Web User - UK (2019-12-11)

If thehard drive in your PC or laptopisfailing,
youprobably need to swapitfor anew one

CrystalDiskInfo checks your hard drivetoretrieveits

SMARTstatus. Ours is currentlyingood condition

48 11-26December 2019

Isyourharddrive
SMART?
Thedataonyourharddriveis
worthmorethanthedriveitself.Ifyou
suspectyourharddriveisfailing,make
afullbackupofitscontentsandeither
swapitforanewoneor,atthevery
least,checkitsSMARTstatusrightaway.
SMARTstandsforSelf-Monitoring,
AnalysisandReportingTechnology.
It’sbeenknockingaroundinvarious
formssincethemid-1 99 0s,soit’salmost
certainthatyourharddriveorSSD
issupported.Atitsmostbasiclevel,
SMARTtellsyouwhetheryourdriveis
workingproperlyorfailing.However,
asthere’snoagreedwayofreporting
what’shappeningunderthehood,
individualmanufacturersinterpretthe
results–andtheirseverity–differently.
Ifthere’sevenahintthatthingsare
goingawry,wewouldrecommend
implementingabackup-and-replace
operationsoonerratherthanlater.
Alldrivesdegradeovertimeand
yourswillfaileventually.Ifyou’reusing
atraditionalharddrive,itsfirmwarewill

activelyshuffleitscontentsaroundas

sectorsstarttocorrupt.Thosesectors

willbemarkedasoutofboundsto

preventthemfrombeingusedinthe

future.Thisreducesyourdrive’s

availablecapacityand,astheerrors

buildup,slowsitdown.

OnanSSD,sparecapacityblocks

arebroughtintoplayastheprimary

blocksfail.Thedrivehaswhat’sknown

as‘over-provisioning’–morememory

cellsthanitscapacitysuggests–soyou

shouldn’tnoticeanylossofcapacityfor

awhileand,becauseaccessonanSSD

isalmostinstantaneous,youshouldn’t

detectanyslowdown,either.

Thequestionis:iffailurecanhappen

withoutanywarning,howdoyou

checkyourdrive’sSMARTstatus?

Ourfavouritediagnostictoolis

CrystalDiskInfo(freetodownloadfrom

bit.ly/crystal 490 ).Unzipitandlaunch

DiskInfo64.exe.Everythingyouneedto

knowisdetailedonitsopeningscreen

including,mostimportantly,thehard

drive’sHealthStatus.Ifalliswell,this

shouldreadGood.Ifnot,youmayneed

Save money oncomputerrepairs by

diagnosing yourPC’sproblems

yourself. NikRawlinsonreveals the

questionsyou shouldask togetthe

answersyou need –before it’stoo late

toreplaceyourdrive.

You’llfindthedrive’stemperature

directlybeneaththeHealthStatus.Ifit

showsabluebackground,it’snottoo

hot,butyelloworredarecausefor

concern.Ifthedriveisoverheating,

makesurethefansinyourPC’scase

arespinning,largeenoughandfreeof

dust.Iftheyaren’tturning,checktheir

connectionsand,ifthere’snoproblem

there,investigateafixorareplacement.

Thetemperaturemeasurementisabit

abstractuntilyouknowyourharddrive’s

optimaloperatingparameters.Makea

noteofthedrive’smodelnumber–the

longlineoflargercharactersnearthe

topofthewindow–anduseittosearch

forthemanufacturer’sspecification

sheet.Fromthis,wecanseeourdrive

shouldbebetweenzeroand 6 0°C,soits

currenttemperatureisjustfine.

Hasyourbattery

takenabattering?

Laptops,likepeople,feelthe

effectsofage:whenthey’reyoungthey

haveboundlessenergybut,astheyget

What’s your

PC’s problem?