computer hanging (probably hard disk problem)

[lozeekhari]

Few days ago, I let my computer to download a movie. it took few hours. When I came back and wanted to open the movie, I found my computer in 'hang' state.
Then I pressed power button, shut it down and started again. It again became hang. I thought its because of virus problem and tried to format. Even after multiple tries, I couldnot format it.
Finally, I made only one partition of my hard disk and tried to format again. And it worked. This way I did the complete format of my hard disk. However,my laptop did not worked out the way I wanted. It is too slow. And if I open up heavy programs(having more disk space i.e. photoshop, dreamweaver etc) it becomes hang. I took my laptop to the service center and they said that its the problem of hard disk and I should change my hard disk.
But I dont think that my hard disk is totally corrupted and if it is not why should I change my hard disk? right??
Nowadays, I open it in safe mode.Although, it generates a bit more heat than usual, it works well.
Can you please tell me what exactly is the problem??
And how can I solve it??
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[Sujeet]

The Problem is either due to faulty HDD or RAM and there are slight chances that it is caused by overheating.
Scan your HDD for bad sectors using this tool:
If any error shows up during scan then HDD has gone faulty.

To check issues with RAM
Run memtest86.

 

[topgear]

^^ the HDD scan tool looks nice ... thanks.

@ OP - you can try the HDD scan tool suggested by Sujeet or else for seagate HDD use seatools and for WD hdd use Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool.