How to Troubleshoot a Computer Hard Drive

Hard drives typically give us the most trouble during installation. Thankfully, the computer's system BIOS will display the following common error messages at start-up, providing a starting point for troubleshooting.

Instructions

1. Notice the warning "Hard Drive Not Found." If your system BIOS displays this message during installation, the problem is typically a quick fix. Turn off the PC, remove the side of the tower, and try the following: remove/reattach/switch-out all drive cables; test the power cable going into the drive; check the drive jumper or DIP switch settings.

2. Understand that the warnings "Damaged FAT," "Root Directory" or "Bad Sector" errors are usually indicated by "Sector not found reading Drive C; Abort, Retry, Ignore, Fail?". Try ScanDisk to repair the damage, or run third-party recovery software to recover the FAT. If nothing works, it is best to simply reformat the drive.

3. Notice the "Invalid Drive" or "Drive Specification" warnings. This message means that the system BIOS cannot read the partition table information. Boot from a floppy disk, use the Fdisk command at the prompt, and choose to display the partition information. If it is corrupted, try the Fdisk/MBR command to restore the master boot record, remove the floppy, and reboot the computer. A boot sector virus will result in the corruption on the partition table information.

4. Other warnings to pay attention to include "Non-System Disk," "Disk Error," "Invalid System Disk" and "Command File Not Found." These messages indicate that, for some reason, the hard drive is cannot be booted. First, boot from a floppy or rescue disk and enter C: at the prompt to access the drive. If the drive is accessible, then the problem is missing or corrupted system files. Use ScanDisk to scan the drive for errors, attempt to copy system files from the rescue disk to hard drive, and run a current anti-virus program.

5. Pay attention if the hard drive makes unusual clicking or spinning sounds. A hard drive that begins to emit unusual sounds is most likely physically damaged, unrepairable, and living on borrowed time. Leave the computer on continuously and back up all data. Never attempt to open the drive yourself. Resolve to swapping out the hard drive with a good one.

Tips & Warnings

• Do not leave a PC turned off for weeks or months at a time as this can cause corruption in the Master Boot Record.

• Studies show that smoking around your computer can reduce the average life span of a hard drive by 25 percent.

• Since high humidity can cause continual hard drive failure, it is best to keep your PC in a cool, dry place.

• Run anti-virus software regularly.

• Back-up your data often.

• Attempting to open a hard drive will result in unrecoverable data loss.