To all hardware experts

[Vape]

I wonder, AoM did you bring the machine down "hard" (hard is a term for when you dont shut it down properly). If that happened, then it probably caused your error. I remember one time when i was six or seven, i tried to install a game on my dads computer and wound up putting it into a redundant bootup sequence (it boots up then restarts continously) and more recently i brought my computer down hard and corrupted every single file on the hdrive.

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[uspatriotsf]

All I am saying is that HDD is going to fail again, it is inevitable, and it will eventually have a terminal failure. Whatever you do, make backups of your important files. Again, I do data recovery off of failed HDD's for a living, and I see this all the time. "chkdsk fixed the bad sector and it worked, then a week later the same thing happened and now it wont come back."

Error on the side of caution... Do a backup, and then I strongly suggest replacing that HDD. Just my opinion.

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<span style="color:#FF0000"><strike>RETIRED</strike></span>
ON MY WAY OUT OF RETIREMENT

DO NOT CLICK HERE

[Raekur]

I would listen to AC on this one, chances are the MBR section of the drive may have become corrupted and caused the bootloader to fail until chkdsk repaired it (which simply means that it was pointed back to the correct location on the disk). Get the new drive, move your data over, and return the old drive back to the manufacturer. There are several possible causes for this problem ranging from damage to the fle structure, damage to the heads or platters or problems with the controller board on the bottom of the drive.

Its not something to just ignore and pray it goes away because it wont, that much you can be certain of.

Oh, and Ghosting a corrupted drive, bad idea. Better to use the slave to master transfer as you have NO idea how long you will be able to access the drive. Stick with what works, move the data across so its built on the new drive properly.

[RingoW]

Thanks alot to all.

My machine is nearly 3 years old. So the harddrive is.

I will get a new harddrive, because of the warranty and i will replace the old one. Just want to know, if it will be absolutly necessary, after chkdsk has found and repaired the failure.

Unfortunatly i'm unemployed at the moment. So i have to turn every cent more than twice before buying something. For backup i would prefer other methods than burning a DVD each time, but i have not the money to purchase this stuff.

Btw, would anyone recommend a not expansive but very good backup method?
So i might be able to save the money for.

AoM

[uspatriotsf]

It depends on how much data you have. A USB flash drive is good, an external hard drive is good if your talking about more than 4-8 GB worth of data. The key is, and I tell my customers this all the time, "If it's important to you, make sure you have 2 copies of it on different sources... If it's REALLY important, make 3 copies."

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<span style="color:#FF0000"><strike>RETIRED</strike></span>
ON MY WAY OUT OF RETIREMENT

DO NOT CLICK HERE

[RingoW]

USB flash sounds good. I remember a friend was talking about. He mentioned 1 GB USB flash isn't expansive.
It is really just my model files i'm concerned to loose, because cv and motivation letters i can write again without time consumption. Programs i can install again. Plug in's i can download again, but all the work i've done and all the time i've spent to my models i cannot afford to loose.

Thanks

AoM

[pipsqueak]

If you are out of Work, back up your resume and importand stuff on a DVD (Burn it...its the cheapest way). Even if it is under warranty, most store will not replace it for a bad cluster. ...And wait till you find a job. Frankly... the drive may not go for another 10 years.... Keep an eye on a couple of things.

1. System rebooting unexpectedly.
2. Finding orphinated clusters...more and more frequently.
3. Bad clusters....

If it keeps getting worse, then worry about getting a new drive.

Hopefully you will find something soon.

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