Getting a hard drive error on my laptop. What should I do?

Your laptop could bring back many different warnings.  To be honest, many of them are very vague and could mean that 101 things could be the problem.  But, if you’re getting a hard drive error warning, that’s pretty much spot on and you should take notice.

If you’re getting a hard drive error on your laptop, what should you do?

1.  Back up your files pronto!

Don’t waste time.  If your laptop is still operating, back up your pictures, desktop, music and other files that are near and dear to your heart.  Hard drives are on timers with how long they last and if your hard drive is failing, you can only imagine it has just a few breaths left to live.

2.  Don’t run your hard drive into the ground.

This applies if you cannot reach your files for recovery.  If your laptop doesn’t power up or start, then keep it off.  Any further powering up could further damage your hard drive.  Why should you care?  This part may make the difference between an affordable data recovery job and grinding the hard drive to an expensive lab recovery effort.  Don’t push your hard drive if you can’t start up your laptop.

3.  How can you recover your files?

Well, if you’re a laptop expert or data recovery specialist, you probably already know this step. It’s a matter of popping out your hard drive and extracting the files.  Simply enough, right?  If this is not your forte, then you should bring your laptop to a local laptop data recovery service to further assist.

4.  How can you get your laptop fixed and running again?

In cases of a failed hard drive drive, you just need to replace it with a new one.  Yup, it’s that simple.  Then, get Windows installed, your hardware device drivers, software, and reconnect it back to your network and peripherals.  If this is not your thing, a local laptop repair service will surely be able to assist.