Hard Drive About To Crash

Dear Computer Lady,

My desktop computer just gave me a message that my hard drive is ready to crash.

Can I attach an external hard drive to backup all the files?

Then can I use the external drive to run the desktop? Or do I need to replace the original drive?

Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated.

Diane

Dear Diane,

If your hard drive is about to crash, then you need to backup the files as soon as possible, and in the meantime, don’t use the computer!

The more you use a computer when the hard drive is starting to fail, the less chance you have of being able to recover your files. I would take it to a computer shop to get your files recovered, rather than trying to do it yourself.

You can use an external hard drive to backup your files, but you will not be able to run the computer from that drive. You will need to get the internal hard drive replaced.

Elizabeth

 

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Elizabeth Boston is a Web designer, Social Media Consultant and managing editor of, “Ask The Computer Lady”.
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