For most users, mechanical hard drives (HDDs) might be on their way out, with a few specimens living out their final days in computers around the world. Compared to SSDs, hard drives are riddled with a variety of issues, not the least of which is longevity. Most hard drives tend to fail around the 5-year mark, as shown by various long-term studies. I've personally seen a Seagate 3.5" hard drive gradually die after 5.5 years, we probably all have a similar story.

If you have a long-running HDD on your computer, chances are you're using it as a media repository for your photos and videos, or movies and TV shows, or all of the above. Losing any of your data unexpectedly is never a pleasant experience, so it's worth paying attention to some known symptoms of hard drive failure so that you can take action in time to prevent serious loss.

7 It takes forever to access files and folders

The dreaded buffering icon keeps spinning

I'm sure this has happened to everyone who's owned a mechanical hard drive for at least 3 to 4 years. Sometimes, the drive takes just a few seconds longer to open than usual when you double-click a file or folder. On a healthy drive, you might just chalk it up to an occasional hiccup, but if this happens often, it's time to take a closer look at your drive health.

This can certainly happen on a drive that's full to the brim. However, if that's not the case and your drive is not near its storage capacity, then it almost certainly means your drive is experiencing deeper faults that might be causing longer read times. The reasons could be hardware faults with the head or the platters which are preventing normal data access. It could also mean that specific areas of the drive (those containing the file/folder you're trying to access) have gone bad.

6 Your PC doesn't detect the drive

It's getting serious

Another common symptom of a failing drive is the computer failing to detect it. It might not even be a permanent problem; you might be able to use the drive normally for weeks in between mounting issues. However, the fact that it's happening indicates a serious fault with the drive. Most likely, your hard drive has reached its end of life, and needs to be retired.

This error can manifest in the form of a "no boot device found" error at startup (if it's your boot drive) or a missing drive letter in Windows Explorer (in the case of a secondary drive). Unplugging and replugging the SATA and power connections to the hard drive can sometimes fix the issue temporarily, but you should start looking at backing up your data and replacing the drive. Occasionally it may just be a cable or port issue, which you can rule out, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

5 You hear strange sounds from the drive

They are cries for help

Occasional sounds from a mechanical hard drive are not cause for concern. A hard drive has several moving parts, and while booting up or accessing some files, it can emit some sound which indicates regular operation. The problem begins when you hear louder, unusual sounds from your hard drive, accompanied by system slowdowns or longer read times.

You'll notice clicking sounds emanating from your drive which might indicate some of the mechanical components within the drive are going bad.

These unfamiliar sounds can mean your drive has developed hardware faults, and needs to be repaired or replaced. Usually, you'll notice clicking sounds emanating from your drive which might indicate some of the mechanical components within the drive are going bad. Again, this is a signal to start looking for a replacement drive (ideally an SSD) and plan on backing up your important data sooner than later.

4 File corruption errors pop up frequently

Your data is about to disappear into the ether

If your hard drive is indeed on the verge of dying, you'll likely see frequent cases of corrupted files before its eventual demise. As a hard drive becomes worn out after years of usage, several sectors or blocks can become damaged, leading to corrupted or missing files. This could result in errors showing a particular file or folder as inaccessible or missing from its intended location.

You can try to resolve minor cases of file corruption using built-in Windows tools like SFC and DISM, but deeper hardware faults can rarely be fixed. I have a drive in my system that has been experiencing system file corruption errors for a while now, and it might be time to finally let it ride into the sunset.

3 Some programs keep crashing

Your favorite applications might be unlucky

If you notice that a particular set of programs keeps crashing more often than what could be attributed to regular Windows shenanigans, the programs might just be stored on dying sectors of your hard drive. This can easily cause frequent crashes whenever you try to access particular games, software, or tools.

You can try to reinstall those programs if you think it's a software-level issue, but if it isn't, you're just delaying the inevitable, and the only permanent solution is a drive replacement. Before I relegated my old hard drive to secondary storage, I used it as the primary boot drive, and I began experiencing frequent crashes in some games. This was around the time the drive had been in use for five years, and a deeper inspection did reveal a lot of bad sectors.

2 You experience frequent BSODs or boot failure

Some blue screens are worse than others

No one hates blue screens more than myself, but you can still tolerate some of them, as long as they're not related to fundamental hardware faults on your boot drive. In case you're using an old hard drive as your boot drive, hardware faults can lead to weird situations and errors, such as random blue screen crashes and the system failing to boot.

A failure to boot is a much more obvious indication of a drive that is suffering from serious faults.

A failing hard drive being used as the primary boot drive is more prone to severe errors and system instability issues than one used as secondary storage. Since your operating system is on the drive, almost anything you do on the computer can potentially lead to a BSOD. Even playing a game or running a program that's located on a secondary drive can throw a blue screen, since it might be using files stored on the system partition.

A failure to boot is a much more obvious indication of a drive that is suffering from serious faults. Some boot errors can be fixed using SFC or DISM, but if your hard drive's time has arrived, it's better to stop fighting it and let it go.

1 You spot confirmed bad sectors on the drive

The final nail in the coffin

Every other symptom points to hardware faults, which more often than not turn out to be bad sectors on the hard drive. When you finally see confirmed bad sectors using a tool such as CrystalDiskInfo or any of the other drive testing tools, there's no more hope that the problems might have an alternate root cause. A bad drive health test is your cue to buy a replacement drive as soon as possible.

This last symptom is more of a death knell than a "sign"

To be clear, there are "soft" and "hard" bad sectors. "Soft" bad sectors can often be fixed using built-in Windows tools, but you can't do much about "hard" bad sectors. This last symptom is more of a death knell than a "sign," but I still included it here, as many users prefer testing the drive health the moment they notice any strange behavior.

Are SSDs permanent solutions to failing hard drives?

Hard drives might be less durable compared to SSDs, but the latter are also not immune to the ravages of time. How long an SSD lasts depends on how many times you write to it. Besides, SSDs are more prone to electrical surges than HDDs, and might end up failing much before their intended maximum life.

Hence, no storage drive will last forever, so make sure you're always backing up your important data using the 3-2-1 backup rule, if possible — 3 data copies, 2 storage devices, and 1 backup stored off-site.