Hard drives:  at some point, our hard drives die.  That is a fact.  Our hard drives are what hold our data (programs, files, etc.).  Hard drives are not memory (or RAM); to use a general term it would be better to refer to the hard drive as STORAGE.  On all computers hard drives are defined in terms of their size; today they are measured in GB (gigabytes).   Some extremely large hard drives are measured in TB, terabytes (1000 gigabytes).

The point I’m trying to make here is that our hard drives will fail us at some point.  For most of you, I’ve probably replaced your hard drive at one point.  There are software tools that can test if your hard drive is failing.  Feel free to ask me for some free advice and I can give you a recommendation.  My thoughts on this are as follows:
1)  Be pre-emptive.  If your data on your hard drive matters to you, replace your hard drive every 2 to 3 years whether its failing or not.
2)  If this seems like too much of a hassle or an expense for you (because you probably can’t do it on your own and it takes about 3 to 4 hours); please have multiple backup systems in place.   It would be good to have an external hard drive to backup all your files and at least one online backup system (which could be free — like Dropbox) for your documents

When it comes time to get a new hard drive, whether pre-emptively or upon failure — there is a new technology that you should know about.

3)  Hybrid Hard Drives:   Hybrid hard drives function just like the traditional hard drives that we have been used to for 25 + years, however have a small portion of flash memory built in.  This is the same kind of storage you would use for your digital camera.  They result:  a computer that starts a little faster and programs that open a little faster.  A hybrid hard drive is a smarter hard drive!!   When you need a hard drive replacement; this is what I will be recommending.  The best part is, they only cost $20 to $30 more than a traditional hard drive at most.  Remember:  I don’t charge a markup on parts.  You can be sure that I’ll shop around and get the best price for you.