PCWorld

How to check and monitor your hard drive’s health

Few 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

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from PCWorld

PCWorld2 min read
Broadband ‘Nutrition Labels’ Kick In, Revealing Hidden Fees For ISPs
New FCC “broadband nutrition labels” go into effect beginning today, forcing ISPs to disclose all of the normally hidden costs and speeds. And yes, the term “nutrition label” is accurate — they’re modeled after the list of ingredients you might find
PCWorld8 min read
Asus Zenbook 14 OLED: A Budget Laptop Star
AMD’s Ryzen mobile chips are increasingly competitive with Intel’s Core mobile lineup, and in recent years, AMD has taken a lead in some areas, such as battery life. The new Ryzen 7 8840HS is one of AMD’s best mid-range mobile processors yet, and it
PCWorld2 min read
LocalSend: A Free, Super Fast Way To Transfer Files Over Wi-Fi
While cloud storage services are convenient for sharing files across all your devices, sometimes there’s no substitute for a local file transfer. That’s where LocalSend comes in. This free, open-source app uses your local Wi-Fi network to transfer fi

Related Books & Audiobooks