Due to the use of mechanical parts and continuous vibration, the hard drive is the first thing to fail in our computers, whether on desktop or laptop, and it wouldn’t be the first time that a system that works without a problem suddenly stops working. therefore due to a hard drive failure. In this tutorial, we’ll tell you how to fix the most common internal hard drive problems, as well as how to prevent the problems that commonly cause them so we can prevent them.
What if the internal hard drive has problems?
Below we leave you a series of procedures that you must follow if your internal hard drive is giving you problems operating. On the one hand, we have grouped the most common hardware problems and, on the other hand, those related to software.
The PC starts, but tells me that it cannot find the hard drive
It is possible that the SATA cables for power and data have been disabled, so you will need to open the computer and check if the cables are fully connected at all ends. In case the SATA ports don’t work, try other ones on the motherboard, today’s desktop motherboards have enough such ports. Unfortunately, if this interface does not work on any of your ports, it may mean that the problem is with the motherboard itself and not the hard drive. However, on a laptop, the problem is much more serious if we are talking about a laptop.
Regardless of your situation, if you encounter this problem, we recommend that you remove the hard drive, connect it to an external hard drive enclosure, and try it on another PC. Just to rule out that the problem is not with the hard drive, but with the motherboard. In the event that the hard drive does not work for you, the problem will be with the faulty unit and if you have it under warranty, we recommend that you have it replaced by the manufacturer.
Another problem preventing the internal hard drive from booting may be due to a malfunction in the BIOS. We therefore recommend that you update it or, failing that, reinstall it. So try to keep it up to date.
The internal hard drive has an overheating problem
We have said it many times that having good cooling in the PC is extremely important, not only for the integrated circuits that are part of it, but also for other components and this includes the hard disk, in particular its controller. This is usually not a very common problem, but you may find that the high temperature buildup eventually affects the circuitry responsible for controlling hard drive transfers. We therefore recommend that you keep your computer as clean as possible inside to avoid these problems.
In case you have a laptop, it should be borne in mind that the industrial engineers of the manufacturers take this eventuality into account, but a good cleaning is also recommended, in order to eliminate accumulated dust and reduce excess dust. temperature and therefore, therefore overheating. So it’s not something you should do just to keep your RAM, CPU and graphics card in good shape, but for any other component. So try to also clean the fans which are in charge of air circulation inside the box.
To find out if your hard drive is having declining performance issues, simply run a performance test with CrystalDiskMark. Using this tool will help us check the performance of the hard disk, it is important to do these tests once we have installed a new unit and then do them periodically, to check if its performance has deteriorated over time .
The hard disk has error 0142 or problems with the drivers
To do this, we recommend starting Windows in safe mode, from which the operating system will start with the basic drivers for its operation. This will help you know if the hard drive is really working or if it is not a problem with its drivers.
To solve it you only have to go to the “Device administrator» Select the drive that you suspect contains outdated drivers, right-click and select Update Driver. We recommend that you let Windows search for drivers in its online repository. After that, you should see an increase in unit performance, as long as that’s the problem.
Remember that choosing a good driver is crucial, as these usually include optimizations to improve the performance of our hardware. Therefore, it is advisable to keep all computer components up to date with all updated.
Don’t forget to defragment and optimize your hard drive
When it comes to storing information on the hard drive, it is usually not organized into contiguous sectors and eventually it happens that the data is spread around it, not as a single block of data, but as fragmented way.
That’s why using Windows Defragmenter regularly will keep your drive from running out of space quickly, and it’s a process that can extend the life of your hard drive over time. Of course, it is an extremely slow process and in addition with great capacities like those that exist today. So you should forget to use the PC for a few long hours while the defragmentation process lasts. Although you should only do this if the units are defragmented. To find out, just put Optimize Units in the search box on the toolbar.
By the way, if you have an SSD of any type, you will never need to defrag it.
Back up your data
Finally, consider making regular backup copies of the contents of your hard drive. Although we are doing everything necessary to extend its end, this date will come sooner or later and we do not want to lose all our applications and personal files. So from there, we always recommend having an external hard drive to do backups exclusively. You don’t know when internal hard drive problems can get overwhelming and it’s far better to prevent.
And what if the hard drive is external?
The solutions in this case will be exactly the same, except that the unit will not use the SATA connections to go to the hard disk but USB, so you will have to check the health of the interfaces of this type, at the both the cables and the corresponding connectors.
You should also keep in mind that in many cases it will be impossible for you to clean the inside of the device, but if you can and you don’t fear losing the warranty, take the case apart to clean it. periodically. And remember to use them in a stable area where the device cannot receive vibrations from the environment. In any case, we have an excellent tutorial on repairing this type of device.
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