How to Know Whether Your Laptop Hard Drive is Failing

Do you just use your laptop all the time without checking whether it is in proper condition? It is good to have it regularly maintained to avoid disastrous situations. If you want to know whether your laptop hard drive is failing, check for the following:

Folders and files are missing: This is usually not easy to note until when you notice that either the file or folder is missing. Some files and folders, both personal and system files, may go missing without the knowledge of the user. You mostly note that the folders and files are missing when error messages begin to appear that there are some system files missing or when the user is looking for a certain file, he/she finds out it is missing. If such situations occur, it means the hard disk is probably failing and thus one may lose their data.

Bad sectors shown by system utility programs: Running the chckdsk and scandisk utility programs, one can be able to know if the laptop hard drive is in good condition. These system utility programs reports on the scan they have done and also display the bad sectors of the laptop hard disk drive. These utility programs usually come with the operating system software. If the programs happen to show a large section of bad sectors, then it means that the hard disk is failing and data could be lost.

Hard drive overheating: This is usually difficult to note if you are using your laptop. The laptop hard drive may overheat if the laptop is put in conditions where the fan is not working properly. The laptop fan is supposed to cool down the heat emitted from the processor and the hard disk while they are running. If the fan is not in proper condition, it may cause overheating of the hard drive. The overheating may cause the internal part of the hard drive to expand and then some of them come into contact with each other and then as the platters (disks) are spinning, one can hear click sounds. Therefore, if the laptop fan is not working, it would be good to have it repaired or replaced or else your hard drive may get damaged.

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5 Signs That Your Laptop is Failing

Have you ever wondered if your laptop was going to fail? Perhaps you hear some weird noises coming from the machine. Perhaps your laptop is taking too long to boot up, or maybe the screen is appearing kind of dim.

In this article, we will take a look at some of the danger signs that could mean your laptop needs to be upgraded or replaced.

1. Weird Hard Disk Noises
This is the most worrying sign from a laptop - a claking, or loud whirring sound from the laptop hard disk drive. Usually, a whirring hard disk drive means that the drive is starting to falter or fail. You should immediately back up all your important data! I once heard such noises from the laptop hard drive and within 2 days, the disk had crashed. And this tell tale sign of hard drive failure is usually spot on - so please watch out for this one.

2. Dead Pixels In The Screen
Usually, if you have dead pixels (unlit pixels) in the laptop screen, you can return them to the manufacturer to get a replacement laptop. This depends on the manufacturer's policy though - some of them only replace the laptop if you have more than say, 9 dead pixels across the whole screen. If you suddenly see several dead pixels in the laptop screen, it usually points towards LCD monitor damage, so watch out for this.

3. Boot Up Takes Too Long
This one is pretty common. Usually I hear of folks' whose laptops were fine initially but later starting booting up very, very slowly (10 minutes or more). The number one culprit in such situations is a lot of startup bloatware. Make sure you uninstall any software you don't need (excessive firewall or anti-virus programs cause a huge delay in startup times). If you've done that and the boot up is still slow, you might want to re-install the operating system. Many laptops come with a recovery disk to make this an easy job (just make you back up your critical data and documents first).

3. Battery Power Runs Out Too Fast
Yet another common problem is a battery that runs out of juice within 10 minutes, even though it is fully charged. The problem here, fortunately, is usually with the battery unit and not the laptop itself. So in these circumstances, get yourself a new battery. In certain cases, it could be due to faulty circuitry in the laptop body, though this is rare.

4. The Trackpad Fails
If you have a trackpad that is suddenly responding sluggishly, then it is also a sign that you need your laptop navigation system replaced. Usually, if you use an external mouse, this might not be a problem, but many folks I know use the trackpad and it is immensely irritating if the trackpad fails. So watch out for this sign of laptop failure (and bring an external mouse just in case).

5. Memory Problems
Laptop memory modules are and error-prone. Start the laptop on to try to control the machine as memory (RAM) to know that if your laptop has 2 GB of memory, the BIOS boot screen shows or 2GB of RAM should be assisted. If it is less likely, means having a defective memory module - which slows down the system immensely.

The other way to store, check your laptop with the tag go to the computer (Windows Vista) and click on it. Then click followed with information about Windows Help.The amount of memory available to Windows should be displayed in the dialog box that pops up - make sure it tallies with your understanding of how much RAM you have.

Conclusion
I hope this article has shown you 5 signs that could signal your laptop is going into critical, degradation mode. Watch out for these signs and try to prevent them where possible - it could save your laptop before it really crashes on you. Until next time, happy computing!

My Links : Toshiba Satellite L505D-ES5025

How to Know Whether Your Laptop Hard Drive is Failing

Do you just use your laptop all the time without checking whether it is in proper condition? It is good to have it regularly maintained to avoid disastrous situations. If you want to know whether your laptop hard drive is failing, check for the following:

Folders and files are missing: This is usually not easy to note until when you notice that either the file or folder is missing. Some files and folders, both personal and system files, may go missing without the knowledge of the user. You mostly note that the folders and files are missing when error messages begin to appear that there are some system files missing or when the user is looking for a certain file, he/she finds out it is missing. If such situations occur, it means the hard disk is probably failing and thus one may lose their data.

Bad sectors shown by system utility programs: Running the chckdsk and scandisk utility programs, one can be able to know if the laptop hard drive is in good condition. These system utility programs reports on the scan they have done and also display the bad sectors of the laptop hard disk drive. These utility programs usually come with the operating system software. If the programs happen to show a large section of bad sectors, then it means that the hard disk is failing and data could be lost.

Hard drive overheating: This is usually difficult to note if you are using your laptop. The laptop hard drive may overheat if the laptop is put in conditions where the fan is not working properly. The laptop fan is supposed to cool down the heat emitted from the processor and the hard disk while they are running. If the fan is not in proper condition, it may cause overheating of the hard drive. The overheating may cause the internal part of the hard drive to expand and then some of them come into contact with each other and then as the platters (disks) are spinning, one can hear click sounds. Therefore, if the laptop fan is not working, it would be good to have it repaired or replaced or else your hard drive may get damaged.

More on Laptop Recovery

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