Tech help needed Potential hard drive failure?

[RugerShooter]

I have been getting the following message when I boot up my computer, I have removed everything off my slave drive so I don't loose anything, does anybody know if there is a way to fix this drive or is it dying?

[sparker1]

I've never seen that message, as I've never owned a Dell. However, I have experienced HD failures and can attest that it's a major league nightmare. Last time, I spent over $500 trying to recover data, which never happened so I lost several hundred meaningful photos that had not been backed up.

I use an external HD and back-up regularly. That makes it easier to recover onto a new HD. Still, there is always some new data that will be lost without back-up.

[asdf]

Sounds like its about dead. Good thing is IDE drives are CHEEP
200 gigs for $60, not bad at all.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822145090


Too bad you dont have a mac... you could be sending it in for service right now.

[RugerShooter]

It's not a big deal if it does die, I got it for free anyway, it was giving this same problem at work so we replaced it, and I took it by chance formating it would fix it.

[R]

Sounds like its about dead. Good thing is IDE drives are CHEEP
200 gigs for $60, not bad at all.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822145090


Too bad you dont have a mac... you could be sending it in for service right now.

This sort of misapprehension seems common among PC owners. My iMac, a 20-inch dual G5, is not only a great machine, it's soooo easy to repair. I had an optical drive fail, and it was five minutes and four screws to replace. The drive even has a pull-tab for easy removal! My G5 desktop at work is super easy too. The whole side comes off, and allows access to every component.

Also, I don't know if PCs will do this, but you can install OS X on an external Firewire drive and startup from it if your internal drive fails. It's incredibly easy.

[brookiekiller]

I build computers - for pennies on the dollar compared to Dell. I would throw in a new hard drive and not risk it.

If people knew how easy a PC is to build themselves they would not even mess around with a brand name. That is why I prefer PCs to Macs.

My $700 PC I just built would be around $2600 from Dell.

www.newegg.com is the place to get great prices on good components. Way cheaper than going to compusa.

[Sombeech]

"...drive... has exceeded it's normal operating range..."

I'm not so sure the drive is going bad. Have you added more RAM lately, or any other hardware?

Is the drive loud, like a jet engine starting to fire up? If it sounds normal, I'd open up your PC and maybe check your connections. Maybe something's loose.

[RugerShooter]

No, it was doing this at work, that is why the boss had me pull it out and replace it, he told me I could have it so I decided what the hell, it's worth a try for a secondary hard drive. I was just hoping that it was fixable.

[Sombeech]

ahh, must be Windows 98?

[RugerShooter]

ahh, must be Windows 98?

na, one of the old Dell's with XP

[brookiekiller]

If you think the drive may be OK, then go into the BIOS and disable the SMART setting on the Hard Drive in question and the error message should disappear. It could be that the drive has a few bad sectors and is corrupt in some areas. I wouldn't trust it with important data. Or, the SMART could be falsifying a report, and the drive could be OK.