Are you killing your laptop’s hard drive?
A hard drive or a hard disk is that thing in your laptop on which all your information (photos, music, documents, videos etc.) live.
A typical Hard disk
If you would like to know more about hard drive and various other important parts that are in your laptop please take a moment to quickly go through our previous post by clicking here
Over the past few months we have seen a sharp increase in the number of laptops coming in for repairs where the hard disk in the laptop has gone bad. Having your hard drive go bad is one of the worst things you could experience with your laptop. As all your files (music, photos etc.) live on your hard drive you can potentially lose all those precious holiday photos, videos, documents if your hard drive goes bad. Further in recent years most laptop manufacturers have started hiding the laptop’s factory image on the hard drive itself to cut the cost of supplying CDs with the laptops. Result? If your hard drive goes bad you not only lose your data but also the ability to buy a new hard drive and restore your laptop back up! While we at British PC Repairs can certainly get your laptop back up and running with a new hard drive relatively easily, still the sheer agony of the experience can leave you slightly jolted.
Signs that your laptop’s hard drive might be going bad
While there are a few ways to test a hard drive without having to open up a laptop, unfortunately there is no very simple or straightforward method to do so. Here we are listing some common signs that usually are symptoms of a hard drive going bad. Please do note that they are by no means conclusive! A lot of other factors such as virus infections can also lead to the same symptoms. If you would like to know more about viruses please see our informative article here.
1. Windows refuses to start – By far the most common symptom we have seen in all the cases of bad hard drives. Basically Windows refuses to start. When you start your laptop you will see all the normal screens for a while but eventually it will get stuck on the black screen with Windows logo on it and a bar under it. The laptop will stay stuck on this screen for an excruciatingly long time and then suddenly restart. You might catch a flicker of a blue screen with white text on it before your laptop restarts. This blue screen is actually a very well known screen called Blue Screen Of Death (BSOD).
A typical BSOD error screen
2. Laptop “freezes” a lot – Another very common problem seen in all cases is that laptop becomes progressively slow and reaches a stage where it is completely unresponsive. You can not move the mouse or press keys or pretty much do anything else. The only option available at that point is to switch it off using the power button. Which ironically makes the hard drive’s condition even worse!
So what kills a hard drive?
1. Heat
Not surprisingly laptops don’t really like heat. Using your laptops while keeping it on beds, couches, cushions, rugs, leather sofas or any sort of padded surface traps heat under the laptop. Laptops are pretty cleverly designed to remove large amounts of heat when they get hot. However all such places mentioned above traps heat under the laptop which really really kills the hard drive. A lot of us also shut the laptop lid down without switching it off and leave it for long period of times on the bed or sofa or the carpet. In a lot of cases closing the laptop lid down does not really turn off the laptop. Your laptop is still running, it is still on your bed and the heat is slowly killing the hard drive.
- If possible use laptops on tables or glass surfaces and always try and shut them down when you are not using them. If you must close the lid without shutting them down make sure you have tilted them slightly up on the bed so there is room for heat to escape!
2. The power button
As we mentioned above, a lot of times when laptop runs slow or takes a long time to respond to our commands a lot of us just press and hold the power button in anger to turn the “thing off”. However doing this is not advisable as it does not gives the hard drive the time it needs to “spin down”. Using the power button without shutting off your laptop properly can really accelerate the rate at which your hard drive is going bad.
- Always try and shut down the laptop properly without using the power button.
3. Magnets
It is hard to explain this properly without getting slightly technical so I will keep this short. Magnets are to hard drives what is kryptonite to Superman. Normally you wouldn’t have a magnet lying around your laptop however a lot of us like to do a little DIY with our laptops. Often people end up using screwdrivers that have light magnetic heads. And not surprisingly while you are with all good intentions trying to open up your laptop to clean it up a little, your screwdriver’s magentic head is slowly killing your hard drive!
- Don’t use screwdrivers with magnetic heads on laptop
4. Software
This is a bit of a controversial area here. While it is not summarily proven, often some software packages have the effect of “grinding the hard drive down”. Windows Vista has a very famous “prefetch” option that is famous for this effect on laptop hard drives.
How do I check my Laptop’s hard drive
Some laptop manufacturer’s such as DELL and SONY build a set of tools within the laptop which can be used to check the health of the hard drive. Usually these tools can be launched by pressing a few special keys (most commonly a combination of F12 and Ctrl or Alt) keys.
If your laptop does not has these tools you can use other options such as Ubuntu to check for your hard drive. We will shortly do an article explaining how can you do that.
However this is not really something which is straight forward or should be done lightly. This is a specialist job and the potential for losing your data is extremely high! If you are unsure please give us a call on 07545 819 363 or contact us by sending us an email at fixit@BritishPcRepairs.co.uk. You can also contact us by sending us an email from this site by clicking here.
Summary
As explained above heat, magnets and the power button are the most common causes of laptop’s hard drive going bad. If you are concerned about the health of the hard drive inside your laptop please do not hesitate to call on 07545 819 363 or contact us by sending us an email at fixit@BritishPcRepairs.co.uk. You can also contact us by sending us an email from this site by clicking here!
