Tech & Auto
SSD Problems? These Are Key Signs That It Might Be Dying
By NICHOLAS WILSON
Determining the cause of your SSD’s problem can be challenging. However, several signs indicate that it may be dying and needs to be replaced.
File Access
Receiving an error message while trying to open files on your SSD or facing other issues, like applications randomly crashing, might indicate that it’s faulty.
To check on Windows, press the Windows key and enter “Command Prompt” in the search. Right-click on it, select Run as Administrator, type “chkdsk C:” and press Enter.
The scan will note the number of Bad Sectors, the part of the SSD that’s unusable. You can attempt to fix your bad sectors by typing in the “chkdsk C: /f /r /x” command.
Booting Issues
Your drive may be starting to fail if it takes several tries to boot up your computer or it doesn’t start at all. You may get stuck at the SMART error screen if you are on Windows.
You can go around this by going to your BIOS. Turn your computer off and press your BIOS action key during the boot, then find the Boot Override menu and select your primary drive.
From there, you can transfer your files onto another device and look into repairing or replacing your SSD. Mac users might get the “No Startup Disk” error during the boot.
On Mac, you must go into recovery mode by powering off the device and holding the Touch ID/Power button until you see “Loading startup options.”
Click Options and then Continue, and enter your admin name and password if prompted. From there, you can launch Disk Utility and try to repair the drive.