Faulty or Corrupt PC Hard Drive? What you Can do!

Sometimes we forget that most of the components that we put into our Desktops, Gaming PC’s or Laptops are not indestructible. A Corrupt PC Hard Drive can be the most frustrating thing. Especially when possible data loss or game breaking bugs are a possibility.

If you believe that your Hard Drive maybe causing your System to crash or not load specific programs. Here’s what you can do to identify the fault. Not only will this guide help you identify the issue but we will be talking about what can be done to maybe repair or replace the hard drive.

How to Identify if your Hard Drive for PC is Corrupt Or Damaged.

Sadly only a certain amount of error codes exist which specifically state that your Hard Drive (HDD) or Solid State Drive (SDD) is faulty. More often than not your Hard Drive will become faulty and display the following issues.

1: Games or programs will cease to load once opened.
2: Games will often lock on Blank Screens and will result in later crashing or re-starting.
3: Saved data will be unable to load and will cause you to start from scratch.
4: Your Drive Label will not appear within “This PC” and will often disconnect and re-connect.
5: May prompt a serious Blue Screen Crash when using your Desktop.

If any of the above resonate with you then it may indicate that your Hard-Drive is faulty. There are some physical traits that may indicate a faulty Drive.

1: Your Hard-Drive may run hotter than usual.
2: You may hear a clicking sound which is consistent in rhythm and loudness.
3: You may not hear any audible sound from your Hard Drive.

Unless it’s a Solid state Drive your Hard Drive should have some audible churning. Although a rather nasty clicking sound may indicate a damaged disk reader.

Faulty Hard Drives are not common. However you’re more likely to suffer a damaged or faulty Hard Drive if you buy from a Fake brand, or have yourself accidentally damaged the drive.

Scanning your Hard Drives for Bad Sectors.

You can easily seek out and identify any Bad Sectors on your Hard Drives by using a reliable tool named HDTune.

Download HDTune Today

HDTune allows you to benchmark your Hard Drive, pull specific stats and data which maybe useful to you. It will also ultimately run a complete Hard Drive scan to locate any bad sectors.

Guide : Seek a repair or Replacement for your Damaged Hard Drive.

To Do This Simply Connect the problem Hard Drive into a Desktop or Laptop. Then Load HDTune.Exe

1: Once open Select your Hard Drive.
2: Click “Error Scan Tab”
3: Click Quick Scan and Start

You will see each sector which represents a certain % of your Hard Drive. These sectors will turn green.

If any Red Sectors present themselves then it will indicate that your Hard Drive is in fact Faulty. Sadly at this point your Data and Hard Drive are at Risk.

Possible Fix To Repair Bad Sectors and Damaged Hard Drive.

Some users have found that if you Delete the Hard Disk Volume and Re-initialise the Hard Disk you maybe able to repair the Hard Drive.

Be warned with attempting this as you will be formatting all Hard-Drive Data and it will be hard to recover. Be sure to back up any personal details or important information first.

If you’re Looking to re-initialize your Hard-Drive Simply follow these steps.

1: Search “Disk Management” on your Windows 10 Search Bar
2: This screen will show your installed Hard Drives. Select the Problem Drive.
3: Right Click the Volume of that Hard Drive and select “Delete Volume”

Once deleted you will be able to create a new volume or re-initialise the Disk. After this step is completed return to HD-Tune and run the error scan again.

If no Red Sectors present themselves then you have fixed the Bad Sectors within the Hard Drive or Solid State Drive.

Recovering Lost and Damaged Data on your Corrupt PC Hard Drive and Solid State Drive.

Data loss can be the single most upsetting thing to happen to tech enthusiasts. Especially when it comes to sentimental information in the terms of photos, videos and more.

Also Game saves which users have spent a long time building can also be quite upsetting once lost. However if you’re interested in recovering lost data or game saves then we do have some advice.

Is Data Recovery Legit?

Some companies and websites offer data recovery from Hard Drives that have recently been formatted, deleted or repaired. These websites will instruct you to install various tools which promise it will recover your data.

In our experience when we have tried this software – It did the job to the extent of recovering the data. However the majority of the data was in-accessible and jumbled.

It’s important to note that if you have recently deleted or lost the data it is far more likely to recover. Most Data Recovery software comes at a price. Be sure to do your research before attempting any data recovery software.

Fix : Simply Refund or Replace Your Hard Drive if It’s Faulty.

Some things you can check are previous users experiences with that software. Be sure to only use software which has numerous quality reviews. Sadly there is no sure way of recovering lost save files or data once deleted that we have found.

The majority of services are either too expensive for the final result or provide the users with damaged results.

Conclusion

We will be sure to trial any Data Recovery software that we find. However currently we cannot recommend a 100% sure fire way of recovering your data. You’re better off simply replacing or refunding the broken hard drive.

If you have scanned your Hard-Drive and you have identified that your Hard Drive is clean of any errors of faults. But you’re still having issues with certain programmes or games not loading or crashing then it does indicate the problem lies else where.

Other PC Related Hardware Guides:

Check the Health of your Hard Drives Today!
Bolster your Frame Rate and Performance with Windows 10.
Downloading and Installing the Latest Motherboard Bios Update.
Downloading the Latest Updates for Games for PC.
How To Install The Latest Graphic Drivers.
Is your Gaming PC or Laptop Compatible For Games 2018?