1. A method for gracefully relinquishing a computer hard disk drive from imminent failure, comprising the steps of: (a) providing the disk drive with a base, a motor having a rotatable spindle, a media disk mounted to the spindle in the base, an actuator pivotally mounted in the base with a head for interacting with the disk; (b) monitoring a head-disk interface in the base; (c) sensing a degradation in the head-disk interface; and then (d) prolonging the onset of failure in the disk drive by selectively altering performance parameters of the disk drive in order to transfer data saved on the disk to an alternate storage medium.