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    Hard Drive Failure

    Discussion in 'HP' started by ReverendDC, Sep 8, 2004.

  1. ReverendDC

    ReverendDC Notebook Deity

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    The hard drive on my ze4430us failed, and I had to replace it. While not a big deal in and of itself, I was wondering if anyone else had the same problem with their Toshiba drives (I still have problems with that-Toshibas in HPs, IBMs, etc. I mean, where does a companies pride kick in these days). It was giving me problems from day one, and Toshiba drives in other systems I have worked on have failed at a much faster pace than others (Travelstar, Seagate, etc).
     
  2. Venombite

    Venombite Notebook Virtuoso

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    That's funny, but I have had IBM's fail on me faster than the Toshiba's. The Seagate I currently have seems to be flaking out already (under 6 months). The drive clicks really loud and sometimes stops spinning and then starts up again. I know some drives make noises (clicking) & drives spin down, but not when data is actively being sent to and from the drive. Since this drive has 3 years warranty, I'll just hold out for a bit longer until I really need to get it replaced.

    -Vb-
     
  3. brianstretch

    brianstretch Notebook Virtuoso

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    Get Seagate's HD test program from their website and run it. Backup your data first as the test may finish off the drive. It will probably diagnose the problem and print out a RMA form for you. I had to do this for a Seagate desktop drive once. They sent me an 80GB drive to replace the dead 60GB, can't complain about that.

    IBM had serious problems with their HDs towards the end (mostly from their Hungarian plant), thus why they sold their HD division to Hitachi. Hitachi straightened things out.
     
  4. ReverendDC

    ReverendDC Notebook Deity

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    VB-That clicking is exactly what mine was doing ever since I got the notebook. In mine, it was almost like it didn't "catch" sometimes, but did on other bootup attempts. Sometimes the system would boot in a minute with pass protect, sometimes, up to 10 minutes before I just turned it off and tried again (that's not a typo). SMART and other testing revealed no HD damage, but the problem persisted even after a full system restore from the disks.
     
  5. Venombite

    Venombite Notebook Virtuoso

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    The Seagate tests were run and it found no problems.

    Reverend, in your case, I'm guessing the unit's no longer under warranty. If it was, you should getting the HDD replaced. Usually, a cross-ship/pre-ship of a replacement HDD to you first and then you ship old drive back would be the best option. This way, you know you're getting a different drive than the one you sent in.

    -Vb-