Signs My Hard Drive Is Corrupted?

Run CHKDSK

Magali said:

Would that be the right thing to do in the case of a corrupted hard drive?

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No, but it's probably a good first step in your case.
Sounds like you have a screwed up operating system, possibly some viruses or other cause of that. First, right-click on your HDD, click on properties, go to the tools tab and click on "check for errors". Check the "scan for bad sectors" box and then run the check. Repeat for all HDDs and partitions if you have several. If nothing is found, odds are your hardware is fine.

Then get and install an up to date version of antivir, and run a full systems scan. Do the same with malwarebytes.

Then for the symptoms:

Magali said:

-Folders and files not in alphabetical order (even though I did not and would never make such a change).

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This has nothing to do with a corrupt hard drive. (Unless the hard drive is corrupt on the spot where the explorer is stored) Click on the bar labelled "name" above the window with the files in it. That sets the sorting to alphabetical. (Or click on any other bar if you want to sort by that column)
Close the explorer window, open it again and see if it's sorted alphabetically. If not, something screwed up your folder display options.

-Sometimes programs refuse to run and freeze

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Possibly a bad HDD, but very unlikely. More likely virus, dust, or broken OS.

-I click on a file again and again and sometimes it doesn't want to open

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That's just the same as above. It's the assigned program that doesn't work, not the file. (Or the program would tell you it's the file)

-I download a file on the internet and though it says it's downloaded it doesn't appear on my hard drive.

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Pay attention where you safe the file. The default folder was probably changed. It shouldn't be possible for the file not to appear, at worst, you should get an empty dummy file or an error message stating the drive is full.

-I use programs frequently and they don't appear on the start menu unless I pin them.

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No idea how that's supposed to work, i turned it off. It's a pain in the ass if my computer tries to guess in advance what i want from it.

If the problems don't go away, start by doing a repair installation of the OS and any programs that still don't work after that.

Lastly, check if the machine needs dusting. (how long has it been since the last time that was done?)

Can you detail your operating system, and confirm that your antivirus and malware/spyware software programs are installed and running OK? When did you last run a complete AV check?

-Folders and files not in alphabetical order (even though I did not and would never make such a change)
You should be able to sort folders and files by name, size, type or date modified, any time you like. Right-clicking inside a folder gives me Sort By options. Sometimes I've double-clicked on something too fast or too sloppily and accidentally re-sorted files in the current folder. I just re-sorted them.

-Sometimes programs refuse to run and freeze
No idea. Are they always the same programs? Or does this apply to every program you try to run? What are they, can you list some examples?

-I click on a file again and again and sometimes it doesn't want to open
My laptop (early Vista version) does a funny thing every so often, when I double-click on icons nothing happens, and I can't single-click on any taskbar mini-icons either. When I hover the mouse pointer over the icons, I don't see any info text pop-up telling me what the icon does. What I have to do when this happens is hit the Alt-Tab keys a few times, or list/display my installed software using Start > Programs > Accessories (which I list via the Ctrl-Esc keys) -- either of these actions seems to refresh whatever annoying software bug causes the mouse to stop selecting. After I do this, the mouse behaves OK again. Sounds crazy but that's what happens several times every day, and I've never been able to find a fix (I'd guess there's some system stack or table that gets full or messed up... and my doing this refreshes it somehow). I'm not saying this might apply to you, too -- but it's just one example of how a minor crap programming blip causing annoyance can make you think there's a huge problem. When it happens, try key combinations like the above, just in case this does something for you.

-I download a file on the internet and though it says it's downloaded it doesn't appear on my hard drive.
During the download process, you don't see where the file is being downloaded to? Can you check this from inside your browser? I use Firefox, if I go into Tools > Options > and check the General tab, the "Downloads" section tells me which subdirectory files will download to, and gives me the option to change this.

-I use programs frequently and they don't appear on the start menu unless I pin them.
Not all programs put a link icon into the Startup folder. You can add them or delete them from Startup as you like. I removed several programs from my Startup folder so they didn't run automatically and slow things down. I run them manually when I need them.

A system recovery is kinda drastic, a last resort. It will probably wipe your own files, make sure you've got everything backed up first.

-Derek

Ah i think something that needs to be explained for future reference is how an actually failing HDD looks.

There are basically only two ways in which hard drives fail, either corrupted sectors, or all at once.

All at once includes a multitude of various hardware failures, from broken chips to broken motors to broken cable connectors to broken RW heads. But the gist of it is, they're not fixable and they kill the whole HDD. Depending on what happened exactly the symptoms range from the HDD doesn't show up in the explorer because it's completely gone ~ forever, to the hard drive doesn't show up when booting, but does after a reboot, or the HDD is suddenly inaccessible after a reboot. If one of the latter occurs, immediately backup important files, if it occurs more than once, back up everything on that drive you want to keep and get a new one. It's the most warning you're going to get.

Bad sectors are very common actually. A forced reset (i.e. pulled plug) while the HDD is writing a file can cause this, so can little grains of dust and simple wear and tear. It's not tragic, a scan of the disk will find them and mark them as damaged so they won't be used in the future. A long continuous stretch of bad sectors can potentially destroy a file, though it'd be limited to a single file. If bad sectors start to appear with high frequency, there's probably something wrong with the RW head of one or more discs of the HDD and it's time for a new one. Bottom line though: bad sectors are a small localized problem, very unlikely to cause widespread errors.

One exception is a screwed up FAT. (i.e. a bad sector in the FAT) In that case, the OS can't properly locate files anymore, so you can get anything from the whole HDD appearing unformatted, to files being random puzzles made up of parts of (physically) adjacent files. It's rare, but does happen.
A screwed up FAT is something that can also happen without any damage to the HDD hardware. Maybe just a write error. (I.e. pulled the plug with very precise and very bad timing) File recovery software helps in this case.

Let's see... this just occurred to me. I am going to list the following 'symptoms' my machine is experiencing and you could tell me if you think my hard drive could be corrupted and what I could do in such a case.



-Sometimes programs refuse to run and freeze

HEAT. You might need a replacement fan inside your computer case.
I've had this happen countless times over the years - a new fan almost always fixed the problem.


-I click on a file again and again and sometimes it doesn't want to open

(Heat II. Or your motherboard could be on the wane. Computers start to act f--ing weird when individual components are wearing out.)

-I download a file on the internet and though it says it's downloaded it doesn't appear on my hard drive. (It sounds more like an issue with some major component inside the box getting ready to take a dive, memory, CPU, motherboard thingies, rather than specifically a hard drive problem.)


-I use programs frequently and they don't appear on the start menu unless I pin them. (I have no idea.)

Software problems can make people think that there are hardware problems, like a damaged drive.

There are invisible files that keep track of file information--what app created a file, when, what the icon should be, where it lives physically on the drive, when it was last modified, etc.

If these files are damaged--because of a crash, evil environmental influences like a minor fluctuation in electricity while a file is being written, microscopic dust, etc.--the system can properly read, use or understand their data.

The most drastic I'd probably do -- after saving all of my own data, plus having copies of drivers and programs I want -- is wipe the hdd and reinstall Windows. It's a pain because of how much data you want to save elsewhere, usually, but that's a good idea for back-up, anyway. The programs should be on disk or can be saved or can be re-downloaded. Same with drivers.

You could see how old a 'Sytem Restore' checkpoint you have under Windows. That might work, more easily. Along with the scans, etc others have mentioned -- good ideas.

Check your start up programs. Both in the start bar next to the clock and in the menu Startup folder. Turn off anything you don't need to have running. For example camera software likes to run all the time, but doesn't need to.

NEVER start with wiping the drive...that is a last ditch process.

One thing I want to ask is how full is your hard drive?

A few of those symptoms (like the first) sound like software problems or user error.

But something like the system hanging or freezing could also be caused if you have very little space left on your HDD.

Magali said:

I started out with 233 GB of hard drive space, 205 GB for me to use after Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit was installed, and the last time I checked, I had 187 GB for my use. I've never defragmented my hard drive. Do you think that my help with the errors? I can't find Checkdisk or scan disk anywhere. Thanks for trying to help me. You guys are really great.

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It's chkdsk, but if you aren't familiar with it, please be careful. Go to the Windows Start Menu, choose Run and then type chkdsk. I like Lhun's suggestion below for chkdsk much better.

Edited to add: disk defragmenter is safer. Go to your start menu, look for all programs, accessories and then system tools. Pick disk defragmenter. You can't do too much damage here. The program will give you the option to analyze the disk first. Do this. If there are no problems to fix the program will tell you.

Magali said:

I started out with 233 GB of hard drive space, 205 GB for me to use after Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit was installed, and the last time I checked, I had 187 GB for my use. I've never defragmented my hard drive. Do you think that my help with the errors?

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No.

I can't find Checkdisk or scan disk anywhere. Thanks for trying to help me. You guys are really great.

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Open the explorer. (Press windows key + E) Rightclick on the drive. Probably "Local Disk: C:", if there's more than one (there should be actually) do the following steps for all of them.
If you don't have the explorer set to show the tree on the left, click on the part that says "Computer" up in the adress bar and the drives should show up.
After opening the right-click menu, choose "properties". The open tab should be called "general". Pick "Tools". Click on the button labelled "check now". Check both boxes and click run.
You might have to log in with admin privileges to do the scan. I don't see a reason why that'd be the case, but i don't use non-admin accounts so i don't know.

Magali said:

Do I have to close all programs before I do the checkdisk? And then not use the computer again until it's done?

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Not necessarily, but the HDD being scanned will be extremely slow, so it's best to have it done while you're not using the computer.

I am going to do the defragmenting, too, because I have never done it, and techs I've talked to, both online and in person recommend that this be done about once a month, online back in 2002 when I had my first Compaq Presario. Once again, Lhun and all of you, thank you so much.

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Back in 2002 you had to, newer file systems handle that much better. Well, even in 2002, if you had Win2k it wasn't necessary once a month. Either way though, until a disc is nearly full, defrag isn't necessary and isn't going to do much. You have 80% free space so you can safely wait until you've got 80% used space. In any case, you need to have a seriously fragmented drive to notice any big difference from a defrag, and even then it'll only speed up disc operations, not help with errors. (since fragmentation won't cause those)
But it's not like it can do any harm either.

Addendum: Note that that's on a per-partition basis. If you've got two partitions on the same disc and one is full and the other empty, the full one can need a defrag. Empty space on a different partition doesn't matter, even if it's on the same disc.

sounds like a windows thing..... The longer you run it the more unstable it becomes. You need to backup>format>reinstall every now and again.

or switch to ubuntu

Magali said:

Hey, Ave, I saw a "Desktop Edition" and a "Netbook Edition", but I have a laptop.

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netbook is for devices with small screens, and lower specs- the desktop edition is the standard version for laptops/desktops etc.

its a fantastic operating system, and is for all intents and purposes virus free, which is really what sold me on it. The only disadvantage is that it doesnt run some of the software that is made for windows. if you install and play a lot of games, or require specific windows software (such as specific payroll package etc) then it may be best to stick to windows.

That said, you are able to try before you install, by inserting a disk and running a live session- its a little slow, because its running off a disk, but you can get an idea of what its like before committing.

Magali said:

Thank you. I am going to do the backing up, reinstalling of Windows when I get a marker to label my recovery DVD's so that I know which recovery DVD is which and I don't mess up. I never thought I would have to do this, but meh... thanks for all your help. I will check out the link to Ubuntu because I have never used it and I don't know what it's like.

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You have to be pretty rough with a modern windows (2k and newer) to necessitate a reinstall. Even most serious errors can be fixed with a system repair and with just a little care (no pulling of plugs, no deleting system folders, no opening executable attachments) it can run for years without problems.
But if you don't have software that requires windows (games...) absolutely, get a linux distro like ubuntu or fedora.

Every one of the symptoms that you originally described could be attributed to changes that you could have made yourself, some by accident. The click-no-response problem could also be mouse senility, fixable with a cheap new mouse. None of them are definite signs of data corruption, even less of hard drive failure. So the best thing is not to worry but to learn how to (re-)adjust things on purpose. Fool around a little, investigate one thing at a time.

Magali said:

I freaked out because Ave just told me that if I don't reformat, reinstall, or get a new operating system, my computer's going to get worse, and so far, my computer hasn't experienced those symptoms lately.

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sorry to freak you out, I was just giving another possible solution to your problems. Sometimes a format is the best solution when your pc is acting up/bombing out/freezing and just running badly. Just like my windows box is doing at the moment grrrr you know when photoshop bombs out that there is a problem!

Its time consuming, so I usually put it off till the last moment, but if you are no longer experiencing these things, and not installing/uninstalling a lot of software, then you are probably okay for a while longer

Switching operating systems is best if you are worried about viruses/spyware or dont want to spend the extra cash on software- something that us writers really appreciate lol