Repairing Hard Drives
Hard drive failures are all too common and are caused by a number of different reasons such as a large amount of orphaned files from deleted programs to file corruption. Don't ship your malfunctioning hard drive off to the manufacturer or trash it. Often times, a faulty hard drive can be repaired using less time and effort than would be used to send it off to repair or to remove and replace the drive.
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Instructions
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Resolving Physical Errors
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Power down your computer and disconnect all of the cables connected to it. Place the tower onto a clear and stable work surface--like a table or a desk. Remove the screws securing the case, then remove the case. Many cases offer access to the hard drive through a removable side panel and will save you the trouble of removing the whole case.
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Check the power and data cables--the IDE or SATA--plugged into your drive. Make sure that the cables are securely connected to the drive. Remove the cables if they are loose. Look over the pins where the loose cables were plugged to check for bent pins. If all of the pins are erect and unbent, carefully reinsert the cables. Use a pair of tweezers to right tilted pins.
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Replace the power cable and the data cable. Remove the current cable and replace them with new cables or with like cables connected to you motherboard. Data cables have connection to support more than one device but it is best for data cables to be run directly from the drive to the motherboard.
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If the problem persists, you can substitute the drive with a known working one to determine if the problem lies within the hard drive or somewhere else in your computer's system.
Resolving Logical Errors
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De-fragrament the drive. Defragmenting your drive reorganizes all of the scattered data on your drive. Open the "My Computer" menu and then right click on your drive. Choose the "Properties" option from the menu and then choose the tab labeled "Tools" under the "Properties" menu. Click the option labeled "Defragment Now."
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Run Scandisk to fix logical errors such as duplicate name or cross-linked file errors. Revisit the properties tab in "My Computer" and under the "Tools" tab, choose the option labeled "Check Now."
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Format the hard drive. It is usually thought of as a last resort but a properly backed up system can ease the pain. Formatting essentially writes zeros across the drive to wipe it. Download Maxblast, or a similar free hard drive utility, and follow the instructions to clean your drive. You will need a copy of your operating system--Windows, Linux etc--to reinstall once formatting has completed.
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Tips & Warnings
The ScanDisk and Disk Defragmenter tools should be used monthly for maintenance.
Wear an anti-static wrist strap or rub your hands against any metallic part of your case when handling your hard drive to avoid shocking it.
