How to fix hard drive short DST failure

Here you will find out:

• what a short DST failure is

• how to fix this error

• how DiskInternals Partition Recovery can help you

Are you ready? Let's read!

About short DST failure

Drive Self-Test (DST) failure happens when the BIOS cannot complete the hard disk self-test process during Windows startup. Most modern computers, like those manufactured by Dell and HP, are designed to carry out a short DST check; hence, if your computer has DST support, it’ll attempt to run a hard drive test during startup. When this test does not run successfully, you’ll get the “hard disk short DST failure” notification.

This error shouldn’t be taken lightly, as it implies that something is actually wrong with your PC’s hard drive. Follow the recommended practices below to troubleshoot your hard drive and possibly fix the issue that prevents the DST check.

What does a short DST check failure look like?

When a DST short check failure occurs, you’ll notice these issues with your PC:

How to fix short DST failure error

Here are few methods that can be helpful and any of them can be your solution.

Method 1: Update your device driver

When your PC drivers are outdated, a lot of things could go wrong, and you’ll frequently encounter errors. If you can still boot the computer properly, try out this method and update your drivers to their latest versions.

Below are steps to update your hard disk driver from Windows Device Manager.

Method 2: Connect the hard drive to another computer

This method comes in handy when you cannot boot the computer. It applies to Windows 7, 8, and 10. Follow the steps below.

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