Posted on 12/28/2012 6:37:43 PM PST by Chickensoup
My Vaio stopped working this morning. The little disk light goes on and on. I took it to this diagnostics guy who said he would be able to tell if he can get it going.
My question. Can the hard disk be replaced? I have been looking for replacements and havent seen one I like as much.
I surf, run my website, check email and bank online. Not much else.
help!
lol You could not give me a Dell. And, my HPs have been fantastic. I buy mine from Costco, so have a 2 year warranty and it is so easy to use. Yes, I had one problem with a laptop; sent it in and was back in less than a week, no cost at all on my part, they had it picked up from me. Oh, and when I called in to tech support, they spoke English! I was a happy camper. Dell, on the other hand, I am not even going to go into how horrible their (non)customer service is. Of course, your mileage may vary.
To the OP, if it is the hard drive, all should be well, as others have stated. Always back stuff up; have a schedule.
Chickensoup, This is NOT “News/Activism!” There are Forums such as “Bloggers & Personal” & “General Interest Chat” for this type chit chat. Please do not misuse FR!
I do something similar. I have an old desktop that I’m using as a file and print server and I keep all my backups on it. Additionally, my critical project files are replicated to three different clouds- Google, SkyDrive and Ubuntu One.
Tiger Direct’s Canadian site offers a 320GB drive, new, for $53.99- http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6063509&CatId=2681
I’ve been partial to Acer myself, used them in a corporate setting since the early 1990s and never had a failure. My current development machine is an Aspire laptop that I picked up a year ago at Wal-Mart for $350.
How about $48.00 and free shipping from Amazon?
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-320-Mobile-Hard-Drive/dp/B0037NYQ7K
Is this useful for you? If everyone says it is good, I think I’ll download it myself.
*Laplink DiskImage for PC downloads for free*
“Laplink offers downloads of Laplink DiskImage for Windows for free. That’s tied with yesterday’s mention (which required a rebate) and the lowest price we’ve seen. It creates a complete backup of your PC.”
http://laplink.com/landingpages/compdiskimage/?ClickID=drhrxkczwzcwobx0mxky0cwh2nboycokbrxk
True for most Dell laptops. My Acer One is not easy. It's quite a tear down. Not that I'm afraid of that. I ripped a Dell D600 and a "hanger queen" D600 and made one good machine.
A good sanity check is to attempt an alternate boot with a live Linux CDROM using either the internal drive or an external USB drive. That will give a good confidence level for the motherboard, memory, screen, network, keyboard, USB and audio. The KNOPPIX live CDROM is a good choice as a diagnostic tool.
Make sure you actually tear it down and determine if the hard disk is PATA or SATA before spending money on the replacement. A paper spec sheet might tell you that without tearing it open.
If you decide to buy a new computer look at an Acer. They sell them at Walmart and Staples. I have an Acer XP that has given very good service and is still running like a top. Businesses buy Acer. They’re not sexy, but good. Have a friends who works on Dell laptops purchased by the government and she repairs brand new ones a lot, and returns them to Dell for replacement often. I’ve had Dell, Sony and HP, and that Acer is the best computer I ever bought.
“It lasted one month after the warranty.”
Just had the same thing happen with a small freezer in my basement; just more of the decline in our standard of living...
Didn’t see anyone mention it yet, so I will. If it is just the drive, then look into a solid state replacement. It will boot much faster and load programs faster. The downside is you will pay as much for a new drive (about $300) than a new cheapo laptop.
Two of my college kids have had three HP screen ribbon cable failures and two power supply cable failures outside of warranty. The wire in the PS cable is very flimsy and any repairs fail quickly.
Their lower end models are not designed for users who have to be very mobile.
The professional models are better but they weigh a ton. My HP is provided by work and the last one's PS is truly a brick in both size and weight.
My daughter's latest is an ASUS and so far so good.
Can that DATA enclosure be used in reverse to copy a working drive’s system to it as a backup against future failure? I made thumbdrive copies of my system but it would be cool to have a drive ready to plug in.
Dell and Honda make washers? Cool. I’ll have to check them out.
We’ve got two Samsung front load washer/dryer sets in the family and they’ve been cruisin’ for four plus years, and, as a bonus, they don’t shred our clothes.
I will NEVER buy another Toshiba laptop.. their customer service here is terrible :/ (and this is IN Japan).
I was going to replace the DVD drive (the connection was bad), BUT, the only way to get a new working DVD reader is to send the laptop to Toshiba to have them replace it... I couldn’t do DIY :/
AND, that cost more than I paid for the laptop >.<.
I still have it, though it is now a large paperweight... My Acer replaced it for about 25% of the cost.
As for your problem.. many people have already answered your problem :)
At Best Buy today, you can buy a Toshiba with 4Gb Ram and 500Gb hard drive for $379.00.
Yup! No problem, doing that.
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