Hard drive problems with M17xR3?

Good afternoon everyone,

For the last 2-4 weeks I have been having an issue with my M17xR3. I will let it sit idle for 10min or so and instead of a screensaver coming on (which I checked to make sure they were toggled on and they were), my computer goes to a BSOD and then a black screen that reads

"For Atheros PCIE Ethernet Controller v2.02.2.6 (09/28/10)

Check cable connection!
No Bootable Device--- insert boot disk and press any key"


I went to the Alien Autopsy and ran scans. It crashes when it gets to hard drive scans. The quick scan shows "failure" on the SMART Short Self Test. Now I have a message on the on the "system information" hard drive section that says I have 48 uncorrectable errors with my hard drive.

The only issue I am having is the "crashing if left idle for more than 10min". I can play a game for hours and have no issues. I have been playing LoL, D3 expan, and Borderlands 2 with 0 issues.

What should I do? Can I fix this on my own without having to buy another hard drive or should I contact an Alienware tech person?

Thanks all!

 

Simple answer no, you cannot fix a hard drive without extreme technical knowledge, if it is infact a hardware issue. It seems the drive has some issues with powering down the spindle if it is a mechanics drive. What I would do is back it up and get ready to swap it.

 

Well crap I was hoping it wouldnt come to this. I know hard drives are a dime a dozen now days but its the hassle I wanted to avoid. Any quick ways to do this (i heard you can clone the hard drive to the new one you swap in)?

I have never backed up a hard drive before. I really dont want to lose all my games and programs/files.

 

Chances are that cloning will not work for you . If the drive is showing bad sectors then this will cause a failure. You could try the AlienRespawn that should be installed and use it to create an emergency USB drive (get a 16gb one) that you can boot from and reinstall automatically .

Applications/games will not be transferred but all the settings will, so many games will pick up any user settings when you re-install them.

Time for an SSD I would say - the speed increase is dramatic!

 

If you have data files on the drive that you would like to scavenge, go ahead and get a nice HDD or SSD to replace the failing disk. Get your OS installed and all that, then use a SATA to USB or SATA to eSATA adapter, connect the HDD to that and grab whatever files you need. If the drive errors out it may take several attempts to get everything. Copy in small batches and it might help minimize the frustration.

Sometimes new HDD and SSD in retail boxes include an adapter cable and cloning software, kind of like this example. It works well, but they are too expensive to justify the cost when purchased as a stand-alone item and add to the cost of the new drive. Plus, there is no reason to pay for cloning software if (a) free options are available; and, (b) the drive is failing it usually will not successfully clone the drive without error.

Here are some affordable examples:

2 5" inch Hard Disk Drive SATA 22Pin to eSATA Data USB Powered Cable 50cm New | eBay

New Power Data USB 2 0 to SATA 7 15 Pin 22Pin Adapter Cable for 2 5 " Hard Drive | eBay

A cheap enclosure will also do the trick... something like this: Vantec NexStar TX 2.5" SATA to USB 2.0 External Hard Drive Enclosure - $7.58 | Walmart.com

Something that will sometimes make a failing HDD work long enough to get what you need off of it is CrystalDiskInfo. You can use a utility feature that it includes to temporarily clear SMART errors and change the AAM/APM settings and this sometimes helps limp the drive along enough to grab files.

 

Ok Ill look into that. How much time do you think I have before it definitely poops on me?

Edit* I do not currently have my windows 7 disc on me in order to re-install my OS. What should I do?

 

It could happen anytime, it could be today or take months. No one can tell.