troubleshooting a hard disk drive
Seven steps to troubleshooting hard drives
Here’s a quick and proven hard disk troubleshooting process. With each point, ask yourself the question(s) that follow.
Physical connectivity – Is the drive receiving power? Is it plugged into the PC by a correctly connected ribbon cable? For IDE drives, are its jumpers set correctly? Or with SCSI drives, are its SCSI termination and ID set correctly?
BIOS setup – Does the BIOS see the drive?
Viruses – Does the drive contain any boot sector viruses that need to be removed before continuing?
Partitioning – Does FDISK find a valid partition on the drive? Is it active?
Formatting – Is the drive formatted using a file system that the OS can recognize?
Drive errors – Is a physical or logical drive error causing read/write problems on the drive?
Operating system – Does your OS have a feature that checks the status of each drive on your system? If so, what is that status?
Checking physical connectivity
To work properly, a hard drive needs power and a connection via a ribbon cable to the PC. If a drive doesn’t work after moving it to a new PC, after physically moving the PC, or after the cover has been taken off, start your troubleshooting by checking the physical connectivity. It’s possible for plugs to jiggle loose when moving a PC, and it’s easy to uproot a ribbon cable connection when pulling circuit boards or performing other maintenance tasks inside the case.
A hard disk works with any Molex connector from the PC’s power supply. Make sure the plug is fully inserted. Molex connectors require a lot of pressure to fully insert, and even more pressure to remove, so don’t be afraid to push hard or pull, as the case may be. Just make sure you handle the plastic connector, and do not try to push or pull the wires.
As the PC starts up, place the palm of your hand on the flat part of the hard disk. If you can detect any vibration, the drive probably has power. If there’s no movement at all, either the drive’s
Here’s a quick and proven hard disk troubleshooting process. With each point, ask yourself the question(s) that follow.
Physical connectivity – Is the drive receiving power? Is it plugged into the PC by a correctly connected ribbon cable? For IDE drives, are its jumpers set correctly? Or with SCSI drives, are its SCSI termination and ID set correctly?
BIOS setup – Does the BIOS see the drive?
Viruses – Does the drive contain any boot sector viruses that need to be removed before continuing?
Partitioning – Does FDISK find a valid partition on the drive? Is it active?
Formatting – Is the drive formatted using a file system that the OS can recognize?
Drive errors – Is a physical or logical drive error causing read/write problems on the drive?
Operating system – Does your OS have a feature that checks the status of each drive on your system? If so, what is that status?
Checking physical connectivity
To work properly, a hard drive needs power and a connection via a ribbon cable to the PC. If a drive doesn’t work after moving it to a new PC, after physically moving the PC, or after the cover has been taken off, start your troubleshooting by checking the physical connectivity. It’s possible for plugs to jiggle loose when moving a PC, and it’s easy to uproot a ribbon cable connection when pulling circuit boards or performing other maintenance tasks inside the case.
A hard disk works with any Molex connector from the PC’s power supply. Make sure the plug is fully inserted. Molex connectors require a lot of pressure to fully insert, and even more pressure to remove, so don’t be afraid to push hard or pull, as the case may be. Just make sure you handle the plastic connector, and do not try to push or pull the wires.
As the PC starts up, place the palm of your hand on the flat part of the hard disk. If you can detect any vibration, the drive probably has power. If there’s no movement at all, either the drive’s