Is my HDD nearing its end? My disk is now performing slower than usual. It's 3 years old. Crystal Disk Info says it is still in good condition but I am more worried about the current state. Please see the screenshot:
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1How do you know that it's slower than usual? How are you measuring it? SMART data looks good to me, there are no reallocated or pending sectors - no signs of drive dying.– gronostajCommented Aug 17, 2016 at 21:25
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When loading files in the drive It takes longer than usual and sometimes does a mini freeze for about 10 secs which doesn't happen before.– juan santiago velascoCommented Aug 17, 2016 at 23:45
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Have you used a defrag tool to see how fragmented it is?– DrZooCommented Aug 18, 2016 at 0:41
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3 Answers
General slowness is a bad indicator of potential hard drive failure. It's also possible to have all the SMART data look fine and still have your hard drive fail tomorrow. Clicking noises from normal hard drive it self, or frequent lockups with solid state drives, can be potential indicators of failure.
There are a number of things that can cause slowness that may not be related to the hard drive at all. Have you checked you startup programs? (Windows 10: Ctrl+Alt+Del > Task Manager > Startup. On other Windows: Start > Run > msconfig)? Do you have any background applications running you don't need?
In any case, do you keep regular backups? It's important to keep regular backups (weekly, monthly, whatever you feel you can do without or rebuild if you lose it) and to keep that backup media physically disconnected from your computer. This will mean your backup media doesn't have the same wear and tear as your primary media, nor will it be damaged in the case of things like ransomware. Backups are the best possible protection after inevitable hard drive failure occurs.
The SMART data looks okay. Try: 1. Erase anything you don't want. 2. Run Disk Cleanup and have it throw away anything it thinks it should - that should clear some of the trash temp files and other things. 3. Run Disk Defrag to pack things closer. 4. Use you choice of cleaner - cclean, pcdecrapifier... to remove extra stuff that programs stuff into your startup or other locations which drags your system down. Clean your internet cache up and remove any extra toolbars/helpers/bho's...
Perform a full scandisk and see if there are bad sectors on the disk. If there are, it is time to change it or use it for non-vital data.
How to do a scandisk with bad sector check:
- Press Windows key+X
- Select Command Prompt (Admin)
- Type the following into the promt and press enter
- chkdsk /r
- Find the line containing bad sectors, if not 0, it is time for a change.
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Your answer is helpful, but it lacks details. It would be preferable to include instructions how bad sector check can be performed and how to interpret results. Commented Aug 17, 2016 at 22:31
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I don't use Windows, I was hoping someone can shed a light on how to do it on Windows. A little search revealed how to do that, so I am adding that to the answer. Commented Aug 18, 2016 at 5:47