How to tell if a HDD is dying?

[notfred]

I think the hard drive in my laptop is dying. Is there anything I can do to test it?

 

[Squally Leonharty]

If it supports SMART, use a SMART diagnostic utility, such as Active SMART, to see what it says about your HDD. That should do. I wouldn't worry too much yet, until SMART tells you there's something really wrong. Still, regular backups are important. 😛

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: Squally Leonharty
If it supports SMART, use a SMART diagnostic utility, such as Active SMART, to see what it says about your HDD. That should do. I wouldn't worry too much yet, until SMART tells you there's something really wrong. Still, regular backups are important. 😛

I've reinstalled windows twice in the last three days. I'm getting BSODs saying windows can't find DLL files. The thing is failing to boot. It's an older machine (IBM T-21, P3 800), I don't think it supports SMART.