Step-by-step guide on how to determine if a hard drive is failing or functioning properly

Updated By

Linda 

Authored By

Tracy King 

Last Updated on April 22, 2024

Knowing how to determine if your hard drive is failing can be very helpful when your computer is giving you errors and warning you that something is wrong.

How do I know if my hard drive is failing or failing soon? Check out and follow the instructions in this graphic guide, and you'll know for sure:

Please provide the English content you want to translate, and I will do my best to translate it into Chinese.

#1. Check if the hard drive is indeed faulty

• Supported Platforms: Windows, & Mac
• Supported Devices: HDDs, SSDs, external hard drives, USBs, SD cards, etc.

If you see any of these issues with your disk or Windows system, it likely means that your disk has failed, and you should stop here:

• Error messages on your computer, such as "Disk Boot Failure" or "Operating System Not Found."
• Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), black screens, or even green or red screens.
• Inability to boot – the hard drive prevents the computer from starting up.
• Overheating or burning – the hard drive suddenly gets extremely hot or even burns out.

At this point, your only option may be to send the hard drive in for repair or attempt an emergency data recovery. Here are some suggestions:

If your hard drive does not exhibit any of the symptoms listed in Step 1, you can proceed to the next step.

#2. Visual and Physical Inspection

• Supported Platforms: Windows and Mac
• Supported Devices: HDD, SSD, external hard drives, USB, SD cards, and more

Here are some visual and physical checks you can perform to confirm if your hard drive is failing:

• Visual Inspection: If the hard drive is invisible on a Windows PC, such as being unrecognized, not showing up, or unidentified. Or, it displays as RAW format or unnamed in Disk Management.

• Physical Check: Examine the exterior of the hard drive to confirm any signs of damage, cracks, scratches, or dents.

#3 Check for signs of hard drive failure

• Supported Platforms: Windows and Mac
• Supported Devices: HDD, SSD, external hard drives, USB, SD cards, etc.

If your hard drive or computer exhibits one or more of the symptoms listed here, you can also confirm that your disk is failing:

• Overheating: A failing hard drive might suddenly overheat or have an unusually high temperature.
• Random shutdowns: Hard drive failure can cause your computer to shut down unexpectedly.
• Slower performance: A failing hard drive may take longer to open files or launch programs, or it may freeze or crash frequently.
• Strange sounds: A failing hard drive can make unusual noises like clicking, buzzing, beeping, whistling, or grinding sounds that are different from its normal operation.
• Abnormal behavior: If you notice your disk or computer repeatedly starting certain programs, opening and closing files, or experiencing a boot loop, it could be a sign of hard drive issues.

#4. Use SMART monitoring software to check disk status

• Supported Platforms: Windows
• Supported Devices: HDD, SSD, external hard drives, USB, SD cards, and more.

A more technical yet practical way to detect possible issues and failures with your hard drive is by resorting to a reliable S.M.A.R.T. hard drive monitoring software.

Here are some recommendations for choosing a decent S.M.A.R.T. monitoring tool:

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If you prefer a classic or old-school looking disk utility, check out CrystalDiskInfo or Hard Disk Sentinel.

For Windows beginners, or if you have no experience with disk management, I recommend trying Partition Master. Its new feature “Disk Benchmark” – Disk Health, can satisfy your needs to check the S.M.A.R.T data of your disks and generate an easy-to-understand report for you.

You can check the S.M.A.R.T status of your disk to see if it is failing by following these steps:

1. Launch AOMEI Partition Assistant, go to the "Discovery" section, and then click "Disk Health." 2. Select the target hard drive you want to check its status, and then view the scan report.

Here are some tips for interpreting the report and determining if your hard drive is failing:

• Status: If the status reads "OK," your hard drive is functioning normally. Any other status, such as "Bad" or "Warning," means that there are serious problems with the disk and it is probably failing. "Unknown" means that there is a problem with the identification of the hard drive, which could mean it is damaged or failing.
• Temperature: Temperatures over 60 degrees indicate that your hard drive is in serious danger of failing and developing more serious problems.
• S.M.A.R.T. Data Status: If one or more of the lights next to each S.M.A.R.T. data entry turns red, this means that your hard drive has some errors and is currently failing.

Check Hard Disk Health

In addition to checking the disk's health and informing you of the hard drive status, the Partition Master tool offers some additional features to fix faulty drives, such as:

• Scan the hard drive surface to detect bad sectors
• Check the file system and fix corrupted file systems as well as some soft bad sectors
• Rebuild MBR to fix and recover damaged or virus-infected MBR partition table on a corrupted or unbootable disk
• Benchmark the hard drive and test disk speed in Windows

#5. More Tips - Run CMD to Check if the Hard Disk is Failing

• Supported Platforms: Windows
• Supported Devices: HDD, SSD, external hard drives, USB, SD cards, and more.

The last effective method for Windows users to try and detect a failing hard drive is to run the CMD command line, as described below:

1. Hold down the ⊞ Win key and press R to open the Run dialog box, then type **cmd** and hit Enter. 2. Type **wmic** in Command Prompt, then press Enter. 3. Type **diskdrive get status** and press Enter.

Check Hard Drive Health

Use the diskpart has media command to have your computer check the health status of your hard drive. If CMD reports that the disk status is "Healthy" or "OK," then the disk is in good condition. If the listed result is poor, then your disk may be failing.

4. Type **chkdsk** in the Command Prompt, then press Enter.

Running the chkdsk command on a disk will list all file system errors found on your computer's hard drive. You can also use the chkdsk /f /r /x command to check and fix any errors found on the target disk. If CMD reports that it found and fixed errors for you, this could also mean that your hard drive is failing.

Watch the video below to learn how to check the health of your hard drive.

"Instructions for handling hard drive failure in UTF-8 encoding format"

Here, we've also gathered some useful tips. As a member of partition manager software, we also recommend that you follow these tips to protect your hard drive and data right away:

• Immediately create a full backup of your hard drive and save the backup to another secure drive or location.
• Run and regularly check for file system errors on the hard drive, especially on older ones.
• If the hard drive has too many errors or fails to boot occasionally, clone the disk data and switch to a new one immediately.
• If the hard drive is physically damaged or completely unbootable, send it for repair.
• Scan and remove viruses/malware from the hard drive if necessary.

Conclusions

On this page, we've compiled 5 methods to help you determine and judge if your hard drive is failing. For most beginners, we recommend following the tips sequentially as they will assist you in thoroughly examining your drive for surface-level issues or actual, progressive internal damage.

Among the five methods, we recommend using the hard drive partition tool Partition Master, which is the most technical and straightforward hard drive health check tool.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on How to Determine if a Hard Drive is Failing 1. 问：如何知道我的硬盘是否有故障？ 答：一些常见的硬盘故障迹象包括频繁的电脑崩溃、缓慢的性能、无法读取或写入数据、听到硬盘发出异常噪音以及在BIOS中无法检测到硬盘。 2. 问：硬盘出现坏道是什么意思？ 答：硬盘坏道是指硬盘上的某些区域由于物理损坏或逻辑错误而无法正常读写数据。这可能导致文件丢失、数据损坏或系统崩溃。 3. 问：硬盘故障有预兆吗？ 答：是的，硬盘故障通常会有一些预警信号，如上述的性能下降、噪音增加、系统错误增多等。SMART（Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology）技术也可以帮助检测硬盘潜在的问题。 4. 问：我应该多久检查一次硬盘的健康状况？ 答：如果你担心硬盘的健康状况，建议至少每三个月进行一次全面的硬盘检查。使用硬盘检测工具可以帮助你定期监控硬盘的状态。 5. 问：如果硬盘开始出现故障，我应该怎么做？ 答：首先，备份所有重要数据以防数据丢失。然后，考虑更换故障硬盘。如果数据恢复是必要的，可能需要寻求专业的数据恢复服务。 6. 问：硬盘故障是硬件问题还是软件问题？ 答：硬盘故障可能是由于硬件老化、物理损坏（如磁头故障或电路板损坏）或软件问题（如固件错误或病毒感染）引起的。具体原因需要通过诊断来确定。 7. 问：我可以修复一个故障的硬盘吗？ 答：对于轻度的软件问题，如错误的分区表或文件系统，可以使用修复工具尝试修复。然而，严重的硬件故障通常需要专业人员处理，而且不一定能完全修复。 8. 问：预防硬盘故障的最佳做法是什么？ 答：定期备份数据、保持良好的通风环境以避免过热、避免移动硬盘时突然断电，以及定期使用硬盘检测工具进行健康检查都是防止硬盘故障的好方法。 9. 问：固态硬盘（SSD）也会故障吗？ 答：虽然SSD比传统硬盘更耐用，但它们仍有可能故障。固态硬盘的故障可能与闪存颗粒的寿命、控制器问题或电子故障有关。 10. 问：硬盘保修期过后出故障怎么办？ 答：如果硬盘在保修期后故障，你可以考虑购买新的硬盘。如果数据非常重要，可以考虑支付专业数据恢复服务的费用，尽管这可能会比较昂贵。

If you have more questions about this topic, feel free to explore and find answers below.

< strong > What are the signs of a failing hard drive in Windows 10?

• The disk is running slowly
• The disk fails frequently or crashes for no reason
• Abnormal sounds are coming from the disk
• The disk fails to boot, experiences startup issues, or leads to blue screen errors
• Files on the disk are disappearing or getting lost without explanation

2. How to fix hard drive error?

• Run the chkdsk command to fix a corrupted file system
• Back up important data to another location
• Use a disk repair utility
• Replace the hard drive with a new, healthy one

3. How can I protect myself against hard-disk failure?

• Format the hard drive with the correct file system – for drives larger than 64 GB, use NTFS.
• Run antivirus or malware removal tools.
• Connect the hard drive to your computer with the right cable.
• Keep your hard drive cool.
• Check the file system and repair bad sectors.
• Backup your data.
• Replace the hard drive if it shows signs of failing.