While there are a million different factors that can cause these symptoms, simply coming across one of them should give reason for concern. One of the most telling signs of hard drive failure is a notorious stop error known as the “blue screen of death.” Early Warning Signs of Hard Drive Failure Blue screen of death This wide range is due to the fact that there are so many variables that can affect the health of your hard drive, including how much you use it, how well you take care of it, and a bit of sheer luck. In essence, hard drives tend to last 4-8 years with moderate usage. This trend can most likely be explained by manufacturing faults for hard drives that fail in the first year, and normal wear and tear failures accounting for the increase after the third year. Even a laptop that is built for portability will wear down the hard drive at a slightly faster rate if used on-the-go as opposed to sitting stationary on a desktop.Īs reported by Extreme Tech, failure rates for hard drives are about 5.1% for the first year and a half, then dips down to 1.4% until the third year, then rises dramatically to 11.8% for the time after. Hard drives contain moving parts in order to operate, and these moving parts are doomed to break, whether from normal usage or physical trauma.

Individual lifespans of hard drives can vary greatly, yet they all share the inevitability of failing. These are textbook symptoms for the inevitably of a failing hard drive and action should be taken quickly to save your files from being lost. How to Tell If Your Hard Drive is FailingĬommon signs for a failing hard drive include sluggish performance, unusual noises (clicking or loud component sounds), and an increase number of corrupted files. Even so, a hard drive is a mechanical device, entailing that the components within it physically move to operate, allowing for many areas that can break or fail. The face of digital storage is evolving quickly with faster, smaller devices boasting more storage capacity and sustainable designs made to last longer than ever. How to Tell If Your Hard Drive is Failing

How to Tell If Your Hard Drive is Failing.

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