Practise you own an HP laptop or desktop estimator? Are you detecting signs of hard drive failure similar tiresome functioning or sudden crashes? A failing difficult drive might be something y'all tin't ignore, as your entire calculator depends on information technology to acquit out tasks. Not only is your hard bulldoze used for data storage, but your operating system is on at that place as well. Performing tests to diagnose the problem can help you lot find the right repair solution,

A brief overview

Widely known for their personal and business IT solutions, Hewlett-Packard (HP) produces different hardware and software products. A few of these include, HP Spectre, x360 laptops, Chromebooks, LaserJet printers, and EliteDesk Desktops.

Difficult bulldoze failure is a common problem that not only HP users face, and can be very irritating. On elevation of that, hard drive failure is also something that is quite unavoidable. Hard drives do neglect over long-term utilize, and volition need a replacement.

HP laptop

Why practise hard drives fail?

Traditional spinning difficult drives contain moving parts to read and write data. The moving parts are disadvantageous to the hard drive'south durability, equally accidental impairment or natural wear and tear tin can cause bad sectors. The bad sectors then put a risk to the drive'southward lifespan.

And so what are bad sectors? All difficult drives come up with minor amounts of bad sectors, and they exercise accrue over time. When they do accrue to a considerable amount, the difficult drive will showtime to neglect. Errors like slow boot up times and corrupt files are signs of such. Larn more than well-nigh why hard drives fail and some error signs to await out for in "Top 8 hard drive issues and how to set up them yourself".

Fixing a faulty difficult drive

HP users may use specific tools and tests to diagnose their laptop or desktop drives. This may be a good precaution against data loss from difficult drive failure. Understanding the problem at hand and using the right tools can help you find the right solution.

Here'southward our guide to diagnosing and repairing an HP hard bulldoze yourself:

one. Examination hard drive with HP built-in diagnostics

For your HP laptop or desktop estimator, you have a few options here: chkdsk, HP Support Assistant, and HP Diagnostics UEFI. These tools tin can be used to test your arrangement for whatever hardware issues.

"Chkdsk" can be found on all Windows PCs, and is used as a elementary hard disk drive checkup tool. If your computer still boots successfully, you lot can run it from a command prompt, or the properties window of your hard bulldoze.

Chkdsk tin can attempt repairs on soft bad sectors caused by software errors, and mark hard bad sectors caused by concrete harm to be skipped over. If run regularly, information technology tin can exist a useful tool to prevent and fix things earlier bodily failure.

HP congenital-in tools

As you can tell from their names, HP Back up Assistant and HP Diagnostics UEFI are HP-specific tools designed to examination HP devices for whatsoever bug presented. These two apps should already come with your computer, just you may also download information technology from the HP Support site if needed.

If you can kickoff your calculator up successfully, you can launch HP Support Assistant for diagnostics and online back up. If you lot can't get your computer to boot to Windows, you'll take to use HP Diagnostics UEFI at bootup.

HP Back up Assistant

HP Support Assistant is where you can discover all the data y'all need about your computer. Information technology is also where you can run diagnostics on all components on your system. Y'all tin can launch the pre-installed app to practise so.

To test your organization, you may run simple checks like Performance Tune-upward Cheque for system optimization. Or run HP Hardware Diagnostics to test for potential hardware bug. This not only includes the hard drive, but also components like memory and the video card. And so you might fifty-fifty discover other hardware issues that you can fix yourself.

HP Diagnostics UEFI

Yous tin can still exam your hardware for issues if you lot tin't boot successfully to Windows (blank or stuck at HP splash screen). To use HP Diagnostics, just hold the "Esc" primal when y'all restart your computer to reach the startup menu. Then press "F12" for System Diagnostics.

HP Diagnostics performs a full system checkup, and will study whatever hardware faults with failure codes. Afterward y'all note downwardly whatsoever failure code y'all become, yous may cheque with HP Customer Support to find the right solution to the failure

two. Test your difficult drive with dedicated analysis software

WD Data Lifeguard hard drive tests

Sometimes simple system tests aren't enough to fully test your hard drive. And so the next stride might exist testing it with dedicated hard drive analysis software. Software like WD Data Lifeguard (Western Digital) or SeaTools (Seagate) are some tools you can use.

Hard drive analysis software often offers two test options: Quick and Extended. With quick tests, information on the bulldoze is verified and and a SMART exam is performed. This tests for any potential soft errors and failures. Extended tests are more thorough, with stress tests that diagnose bad sectors. They unremarkably have longer, upward to an hour or more than.

With this method, you'll have to do a trivial more prep than merely launching an application. This involves taking out the faulty hard drive from your laptop or desktop estimator, and connecting information technology to a different desktop computer via a SATA enclosure box. Testing the bulldoze on a desktop estimator keeps it isolated from other factors that may impact its performance. The SATA enclosure beingness powered by a different power source also helps for this thorough check.

While the above options can exam and repair rising problems, bad sectors are unavoidable and can still cause the eventual failure of the drive. So if you may desire to cull a long term solution over a short fix that may just buy you lot another yr on the drive. This brings us to hard drive replacements.

3. Choose a hard drive replacement

Understanding what y'all need and want in a bulldoze and its operation tin assist you lot choose the correct drive for your computing experience. Here are a few things to look out for.

Finding your ain hard drive model

Your current hard bulldoze model tin be your reference while y'all're looking for a new i. By judging your experience with your current drive, yous'll be able to gauge what kind of experience you want out of your estimator. Y'all may want a faster drive, or more storage infinite. And comparison that with the bulldoze you lot have been using can help yous determine.

You can find information about your hard bulldoze model on HP Support Banana, along with other hardware and software information. Or you tin find information technology from Device Manager, nether "Disk Drives". The backdrop page can help you find information for further inquiry.

If your computer can't boot correctly to become to the above methods, you tin can check your hard drive model from BIOS setup. This is F10 from the startup menu that is prompted past holding Esc during kicking upward.

Or yous could simply open your laptop up and see for yourself. Difficult drives have data such as model and serial number printed on the front characterization. Taking it out for a quick expect is as well an easy way to familiarise yourself with your laptop.

What should I look for in a hard drive?

Grade factor

A 2.5-inch hard drive

A 2.five-inch hard bulldoze.

SATA hard drives mostly come in two physical sizes, 2.5-inch and three.5-inch. This refers to the rough diameter of the spinning platters on the drive. Laptops generally use 2.v-inch drives, while desktop computers contain the latter. Equally the two.v-inch drives are smaller to fit into the laptop bodies they relatively accept less storage capacity than iii.5-inch ones.

Capacity

If you're happy with the storage space you've been using before, information technology could be a good idea to stick with that. This helps to avoid buying too much infinite that you won't be using anyway.

Still determining how much space you really need tin can be hard to imagine. For reference, you lot'd normally crave 250-500GB for personal use of documents and media files. For professional utilize of larger media files such as creative projects, you might need at least 1TB or more.

Speed

The revolutions per minute (RPM) of the spinning platters determines how fast the drive can read and write data. It goes without saying, the faster the RPM, the faster the operation of the drive.

Consumer-grade drives normally come in either 5400RPM or 7200 RPM. Equally mentioned, you lot'd of class want to choose the higher RPM. Even so, as the moving parts do need to be powered, the college the RPM, the more than power the drive volition depict. Then for a more than balanced but not as fast performance, 5400RPM might exist the way to go.

Replacing HDD with SSD

Samsung 840 EVO SSD

Samsung 840 EVO ii.5-inch SSD.

An SSD upgrade tin become you lot the best of both worlds. By using NAND memory, information technology does not contain machinery that needs to be powered. This means it draws much less power, and offers better durability and operation. SSD upgrades are more and more pop these days as a quick performance boost. Learn more in our guide to SSD upgrades.

Where can I buy a hard drive replacement?

At that place are many options in the world of tech hardware these days, both online and in-shop. Ownership from trusted retailers similar Amazon or directly from HP can usually get y'all a reliable purchase.

If yous're keen to become some in-person communication, shopping in store tin also be a great option. By going to a local retailer yous may be able to get useful pointers on the right hard bulldoze replacement for you.

4. Install your new hard bulldoze

Now comes the real stuff. Installing your hard drive past yourself should take nothing more than than a few simple tools and a few guidelines to follow. This is an almost-immediate solution to hard drive failure as yous'll be able to replace it and utilise it in no time.

HP Support's YouTube channel has a lot of resources and video tutorials that testify people how to supplant and repair their ain HP devices. Here's one well-nigh replacing the hard drive or SSD on an HP EliteBook 840 G3 Notebook PC:

Pop tech DIY site ifixit also offers repair and upgrade guides for all sorts of hardware products, including HP products. Find a repair guide specific to your HP laptop or desktop computer there.

five. Install Windows on new drive

You lot won't be able to use your computer once you've but installed it as there is no operating system on it. Starting it upwards will only prompt errors like "no operating organisation constitute". To starting time using your new drive equally a kicking drive, a Windows installation will naturally be needed.

An easy mode to reinstall Windows on your new bulldoze is by using a USB installation media. Commencement, download a Windows installation media onto a USB with at to the lowest degree 16GB chapters. Then, at startup, agree "Esc" but similar earlier to enter the startup menu. Only this time we're non looking for F2 Diagnostics. Select F9 Boot options menu and choose which device to boot from. Install Windows, and then you're done!

Summary

To sum up, fixing hard drive issues by yourself can exist a very simple and rewarding thing to accomplish. We take pride in giving the right DIY solutions, as nosotros very much enjoy making tech easy for people. A quick tip though, always call back to backup your data. Creating regular backups non just secures your files from potential crashes, it likewise puts your mind at ease. Knowing that your data tin can be accessed from a condom identify anytime is always a skilful feeling.

Professional repair

Diagnosing a laptop

While anybody is totally capable of doing all this themselves, you may find yourself too busy or you might not have the right hardware tools. Choosing to go with a professional repair can and so be something to think nearly.

For specialised professional repairs, you can accept your computer to an HP-authorized service centre. Bringing along whatever information about errors reported will as well be a great assistance to support technicians. However, their replacement and repair services offered may depend on your figurer model and the state of the hard drive.

Checking your warranty earlier doing all this might also be a good thought. If your HP laptop or desktop computer is still under warranty, you might be able to get a complimentary replacement and servicing from an HP-authorized service middle. If not, your only professional repair solution will be from a third-party repair service.

Speaking of third-party repairs, that's where we tin can help! Located in Inner West Sydney, our technicians at Safemode Figurer Service are highly rated and knowledgeable. Nosotros offer full checkup services and can provide you with the right repair solutions to any problem you might have. Call us today or drop by our Inner West store for a friendly conversation.