[SOLVED] How do i know if my hdd is going bad?

[Obsnacks]

I feel like my hard drive has been slower than normal and I wanted to know how I can find out if it not going bad because I don't have the money to get a replacement right now.

 

[timmllnsw]

I feel like my hard drive has been slower than normal and I wanted to know how I can find out if it not going bad because I don't have the money to get a replacement right now.

Usually you can download a utility from the manufacturer's web site that will verify the integrity of the drive. But simply running slower than you think it should, is not necessarily a sign of a failing drive. More often than not, it is a sign that it needs "freshened up", or better put, low level formatted. Any reliable utility which writes zeroes to the drive will accomplish that. Is Windows your OS by any chance? Windows writes to the drives a lot. Drives can become cluttered, by which I mean that a heavy mix of one's and zero's in the cache area will cause a drive to kinda bog down. Just keep your eye on it, and format it off if you have the chance.

 

[USAFRet]

It is probably not the physical drive, but rather all the software and junk on it.

How old is the install on it?
Which specific OS is it?

 

[Obsnacks]

I just formatted the drive and reinstalled windows my os is windows 10 home

 

[timmllnsw]

I just formatted the drive and reinstalled windows my os is windows 10 home

You just recently formatted it, and then it started running slow? You did follow convention when partitioning and formatting, did you not?

 

[Obsnacks]

i formatted it today because yesterday i was playing call of duty and textures were not loading in and i thought it was my hdd because it was running slow it is still running somewhat slow but not as bad as yesterday i had this hdd for about 2 years i also just bought a m.2 so i can only have games installed on the hdd so it will perform better hopefully

 

[USAFRet]

Bottom line - drives do go bad. All the testing in the world will not make it 'not die'.

 

[Obsnacks]

So theirs no way of knowing

 

[USAFRet]

So theirs no way of knowing

I've had brand new drives go from seemingly perfect to absolute dead in about 36 hours.

HDDSentinal might give you an indication.
But even if it says "perfect"...it could still die.
And if it does say the drive is failing..what will you do?

Don't depend on software or 'feeling slow' to start protecting your data. Things can go south very very quickly.

 

[Obsnacks]

Is a 120gb m.2 enough for windows 10 and also like downloading a web browser and game launchers not games obviously

 

[USAFRet]

Is a 120gb m.2 enough for windows 10 and also like downloading a web browser and game launchers not games obviously

No.
Windows really needs to be on a larger drive. 240/250GB minimum.

Yes, some people do have a 120GB as their OS drive.
And most of them spend far too much time in managing that space.

 

[Obsnacks]

how many gb is windows

 

[USAFRet]

how many gb is windows

It is never "just windows".
All your drivers, all your applications and utilities, pagefile, temp folders, /User/ folders....etc, etc, etc.

 

[Obsnacks]

so this isnt good enough because im on a tight buget
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P22T3VD/ref=twister_B08414QWJQ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

 

[timmllnsw]

i formatted it today because yesterday i was playing call of duty and textures were not loading in and i thought it was my hdd because it was running slow it is still running somewhat slow but not as bad as yesterday i had this hdd for about 2 years i also just bought a m.2 so i can only have games installed on the hdd so it will perform better hopefully

USAFVet just gave you some good advice, but don't just throw in the towel. Download one of the better free partitioning tools, and install it. Or, if it's a Western Digital, download DLG Tools and install it. In the freeware, Paragon, or Ranish Partition Manager are good. Any of those will tell you if you have an error in your file system, or partition structure. That would cause this.

 

[USAFRet]

so this isnt good enough because im on a tight buget
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P22T3VD/ref=twister_B08414QWJQ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0781VSXBP

 

[USAFRet]

i also just bought a m.2 so i can only have games installed on the hdd so it will perform better hopefully

Is this the one in your Amazon link?

 

[Obsnacks]

nope well unfortunately i dont have enough money for that at the moment so hopefully my hdd holds up

 

[USAFRet]

nope well unfortunately i dont have enough money for that at the moment so hopefully my hdd holds up

Your current HDD may last another year.
Or it may die as I'm typing this.

 

[timmllnsw]

so this isnt good enough because im on a tight buget
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P22T3VD/ref=twister_B08414QWJQ?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Kinda sucks how these things always seem to happen at a bad time, does it not? I don't know what your budget will stand, but these guys have a good rep too:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XHMB5GP/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B07XHMB5GP&pd_rd_w=YdwbD&pf_rd_p=48d372c1-f7e1-4b8b-9d02-4bd86f5158c5&pd_rd_wg=JQFCU&pf_rd_r=9ZGNAW3JZ1AGCQ15E3MZ&pd_rd_r=d3f13af7-bc29-4090-974b-7ff15f69f96f&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUExRjRGTzdUNzRDTUo1JmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNzEwNTk1M1VNNjI0QkpUWk1ZRiZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwNzg2OTMyMzVTRjdFNVVaQjhPUSZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbCZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU=

 

[Obsnacks]

ok well thanks for the help

 

[mdd1963]

Things will begin to slow down as a 120 GB SSD gets to about ~80% full as well...; as others have noted, life is challenging on a 120 GB SSD these days.

Make sure there are no 'Old Windows' needlessly occupying 12 GB of space, delete unneeded restore points, remove unneeded applications, and set Recycle Bin size to just 1 GB manually in recycle bin properties...