Hard Drive Failure! What to Do to Find the Signs, Fix, and Causes?

The data is the most crucial thing in today's world, and you can understand how frustrating it can be when one day your system screen pops up with the error "hard drive failure". How can you tell if your hard drive is failing? There are textbook symptoms for the inevitably of a failing hard drive and action should be taken quickly to save your files from being lost.

Hard Drive Failure Signs - How to Tell the Failure

There are two main types of hard drive failure. One is a physical failure and the other is a logical failure. The failing signs vary according to the failure types.

Hard Drive Physical Failure Signs

• Overheating
• Strange noises
• Stuck spindle motor
• Blue Screen of death errors
• The inability for the device to boot

Hard Drive Logical Failure Signs

• Frequent error messages during normal operations
• Files and folders are disappearing or corrupted
• Irregular system crashes and disk errors
• The operating system won't boot
• File or folder names have changed
• S.M.A.R.T. monitoring shows the issue with HDD

Reasons - Why Does Hard Drive Failure Happens

A hard drive may fail at any time. Different reasons cause different results. Here is a list of major reasons that lead to hard disk failure.

1. 1. Improper voltage, manufacturing faults, or interruption during firmware upgrade
2. 2. Unreliable power source or power supply
3. 3. Improper ventilation or faulty CPU fan
4. 4. Accidental closure of programs
5. 5. Accidental deletion of files or directories
6. 6. Wrong installation of your operating system

Fixes - What to Do When Your Hard Drive Fails

You don't have to worry if you are faced with a hard drive failure. All you need to do is to identify your failing signs and select the solutions accordingly.

Method 1. Contact the Manufacturers for Help

Generally, you can't fix the physical errors of a hard drive. For example, your system hangs or fails to boot when you are using this HDD. You cannot fix the hard drive on your own, you need to contact the manufacturers.

Applies to:

• The hard drive freezes at startup.
• The system can't detect/identify the hard disk at all.
• The system fails to boot when using this hard drive.

The reasons behind hard drive failure are different, but they result in permanent data loss in most cases. Therefore, recovering data from a crashed or failed hard drive at the earliest is quite essential. Before you send your hard drive to the manufacturers, you'd better recover data from the failed hard drive with a hard disk data recovery tool. EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard is such a tool that enables you to get back data from a hard drive, SD card, memory card, SSD, USB flash drive, and more with simple steps.

Step 1. Select the drive where you lose your data and click "Scan".

Step 2. Use "Filter" or "Search" to find the lost files when the scan completes.

Step 3. Select all the files you want and click "Recover". Then, browse another secure location to save them.

Method 2. Make Sure the CPU Fans Are Working Fine

What if the hard drive is overheating? What can you do to make it work well? You can check your fans on your PC to solve the problem.

Applies to:

• Desktop or Laptop gets heated soon after starting.
• Fans are either moving too slow or not at all.
• Your hardware is making clicking sounds or noise.

All you need to do is make sure that the CPU fans are working fine. Check if sufficient cooling is delivered to the processor and their peripherals. You can also try applying thermal paste between the heat sinks of the CPU fan to make it run smoothly.

Method 3. Check Your Hardware and Repair Corrupted File System

If you suspect your hard drive of failing, you'll want to inspect and test your hardware. The recommended way to diagnose the hard drive is using CMD.

Applies to:

• The files become corrupt or damaged.
• The hard drive is inaccessible.

Step 1. Press the Windows key and type cmd.

Step 2. Right-click "Command Prompt" and choose "Run as administrator".

Step 3. Enter the following command: chkdsk E: /f /r /x

"E" is the drive letter of the partition you want to check and repair errors. Found errors will be fixed automatically with this command.

Step 4. In case of possible system file corruption, you are recommended to run the System File Checker tool to repair missing or corrupted system files after running CHKDSK. In the Command Prompt, type the following command and hit "Enter".

sfc /scannow

Method 4. Keep Your System Updated and Run Antivirus

Applies to:

• Grinding or clicking sounds from hard drive
• Files becoming invisible or corrupt
• The appearance of black/blue screen of death

Make sure that your system is has installed the newest Windows update. If you don't know how to check and upgrade your system, refer to this page - how to check update to Windows 11 and set up your PC.  Then, run a complete virus and malware check, as malicious software can often cause problems that you could mistake for problems with your drive.

Conclusion

Don't let your hard drive fail and take regular backups of your data. If you do not have a backup of your data, you may lose important files, pictures, documents, and other stuff. If the drive is already dead, ask a professional data recovery service provider for help.