Hard disks holding all your precious data still mostly contain a fragile disk spinning at stupendous speeds. In many ways it is incredible that they last as long as they do, but you can be sure that they will start to fail when you most need to rely on them. Signs of impending failure include slow computer performance, unexpected crashes, slow file openings and ticking noises from your computer.
The most helpful thing you can do if you suspect that your disk is failing is to shutdown the computer and leave it turned off. It may be that it is only going to allow a few more accesses before giving up entirely, and it is better we use those for copying everything over to a new disk than in running multiple diagnostics to confirm that it is nearly all over. Once the data is safe then our technical support team can do a few more tests to see if you really are in trouble, but safety first!
