Windows 8 In Depth

Dealing with Hard Disk Errors

Our hard disks store our programs and, most important, our precious data, so they have a special place in the computing firmament. They ought to be pampered and coddled to ensure a long and trouble-free existence, but that’s rarely the case, unfortunately. Just consider everything that a modern hard disk has to put up with:

• General wear and tear—If your computer is running right now, its hard disk is spinning away at probably 7,200 revolutions per minute. That’s right, even though you’re not doing anything, the hard disk is hard at work. Because of this constant activity, most hard disks simply wear out after a few years.

• The old bump-and-grind—Your hard disk includes read/write heads that are used to read data ...