Is my laptop hard drive about to die?

porsche911girl · porsche911girl's Garage

For the last several months (ie, over 6) the hd on my dell laptop has been making a strange noise like it's trying to process something, but is unable to do it. I figured that was a bad thing from the first time I heard it, especially as this is my 2nd hard drive (had to replace the orig. one).

Now it's started freezing up my entire comp every time it makes that noise, which is a lot more frequently now. I'm guessing it's on its way out, which isn't good for me, as I have stuff on my laptop I want backed up (music and photos and word docs and such) and don't want to shell out $300 again like I had to do LESS THAN A YEAR AGO to have someone back up my hard drive and reinstall winxp etc etc.

Luckily I have an external HD but when I've tried to back my stuff up lately, it won't over-write the things already on it, but instead copies them over and now it says there's no more room to copy anything, and I have multiple copies of the same things on it...grrr and it's very frustrating to have to go thru it all to find which ones to delete, etc.

But anyway, back to the original topic. Is my laptop hd on the way out? Also, does the extreme operating temps that my laptop gets up to (grrrrrr! right where the hd sits too) contributing to its failure?

Lastly, what do you all think I should do? I've had this computer for 4 years now, so it's not new. Dell stopped making this particular model a few years after it was discovered to be over-heating, so that's a known issue with it, with no known fix, other than get a laptop cooling pad (which I have--doesn't help). One thing I did notice is that I did a little experiment with it the other day, I turned it on, but didn't actively use it for several hours, just let it sit there with MSN messenger on, and no other progs. running, and lo and behold, it didn't get nearly as hot as it normally does when I use it. Go figure.

Anyway, should I shell out $100 or so for a new hd, or should I just get a new laptop? Preferably one with a bigger, brighter screen that I won't have permanent neck damage from leaning over to see it, and one without any overheating issues?

**Thought I'd edit to add that the comp is runnin pretty slow lately, and I've done Ad-aware and spybot checks on it, found lots of 'problems' but whether or not any of them are affecting the speed of the laptop, I don't know. Also, there's 41 processes running on it right now, but some of them can be closed. I normally have below 40 running at any given time.

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

Find the harddisk in your laptop
Write down the model, etc (you might just use your camera phone and post the info here).
You will need to purchase a compatible spare drive. The good news, you can purchase a larger one!!!
Purchase a USB 2.0 notebook drive enclosure ($20)
Purchase Acronis Migrate Easy ($39.99) ( www.acronis.com )

Install AME on your harddisk and then create a bootable CD
Put the new disk into the USB drive enclosure, plug it in and boot from the CD
The program will then take you through moving everything from your Laptop Drive to the new drive
Shut down, replace the old disk with the new disk.

stomachmonkey · 05-15-2007, 03:07 AM

Yes heat can contribute to component failure.

It will run cooler when it is not doing anything. The processsor generates the heat and if it's not processing it will generate less heat.

Get a new computer. Most people prefer a compact box but in this case a bigger box might be better

You can probably get a better computer for under $1,000 these days.

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

Dell Refurbs are very good.

http://outlet.us.dell.com/ARBOnlineSales/topics/global.aspx/arb/online/en/InventorySearch?c=us&cs=28&l=en&s=dfb

Mine came with a 3 yr on-site warranty

CarreraDan · 05-15-2007, 04:24 AM

I will second Red Beard on the Dell Outlet. I have had my refurbished Latitude for a few weeks and love it especially considering I saved almost $1200 off a new one that is the exact same thing. I also got the 3 year warranty. Computer problems suck to have, my last notebook never was right from the first time I powered it up to the last time smoke was pouring out of the side vent. Good luck.