The type of software that is MOST LIKELY NOT working correctly due to the malfunction in disk operations is the operating system.
The operating system manages hardware resources and facilitates disk operations, including writing to and retrieving data from the hard drive. If there are issues with these disk operations, it is most directly related to the functioning of the operating system. Utility programs may also be affected since they often interact with the operating system and handle disk tasks, but the primary software impacted by hard drive malfunctions is the operating system itself.