Shock to R61, hard drive messed up – what can I do?

I need some advise.

Had a Rube Goldberg moment; tossed my bag (full of books) on the table, laptop fell off, and the bag slid off the table and onto the laptop along with some other heavy things off the table. When I tried to resume from hibernate, it took a loooong time to boot. Now that it’s on, after close to thirty minutes, I have lots of hard drive activity and can’t even shut down….I was careless and broke it. Right now it’s making a repetitive sound, like it wants to do something but is stuck in a loop.

I have a few questions:
1- Are there any tricks to get a hard drive back into shape?
2 - Is there another way to get my data off the hard drive? Everything is jumpy and takes a long time to do one thing.
3 - Where is the best place to buy another hard drive?

Thanks for any suggestions.

icky

 

well.. first thing if you are able to.. use shutdown not hibernate/sleep.. that is one of the first things i turn off.. i wouldnt keep your computer running unless you want to try to move some critical important files to a usb flash drive or burn to cdr if you can.. but i would shut down asap so you dont do any further damage to the HD..

do you have another pc available? if so.. google "hirens bootcd" and download the newest versioni you can.. then burn it to a cd.. u can use that to boot on your r61 and run hard drive test to see if it shows any SMART errors on your drive.. if it doesn't then you can let it do a long test and see if there is any damage sectors on your drive.. if there is something really wrong with your hd it will show up immediately...

im not sure since i dont have my r61 yet (get it today if ups is still on time) but it may have hd test on it already.. i just use hirens because it has almost all hd manufacturers tests built in and its all on a menu.. easy to use.. it has hitachi/ibm test on there we use it daily on customers computers to test their equipment..

if you have available to you a usb/ide adapter you can use another pc to make an image of your hard drive or atleast copy some important data before your drive fails for good.. i just searched on newegg.. here is one we use at the shop daily.. works fine.

newegg usb ide sata adapter

best place to buy a new hard drive is also newegg.com

newegg laptop hard drives


good luck.. let us know after you test it.. maybe someone else will chime in and say if thinkpad comes with hd testing software..

also.. how long have you had it.. lenovo "might" cover the hard drive.. im not sure how long the hd's have warrantee on them.. you never know unless you call.. they might send you a new hd

 

Thanks for the great info, I appreciate your response. I do have another laptop available and will give hirens bootcd a try tomorrow night.

 

Yah I would call, might let slip that you dropped it though.

 

yah.. dont lie.. but just tell them its making weird sounds and everything is slow

 

One good place to buy inexpensive hard drives is Compuvest.com. They are fully warranted, new drives, new old stock. Good luck!

 

first, as stated above see if you drive can be read externally. if not or it has problems then proceed below.

(only a recommendation, of course you have all the liability)
if you are sure that your drive is toast and it ticks there are two things that you can give a shot.

1. possibly bring you drive back 2 life for a short time
or
2. destroy your drive forever.

i have done both successfully but....almost 20-1 this will not work. but like i said its a last hope move. (when you have 10-15 machines fail a week, the odds are not as bad.) if your read write head is stuck (ticking) you can try to slam it down flat on the table. chances are you'll destroy it forever but once in a while it works. secondly you can wrap the drive in a paper towel and then seal it in a ziplock and freeze it solid. this method definitely does work but usually only gives you a little life before death. lastly, if its broke then take it apart and amaze your friends with the neato magnets and drive platters. non computer people will believe anything you tell them about your hard drive internals.

im sure some may say its complete bull$**t, but if its your last hope then you have nothing to lose. toms hardware seems to think that the Hitachi 7K200 is a quite worthy and speedy drive if your looking for a replacement.

 

Thanks, maybe freezing the HD will help if I'm having a hard time getting my data - I've heard it helps. I'll give it a good smack after I've exhausted everything else...it's worth a shot. But I assume that once a hard drive has been compromised it should just be replaced, right?

 

yes, without a doubt. i would contact lenovo, its at least worth a shot. reguardless if you get your data back or not you need a new drive.

 

I've heard sticking a hdd in the freezer for a few minutes then taking it out can get a problem hdd to boot.

I have used a SATA/IDE via USB gadget made by Vantec to explore unbootable hard drives to save files with success.

http://www.vantecusa.com/p_cb-isatau2.html

 

becareful.. slamming a notebook HD on a hard surface.. u can accidently shatter the platter.. been there done that

 

Gave tech support a ring to see if they could do anything. I told the tech the whole story, how I was careless, and how the HD is messed up. He didn't even let me finish and just said he'd send out a new one at no charge

He just said the HD should have held up. Thanks everyone for encouraging me to call! I'm quite impressed with their service at the moment.

 

By the way, freezing the HD worked long enough for me to get at the critical data - thanks for the suggestion. I think I'll pick-up a USB to IDE adapter just to have around. Thanks again, you all have been great.

 

nice. usually any company with a little bit status will help out with minor issues. glad lenovo backed their product even at your fault.

 

I like that confidence from customer service.