Might my external hard drive be breaking down?

I just right-clicked on the largest folder on it (the one that has all my important files), and selected Properties to check what its size on disk was, and the computer had to scan through the folder first before it could tell me. I closed Properties and opened it again, and the computer scanned it again. Is this normal? Shouldn't the size just come up right away without a scan being necessary? Does this mean that the drive might be breaking down and I should buy a new one?

 

Thanks. I just let Windows scan it as it's not a Seagate drive. No errors were found.

 

Thanks. Fortunately, that scan I mentioned only took 30 seconds or so. But that thread will come in handy if it ever gets any slower.

 

Going back to your original question, concerning a delay in Windows Explorer searching through your sub-folders and files to determine the size of the folder each time you right click on it and select properties - that is not a problem. I believe that is standard Windows procedure. On some folders, there is so little information that the response feels like it is automatic. Other, especially larger folders with multiple sub-folders and files, it takes longer.

I am running Windows 7 on a Dell laptop with a 4th generation i5 processor. It is fast and I just checked and it is doing the same thing. Right click on the Windows folder and it takes 3 or 4 seconds running up the total space used. Right click on another folder, such as Program Files, and it does the same thing. Go back and do it again on the Windows folder and it repeats the process. It is no faster the second time than the first.

Suggestions made by others for checking out the health of your drive are good ones. The Seagate tool will run on your drive, regardless of the brand. Other drive manufacturers offer similar programs, and there are quite a few freeware and shareware programs here on the MajorGeeks site that are useful as well. Some of the test programs are excellent. They perform exhaustive tests and usually use SMART technology to report on your drive health.

When you first login to MajorGeeks, on the left side, choose Drive Utilities. Then choose Hard Disk Drive Tools. There are dozens of programs, some specific to your hard drive brand. Try one of the SMART view programs first, to see the various tests that are performed, and the values set to determine if anything is getting suspect, and the actual data that is found for your hard disk. It can be insightful. There is also the always available chkdsk program to run in a Command window. Bad sectors showing up, or noise from the drive, would make me start worrying. Otherwise, I pretty much rely on the SMART parameters to make me feel comfortable that the disk is still in good shape.

Hope this helps.