Hard drive failing?

nathansdad04 · 10-12-2006, 07:52 AM

I got this message
DST Short Status Test - Failed 1000-0142
Msg 4 Drive Self Test Failed Byte 70
From what I've read my Dell 9300 hard drive is failing. Can I save any of the info on the drive (most importantly- the pictures)? It is out of warranty(i think) by a few days -although the drive started failing a month ago-

Dell said I could purchase extended warranty for $130(they are not aware that I'm having problems with my drive)...is it worth buying?
If not...should I be buying another Dell drive or should I look for an aftermarket drive? I'm am fairly computer illiterate, so any help would be appreciated.

**linderman** · 10-12-2006, 08:50 AM

well thats a judgement call you will have to make concerning is the extra $130.00 warrranty worth the investement ?

another hard drive can be bought for about $70.00 and a nice big one at that (around 200gig ???)

stop using the drive before it dies

you could purchase another drive and then install your operating system (OS = win xp ??) to that drive

then copy over the contents of the dying drive to the new drive (hopefully)

if you wish to persue this further

give us your dell model number and we can suggest drives for you

drive & OS install is not a very difficult thing on a scale of 1-5 probally a 2

nathansdad04 · 10-12-2006, 08:59 AM

It's a Dell 9300 laptop. (Not sure what other info you may need). It doesn't come with a Microsoft XP disk...I guess the recovery disk is loaded internally.
Can I save the pics from my dying hard drive?
How does one transfer data from one drive to another? Is installing a new hard drive just opening up the laptop and pretty much plugging in the new drive or is it much more involved?

dai · 10-12-2006, 09:25 AM

you need to slave the drive into a desktop using a 3.5 to2.5 convertor and see if you can pull off what you need to save
http://www.cmsproducts.com/notebook_drive_removal.htm
moved you to laptops

nathansdad04 · 10-12-2006, 09:34 AM

OK...you lost me at "you need to slave the drive into a desktop using a 3.5 to2.5 convertor ". I have no idea what that means. I read the PDF and don't know what the Bounceback software is either.
I need to buy a new hard drive before I can go any further correct? Need some suggestions on what/where to buy a hard drive...this is my first attempt(ever) at shopping for/replacing a hard drive.

dai · 10-12-2006, 10:02 AM

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...asp?CatId=1277
http://www.bixnet.com/adfor25to35h.html

nathansdad04 · 10-12-2006, 10:12 AM

Is the link you provided, just an example of some drives? Or are you actually recommending them?
What about the $70 drive (200gb) that 'linderman' suggested. I'm just looking to get the best bang for my buck....and like I said before, I'm completely clueless when it comes to Drives etc.

~~OMGmissinglink~~ · 10-12-2006, 11:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nathansdad04

It's a Dell 9300 laptop. (Not sure what other info you may need). It doesn't come with a Microsoft XP disk...I guess the recovery disk is loaded internally.
Can I save the pics from my dying hard drive?
How does one transfer data from one drive to another? Is installing a new hard drive just opening up the laptop and pretty much plugging in the new drive or is it much more involved?

Call dell support and order the OS & Applacation disks.

nathansdad04 · 10-12-2006, 11:45 AM

Are they gonna charge me for it?

~~OMGmissinglink~~ · 10-12-2006, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nathansdad04

Are they gonna charge me for it?

most likely, there the ones to call on the cost. most other brand built pc's the price is about 25.00.

nathansdad04 · 10-12-2006, 03:09 PM

I just spent an hour on the phone with Dell....they finally agreed to send me the XP cd and a few others.
I also dropped my laptop off at a local computer store(I somewhat know the owner) to get a free eval on whether I can retrieve data off my hard drive.
I'm still trying to get Dell to cover the drive failure(since it started to fail a month ago...I didn't realize that it was failing at the time). It's gonna be an uphill battle, but jeez it's only a few days past warranty date, I shouldn't have to fight...they should just do it.
In the meantime, I need suggestions on what Hard drive to purchase should they deny my claim.

~~OMGmissinglink~~ · 10-12-2006, 03:30 PM

They are sending you the disks no cost yes/

100 GB 5400 RPM Internal ATA-7 support on their webpage , any size up to 100 gb "5400 RPM".

nathansdad04 · 10-12-2006, 06:24 PM

Sorry..they are sending them FREE. Presently I'm trying to find an email address for Dell's CEO etc to try to complain about them not covering the hard drive.
I had posted my hard drive problems on the web a couple weeks ago (within the 1 yr warranty period) and the posts are time/date stamped. I'm going to refer Dell to the posts in hopes that they accept that as proof that the problems with the Drive should be covered (I know..wishful thinking).
I'm going to try and be a 'thorn in their side' in hopes I can get them to send me a replacement drive.

**laboye** · 10-13-2006, 07:17 PM

That's surprising. Dell usually charges for every little thing. For you to understand the slave thing, I'll do a little explaining. On the motherboard of a computer (desktop) are usually 2 "IDE Controllers". They are a set of pins with a surrounding. Basically, a port. You connect IDE cables to them. These are the cables that connect to things like hard drives, CD-Drives and ZIP drives. On each controller, there can be two drives. This makes a total of 4 IDE drives on a system. Each controller, having two drives, has one master drive and one slave drive. You cannot have 2 masters or 2 slaves on one controller.

On most desktop systems, the CD Drive(s) is/are on one controller and the hard drive is alone on another controller. One CD drive is slave and the other is master. The hard drive is master of it's own channel. Since desktop hard drives (3.5") are larger than laptop drives (2.5"), you must use a special adapter to use them in a desktop. This is the adapter that dai is referring to. Here is one:

http://www.buyextras.com/2hadrto3ideh.html

Hook it up to your desktop and you can access the drive through My Computer and backup any data you need. You must do it quickly as the drive usually gets worse as it gets warmer. To that point, you can also put it in the freezer or fridge for about 15 minutes, and you may increase your chances of success. Purchase a hard drive (make sure it's a laptop 2.5 inch drive!) according to OMGmissinglink's specs. Use the link dai has provided to learn how to remove the hard drive of your system.

As for looking for drives, take a look at http://newegg.com and http://pricegrabber.com

I've made a custom search for you with laptop hard drives between 20 and 100GB, only 5400 RPM, IDE; all aranged by popluarity.

http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_a...i_p=0&x=51&y=7

On the right side, click Sort by Price if you want.

I hope all goes well!

nathansdad04 · 10-13-2006, 09:21 PM

Thanks a bunch for the list of drives. I should hear from my local computer store shortly on what they'll charge for 'data retrieval'. If the fee is nominal..I'll have them do it. If not..I'll try doing it myself. At that point, I'm sure I'll have questions.
When I receive the XP disks...should I bother trying to install them on the laptop? The Dell tech(some lady from India) said that she would try to walk me thru it. I don't want to end up having the drive fail totally.
In the meantime...I'm going to try and find some Dell contact info to try and get a Free drive sent to me.

**laboye** · 10-13-2006, 11:23 PM

I'll warn you, data retrieval is horribly expensive. It can cost anywhere from 50-5000 dollars. The lowest would be just hooking it up to a machine as described before. The highest would be recovering data from a 100% failed drive. That involves opening it up in a dust-free environment. You'd better have some important data to pay for that!! Well, if it isn't too bad, it shouldn't be that expensive. Don't let them charge you more than 100. Also, see if you can watch them. If it looks like they just hook it up to a machine and grab the data, it'd better be cheap.

nathansdad04 · 10-16-2006, 02:39 PM

My local Walmart carries a Seagate Ap100 hard drive (250 gig - 3.5"). Is this drive any good AND will it fit my Dell 9300 laptop? The price is $129

dai · 10-16-2006, 02:44 PM

as far as i know
2.5inch= laptops
3.5inch = desktops
and laptops peak out in 100 odd gig range

nathansdad04 · 10-16-2006, 05:59 PM

Crud, that figures. Guess I'll have to order one online. Any 2.5" hard drive will work?

nathansdad04 · 10-16-2006, 08:25 PM

I'm thinking about this one.....

http://www.pagecomputers.com/store/p...ct%5Fid=830100

Is it any good AND will it fit my Inspiron 9300?

10-12-2006, 07:52 AM	#1 (permalink)
nathansdad04 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19 OS: XP	Hard drive failing? I got this message DST Short Status Test - Failed 1000-0142 Msg 4 Drive Self Test Failed Byte 70 From what I've read my Dell 9300 hard drive is failing. Can I save any of the info on the drive (most importantly- the pictures)? It is out of warranty(i think) by a few days -although the drive started failing a month ago- Dell said I could purchase extended warranty for $130(they are not aware that I'm having problems with my drive)...is it worth buying? If not...should I be buying another Dell drive or should I look for an aftermarket drive? I'm am fairly computer illiterate, so any help would be appreciated.

10-12-2006, 08:50 AM	#2 (permalink)
linderman Moderator, Hardware Team Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 20,429 OS: win 2000 pro / Win XP pro My System	well thats a judgement call you will have to make concerning is the extra $130.00 warrranty worth the investement ? another hard drive can be bought for about $70.00 and a nice big one at that (around 200gig ???) stop using the drive before it dies you could purchase another drive and then install your operating system (OS = win xp ??) to that drive then copy over the contents of the dying drive to the new drive (hopefully) if you wish to persue this further give us your dell model number and we can suggest drives for you drive & OS install is not a very difficult thing on a scale of 1-5 probally a 2 __________________ I still know nothing and I respect that fact, striving to improve and, along the way, help anyone that comes from the place that I used to be! Power Supply Selection LEARN TO BACK-UP YOUR DATA FREE & EASY YouTube - Runtime Software DriveImage XML tutorial

10-12-2006, 09:25 AM	#4 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,487 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	you need to slave the drive into a desktop using a 3.5 to2.5 convertor and see if you can pull off what you need to save http://www.cmsproducts.com/notebook_drive_removal.htm moved you to laptops __________________

10-12-2006, 10:02 AM	#6 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,487 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...asp?CatId=1277 http://www.bixnet.com/adfor25to35h.html __________________

10-12-2006, 03:30 PM	#12 (permalink)
~~OMGmissinglink~~ Troubled Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 1,535 OS: XP Pro sp2 My System	They are sending you the disks no cost yes/ 100 GB 5400 RPM Internal ATA-7 support on their webpage , any size up to 100 gb "5400 RPM". Last edited by OMGmissinglink; 10-12-2006 at 03:32 PM.

10-12-2006, 08:59 AM	#3 (permalink)
nathansdad04 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19 OS: XP	It's a Dell 9300 laptop. (Not sure what other info you may need). It doesn't come with a Microsoft XP disk...I guess the recovery disk is loaded internally. Can I save the pics from my dying hard drive? How does one transfer data from one drive to another? Is installing a new hard drive just opening up the laptop and pretty much plugging in the new drive or is it much more involved?

10-12-2006, 09:34 AM	#5 (permalink)
nathansdad04 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19 OS: XP	OK...you lost me at "you need to slave the drive into a desktop using a 3.5 to2.5 convertor ". I have no idea what that means. I read the PDF and don't know what the Bounceback software is either. I need to buy a new hard drive before I can go any further correct? Need some suggestions on what/where to buy a hard drive...this is my first attempt(ever) at shopping for/replacing a hard drive.

10-12-2006, 10:12 AM	#7 (permalink)
nathansdad04 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19 OS: XP	Is the link you provided, just an example of some drives? Or are you actually recommending them? What about the $70 drive (200gb) that 'linderman' suggested. I'm just looking to get the best bang for my buck....and like I said before, I'm completely clueless when it comes to Drives etc.

10-12-2006, 11:45 AM	#9 (permalink)
nathansdad04 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19 OS: XP	Are they gonna charge me for it?

10-12-2006, 03:09 PM	#11 (permalink)
nathansdad04 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19 OS: XP	I just spent an hour on the phone with Dell....they finally agreed to send me the XP cd and a few others. I also dropped my laptop off at a local computer store(I somewhat know the owner) to get a free eval on whether I can retrieve data off my hard drive. I'm still trying to get Dell to cover the drive failure(since it started to fail a month ago...I didn't realize that it was failing at the time). It's gonna be an uphill battle, but jeez it's only a few days past warranty date, I shouldn't have to fight...they should just do it. In the meantime, I need suggestions on what Hard drive to purchase should they deny my claim.

10-12-2006, 06:24 PM	#13 (permalink)
nathansdad04 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19 OS: XP	Sorry..they are sending them FREE. Presently I'm trying to find an email address for Dell's CEO etc to try to complain about them not covering the hard drive. I had posted my hard drive problems on the web a couple weeks ago (within the 1 yr warranty period) and the posts are time/date stamped. I'm going to refer Dell to the posts in hopes that they accept that as proof that the problems with the Drive should be covered (I know..wishful thinking). I'm going to try and be a 'thorn in their side' in hopes I can get them to send me a replacement drive.

10-13-2006, 07:17 PM	#14 (permalink)
laboye TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Hollywood, FL Posts: 1,246 OS: Windows xp Pro/Vista Beta 2/Ubuntu 6.06 LTS My System	That's surprising. Dell usually charges for every little thing. For you to understand the slave thing, I'll do a little explaining. On the motherboard of a computer (desktop) are usually 2 "IDE Controllers". They are a set of pins with a surrounding. Basically, a port. You connect IDE cables to them. These are the cables that connect to things like hard drives, CD-Drives and ZIP drives. On each controller, there can be two drives. This makes a total of 4 IDE drives on a system. Each controller, having two drives, has one master drive and one slave drive. You cannot have 2 masters or 2 slaves on one controller. On most desktop systems, the CD Drive(s) is/are on one controller and the hard drive is alone on another controller. One CD drive is slave and the other is master. The hard drive is master of it's own channel. Since desktop hard drives (3.5") are larger than laptop drives (2.5"), you must use a special adapter to use them in a desktop. This is the adapter that dai is referring to. Here is one: http://www.buyextras.com/2hadrto3ideh.html Hook it up to your desktop and you can access the drive through My Computer and backup any data you need. You must do it quickly as the drive usually gets worse as it gets warmer. To that point, you can also put it in the freezer or fridge for about 15 minutes, and you may increase your chances of success. Purchase a hard drive (make sure it's a laptop 2.5 inch drive!) according to OMGmissinglink's specs. Use the link dai has provided to learn how to remove the hard drive of your system. As for looking for drives, take a look at http://newegg.com and http://pricegrabber.com I've made a custom search for you with laptop hard drives between 20 and 100GB, only 5400 RPM, IDE; all aranged by popluarity. http://www.pricegrabber.com/search_a...i_p=0&x=51&y=7 On the right side, click Sort by Price if you want. I hope all goes well! __________________ Repair Windows XP Guide --- Resolutions Crazy Computer that I'm saving up for::Antec P180 Case;PC Pwr&Cooling 1kW Quad SLI PSU;Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe;Intel Core2 XE X6800;Corsair TWIN2XP2048 2GB PC2-6400 DDR2 RAM;2xAsus GeForce 7950 GX2;BFG PhysX Accel.;IBM DVD-RAM/Plextor DVD±RW;Seagate 750GB HD 7200RPM;WDX 150GB 10000RPM;Vigor Monsoon TEC Cooler

10-13-2006, 09:21 PM	#15 (permalink)
nathansdad04 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19 OS: XP	Thanks a bunch for the list of drives. I should hear from my local computer store shortly on what they'll charge for 'data retrieval'. If the fee is nominal..I'll have them do it. If not..I'll try doing it myself. At that point, I'm sure I'll have questions. When I receive the XP disks...should I bother trying to install them on the laptop? The Dell tech(some lady from India) said that she would try to walk me thru it. I don't want to end up having the drive fail totally. In the meantime...I'm going to try and find some Dell contact info to try and get a Free drive sent to me.

10-13-2006, 11:23 PM	#16 (permalink)
laboye TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Hollywood, FL Posts: 1,246 OS: Windows xp Pro/Vista Beta 2/Ubuntu 6.06 LTS My System	I'll warn you, data retrieval is horribly expensive. It can cost anywhere from 50-5000 dollars. The lowest would be just hooking it up to a machine as described before. The highest would be recovering data from a 100% failed drive. That involves opening it up in a dust-free environment. You'd better have some important data to pay for that!! Well, if it isn't too bad, it shouldn't be that expensive. Don't let them charge you more than 100. Also, see if you can watch them. If it looks like they just hook it up to a machine and grab the data, it'd better be cheap. __________________ Repair Windows XP Guide --- Resolutions Crazy Computer that I'm saving up for::Antec P180 Case;PC Pwr&Cooling 1kW Quad SLI PSU;Asus P5N32-SLI SE Deluxe;Intel Core2 XE X6800;Corsair TWIN2XP2048 2GB PC2-6400 DDR2 RAM;2xAsus GeForce 7950 GX2;BFG PhysX Accel.;IBM DVD-RAM/Plextor DVD±RW;Seagate 750GB HD 7200RPM;WDX 150GB 10000RPM;Vigor Monsoon TEC Cooler

10-16-2006, 02:39 PM	#17 (permalink)
nathansdad04 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19 OS: XP	My local Walmart carries a Seagate Ap100 hard drive (250 gig - 3.5"). Is this drive any good AND will it fit my Dell 9300 laptop? The price is $129

10-16-2006, 02:44 PM	#18 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,487 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	as far as i know 2.5inch= laptops 3.5inch = desktops and laptops peak out in 100 odd gig range __________________

10-16-2006, 05:59 PM	#19 (permalink)
nathansdad04 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19 OS: XP	Crud, that figures. Guess I'll have to order one online. Any 2.5" hard drive will work?

10-16-2006, 08:25 PM	#20 (permalink)
nathansdad04 Registered User Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 19 OS: XP	I'm thinking about this one..... http://www.pagecomputers.com/store/p...ct%5Fid=830100 Is it any good AND will it fit my Inspiron 9300?