Laptop intermittently says “Boot Device Not Found” after a critical process crash
My HP laptop had its motherboard replaced a few months ago, and it was wiped and reinstalled with Windows 11. After working normally for a while, it began…
failing hard drive
How can I recover data from an external hard drive that may be failing?
I have two identical 2 TB external hard drives. I regularly back up one with Seagate Toolkit and bought the second as an additional safeguard, but when I…
Windows 11 Installation Fails at 75% After BIOS Update
A computer built in 2022 began experiencing random crashes, game errors, and other instability. Reinstalling graphics drivers, verifying game files, and running SFC and DISM did not help.…
Is My E: Drive Failing, and How Can I Fix the Corrupted Recycle Bin?
For the past day, Windows has repeatedly shown a message saying that the Recycle Bin on my E: drive is corrupted and asking whether I want to empty…
Is My E: Drive Failing, and How Can I Fix the Recycle Bin Error?
For the past day, Windows has repeatedly shown a message saying that the Recycle Bin on my E: drive is corrupted and asking whether I want to empty…
Is My Seagate 8TB Hard Drive Failing Despite Showing a Healthy SMART Status?
I'm not very experienced with PC hardware, but my hard drive has started behaving strangely over the past few months. I previously downloaded games to it without problems,…
What Could Be Causing a Tapping Sound Inside My PC?
My computer has developed a strange tapping or clicking noise that doesn't seem to come from the fans. I temporarily stopped the fans, but the sound continued. It…
My PC’s hard drive is showing an imminent failure warning—should I replace it with an SSD?
I shut down my PC earlier, and when I turned it back on, it displayed a warning that the hard drive may be failing soon. The computer is…
Why does my new PC sometimes take 15 minutes to boot and become extremely slow?
My fairly new computer has an Intel Core i7-14th Gen processor, 32GB of DDR5 memory, a KLEVV M.2 SSD as the Windows boot drive, a SanDisk SATA SSD,…
My 1TB WD External Drive Is Extremely Slow—What’s the Best Way to Recover the Files?
The drive's blue power light turns on, the computer recognizes it, and all of the folders and files appear normally. However, even small files take a very long…
Windows PC Suddenly Takes 10+ Minutes to Boot and Becomes Nearly Unusable After Login
My computer used to boot in about 15 seconds, but over the past two days it has started taking 10–15 minutes to reach the sign-in screen. The displays…
PC crashes during games, fails Windows reset, and keeps restarting
My PC used to run normally, with only occasional crashes during demanding games. After I bought Minecraft and joined a Realm, it started restarting a few minutes into…
How can I recover a disk image from a failing 5TB external hard drive?
I recently bought an external hard drive to store my files and connected an older 5TB Seagate drive that had been sitting unused in a closet for several…
Why do my Steam downloads keep stopping every few seconds?
I have a powerful computer with gigabit internet over Ethernet, but Steam downloads for about two seconds, stop for roughly five seconds, and then resume. The disk-usage graph…
Why does my Steam download keep pausing every few seconds?
I have a capable computer with gigabit internet over Ethernet, but Steam downloads for about two seconds and then stop for roughly five seconds before starting again. The…
How long can I safely use an old HDD with 67% health?
I installed a 500GB hard drive salvaged from an old Lenovo ThinkPad into my desktop. A disk-monitoring tool reports 100% performance but only 67% health. How quickly can…
Is running CHKDSK /f /r safe for a hard drive showing pending sectors?
I have an Acer Aspire 3 A315-42 with a 1TB hard drive. CrystalDiskInfo is reporting a warning for Current Pending Sector Count, so I'm considering running chkdsk /f…