It’s hard to feel in control of your digital life if you’re not in control of your hard drive. After all, your hard drive is where all of your files are stored. When hard drives fill up or don’t allow you to organize your data the way you’d like, frustration results. And when your computer won’t start, it’s important to know whether your hard drive is at the heart of the problem. Read on for some tips that will help you get a grip on your hard drive — and the data that lives there.
Q: My computer won’t start. How can I know if the hard drive has died?
A: Failures of conventional hard drives are often, but not always, preceded by some clicking or tapping sounds emanating from your PC. Sometimes a steady click-click-click sound will indicate a hard drive that has malfunctioned. Solid State Drives (SSDs), which have no moving parts, will obviously not exhibit such a clicking sound. They will simply fail, with no audible warning.
If your hard drive dies, your computer’s initial bootup screen will still appear, but you’ll receive an error message when the PC tries to load your operating system. You might receive a “drive not found” error message. If your computer is equipped with a technology known as S.M.A.R.T, you may receive advance warning of a failing hard drive. Take any such warning seriously, and replace the drive — or have it replaced — as soon as possible.
If you do not see anything upon pressing the power button on your PC, it’s unlikely that the hard drive is the culprit. A power supply failure or motherboard failure is more likely.
Q: Something has consumed most of my hard drive space, and I’m not sure what. How can I find out?
A: You need a utility that…