How to fix a hard drive that is damaged or at risk of not booting in Windows or MacOS? step by step guide

The information that we store on our hard drives is usually very important, so the biggest nightmare of any user is undoubtedly that it breaks down and the data inside it is completely lost. The worst thing is that if you are reading this it is because you are living it, or you are afraid to do so soon.

However, technology has evolved so much that any user can get down to work to repair a physical disk and save the information inside it, so that the nightmare becomes little more than a bad dream.

In this article, we are going to teach you how to repair a damaged SSD or at risk of being damaged soon. Also, we will give you some tips to optimize your storage devices so that they perform at their best and extend its useful life.

Why does an SSD hard drive fail? Most common causes

The first thing to keep in mind when storing your information in this way is that all hard drives will sooner or later fail for one reason or another. These are not items designed to last a lifetime, and after a few years it will end up failing despite the best of care..

Wear

Wear and tear is like the old age of an SSD. This is something impossible for the user to avoid, since it is a direct consequence of using them. In addition, physical disks are one of the components that have the greatest weight in the entire structure of the computer, so it is normal that after a while they have to be changed.

In general, the useful life of a hard disk is 2 to 3 years, although today the drives have been optimized so much that they can function perfectly for more than 5 years. But after that time, at any time you can stop doing it.

logic failure

when we say failure “logical” we mean something that has to do with the internal software of the hard drive. This is usually one of the main causes of damage, but it is also the easiest to solve, being able to even recover the unit to 100%.

These logical errors can be caused by a malicious file that may have been lodged in the device and subsequently corrupted its Firmware, generating problems such as the computer not recognizing the disk. The operating system cannot be started or information cannot be saved or retrieved from it.

Electromagnetism

Electromagnetism is a proven reality, and although humans do not physically perceive it, electronic devices do, and even suffer from it in the vast majority of cases. Your computer generates an electromagnetic field around it, which has a unique harmonybut if it is disturbed, it can cause many hardware problems.

This usually happens when we use a lot of another device that generates a lot of electromagnetism, such as the radiation emitted by our mobile phones, don’t you think so? Well, just remember those years when you were on your computer listening to music and you were interrupted by an interference caused by an sms or a call reaching your mobile that was next to the monitor.

Physical damage

These are usually the most catastrophic, as there is no way to recover the drive if the damage is too severe. If one day you were careless and dropped your computer on, it is very likely that the hard drive will suffer a lot of damage as it will suffer an abrupt interruption combined with a blow to its hardware. This can easily damage capacitors and circuitry making an SSD a piece of tin..

Steps to repair a damaged or at risk of not booting hard drive in Windows and macOS

Good. Now that you know the reasons why your physical disk may be damaged or about to be damaged, it’s time for you to identify them and get down to work to save your life. Next we are going to teach you how to do it easily on both Windows and MacOS:

on Windows

Windows is more than enough the operating system that makes things easier for users, so that anyone can solve errors as essential as a physical disk failure. One of the tools they put at our disposal is the CHKDSKwhich checks and repairs logical errors in storage units.

To use it you simply have to do the following:

• What you have to do is enter “Equipment” and right click on the SSD that is damaged or giving problems and select “Properties”.
• Later we go to the section “Tools” and then we choose the option “Check”.
• By doing the above, the tool begins to analyze the disk and after giving us the corresponding report, we click on “Explore and Repair the drive”.

Afterwards, all the logical errors on the disk should disappear, which can be caused by an excess of residual program files or by a malicious file that is causing problems. Nevertheless, it is possible that if the damage is too deep you will not be able to recover the unit, but you can always get the information inside it. For this you can use the same CHKDSK tool, but this time from the terminal.

To recover information with CHKDSK what you should do is follow these steps that we will explain carefully below:

• go to “Start” and in the search bar type “Symbol of the system”, after that in the console write “CHKDSK c: /r”.
• Subsequently, the disk will be completely analyzed and will begin to recover all the readable information that is on its way, sending it to another external disk that you have connected.

This is an easy way to retrieve information, but it won’t always work as it only retrieves the readable information, that is, the one without errors. If due to a failure important files were damaged, they cannot be recovered by this meansbut if for one that we will explain later.

on macOS

On MacOS things change a bit as the native disk repair tool called “disk utility” is located in the BIOS of the computer.

So these steps you will have to write them down to apply them from it. The steps to follow are those:

• Restart your computer and when it comes back on hold down the keys “Command+R” until you enter the BIOS of the computer.
• Then you must click on “Disk Utility” and select continue. Then follow the path “Display”>”Show all devices”.
• Now you need to select the drive you want to repair and click on “First Aid” and then “Run”.

The tool will run and you should see a message indicating that there are no errors on the drive or at least that they have been fixed. If this is not the case, then you will have to use the following method that we share with you in this step-by-step guide.

With an external programs (Easeus Partition Master and Data Recovery Wizard)

If the native tools of Windows and Mac do not work correctly to repair the disk or at least to save the information inside it, we can resort to external software. One of the best options on the market is Easeus Partition Master, which is paid although it gives you a free trial with which you can solve things at least once. What you should do is the following:

• Download the program (later you have the link).

• In the interface of PartitionMaster, You must select the disk that is giving problems and select the option “Check Partition” and then select the option “Require Windows CHKDSK.exe” and then in “Okay” for the tool to run.

Download Easeus Partition Master for Windows

Now you just have to wait for the program to run and correct any possible errors. As in the previous cases, this will only work for you to repair logical damage, and although it is more powerful than the previous ones, it will not always be successful if the damage is very deep.

In case the disk is still damaged, what you can do is use another tool to recover the data stored in it. Easeus has an option for this too, which is your Data Recovery Wizard.

What you should do is the following:

• Download the tool from the link that we offer below
• Once you open it, select the partition of the disk that is damaged and click on “Scan” and wait for it to perform the scan, which can take several hours depending on the size of the drive.

• Once the scan is finished you will see a file explorer similar to Windows in which you must click on the section “Deleted Files”.

In this mentioned section will be all the files that can be recovered. Browse through it until you find the ones you are looking for and migrate them to another disk or a USB to save them.

Download EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard Windows

Download EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard macOS

List of the best alternative programs to repair damaged disks in Windows and MacOS

Well, we have already taught you the most effective methods to repair physical disks, but you may want to know other alternatives than EaseUS Partition Master to repair a damaged drive, so right now we are going to present you a list with the 5 best alternative software to this.

Hiren’s Boot

This is one of the best disk repair tools ever invented. It is very powerful since it acts directly on the unit and can be used in boot mode so that its actions do not incur any direct damage to the operating system in question. Also, has a wide variety of very useful pro-level features.

With it you can both repair specific sectors of any storage unit, be it SSD or USB, as well as recover all the information that has been trapped in it. You can use it with your CD or create a Bootable USB with it so that it is at your disposal wherever you go.

Download Hirens Boot Windows

AVG TuneUp

This is a tool that is generally used to optimize physical disks, but it also has an excellent troubleshooter that does the same and more than Windows CHKDSK. Its friendly and easy-to-use interface has made it one of the favorite payment options for a huge number of users. especially those using a Windows PC.

In this way, you will have a tool that will repair any logical error on your disk, and that will also keep it optimized to extend its useful life. Perhaps the only mole we can find is the fact that it does not have information retrieval functions..

Download AVG TuneUp Windows

Cloud System Booster

We continue with this other tool that is very similar to the previous one. It is a software created to optimize your computer completely, doing maintenance to both the disk and the RAM and cache, but it also has its own “Repairs” section that will allow you to correct all kinds of physical errors caused by damaged or infected files.

Download Cloud System Booster Windows

CrystalDiskInfo

This is a tool for monitoring the status of disks and storage units. It is one of the most complete solutions for data protection that there is and its operation is one of the simplest that you can find these days. You simply have to install it and schedule the reports so that every day you receive a detailed report on the status of your SSD.

In the event that a report throws errors, it also has the necessary tools to make them disappear as long as they are at a logical level and not physical.

Download AVG CrystalDiskInfo Windows

EASIS DriveCheck

We close with this other tool for monitoring and repairing logical errors on SSD drives that can save your life on any occasion. You simply have to install it and automatically every day or week (depending on what you program) it will give you a complete report of all the current state of your disk, being able to repair them if possible with some extra tools that it has integrated.

Download EASIS Drive Check Windows

Tips to prevent your storage disks from being damaged and increase their useful life

Well, they say that there is no better remedy for all diseases than prevention, so that they never attack you. We will put this into practice right now with your storage units. If you really want to have as few problems as possible, It is necessary that you take into account the advice that we are going to give you below.

Update the firmware

The firmware is an element of the programming of all hardware that indicates the most essential logic of its function. This is the one that tells a printer that its function is to print, to a monitor whose function is to display data and to a disk whose function is to store and exchange information. If this is outdated, it is possible that sooner rather than later the entire device will end up failing.

Defrag the disk

Many people say that it is a myth, but conscientious professionals know very well that defragment disk it’s as essential to a drive as showering is to a person or plucking facial hair. Just think about it, if you walk into a library that is completely messy it will be much more difficult for you to find the book you are looking for.

The same happens with the information on an SSD, if it is fragmented, the computer will need more time to find it and therefore the performance of the computer will also be reduced. For this reason, it is important to defragment your storage unit at least once a month.

Use updated operating system

It’s important that you always have an up-to-date OS and not a discontinued one like Windows 7 might be, no matter how much you refuse to let it go. This happens because these systems are no longer supportedso they are not properly maintained and end up filling your disk with residual files more easily.

Do not fill the disk

It is important that a disc is always kept with at least 20% of its total space completely emptyso that the traffic within it does not become complete chaos. So always before saving anything in it, check that you have enough free space.