Why Hard Drives break

Posted by on Sep 1, 2011 in Blog | Comments Off

There are two main parts we at SLO Computers run diagnostics for: system memory, and hard drives. Why? Because they break the most often. Your Hard drive is the last piece of hardware in your computer that relies on mechanical movements. Essentially it’s just a bunch of thick discs stacked on top of each other, all spinning. If one or more of those discs gets misaligned, your hard drive will make those funny clicking noises, or it might just smell like toast. Either way, that’s a bad sign. If your hard drive is making noises, smelling funny, or you can’t hear any spinning noises when you put your ear up to it (make sure not to electrocute yourself), it may have problems.

Solid State Drives

If you are getting a new computer, getting a solid state (aka flash memory) drive is a great option. These drives do not use mechanical movements, and operate more like system memory (they don’t move). This means a much more reliable hard drive that could last a long time. Plus, they are way faster.