[ad]Dear Computer Lady,
I have a 4 year old quad core desktop running Win 7 Ultimate. All of a sudden my hard drive made noises and turned itself off.
I ran Spinrite for 3 days and it seemed to “cure” the problem. However, the PC shut down after a couple of hours of normal use.
How can I tell if my hard drive has failed and I definitely need a new one?
Thanks, Martin
Dear Martin,
Spinrite is a great program for hard drive diagnostics and sometimes recovering your data, so that was a good program to use.
However, if the hard drive is failing, SpinRite will not “cure” the problem, only move your data to good sectors on the drive.
If you have not backed up the data on your drive, I would suggest that you do it now. Then, I would replace the drive. Once a hard drive starts to have issues, it is time to replace it. I would never trust it to keep my valuable data safe.
The fact that your computer shut off after a couple of hours of normal use could mean that the hard drive is overheating. (It might also mean that you need a new power supply)
Elizabeth
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Elizabeth Boston is a Web designer, Social Media Consultant and managing editor of, “Ask The Computer Lady”.
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