A hard drive that keeps freezing is frustrating, but in many cases the problem can be fixed.
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 and external drive recovery.
Ah, the slow hard drive. Anyone who has dealt with one knows it can test the patience of even the calmest user. After all, how can such an advanced component fail to keep up with us and leave us waiting for seconds, or sometimes even minutes?
Whether the drive slows down while you’re gaming or keeps freezing during everyday use, any sign of sluggishness tends to bring frustration and impatience.
At the same time, it should also set off alarm bells. If your drive is slow, something is probably wrong, and the sooner the cause is found and fixed, the sooner your computer or laptop will be back in good shape.
Read on to find out what can make a drive slow and what you can do to try to fix it.
What can cause a slow hard drive?
There are plenty of possible causes, and it’s worth knowing them all so you can spot the warning signs your computer may be showing. Here they are, along with possible solutions:
Outdated operating system and drivers
Operating systems (OS) and drivers are updated constantly. You have probably seen this when you tried to shut down your computer and it spent a few minutes installing updates before it actually turned off.
Manufacturers and software developers release updates for several reasons, such as improving security, adding new features and improving performance.
So, if your OS is out of date, your drive and your computer as a whole may run slower than they should.
Possible solution: install the updates recommended by the manufacturer and the software developers.
Programs that run at startup
Not everyone knows this, but as soon as you turn on your computer, some programs start running automatically, even if you never opened them. They eat into your PC’s performance and can make everything slower.
Possible solution: in Windows 10, press Ctrl + Alt + Del and click “Task Manager”. Open the “Startup” tab and look at the “Startup impact” column. Check the items marked “High” or “Medium” and, if you don’t use them, select them and click “Disable”.
On a Mac, open the Apple menu and choose “System Preferences” > “Users & Groups” > “Login Items” (in recent macOS versions: “System Settings” > “General” > “Login Items”). Select the program you want to stop from opening at login and click the “–” button.
One word of caution, though: if you don’t know what a program does, don’t remove it from startup. Only disable programs whose purpose you are sure of.
A slow computer isn’t always the hard drive’s fault. Just as in a car, where parts and systems are interconnected, a problem in one component can drag down the performance of others.
Not having enough RAM is one example. RAM works alongside the processor, holding the data and instructions of the programs that are running.
The more programs you run at the same time, the more RAM is used, until the computer’s performance suffers and the system starts using the drive as extra memory, which can make it look as if the drive itself is slow.
Possible solution: as well as disabling programs that start with the system, close any applications you aren’t using at the moment. This frees up RAM and usually makes the computer faster.
Overheating
High temperatures can reduce a drive’s performance. A simple example is a laptop used on your lap for a long time: it heats up, and it’s not unusual for the drive to freeze even during the simplest tasks.
Excessive heat can also shorten a drive’s lifespan by up to two years, according to tests by National Instruments.
Possible solution: use your laptop on hard surfaces. On your lap, on a cushion or on other soft surfaces, the air vents can get blocked, which eventually leads to overheating.
Overheating can also be caused by problems with the computer’s cooling system, such as fans or liquid coolers. If they can’t be repaired, the best option is to replace them.
Multitasking
Multitasking means running several programs at the same time. With so much data to load and save, the drive’s read and write speed can suffer.
Possible solution: close the programs you aren’t using and keep only the essential ones open. The whole system will run better.
Full storage
Going back to the car comparison, picture the same vehicle in two situations: in the first, only the driver is on board; in the second, there’s a passenger in the front, three more in the back and a full trunk.
The car will obviously perform better in the first situation. The more powerful the engine, the less you’ll notice the extra weight, but the difference is still there.
Something similar happens with a full drive. When the hard drive is almost full, the operating system has no free space to work properly, which affects things like creating temporary files.
Possible solution: delete files you don’t need. Emptying the Recycle Bin can help, but make sure you don’t delete anything you still need.
If the drive is full of important files, one solution is to buy a new drive with more capacity. An external drive is even easier for this, as you don’t have to open your computer to install it.
Fragmented drive
You have probably heard of disk defragmentation, or even run it a few times. But do you know what a fragmented drive is?
Put simply, fragmentation is the result of files on the drive being changed over and over. They end up stored in scattered pieces (fragments), which makes reading and writing slower than if each file were stored in one continuous block.
Possible solution: defragment the drive. Defragmentation puts the pieces of each file back together in contiguous areas, so the read/write heads have to move less and the drive reads and writes data faster.
In Windows 10, type “defrag” in the Windows search bar, select “Defragment and Optimize Drives”, choose the drive and click “Optimize”.
On a Mac, this is rarely needed: since Mac OS X 10.3, the system automatically defragments small files on hard drives, and Macs with SSDs don’t need defragmenting at all.
Another word of caution: never defragment an SSD — defragmentation is only for hard drives. SSDs have no moving parts, so there is no benefit in placing the pieces of a file next to each other.
In fact, defragmenting an SSD rewrites data needlessly, using up write cycles and shortening its lifespan. (In Windows, the “Optimize” option on an SSD runs TRIM instead, which is fine.)
Read more: SSD or hard drive: what’s the difference, which is better and how can you tell which one you have?
Viruses
Viruses and malware can also slow down your drive, because they carry out unnecessary — and even harmful — operations on it.
Possible solution: use a good antivirus. It does use some processing power, but the benefits far outweigh the cost.
Old or failing drive
Last but not least, a drive that keeps freezing may simply be reaching the end of its life and need replacing with a new one. A hard drive that suddenly becomes very slow can also be developing bad sectors — in that case, copy your important files to another device straight away.
Possible solution: back up your data and replace the drive with a newer model, preferably an SSD, which reads and writes data much faster.
How can I test a slow hard drive?
The first, more empirical test is everyday use. If you use your computer a lot, you’ll probably notice when it’s performing below expectations.
If you suspect something is wrong, it’s worth asking a specialist to check whether there’s a problem behind the slowness.
It may be a software issue that a few simple steps will fix. If the problem is hardware, however, a part or component will probably need to be replaced — and if the drive itself is failing, recover your data before doing anything else.
How do I fix a slow external hard drive?
Basically, the same tips also apply to an external drive that is slow or keeps freezing. Try them and see whether the drive starts performing better.
A freezing hard drive: annoying, but often fixable
A drive that keeps freezing is far from ideal, but it can happen to anyone. By keeping an eye on the causes and solutions above, it’s easier to find and fix the problem.
If your problem isn’t a slow drive but lost files, remember that you can always count on hard drive recovery from Bot. Our specialists can help you recover your important files and documents.
