Dell XPS1730

Hey guys.. my dell xps 1730 is like 4 years++ old already and it seems like my hard drive is failing already... I have the 2 200gig on RAID setup on my xps1730 and just wanted to ask what would be my options if i wanted to replace the hard disks? I'm not even sure what hard drives are gonna be compatible with my system..

Everytime i reboot and it shows the hard disk info on raid.. the Status of both hard drive are now "Error Occured" instead of OK.. so i guess its a sign that my hd is failing..

Should i just get a new entry level notebook or just get a new hard drive?

Would getting a external hard disk and install the windows there be a good option instead of replacing the internal hard drive?

I have t9500 and 4gig ram on my system and my dual 8800m gtx was replaced i think last year.. my warranty actually ended few months after i got my 8800m gtx replaced so i was lucky enough to get a new video card...

 

Do you need RAID? You can just buy 1 drive and reinstall Windows? No NEW laptop under like 800 is going to be faster than your current setup in terms of GPU horsepower, only when you get into the 800 range will you get like a GT650M which will beat 8800M GTX SLI. You could look to get a used Clevo notebook, they are pretty cheap these days, I got my Sager for 450 with no RAM/HDD with 720QM, 280M and a 1080p LCD, it's a rebranded Clevo W860CU.

 

RAID? not really i guess.. i just need a working hard disk.. so buy 1 internal or external hard drive?

I'm not familiar what the internal hard drive my xps1730 has but would any 2.5 internal hard drive be the right one?

 

You can just buy 1 internal hard drive. Any 2.5" 9.5mm SATA notebook drive would work, 7mm drives I don't believe will line up right. You can also get pretty much any SSD for your laptop too, to avoid hard drive mechanical failures in the future.

 

thanks! do i actually need to get 2 hard drive and do raid again since that's how my xps1730 is configured or one hard drive would still work without doing raid?

i wonder if those western digital scorpio black 7200rpm would work and fit on the xps1730?

Seagate or western digital is better and more reliable?

 

Your disk error may not be a hardware error at all. It may be a software problem. Download Advanced System Care V5 or later and run some tests. It's a freware program in its basic form.
If your disk has errors on it, then it's time to replace it before it fails completely. Disk drives are relatively cheap at the moment. Go for at least a 7,200rpm model like seagate or western digital. The origional drives should be seagate. A 750g 7,200rpm model will set you back about $110 in its basic form. You can get a hybrid model (part SSD) for about $160 for a 750g drive. The M1730 takes two drives. Two base 750g will give you heaps of hard drive space. The larger models are better value.
You can download a free program Seagate Disk Wizard from the Seagate web site to clone your new drive. The easiest way is to buy a usb disk drive case. They can be purchased on eBay for under $10. Your drives are SATA so any SATA drive can be used as a replacement. If you go for Western Digital, they have the same free clone software as Seagate. All you need is one drive of a particular brand in your system to use the clone software.
Your M1730 still has plenty of life left in it and it is still a relatively fast machine.

 

Thanks for the reply! So do i actually need to get 2 hard drives since my xps is currently configured in running 2x200gig on raid???

I will look into the program!

 

Hard drive failure on that machine was common (it happened to me too) because it has a Seagate drive from Seagate's infamous period of bad drive firmware. In theory, if you can flash new firmware to the controller chip (this was an option and probably still is, but it was too late for me) then you may save the drive(s) before it fails completely. I remember that mine would make "clicks" on approx. 1 second intervals for short periods while running, then might remain quiet for 30 minutes between cycles. If you are seeing the same and your drive(s) are not completely dead yet, you should attempt to re-flash. Seagate tried to keep this all quiet, but it was a bad time for the company back then. They fixed the problems and to my knowledge they are reliable drives today.

 

I have in the last two days upgraded my main hard drive to a Liteon SSD 256gb for $169AU. I did a clean install on the SSD. It took the best part of a day but was worth it.

My next purchase will be a second hybrid 750gb seagate hard drive for about the same price as the SSD.

I have owned laptops (all Dells) since 1998 and have never had a hard drive fail yet. Maybe I'm just plain lucky or it could be due to the fact that I have looked after them with regular disk scans and defrags.

Are you sure your hard drive is failing? It may be just some data errors on it which can be easily cleaned.

Personally, I don't think a raid setup on only two drives on thed M1730 has any real advantages. It has a serious disadvantage if you have to replace one of the drives - you can't do a fresh install and cloning them is the only option.