I am running KDE 4.13.2 on Kubuntu 14.04. It is a triple boot machine with Kubuntu/ Ubuntu Gnome/ Windows 7 combination. But Ubuntu Gnome and Windows 7 are rarely used, if at all.

Of late, my hard disk has been making excessive noise. Once, the PC refused to start because 'some address was beyond /dev/hda'. But on restart, it worked properly. But I am worried.

How do I check the hard disk for errors and fix them?

Considering I am new to this, it would be of great help if you give step by step directions.

Code: Select all

sudo smartctl -a /dev/hda

"hda" being the actual device, on more recent systems, it should actually be "sda"

NOTICE:
when your HDD starts making scary noise IT WILL BREAK.

Do NOT waste any time running that box.
Do NOT start S.M.A.R.T. health tests on it (those will spin the disk a lot!)

SECURE YOUR DATA!
DO! IT! NOW!

The HDD is gonna fail and there's no software to fix that and fixing the hardware is 100 times more expensive than a new disk (seriously).

1. Remove the breaking disk.
2. Install a new disk.
3. Install an OS on the new disk.
4. Install the old disk next to the new disk.
5. Boot from the *new* disk.
6. Mount the old disk "read only" (ideally. If you don't know how to do this, nevermind)

COPY ALL DATA PRECIOUS TO YOU TO THE NEW DISK.

If above is beyond you and nobody at hand to help you out: just attach some USB storage and copy your valuable data there.

On read failures, try dd_rescue to recover what's possible AFTER SECURING WHAT WAS READABLE.

Then kiss the old disk good bye.
If you want, you can perform health checks to see why it breaks (overtemperature or just age) BUT SECURE YOUR DATA FIRST!