong>Corrupted Data<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>If you notice files are becoming corrupted, can&#8217;t be opened, or just missing altogether, it&#8217;s a sign that your hard drive is experiencing errors. This could mean failure is imminent, but it could also be a sign of more benign issues like fragmentation or corrupted sectors. We\u2019d recommend running some other disk check utilities like System File Checker or chkdsk to pinpoint the extent of the issue.<\/p>\n<h2><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/velocitymicro.com\/img\/blog\/harddrive\/4.jpg\" alt=\"Blue Screen of Death\" width=\"2500\" height=\"591\" \/><\/h2>\n<h2><strong>Blue Screens of Death (BSODs)<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>BSODs can occur due to various reasons, including hard drive failure. If you&#8217;re experiencing frequent BSODs, you can usually find the cause by Googling the error code produced. If it\u2019s hard drive related, the interwebs will tell you. If it\u2019s not, well, now you have another problem to fix\u2026<\/p>\n<h2><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/velocitymicro.com\/img\/blog\/harddrive\/5.jpg\" alt=\"SMART Failure\" width=\"2500\" height=\"591\" \/><\/h2>\n<h2><strong>SMART Errors<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Your system should have an included utility called SMART (Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology), a built in BIOS application designed to monitor and alert to potential hard drive failures. If you receive a SMART alert, especially after a crash of some type, don\u2019t ignore it! It\u2019s extremely likely that\u2019s an indication that hard drive failure is imminent.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Checking for SSD Failures<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Generally speaking, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/ssd-vs-hdd-is-there-difference\/\">SSDs have better longevity than do HDDs<\/a>, but that doesn\u2019t mean they\u2019re infallible. For example, all SSD have a finite number of TBW (Total Bytes Written) which is essentially the amount of times they can be written\/rewritten before wearing out.<\/p>\n<p>Most SSDs come with a proprietary utility for monitoring drive health, unique to each manufacturer (Samsung Magician for Samsung, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/client-ssd-vs-enterprise-ssd-whats-the-difference\/\">Crucial Storage Executive for Crucial<\/a>, etc). If yours is a Velocity Micro PC, this utility will be preinstalled but if not, you may need to download and install it yourself. Each utility is a little different, but all will rate the drive health, TBW, and usage of each drive. These are handy for proactively monitoring your hardware.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Other Errors Indicating Hard Drive Failure<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>New message indicating drive is not formatted (can be caused by software or by electrical surges)<\/li>\n<li>Boot loops: possible virus or Trojan in the boot sector<\/li>\n<li>System lock ups and freezes: possible bad sectors or can be software or resources related<\/li>\n<li>Drive not found: Check connectors (SATA and Power), BIOS settings, RAID settings if appropriate<\/li>\n<li>Operating System not found: Check BIOS settings, possibly a Hard Drive priority is the cause<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you experience any of these signs, it\u2019s a good idea to back up your data immediately and start making plans for a hard drive replacement. Remember, all Velocity Micro systems come with a <a href=\"https:\/\/velocitymicro.com\/upgradeprogram.php\">lifetime upgrade program<\/a> to help with issues like this!<\/p>\n<p>Hard drive failures got you down? <a href=\"https:\/\/velocitymicro.com\/custom-pc.php\">Configure a new PC built by our experts, starting here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hard drive failure can be a demoralizing disaster, resulting in system crashes or even permanent data loss. And there\u2019s nothing&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3278,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Hard Drive Failure: Top Signs It&#039;s Immanent<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"In this post, we&#039;ll explore the top signs of hard drive failure, so you can take proactive measures to protect your data.\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/top-signs-of-hard-drive-failure\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hard Drive Failure: Top Signs It&#039;s Immanent\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In this post, we&#039;ll explore the top signs of hard drive failure, so you can take proactive measures to protect your data.\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/top-signs-of-hard-drive-failure\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Custom Gaming &amp; Workstation PC Blog | Velocity Micro\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/VelocityMicro\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-14T20:08:35+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-15T19:56:33+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/velocitymicro.com\/img\/blog\/harddrive\/1.jpg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Josh Covington\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Josh Covington\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/top-signs-of-hard-drive-failure\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/top-signs-of-hard-drive-failure\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Josh Covington\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/ed5bde2afc7b486d5d555720e8f61d32\"},\"headline\":\"Top Signs of Hard Drive Failure\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-14T20:08:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-15T19:56:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/top-signs-of-hard-drive-failure\/\"},\"wordCount\":600,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Hardware\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/top-signs-of-hard-drive-failure\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/top-signs-of-hard-drive-failure\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/top-signs-of-hard-drive-failure\/\",\"name\":\"Hard Drive Failure: Top Signs It's Immanent\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-14T20:08:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-15T19:56:33+00:00\",\"description\":\"In this post, we'll explore the top signs of hard drive failure, so you can take proactive measures to protect your data.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/top-signs-of-hard-drive-failure\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/top-signs-of-hard-drive-failure\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/top-signs-of-hard-drive-failure\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Top Signs of Hard Drive Failure\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.velocitymicro.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Custom Gaming &amp; 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