Question Is my hard drive dying???

[urbina.christian123]

I've had a pre-built Asus PC since 2016. I put in a Gtx 1050ti SSC, 600 watt Evga PSU, 2x8 3200mhz Corsair Vengeance, and a Samsung 860 EVO. A while back a power outage burnt out my motherboard, so I dumbly had it replaced with the same factory mobo. I've been playing games on this PC since day 1, it wasn't until 2 years ago that I noticed my boot time taking around 15 minutes and trying to open an application within the first 8 minutes will take 20 minutes on its own. My disk C drive is at 100 % for 40 minutes upon turning on my computer. Random items that I have no idea what they are take up all the disk usage while my EVO has never gone above 50 %. I tried to put more stuff on my EVO , but it doesn't allow me saying that I don't have the authorization. I've looked up hundreds of videos on how to clean my Disk C drive and how to make it faster, but nothing has worked at all. I've had the idea of wiping my hard drive clean in hopes to boost my PC to its original form (decent speed, not fast, but not 20 minute boot up) and re-download my games later, but I feel it wont won't work. I have also had the idea to buy a newer and better mobo (instead of a factory mobo from a Asus), as well as a new hard drive and reinstalling Windows because I already have upgraded components other than these two. But I am not sure of how to go about that or what the cost should be.

 

[jimmysmitty]

So if I gather the 860 Evo is a secondary drive and you are using the original HDD that came with the system?

If so, I would backup the Evo and install Windows to it then put the HDD as a secondary drive. You can then use some tools on it to see if it is failing, its possible but would need to look at the SMART info with a tool like HDTune to be sure.

 

[urbina.christian123]

So if I gather the 860 Evo is a secondary drive and you are using the original HDD that came with the system?

If so, I would backup the Evo and install Windows to it then put the HDD as a secondary drive. You can then use some tools on it to see if it is failing, its possible but would need to look at the SMART info with a tool like HDTune to be sure.

Yes, the factory HDD is the main drive that is carrying the OS. I thought of doing this, but upon research I found that it could go very wrong with transferring Windows. Also, I have around 600 GB on the HDD and around 200 of the 500 in us on the EVO.

 

[jimmysmitty]

What could go wrong? Windows licensing? Should transfer just fine.

I would still get a large external drive, back everything up and install to the SSD.

What you are describing could be a failing HDD, its possible when the old board failed it damaged the drive. You can always check the Event Viewer for errors related to Disk.

Also don't think its worth buying an after market board. Asus tends to put decent boards in their prebuilts.

 

[urbina.christian123]

What could go wrong? Windows licensing? Should transfer just fine.

I would still get a large external drive, back everything up and install to the SSD.

What you are describing could be a failing HDD, its possible when the old board failed it damaged the drive. You can always check the Event Viewer for errors related to Disk.

Also don't think its worth buying an after market board. Asus tends to put decent boards in their prebuilts.

How do you suggest I transfer? What application do I use? Do I have to transfer everything or can I just transfer the OS?

 

[jimmysmitty]

I would get a 1TB external HDD. Backup all data that is unrecoverable, documents, pictures etc, using file explorer (drag and drop) from both drives. Then I would remove the HDD and leave the SSD in. After that I would do a clean install of Windows 10 (I assume since its a 2016 PC) of the latest build. Then move over anything you want to run fast on it application wise. Then rconnect the HDD and test it out. If it shows any signs of failing, like SMART counts, then replace it with a new drive as the data drive in the system.