What is a drive?

In a home or typical office-based computer we generally have one or a small number of drives. These are storage areas where the operating system, the programs and your data is kept. It is called “non-volatile” because you can power the computer off, and the data stays stored there.

When you power a computer on, some of that data gets copied up in to the memory (RAM) which is “volatile” and would get lost when the power goes, so anything being worked on in RAM needs to be saved back to the drive on a regular basis. A drive and RAM are both needed for a computer to work.

There are broadly two types of drives, the older-style Hard Disk Drive (HDD) and newer-style Solid State Drives (SSD).

HDD’s have been around for decades, and have spinning platters inside a bit like a CD, but there are a number of them stacked. Drive heads move in and out to read the sectors, or to change the magnetic charge (the heads float a tiny fraction above the surface but don’t touch it). Unfortunately HDD’s feel fairly slow even when working well; and a hard drive tends to have a limited operational life.

The inside of a HDD

See the platters (on the right) and the read/write heads and motor (on the left)

SSD’s come in different shapes and sizes, but are not spinning platters. They are computer chips, and typically tend to be a minimum of 5 times faster than a hard drive, but often much more than that. They used to be very expensive, but in the past couple of years have become very affordable. These days every new computer should have an SSD in it, though some people still might need very high amount of data storage on a HDD as well.

Drives might sit inside a computer, or might be external.

How do drives fail?

A HDD platter spins at between 5000 and 10,000 rpm, and has a number of heads that move. These can get hot, and physical movement can also jolt them. If a head touches a surface it can cause damage. Or, the motors can just wear out.

With SSD’s each chip can ‘flip’ a charge a set number of times before it wears out. Extra space is set aside to allow for this, but a drive still has an upper limit on a number of writes. The electrical signal also generates a by-product of heat which can build up.

Additionally, any drive has a physical connection usually with a cable or a connector. Each time these are physically moved or removed these is a small amount of wear.

Oh no! Is my data going to suddenly go?

Not generally, no. There are a number of monitoring tools that can detect the small gradual deterioration on drives, and alert you – sometimes as you are working, other times when you turn a computer on.

A drive error you might see when turning a computer on

These alerts must not be ignored, but are a sign that you need to act before the data is lost.

And, you can install some software that reads SMART data (that measures tiny errors and predicts failure). CrystalDiskInfo is a favourite.

Sometimes you might hear a HDD making an odd sound (this is serious). Unfortunately in our experience, it’s also just as likely that an older drive might simply just fail, without warning.

What should I do?

If you start to see signs of a problem but the drive is still working, then first and foremost ensure your data is backed up. This might be something else in your hand (a USB stick), a place on the internet (OneDrive, Dropbox), or another computer. On the whole, you should prioritise unique data first (photographs, perhaps important documents). Its easy enough to make a new computer and put a new version of Windows or MacOS on it, but once a photograph is lost it is gone.

Once your data is safe, it’s generally time to buy a new drive. Whilst specialists could look at trying to repair a drive, it generally is not worth the cost. Additionally, a newer drive will likely be a fair bit faster than an older one, or might have more space on it.

If the new drive is for data only, then once it’s plugged in you are generally good to go. If the drive also hosts your Operating System, then this is when you need to install that, then programs, and then get your data back.

If your drive isnt booting or being visible, it is still possible to get the data off; though its not a guarantee. It may take specialist software to read the data off, or may even need to go to a forensic-style lab. At this point costs can seriously mount up and you will have to weigh up the value of the data.

We offer services to address all of the above, so give us a call if you have worries, or if you are interested in a newer drive to make your computer faster.