Sager NP9130's hard drive is failing. High chance of Crashing when installing anything. Stuttering randomly.

I got this laptop in May 2012. I adored every single moment with it and my experience with it was flawless, up to the point where it was micro-stuttering. It was annoying me for a little bit but now it's getting incredibly tedious. It stutters randomly, but thankfully not too often to the point where typing this would be hectic. As in title, installing anything will blue screen of death most of the time.

I'm already e-mailing support for now. Already did CHKDSK but the way it makes it look is as if there's only 6KB of bad sectors.

I have a couple of questions.

1) If I send this in to get fixed to either XoticPC or Sager (sub-question, which one should I send it to? Bought this from XoticPC), will all of my data be transferred over to a new hard drive or will it all be deleted? Should I just back it up before sending it to them or will they handle it?

2) Is this problem fix-able by myself (just replace the hard drive and done) or would it be easier/cheaper/etc to send it in? And if I can fix this by myself, I'd like help with how to do it.

3) Why is this hard drive failing so fast? I expect mechanical hard drives to live much longer than this.

4) Should I get an SSD instead or an mSSD and boot Windows off that and just use the mechanical one to store data? And if I should, how should I go about getting an SSD/mSSD? Have it replaced for me, or should I go get one for myself?

5) What will I have to pay according to any potential decision I do if I let XoticPC/Sager do this for me? I did not pay for any additional warranty, so I have a basic one.

Thanks to anyone who answers any of these questions. This is a very frustrating time for me because I'm going back to college for another semester very soon, and it would hurt me to not have a laptop accessible.

 

1. I worked at Geek squad and data was always getting lost. Back it up yourself.

2. Should be an easy fix. Just install a new drive its like 5 screws away and then you install windows.

3. Mechanical drives are well mechanical. If you move it a lot and it touches the platters it can scrape them.

4. Thats what i do.

5. Should be covered by warranty. They might even cross ship you a new drive.

 

Response in bold.

 

1. You can usually buy a drive enclosure from a best buy use it to back up to hopefully another machine and return it.

3. Typically yeah. Its not that you don't move the desktop. Its that you don't move it or touch it while its running.

4. Boot off of a SSD. MSSD is only SATA II not SATA III. and use a mechanical for storage.

 

while you are waiting for a rma you could try a disc check scan with either HD Tune (in sig below) to see how many bad sectors its got. my 320gb had 2 bad sectors and it caused all heaps of problems.
or you could try hard disc sentinel. not free but a good bit of software. think thers a trial version but not sure it will run the full scans.

you are way withing the year of standard warranty so it will be covered. also once hard drives have past their warranty they are normally covered by the manufactorers warranty from 3-5 years depending on make and model.

 

I'd try to format it myself before shipping it off. Blue screens are *usually* indicitive of software issues moreso than hardware. Formatting is an easy do-it-yourself option before sending it off.

 

1)
Always take a backup of your data (better safe than sorry), - I do not think that they are responsible for your data (that's the way it is in Denmark). I don't know any programs in particular, but I do not think that a program is necessary? Just transfer your photos and important documents, savefiles etc.. That's what I do when I need a backup.

2) You might be able to fix it yourself, but I wouldn't take the risk. You can void the warranty if you are unlucky.

3) Hard to say. I have had a hard disk in a laptop for 3-4 years and it is still working. There are many factors involved.

4) I have a SSD and a regular HDD. It works really good, and my computer is really fast! Maybe you can ask your seller for an upgrade. However, I do not think that it is absolutely necessary if it is not possible. When you computer was new, didn't you think it was fast enough?

5) I don't know the prices. However, if something is wrong with your computer they will fix it for free. I do not know how much an upgrade will cost. It depends on which country you live in and so on.

Good luck .

Kind regards
Peter

 

Just to second others' advice and throw in my own two cents:

I'm not sure of Xotic's policy, so contact them first. They may forward you to Sager if it's out of their hands/policy. And YES! Back up your data. RMA service does not cover data security. And even if it did, anything can happen during transit.

Easier to do yourself if you have the technical resources. Cheaper for you to send it in (depending on where you're shipping from/to), as you may only need to pay one way shipping, whereas doing it yourself would require you to purchase a new hard drive and a copy of Windows if you don't already have one.

Hard drives are one of the biggest problem children in any computer, as they are one of the very few devices with moving parts. This is why SSDs are so widely praised. But for it to go out that fast sounds like either a fluke/bad stroke of luck, or poor design/components.

Putting your OS on the SSD is always preferred for performance reasons, but because of their price to capacity ratio - or price per GB, if you will - HDDs are a great alternative for strictly data storage.

As long as you are under warranty, they normally cover parts and labor, and return shipping. If they deem it accidental damage, though, then you will be paying for parts and/or labor.