Worth Replacing Laptop Hard Drive?

[aczlan]

So last night I restarted without Internet cable plugged in and it is still not plugged in.
I set it to picture slideshow and it went all night without a glitch... either I was lucky or the Hard Drive is a symptom and not the problem.
The inquisitive side of me always looks for the reasoning...
The Hard Drive is near silent jut spinning away... I've heard hard drives that are noisy... a couple of years back our Nortel phone system crashed... the hard drive stopped working and the tech said their was no way to retrieve data... since he said that I asked to try and freeze it with CO2 and it worked long enough to transfer data...
Will be interesting to see what I find tonight.
Also pulled the 2 year old Duracell Battery pack and reinstalled... it ran 90 minutes with power left... I don't think it is a battery issue.
The brain trust at TBN is amazing!

When did Windows Update last look for and install updates? See the directions in my earlier post on how to check that. I have fixed a few computers that had the same issue by getting the computer manually updated.

Aaron Z

 

[Mendonsy]

There is a rather handy utility called Process Explorer which will show you a lot about what is going on inside the computer, particularly what is running and the resources being used. Of course if the display stops working then it can't help you. You can download it from here:
Process Explorer

 

[Oaktree]

This maybe a hard drive problem. It may not. It could be as simple as dust build up on the motherboard is causing an overtemp issue.

Yep. I've probably seen more problems caused by heat than crashed hard drives, especially in laptops or ultra-compact (paperback book-sized) computers. Check the heatsink and fan on the CPU, they'll often get clogged with dust. It doesn't take much!

I would right click on the taskbar on bottom of the screen, click on task manager, go to processes, check the box for show all processes and see how much memory and processor power is being used. I have seen computers lock up like you're describing with Windows update running in the background and using 99% of the processor power. If so there will be a process whose name starts with wau that is using at least 80% of the CPU.

Another good suggestion. In addition to Windows updates slowing down the computer, Chrome browser can sometimes fail to close out completely and hog a lot of memory. I'd suspect anything using more than a single digit's worth of CPU resources or more than 100k of RAM.

Installing a new HD can be a task- especially for someone who hasn't done it or doesn't need another hobby (besides tractors of course). Besides formatting and transferring data. You may have problems with Windows not liking the new HD (they think you stole a copy of of the OS).

Not really that hard to do, but the first time can be daunting.

Since the OP's computer does boot up and run, there's a pretty good chance you can make an image of it and use the image to create a new drive. Clonezilla is a good freeware program for this. Since it's an exact copy of your original drive, there shouldn't be any activation issues.

 

[ultrarunner]

It was two weeks ago in Olympia Washington...

Didn't use it for a few days and then noticed issues like it freezing and then the last couple of days to black screen.

I did go to a Jan 15th restore point and it failed several times... tried a later restore point just prior to the trip and it completed... but still having issues after.

I'm generally leary of doing anything when all is good... almost to the point of why risk it?

 

[newbury]

It was two weeks ago in Olympia Washington...

Didn't use it for a few days and then noticed issues like it freezing and then the last couple of days to black screen.

I did go to a Jan 15th restore point and it failed several times... tried a later restore point just prior to the trip and it completed... but still having issues after.

I'm generally leary of doing anything when all is good... almost to the point of why risk it?

Now's the time to clone the hard drive.
Get an external USB drive and make a 100% easily restorable backup AND CHECK THE BACKUP.

Start looking for a replacement laptop so you know what is a good deal. Spec it out like you would spec anything else out.
Do you need a touch screen?
5GHz wi-fi?
Built in blue-ray?
HDMI?
USB 3.0?
How big a screen?

Most of these features can be found on the commodity basic laptops, but like the one I bought, if you just walk into the store because you NEED ONE NOW you will probably end up paying a lot more compared to finding the same one on "sale".

 

[ultrarunner]

Good points...

My Acer is the only thing I have ever bought at Walmart... it was a back to school sale and I jumped on it.

Did want to feel too bad if something happened to it...

The Google Chrome Book might be all I need for on the go... I know smart phones can do just about everything but I find a full size keyboard and screen so much better.

 

[ultrarunner]

Update...

So the Acer has been running a slideshow for 24 hours with zero problem...

I plug in the Internet and within 2 minutes I get the Black Screen of Death...

So whatever it is only happens when the Internet is involved and no other time.

This has my flummoxed...

 

[s219]

Tried to respond 3 times and it froze... only way to force off by holding the power key.

Owned 3 computers in my life...

Apple //e cost $3000 with software, printer, hard drives.

Dell Win 98 cost $2200 with above

Acer Win 7 cost $199 with Home Edition package... simply did not want to buy expensive software again

Acer Hard drive online is about $40

Never transferred data from one computer to another... this is why the Apple //e and Win 98 are still available.

The most reliable to date is my 1981 Apple //e... works like a charm and never failed in any way!

Still got that old Apple? How about some pics?

 

[aczlan]

Update...

So the Acer has been running a slideshow for 24 hours with zero problem...

I plug in the Internet and within 2 minutes I get the Black Screen of Death...

So whatever it is only happens when the Internet is involved and no other time.

This has my flummoxed...

Its windows update trying to run in the background and getting stuck.

Aaron Z

 

[Sysop]

On windows 7 that would be as simple as turning updates off before connecting to rule out. I doubt that's it.

Unless you have a massive amount of photos for the slideshow to go through, this isn't a real test. Hundreds of pictures (potentially thousands, depending on the sizes) can be loaded into RAM, allowing the HDD to sleep while the slide show runs.

Try tools that are made to benchmark and test hardware. Seatools by Seagate has tests that will work on any drive.

Also, keep in mind, just because something passes a test, doesn't mean it is good. All it means is that it didn't fail that particular test at that particular time... False-positives are very common in hardware testing.

All of the previous recommendations and my bit above aside, I'd never replace a hard drive in an older notebook. I would only replace it with a solid state drive. Solid state drives are about 10x faster than a standard drive, and they have no moving parts so they are not vibration sensitive like a standard drive. Many companies that used to maintain a 2-year replacement cycle on notebooks started replacing the hard drive with a solid state drive to extend the usable lifespan of the machines; in doing so they have extended their replacement cycles to 4 years.