DIY Hard Drive Repair – How To Fix File System Problems Fast…
Although today’s PCs and Macs make it easy to take care of a lot of tasks, hard drive repair is definitely not one of them. A hard drive failure may lead to the loss of very critical data, and is frankly beyond the scope of many users; at least users without help, anyway. Here are some methods that you should consider when you are experiencing a hard disk crash.
General Hard Drive Troubleshooting Comes First
Your broken hard drive can display errors such as “retry, terminate, ignore” or “cannot read disk” while operating, or during the boot process. This is a sign that there may be bad or unreadable sectors on the drive. Reformatting and reinstalling the operating system can sometimes correct this problem. Know, however, that you must backup your files and folders first, as any reformatting will destroy all data on the disk.
Here are a few general file system and disk repair methods you should begin with:
Use Operating System Utilities
Often, fixing file errors within the operating system can be as easy as using the built-in Windows tools themselves. Scandisk can be a good starter, as can disk defragmenter. Once you have scanned the drive and defragmented the files, run Disk Cleanup to make sure all junk files have been deleted.
Check Drive Cables and Connections
If there is a sign that the hard drive may not be receiving power, check the four wire connector from the power supply. Is it properly seated?
If the connection is good, you can scratch the power supply connector off the list and do two things. You can check voltage with a millimeter. On the other hand, it’s much quicker to connect another four wire connector from the power supply just in case the connector is at fault. There are usually additional connectors from the power supply, especially if it’s modular. If it is modular (i.e. the cables can also be disconnected from the power supply), try a new cable.
If the connection shows very low or spiking voltage from the power supply, the power supply may be going bad.
What About If The Drive Will Not Boot Up?
Boot the computer with a classic DOS-based Windows startup disk. If you have a Windows platform newer than 98 (who doesn’t, really), you’ll have to search this out on the web. There are still a lot of people that host these files, as DOS can be a powerful administrator tool.
In DOS, make an attempt to access drive C: by typing DIR C: and press Enter. If you observe the directories on drive C, attempt to make the drive bootable by typing sys a: c: and press Enter. Sometimes this works, albeit it’s best to perform this at your own risk.
If the Drive Boots But Hangs Up at Boot?
Typically, a hang up issue is the fault of Windows. While it may not be necessary to completely reinstall, Windows XP does offer a “Repair Current Installation” feature. This is rarely damaging, and can actually provide you with good results. Give this a shot, and you may find you aren’t having the great deal of problems that you thought you were. Sometimes, hard drive repair really is that easy.
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