Many people do not know that your hard drive is usually the first part to go bad on your computer.  This happens because your hard drive is the only moving part in your computer and is more apt to wear out than your other parts.

How do hard drives work?

In a nutshell, the hard drive has platters which are spinning all of the time and when data is needed an arm that holds the read/write heads runs over the spot with the needed data and reads it. The arm can move up to 50 times per second. Again that is a very limited description of what goes on, but you get the picture that stuff is moving all of the time.

What are the signs that your hard drive is going bad?

1. The easiest way to tell that your hard drive is going bad is to listen to it. If wired clicking or screeching sounds are coming from your computer, you should try to get your data off immediately.
2. Hard drive have a technology built into them called SMART that can notify you if your hard drive is going bad. Usually you will see these when your computer is booting up and they will say something like “Pri master hard disk: S.M.A.R.T. Status Bad, backup and replace”. If you see this error than you should start moving your data ASAP.
3. You hear the hard drive grinding alot more than it used to. You become used to the sound of your hard drive if you use your computer for any length of time during the day. If you notice that your hard drive is grinding longer and louder than it used to. You might want to look into replacing it.

What if its too late?

The fact is that if it is too late, then you are going to have to pay upwards of $1000 to get your data back. So you should look into methods of backing up now before it is a problem. You can find an earlier post on backup solutions here.