What are bad sectors and how are they created? Here are some useful tips.
One of the main problems regarding hard drives are i bad sectors. These are particular areas of the disc that have suffered damage, more or less serious, and can cause the device to malfunction.
Sometimes it is not so obvious to find areas of the disk with bad sectors, however there may be some symptoms which may indicate any hard drive problems.
First let's go and examine what is a bad sector. This is an area of the disk that can become corrupted and no longer accessible for writing and reading. Normally even having one or more bad sectors does not compromise the correct functioning of the hard disk. Over time, bad sectors can increase and cause more and more problems in using the device.
The presence of bad sectors can manifest itself with some symptoms. For example, files become mysteriously corrupt and no longer accessible. This problem is very serious because it could corrupt an important file and cause very high damage.
Another symptom is the extreme slowness operating system, which could take much longer to read and write files, causing sudden freezes and freezes when trying to access files.
The continuous lighting of the hard disk reading led while you are not using the PC, could be a symptom of bad sectors. However, this symptom is more difficult to define, because it could be a background update system or an active process that causes the hard disk LED to light up continuously.
If you encounter some of these problems, you can use a software to define the health of the hard disk, which allows you to check if there are any major damage to the disc. In this case it is always better to make a complete backup of the files, because compromised sectors can cause a sudden loss of data.
Bad sectors can be of two types, hard e soft. The first type is determined by physical damage to the hard disk. For example, they can happen when the read and write head comes into direct contact with the disk surface. This happens if the disc has suffered a shock and mechanical problems have occurred. The only solution is to repair the damaged parts by contacting professionals in the sector.
The second type occurs when there are logical errors, for example caused by a virus or malware that corrupts your data. In these circumstances, data can be saved and the virus removed.
To prevent bad sectors on your hard drive, it is important to take care of your computer. It is especially recommended to keep the PC well ventilated out of direct sunlight. If it is a notebook, avoid bump the device on the table so as not to damage the hard drive.
Another tip is to use uninterruptible power supplies and avoid sudden shutdowns operating system. Furthermore, protection against viruses and malware must be used by installing a valid antivirus.
Bad sectors hard drives: conclusions
If you are having particular problems with your PC and the symptoms are those listed in this article, there are probably bad sectors on your hard drive. It is recommended to contact data recovery experts such as , to investigate the causes and back up your information before it's too late.
