Windows detected a hard disk problem

Bob39

hi,

My sister recently started getting a message on her laptop that said:

"Windows detected a hard disk problem

Back up your files immediately to prevent information loss, and then contact the computer manufacturrer to determine if you need to rapair to replace the disk"

i click show details, it says:

"Immediate steps
Because a disk failure will cause you to lose all programs, files and documents on the disk, you should back up your important information immediately. Try not to use your computer until you have repaired or replaced the hard disk.

Which disk is failing?
The following hard disks are reporting failure:
Disk Name: WDC WD3200BEVS-26VAT0
Volume: C:\

"


I'm not sure what I should do. She needs the laptop to do her work for university, so she can't stop using it yet. And also, her warranty ran out a few months back, so I think it would cost a lot of money to repair it.

The laptop is a Sony VGN-NW130D

shwaip

She needs to back that HD up, asap.

She may need the computer for university, but if the HD fails, she loses everything, probably permanently.

I would probably do the following, immediately:
1) Purchase a new laptop hard drive. Here's a suggestion:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136197
You and her can decide how much space she needs/wants.

2) Purchase an external enclosure for her current drive. suggestion:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817334008

3) Take her old drive, put it in the enclosure, and copy every file off onto another computer.

4) You can either:
a) put the new drive in the laptop, and re-install everything. I'd probably do this option.
b) attempt to clone/ghost the old drive to the new drive.

She'll be out $100 at the most, and maybe a day of copying/reinstalling. If she waits until her drive dies completely, she'll be out the same amount of money, time, and also her data. If there's something critical on there, hard drive repair/recovery can be hit and miss and VERY expensive.

kryyst

Just echoing everything shwaip said.

If she was just doing a harddrive I'd suggest just doing a straight harddrive clone by connecting the new harddrive into an external enclosure and cloning it, then doing the swap.

However since windows has actually detected a harddrive error then I'd do the critical document backup first. We don't know what's wrong with the drive and if it's physical damage the more you access that drive the greater the risk becomes of the drive totally becoming trashed.

So it's best to pull the drive out, connect it to another computer and backup the data she needs. I would then install a new drive and reinstall things from scratch. Ghosting a damaged drive is very hit or miss and depending on what's damaged you may just end up with damaged system files on your new drive anyway which can lead to further problems down the line.

Bob39

Thanks for your help. I talked to my sister, and I got her to backup her files. Most of them were just word files so it didn't take too long. Since we already have the files, we're just gonna let her exams finish before we try to change the hard drive. Hopefully the computer can last long enough

Do you guys think we would be able to change the hard drives ourselves? I've made computers before, but i'm sure the laptop is totally different. I think I'm probably gonna have to call a technician

shwaip

You should definitely be able to do it yourself. It'll be about as difficult as swapping out a hard drive in a desktop.

kryyst

Yeah swapping the disk is easy. Installing the software on a laptop vs a pc is also no difference. Just make sure you get a 2.5" sata drive and you are good to go.