5 Signs Your Storage Drive Is About to Fail

guest · Nov 21, 2020

5 Signs Your Storage Drive Is About to Fail
November 21, 2020
https://www.techspot.com/article/2136-five-signs-storage-fail/

Like all electronic devices, PCs don't last forever, and the parts inside them will eventually fail. While it's easy to replace a broken device, the same can't be said for the data stored in your machine. It should be said that in modern PCs that rely on solid storage, SSDs are generally more durable than HDDs. SSDs don't have moving parts and they can withstand accidental drops and other shocks and vibrations in laptops better than HDDs ever could. However, SSDs can fail, too, as do other forms of flash memory.

Here are five signs that you should keep an eye out for (or an ear), warning you that the drive storing your documents is nearing its end.
Click to expand...

1 - That doesn't sound right
You might be able to hear faint whirring and clicking as the drive is working, but that's all -- so anything louder than that, is a sign that things are not well (or that it's just an old design). And if you hear any high-pitched metallic noises, loud or otherwise, then the drive will probably be damaged inside.
2 - Where's my data gone?
And speaking of keeping data safe, another classic sign that your storage drive is failing is when a file or several files have just gone missing.
SSD manufacturers employ a wealth of tricks (such as overprovisioning and wear levelling) to minimize this problem, but they vary in terms of effectiveness. USB memory sticks typically have a much shorter lifespan than SSDs, so you should expect them to fail without much warning.

So if a drive does start to lose the odd file here and there, you should consider replacing it quite soon -- depending on how old the drive is, the need to do this might not be as urgent as with a screeching HDD, but don't ignore the faults.
Click to expand...

3 - Boy, this is taking its time...
While not as immediately obvious as a drive screaming its death throes from the bowels of your computer, a sudden change in overall performance can be a sign that your storage drive failing.
But if the machine was working away happily one day, and then suddenly taking a very long time to boot up or access files, there's something clearly amiss.
4 - Bye bye, boot drive
Many of us have experienced this at some point, as this is a common situation with owning PCs.
Instead of seeing the operating system logo pop into view, you're left staring at a bleak statement.

Before booting up fails completely, you may also see your PC crashing during boot randomly. That's a sign that your drive could be developing a problem.
Click to expand...

5 - Glitches in the matrix
The last sign we'll talk about, for a Dodo-esque storage drive, is perhaps the most indeterminable one.
We're referring to those situations where your computer just plain ol' bails out -- in the case of Windows, it's the infamous blue screen of death (BSOD). This screen is shown by the operating system when it's reached a point where it's simply unable to continue functioning properly.

Just like with disappearing boot drives, unexplained system crashes are rather difficult to analyze -- it could well be down to a failing storage drive, but you can only be sure if you've checked out every other possible cause.
Click to expand...

[...] you should make regular backups of your important files, and if they're really important, backup the backups!
Click to expand...

Log in or Sign up

5 Signs Your Storage Drive Is About to Fail

guest Guest

Log in or Sign up

5 Signs Your Storage Drive Is About to Fail

guest Guest

Useful Searches