The hard drive in your computer or laptop is a mechanical machine that consists of moving parts. Every hard drive on the market has at least one spinning platter along with tiny magnetic read/write heads, two motors, and a lot of circuitry. When your hard drive is working properly, one motor spins the platters while the other one moves the read/write head in and out. The head doesn’t actually come into contact with the platter. Instead, it floats on a cushion of air above the platter. A hard drive crash used to refer to when the head crashed. This meant that the head came into physical contact with the platter. The head scrapes off the magnetic coding containing all of your data. Unfortunately, whatever was on that part of the platter is gone. Other things that can cause a crash include the head alignment being off. So, if your hard drive does crash, what can you do to fix it?
Step 1: Be Prepared
Before your hard drive crashes, you should make sure you are prepared for it. First off, make a folder that has all of your software registration information on it. This will include the registration keys for things like your operating system, antivirus information, and any other software you have on your computer. If you’re like me then you don’t usually keep the original copy of your registration information lying around. It’s much easier to put it in a folder on your computer, that way you have it whenever you need it.
Backup discs are also a good thing to have in case your hard drive fails. Making backup discs of all of your important files. These backup discs should have all your important data, pictures, videos, documents, and anything else you simply cannot afford to lose. Should your hard drive crash beyond repair, you can rest assured knowing that all of the important data is stored on something that you can quickly upload onto your new hard drive thanks to your handy backup discs! Just remember to label the discs so you know what’s on them and so you don’t accidentally copy over anything.
You can also use off-site backup solutions. There are a lot of websites and cloud services that allow you to backup anything you could possibly want. Many of these cost money and, depending on how much you need to backup, it may not be cheap. However, with paying for such services you can pretty much guarantee that everything you have stored on them will be ready to install on your new hard drive as soon as you get it installed into your computer!
Step 2: Know Your Local Computer Shop Options
Call your local computer shops in advance and ask them about pricing options. Ask them what kind of pricing options they have for hard drive repairs or replacement hard drives. In addition to that, you should also ask them how the whole process works. If your laptop hard drive has failed then you’re going to have to take your entire device into the shop as laptop hard drives are usually very difficult to get to. If your desktop hard drive fails then you should be able to just remove it from your tower and take it into a shop. You can ask them how they go about diagnosing your hard drive and how to go about fixing it.
However, before you just walk into any computer shop you should do your research. Check online for reviews of your local computer shops and see if they are reputable. Do they have good reviews from customers online? Try calling them and see if they actually answer the phone and, if they do, chat with them about their services, their shops, and feel free to ask them any questions you might have concerning your needs.
Step 3: Collect Your Information
If you take your hard drive into a shop be sure to collect all the important information you have for your computer. That means all of your backup discs, all your registration keys, and information, all of your important data, and anything else you want or need back on your hard drive. This will save you a lot of time and money as you won’t have to re-buy all of your software and it will help your techs out with the restoration process. Anything you can do to help out the process will not only make your techs happy but it will also save you money and save everyone time throughout the process.
Step 4: Look Into Buying A Solid State Drive (SSD)
Solid State Drives (SSDs) are slowly replacing standard hard drives in computers. SSDs function similarly to HDDs, though they use interconnected flash memory chips to retain data instead of the magnetic coating found on the platters of the hard drives. You can permanently install the chips on the system’s motherboard (you can opt for the Best AM4 motherboards for Ryzen 5000), on a PCI/PCIe card, or in a box that is sized, shaped, and wired to slot in for a laptop or desktop’s hard drive.
What makes the SSD better than an HDD is speed. PCs with an SSD will boot in seconds and most certainly under a minute. Hard drives require time to speed up to operating specs and will probably always be slower than an SSD during normal use. SSDs will boot devices faster, launch apps faster, and perform faster overall. In addition to that, an SSD has no moving parts, which means that it is more likely to keep your data safe in the event that you drop your laptop or your computer is shaken during operation. Oh, and since they don’t have moving parts SSDs operate in complete silence which, if you’re someone who doesn’t like a loud laptop or desktop, is just another added benefit.
Conclusion
The hard drive is one of the most important parts of any desktop or laptop. It holds all of your data and all of the things on your device that are the most important to you, which is why it is very scary when it crashes. If you follow the tips above then you should be fine in the event of a hard drive failure. With backup discs or cloud backup of your information along with proper vetting of your local computer shops, you should be able to have your problem fixed quickly and without spending a ton of money. If you want to be as safe as possible then you can swap out your hard drives for solid state drives. They are faster and quieter and all around safer than HDDs.
ComputerServiceNow.com can assist you with any type of computer problem, even hard drive crashes. In addition to hard drive repair, we also offer virus and malware removal, IT consulting, network repair, PC tune-ups, equipment sales. We are a full-service IT firm as well so just because we don’t mention something specific doesn’t mean we can’t fix it. With over 28 years in the business, there isn’t much our techs haven’t handled. If you need Middletown Computer Repair call us today at 513-422-1907 or email us at sales@computerservicenow.com!
