Failing Hard Drive

I'm pretty sure my hard drive is beyond saving but I thought I'd post here before I shell out the cash and time replacing it. About a month ago I started noticing my laptop slowing down a lot. Soon after that I started having difficulties just getting it started. About everytime I tried it would get to the welcome screen or desktop before crashing and telling me to reseat the drive. So I tried that. The first load after that it crashed. The second it started like it was brand new. Then it went back to being again. Since then I've reseated the drive four more times, hasn't helped. Tried again today and now I can't even get to the desktop.

Any ideas?

 

Does it make any weird noises, overheating, etc ?
It could be an OS fault probably.

Depending upon the brand/model of your HDD, see if a bootable diagnostic tool is available.
And do you have the OS Install Disc ? Try booting in Safe Mode w/CMD, and run checkdisk.

 

I've noticed it clicking a lot. The computer runs pretty hot but it has since I got it. Yes I still have the disk. I tried booting in safe mode, it loads every driver fine. Then it goes to a black screen with the mouse pointer that constantly flashes the busy circle. Sorry to be kinda vague.

 

when you get the drive to load to windows, download and install hdtune.
Go into the health tab and see if any errors are shown in the chart.
If anything in the health tab is highlighted in red or yellow, I suggest replacing the drive.

If you cannot get to windows anymore, see if you can get to a command prompt.
Type in "CHKDSK" and a dos based scan will continue on your drive.
Hopefully it can fix any errors if they are present.

You can also do a surface scan of the harddrive with hdtune, in the "error scan" tab.

If your harddrive is still under warranty you can try sending it back for replacement.

K-TRON