Some times you experience slow copy and load times on your computer. This could be a problem with your hard disk. Hard disk problems on your computer need excess attention. A crashed hard disk takes away a lot of important data on your computer that you cannot afford loosing.
Signs of a hard disk going down:
1. Long copy and load times. Copy times are measured with data like simple video clips, music and pictures. Software installations and other such folders that contain huge number of files take long times.
2. Click sounds from a hard disk.
3. Spin up and down sounds from a hard disk. constant spin retries
4. Folders take long time to open. Computer gets slow (you can’t think of any other problem).
5. Temperatures more than 55 degrees is a danger sign. Check temperature with HD tune. Ideal temperature depends on the room temperature.
6. Frozen computer, with no mouse activity.
7. Millisecond loops in media (music and videos).
HD tune is a free hard disk benchmark tool that can help detect problems. The normal graph on it should look like the screen shot below. Nature of graph is always going down and no major sudden deviations in the middle. If the transfer rate drops to a very low value frequently, you have something to worry about.
