Is it typical to lose a hard drive on a laptop after only 3 yrs?
(bios = Sept 06-- Dell)

We have never lost a hard drive (except when one blew up with a power pack failure)... We don't carry this laptop around that much.

Hubby couldn't boot it up this morning. We thought the cat had walked on it while it was doing a scan last night? But my son over the phone is looking up the error messages and says the hard drive is dead.

Jo, is it worth fixing? Luckily we backed it up a few months ago, son doesn't think he can clone it. But he said he could put in a new one. Or should we spring for a new one? Any thoughts?

It is common for things like hard drives to go out in laptops because of heat issues. Laptops arent the best at cooling because of the limited space inside.

It is a fairly easy fix as you just take a couple of screws and it pops right out. You can google your laptop to see exactly how to change this out. I would think it is worth changing it if you like the laptop, plus it is much cheaper than replacing the whole thing.

I would compare prices , cpu/speed & ram/hard drive sizes of the new laptops out there {sales .. } and decide if it is worth fixing the old one or buying a new one.

Do you have a restore disk you could try ??
or doesn't the drive make any sounds at all..

we have been very pleased with http://www.newegg.com/

prices always seem really good compared with others and often free shipping too! They have excellent phone support as well so one can ask questions bf purchasing

Hubby tried the restore disc... no go.

As soon as he cruised the website for Dell (and saw the $289 discount) that was it. (1/2 what we paid for 3 yrs ago).

A new machine with tons more stuff, 3Gig RAM and 250Gig hd, etc he was sold. I think he will order it tomorrow. And it might come before Xmas. ( I am making him "sleep" on the problem.)

We are looking at 9 hr battery. That is the only perk, + dark blue cover ($40).

I guess we have both become computer addicts!
It was really acting up on vacation....battery died, keys sticking, slow, etc.

My son can get a new HD for $60 thereabouts. So the plan is to get the new one, and then at my son's convenience, he will install a new HD. Then that old one will be a back up. Maybe I can lie in bed now with that, and come here! Wouldn't that be something! LOL

I am so glad I forced him to get the new back up... at least My Documents are saved!

It has sure been some exciting moments here today. I had no idea my husband was sooooo attached to that laptop!

And there goes my new camera...which I have wanted for 2 yrs now. Maybe that will come down in price by next year?
All the money we save with my seeds this spring should help with the cost. I hope.

This has exhausted me... I'm going to bed!

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

9 hr battery???

Awesome!

You can replace the hdd though - if I did it, anyone can, really! I bought a Western Digital when mine hit the skids, Took me a few mins to put it in plus a little while to set the machine back up (you know, files and all). And it's been just fine ever since.

I think the replacements are far superior to the stock hdds.

And yeah, if you're not using the laptop, you'll get to love that. I miss mine something fierce - dh has it.

Not made to last long.
Should be cheap to replace though.
Both my desktop hard drives failed in under 2 years. Luckily with warranty.
Got it home and then the DVD burner failed.
bit late now, but next time-Always get extended warranty with computers as there are so many individual components.

I use a cooling pad w/my laptop. Important to keep in mind is if one is used, make sure that the fans (computer and pad) don't work in conflicting directions.

And, the HD - along with the RAM - on one of my laptops completely fried only a few months after I received it (as a gift). The manufacturer replaced the parts, yet I had to be totally assertive and go up the "food chain."

The machine wouldn't do a darn'd thing - to enable recovery of data - until I purchased a program that works as a boot from the CD/DVD drive. Before replacing the HD, etc., I recovered everything I wanted and kept/packed the old drive.

We have a second puzzle:

Hubby brought down the back up for that laptop (which used to be on this machine, before we bought the new Seagate one).

So he could move our finances to here until the new laptop comes --estimated delivery Dec. 22. (it is in transit now)

So last night he did an Avast complete scan and it found a trojan?

Win32AGENT-AICW[trj]

The I may be l... can't tell. Could this be why the laptop crashed?

I did a search for this and could not find it. I got up at 4:30am today and came down here, and found the AVAST stopped on it, and so I copied and sequestered it in the chest. (the typical action).

Any experience with this? Is it just a low virulence thing?

Any trojan isn't a good sign.


I know I'd not re-install "infected" programs or files, though.