How much of your life is on your hard drive? Memories of friends and family, work documents and important financial records may all be stored there. Yet most users don’t pay as much attention to their hard drive’s health as they should, and many don’t even know what that means.
If your hard drive already shows signs of wear and holds important files, back it up now. If that is no longer possible, see Bot’s hard drive data recovery.
As a result, the problem often only comes to light when it is too late. That is why we have put together the essentials you need to know about hard disk health: how to check that everything is OK and how to recover your data if something goes wrong.
What Is Hard Disk Health?
First, it helps to understand what disk health means. A hard drive usually lasts somewhere between 3 and 10 years, depending on the brand, the model and how it is used. However, because it is a mechanical device, and because of improper use, it is prone to a number of problems. Physical defects, bad sectors, viruses and manufacturing faults can all disrupt how your computer works.
Still, a hard drive rarely stops working out of the blue. In many cases it shows signs that it is nearing the end of its life. Keeping an eye on its health is therefore an important way to avoid being caught off guard by a failure and losing the data that matters most to you.
How Do I Check the Health of My Hard Drive?
First, pay attention to the signs your computer gives you. A hard drive that makes a lot of noise, for example, may be in poor health. Corrupted files and a slow computer that freezes or restarts on its own can also point to a failing hard drive.
But you can check your hard drive’s health before these symptoms appear, while there is still time. That way you can back up your data and make sure everything is safe.
One way to do this is to use specialized software that shows the current condition of your hard drive. Below, we list some of the options available and explain some of the warnings you may come across.
Which Programs Can Check the Health of Your Hard Drive?
Several practical tools can help you assess the health of your hard drive. Here are some of them:
Hard Disk S.M.A.R.T.
Hard drives and SSDs come from the factory with a built-in system that monitors their condition and records errors. It is called S.M.A.R.T., which stands for Self-Monitoring, Analysis and Reporting Technology.
To read the S.M.A.R.T. data on your hard drive, you need a program that can display it, such as the free, easy-to-use tools below.
CrystalDiskInfo
CrystalDiskInfo is a Windows program that assesses the health of your drives. The overall result (“Good”, “Caution” or “Bad”) appears at the top left of the window. Below it, you can see the S.M.A.R.T. attributes, such as the read error rate, the reallocated sector count, the power-on hours and the total amount of data read and written, among others.
CrystalDiskMark
CrystalDiskMark is a free Windows tool that measures the performance of your drives. You choose the number of test runs and which drive to test, and the results show its read and write speeds. It doesn’t check the drive’s health, but unusually low speeds compared with similar drives can be a sign that something is wrong. As it writes test data, don’t run it on a drive that is already showing signs of failure.
Macrorit Disk Scanner
Finally, another option for monitoring disk health is Macrorit Disk Scanner, a free program that scans the surface for bad blocks and read errors. This helps you see whether the drive is nearing the end of its life or whether other problems are affecting how it works. Keep in mind that a full surface scan puts strain on a drive that is already failing, so back up your important data first.
How Do I Restore My Hard Drive’s Health?
Have you run one of these programs and found that your drive’s days may be numbered? First of all, don’t despair. Some users panic and install the first “repair” program they find, but that can do more harm than good.
Worn or damaged hardware can’t be fixed with software. Not only will the program fail to repair the drive, but it can also make data recovery harder if the drive stops working. Here at Bot we see this happen often, so if the drive holds important data, copy it to another drive as soon as possible or seek out a specialist.
How Soon Does a Hard Drive Start to Fail?
Like any mechanical component, a hard drive has a limited lifespan, which varies with the brand, the model and how you use it, usually between 3 and 10 years. A Backblaze study, updated in 2021, found that 90% of drives last four years or more, and 65% last more than six years.
This shows that, after four or five years of use, failures become more common and the drive is no longer in the same condition. From that point on, it is important to check its health and back up your data more often.
What Are the Main Hard Drive Errors and Warnings?
Before a drive “dies” completely, it usually shows some warning signs that help you tell whether it is healthy. Here are the main S.M.A.R.T. attributes to watch:
Reallocated Sectors Count
This attribute (ID 5, or 05 in hexadecimal) counts the sectors the drive has had to replace because of errors when writing, reading or verifying data. When a sector fails, the drive moves its data to a spare sector to prevent corruption or loss. The more sectors that have been reallocated, and especially if the number keeps rising, the more likely it is that the drive is nearing the end of its life.
Current Pending Sector Count
This attribute (ID 197, or C5 in hexadecimal) shows the number of unstable sectors that the drive could not read and that are waiting to be reallocated. Again, the more of them there are, the greater the chance that the drive is about to fail, and the more urgent it is to copy your data.
Uncorrectable Sector Count
Finally, attribute ID 198 (C6 in hexadecimal) counts sectors with errors that the drive could not correct. The data in those sectors can’t be read by normal means, and a growing count means the drive is getting closer and closer to being unusable.
Failing Hard Drive with Important Data: How to Recover It?
Have you found any of these errors or realized that your hard drive’s days are numbered? Once again, don’t panic. It is normal for a drive’s health to decline after a few years: its lifespan is limited, and that is a risk that comes with any hard drive. Even if you protect it from heat, water and drops, some mechanical and electronic failures are beyond your control, and some accidents simply can’t be avoided.
Your hard drive may need to be replaced, but the important thing is to save your files. Even if the drive has stopped working, your data is corrupted or you can no longer access what you need, there may still be a solution.
There is data recovery software, and there are companies that specialize in data recovery, such as Bot, with more than two decades of experience, more than 200,000 cases and the equipment to handle failing drives.
Get in touch and find out how we can help you recover your data!
