Studio XPS 1340 Hard drive issue--Please help

Hello everyone,

So a few nights ago I typed up my lab report for class, saved it, and then turned off my computer...Then trying to turn my laptop on about 5 hours later, a pop up a message comes on the screen saying something along the lines of "disk malfunction. please check to make sure all disks are running correctly" (i don't remember what it said exactly because it has been a few days and i have been to afraid to turn off my computer since i got that error message)....But anyway, after that, i restarted my laptop about 5 times before my laptop actually did not show the error message. However, when i went to open the file i had previously saved, it said it was improperly saved and the file was corrupted. After redoing it and saving it on a portable drive, i turned off my laptop for the night. When i started it again the next morning, i had the same error message pop up and again tried to restart my computer until the error message did not appear....Since then, i have not turned off my laptop out of fear that it would not start again.

The error message i was getting had a count down to check the disks, but whenever the countdown ended and it was supposed to check the disk, nothing would happen.

Can anyone please help me? I think this is may be happening because of over heating, but i rarely use my laptop without a cooling pad. I am trying to figure out if it is worth replacing my hard drive (min $200 ) or just to buy another laptop. Or if anyone has any insight as to what is causing the problem.

Thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it!

 

Unless it's a solid state, there's no way a replacement hard drive costs $200. Even the costs of the biggest and fastest mechanical drives don't go past the mid $100s. Use something like HDTune to check your SMART data and run a drive scan... if there are errors, you'll probably want to replace the drive. Either way, you should backup your data immediately...

 

Sorry, i should clarify...The total cost for replacing the hard drive is about $200...The hard drive itself is 100 and 80 for labor. I paid i think 700 or so for this laptop 1 year about and my warranty expired literally a week or two ago. But my biggest concern is if i replace the hard drive will this issue happen again in a year?
Do you think it I would be better off buying a new laptop or if i replace the hard drive would the be good and not have to worry about this happening again?
Again, thanks for the help

 

My 1340 shredded it's hard drive about a month after I got it (June 09). It's been fine ever since. Not a common problem, just something that happens sometimes. Swapping a hard drive is pretty easy. I'm sure you or someone you know can accomplish it. A 5 minute job (not counting installing Windows).

Documentation

 

$80 for labor? This is a rip off! Dude you can definitely do it by yourself! Unscrew four screws, remove the old hard disk, remove the frame from the old drive and put it on the new one (if there is any), put the hard disk back, screw back those four screws...done!

Reinstall of Windows takes time but not a lot of knowledge required...