SEPTEMBER 2020 PCWorld 97

F

ew PC components require more
care and attention than a hard
drive. We’ve all heard the
admonishments to defragment
drives, and clean up junk files to keep all our
1s and 0s sparkling. No matter how well you
care for it, however, at some point that drive is
going to fail. Sometimes you can hear it
coming, sometimes it happens suddenly in
the middle of a project, and other times it just

refuses to boot one morning.

Whatever way your hard drive meets its

end, it’s a certainty you’ll see it happen if you

use a PC long enough. Hard drives are

complicated little devices. The primary

components are the magnetic platters that

contain the data, as well as the head that

reads and writes the data.

Those moving parts are the great benefit

and big flaw of your hard drive. One ill-timed

IMAGE: THINKSTOCK

How to check and monitor your

hard drive’s health

No hard drive lives forever. BY IAN PAUL