Matt's Tech Blog

What is the worst thing that can happen to your hard disk drive? You said it, it crashes! But what about all your important information you had stored on it? How will you ever be able to get all those back? The worst part is, you never saw it coming; or at least, you had no idea what the crash signs and symptoms were, so you did not know what to look out for! Well that’s why we’re here- to help you pinpoint those signs and symptoms of hard disk drive failure. So, you won’t get blindsided by such a failure in which case, the only thing to do would be to turn off your PC and call a data recovery specialist.

The first thing you need to know is, you hard drive will fail! As horrible as it sounds, all hard drives gradually over time lose its effectiveness and eventually fail. Okay, now that we have that bit of important information covered, we can now look for the signs!

One of the first signs includes your computer slowing down while saving and loading files. Here, the file may not load or even save and an error message eventually occurs after numerous minutes of the hourglass spinning. The frequency of this occurrence is a precise indication that some alterations need to be done to your hard drive. Another sign is also strange, slow, unusual crashes. With this, the computer freezes and you lose all control and the only thing you are left to do is to shut down. It might also be followed by continuous freezes by your keyboard and mouse (even though at times, it is just the hardware going bad). A more serious sign and symptom includes unusual sounds. Whether it is the whirring or buzzing of mouse clicks, whenever this occurs, a computer specialist should be contacted immediately as usually when these types of noises are heard, shortly after the hard drive fails; as these sounds may be the result of a broken actuator arm of the failure of a servo motor. Additionally, if there is no sound from the hard drive to indicate that is reading or writing from a storage device while it is, then there is a big problem with the drive! This is due to excessive heat being released by the Central Processing Unit which causes some components within the hard drive to expand and touch other components.

Now one of the most common signs of hard drive failure is system boot up problems. Sometimes when you press the power button to turn on, it refuses to due to the fact that the hard drive has corrupted boot record data or contains bad sectors. In such a case, it means your hard drive is in imminent danger as most times, booting is done from the hard disk and if there is a problem with it, then the computer will not boot up. Other little signs to look out for include file loss or corruption, multimedia files having a life of its own by skipping and being distorted as well as the blue screen of death appears. This blue screen appears with a lot of information written on it, basically means it is running a crash recovery program to recover data that has been lost.

When all is said and done, if you are experiencing more than one of these symptoms, then you need to back up all your information immediately and contact a computer specialist to take a look at your hard disk drive! Don’t think it won’t happen to you! So even if you are not having any of these signs, it will only be a matter of time before you will, which in that case, start backing up those files from now!

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If you ever took an Information Technology class in your life, then the word motherboard should not be foreign to you. Many regard it as the central nervous system of a computer and just like what the analogy suggests, without the central nervous system, the human body would seize to exist and so without the motherboard in full-swing operation, that computer would seize to be useful! But is that all we are able to tell off hand about a motherboard? Considering that it is such an essential component of a computer system and more importantly, so prevalent in many households, shouldn’t the average Joe be able to tell how it looks, its basic functions and capabilities? Yes!

But the average Joe has no idea where to start to learn about the motherboard, and the search engines all prove to be much ado about nothing! So what’s the next option? Well, how about our great little crash course that you have already started, which might I add is on the house! So let us take you from the dungeons of “No Computer Knowledge”, to a place where terms like CPU, RTC and RAM all seem like a part of your native vocabulary!

So what’s the first thing a computer dummy would need to know about a system’s motherboard components? Well, a definition of a motherboard would be helpful! Certainly, it is the main circuit board of a computer which comprises of many components, mainly the Central Processing Unit (CPU), the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) and the chipsets. Additionally, there exist sockets, memory chips and a clock generator that all work hand in hand in the daily operation of one’s computer system. A bit flustered with the above mentioned terms? Why would you when these all will be explained in a jiffy!

But first it should not be mistaken that the motherboard is limited to only computers, as it is also found within electronic devices such as stop-watches, mobile phones as well as clocks! Yes, I know what you’re saying now; all motherboards and more importantly, motherboard components are not the same size due to the devices in which they are placed! See, you’re learning already!

Now, back to our regular programming, the CPU or as it is more commonly known, the processor (like in those Dell ads, ‘the Intel processor’), is a key component of a computer system that contains the circuitry necessary to interpret and execute program instructions. In essence, the CPU performs mathematical and logical operations through the ALU (Arithmetic Logic Unit) and the CU (Central Unit) regulates the activities of the system. Additionally, the motherboard uses the CPU to communicate with the rest of the system. Follow? I know you would!

Moving right along to the BIOS, as introduced earlier, is another critical constituent of the motherboard that controls the operation of the system. It is responsible for booting up one’s computer while it also initializes the hardware, making sure it is working and ready for use. In lament terms, the BIOS is in charge or starting up one’s computer. Another main component, include the chipsets. As they are grouped in pairs, they carry out different functions as the north-bridge links the microprocessor with very high speed devices such as graphic controllers and the south-bridge links the microprocessor with low speed buses such as the PCI, APM and the real time clock. Notwithstanding all this, the interface, which is another motherboard component, allows the average Joe to connect instruments such as hard drives and peripheral devices including printers, microphones and cameras!

Well that is all the time we have for today but I trust that this lesson proved beneficial and an eye-opener to the many average Joes in internet land!

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