While you may be able to repair software errors caused by bad sectors, and in some cases you may be able to repair the bad sectors themselves, if your drive has begun to fail mechanically nothing will stop the process.

The catch then is to detect the imminent failure of your drives before they give out on you and data is lost. Let's look at some common warning signs of impending hard drive failure:

• Frequent but irregular crashes, especially while booting up Windows.
• Frequent and cryptic error messages while performing typical activities like moving files.
• Folder and file names that have been scrambled and changed.
• Disappearing files and folders.
• Really long waits to access folders and files.
• Hard disk is silent for a long period after you request data by opening a file or folder.
• Garbled output from open files or printing.
• Hard drive grinds away constantly because of noisy bearings.

Any of the above signs mean you should have your hard drive checked as soon as possible.

Sound can be an excellent indicator of disk trouble. If you previously didn't hear a peep from your hard drive, but now you do... have it checked out. If it seems much louder than usual, or makes occasional clicks or grinding sounds... have it checked out ASAP and be prepared to backup your data and replace the drive.

If your drive is making regular clicking or grinding sounds, chances are you have a mechanical failure within the drive. Turn off your PC as soon as possible, as this kind of problem can quickly snowball into a huge headache that is way beyond the scope of a pair of Aspirin. The longer the drive is powered on, the more damage you may be doing to your data.

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