The hard drive is one of the most important elements of any computer and also, unfortunately, one of the most fragile. It is not difficult for a hard drive to break down and, when this happens, we start to tremble because, with it, everything we have stored on our PC goes, from memories, to jobs, projects and files or fundamental documents, without have those programs that cost us so much to have. Therefore, we want to show you how repair a hard drive, so that at least, you have the option to fix it.
Nobody is going to take away your displeasure if you see that your hard drive begins to give you failures. There is too much there and more, in this digital age in which we keep everything in files. The good news is that, thanks to the cloud, we also store countless images, videos and other files in it that we don't want to lose for the world. Thus, we know that we are where we are and, from any device with Internet access, we can retrieve or view those files.
However, rather than give it up and have to buy another or replace the PC, we recommend that you try to repair it. Here are some guidelines so that you know how to repair that hard drive yourself.
Is something wrong with your hard drive?
Before proceeding to open the PC in the canal and start touching the hard drive, it is convenient to make sure if it really has a fault. This is probably something that is immediately noticeable or that, at least, you can suspect when faced with certain symptoms. But for the alarms to go off, look first at this data. You will know that your hard drive is damaged because:
- It emits strange noises, loud, unpleasant sounds, such as squeaks, buzzes and other annoying sounds.
- The computer becomes incredibly slow, without the heat having to do with it. That is, we know that, in summer, due to high temperatures, computers can become slower, mainly because the fans are dirty or do not ventilate enough. However, if the temperature is not extreme and the computer takes time to execute each command and becomes slow as a turtle, it is a bad sign.
- You are losing files or data: It is very rare for a file to disappear if no one has touched it. So if you're XNUMX percent sure that you haven't deleted certain files and they're gone, or if there are others that you can't access now, it's a sign that something unusual is going on. It could indicate that the hard drive is not working well.
- La screen turns blue: when the screen of our pc suddenly turns colourful, start to tremble! The blue screen, called the screen of death, indicates a possible hard drive failure, or indeed something is wrong. And it doesn't look good.
- The computer does not start: we imagine that this is the sign that makes you feel more like having a heart attack, when you go to turn on your pc and it turns out that there is no way. Right now with the high prices that computers currently have and the lack of your pc. Well yes, the hard drive can be the cause and needs a repair.
My PC's hard drive is not working. What do I do now?
Ok, we have already identified that, indeed, the disk is not working well. Now it's time to decide how to proceed with this problem. There are several options to fix it. Among them, call the technician, buy another hard drive and change it or, what we are going to teach you, try to repair it. You can't always, be careful! But at least let's try.
How to fix hard drive
To repair the hard drive you have to take a series of steps. Let us begin. But first, arm yourself with patience.
First step: the diagnostic and repair software
If you're using Windows, you'll need to run CHKDSK. To do it, do this:
- Open the file explorer.
- With the right mouse button, click on “hard drive” and select the “Properties” option.
- Now go to the "tools" tab and here click "verify".
- Is your operating system macOS? In such a case, your tool will be “Disk Utility”:
Look for the "Applications" folder, inside it "Utilities" and here, click on the "Disk Utility" option. - Select the hard drive you need to repair.
- Now go to where it says “First Aid”. You will get some instructions that you must follow.
Staying at this step would be desirable. Unfortunately, it is not always so quick or easy to fix. Does your hard drive keep crashing? Then we will have to look for other solutions.
Second step: call an expert
We know, this step is closely related to spending money, unless you have a friend or acquaintance who is a professional and understands these issues. In any case, we warn you that sometimes it is better to play it safe than to rely on solutions that are cheap a priori but that, in the long run, can end up with a major breakdown and an even higher cost.
There will be times when the expert knows how to fix the problem and can repair hard drive, while another, the hard drive is dead. These elements also break down and reach their end, just like any other device.
If all else fails, replace the hard drive
Is your hard drive fried and you have no choice but to buy a new one? So are computers. But at least you won't have to buy the whole pc.
Al replace the old hard drive with a new one, you will have to reinstall everything, both the operating system and all the apps you had installed.
Always, always, whenever you are going to do any maneuver on your computer, like trying repair a hard drive, make a backup. So you won't lose the data. In addition, it is important that you pay close attention to the instructions during all the processes, both diagnostics, copying, reinstallation, etc. You already know that when it comes to computing, any small error can lead to real disasters.