What are the signs of a failing hard drive
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 wait times 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