My Gaming Laptop

Using regular computer maintenance techniques it should be possible to fix broken hard drive issues on many occasions. In particular, this requires checking the hardware as well as the software. This post goes through the various troubleshooting checks you can do.

The first check to perform is to manually inspect the cables connected to the hard drive for signs of damage. Make sure connector pins have not been pushed in, bent or lost. Clear out dust from inside the computer to make sure the broken hard drive is not overheating. Visually inspect the hard drive enclosure for signs of adequate damage or any sort of burnt out components. This is the one type of hdd repair however that is best left up to a PC repair specialist to attempt to fix.

Next, start doing your software and BIOS checks. Open the BIOS menu and identify if the system correctly picks up your broken hard drive read it may be that another component or peripheral has conflicted with the drive. In which case, try removing the offending hardware component to test out your hard drive.

Another software check that is critical to do is checking the hard drive sectors for any corruption. This can occur due to physical damage to the platters themselves as well as disk management software issues. Use Windows error checking tool to performance test. If the computer can’t start up correctly because of the broken hard drive then boot the system from emergency boot disks in order to run the sector scan.

Finally, only resort to using data recovery software if your other attempts at doing HDD repair have not been successful. Install the software onto a second partition or a separate hard drive altogether. If your computer will not start then make use of an external drive casing to house the broken hard drive first and connect it to a second computer.