Dell Hard Drive in Distress!!!

deusex

Distinguished
Jun 19, 2006
1,025
0
19,280
My hard drive has been acting up lately (a hitachi 60 GB ATA 4200 rpm) in a Dell Laptop, I can't boot past the loading screen - I 've already done 3 windows repair reinstallations, and the third time was done 20 min ago from typing this thread...

I've found a component tester (pressing Fn button when booting), and when the Short DST test comes up, it says fail......what does that mean?

Is there any way I can fix this drive by myself...some utlity maybe...chdsk...?
:cry: :cry: :cry:

Please help me!!!

laptop specs:
Intel Pentium M 1.5GHz CPU, 512 MB RAM, Geforce go5200.
 

PCcashCow

Distinguished
Jun 19, 2002
1,091
0
19,280
Run erd from Winternals or something like that. Usually in this case, you may want to attain a new drive, plus an external 2.5 enclosure to repair the other. I would call Dell\India for any warranty the drive may have.
 

joefriday

Distinguished
Feb 24, 2006
2,105
0
19,810
Do you still have the hidden reinstall partition on your hard disk? If so, you could reinstall the OS back to the original Dell configuration. Sure, you'll loose all your data, but at least you'll have a working computer. It doesn't sound like a failing hard drirve. Sounds more like a bad OS install.
 

deusex

Distinguished
Jun 19, 2006
1,025
0
19,280
The Laptop is around 2 years old, so no warranty there.....

Please tell me what erd from Winternals is and what it can do for my hard drive - somehow I can't access the site from laptop..
 

deusex

Distinguished
Jun 19, 2006
1,025
0
19,280
how can I tell if I have one?

I probably dont - I low-level formatted the drive using a Maxtor utility around a month or two ago - it was the only way I thought I could get rid of the lag/slowness on my laptop, since it has been troubling me almost for 3 months.

IF a Short DST fails, does that mean the HD is a goner, or can DST test more than HD health?
 

PCcashCow

Distinguished
Jun 19, 2002
1,091
0
19,280
I would say your drive is on the way down the pooper. I happen to have a copy of the Winternal's from a friend of mine, but you may be able to torrent the now Microsoft product. If you formated the disk the Dell hidden partition gone. You'll need to get a new drive and OS, but u would not recommend writing to your disk anymore. Buy a new drive and an external enclosure to rebuild the partition and save your data.
 

deusex

Distinguished
Jun 19, 2006
1,025
0
19,280
forgive me, but what's an external enclosure?
-haven't had much experience with hard drives :cry:

You say that it's finished, but I'm wondering if like joefriday said, it might be some other problem......Are the chances that it's another problem great?



bump on anything about DST...
 

PCcashCow

Distinguished
Jun 19, 2002
1,091
0
19,280
Check the out on the web here is an example. Basically they are a external box that work through your USB interface rather than inside your Laptop. Same thing as external hard drives. You can grab a notebook drive just as easy. Check out newegg.com for notebook hard drives.
 

blue68f100

Distinguished
Dec 25, 2005
1,803
0
19,780
You may try a copy of SpinRite from GRC.com

It's worked for me.

When you replace the HD move up to the Hitachi 7K100, it has a 3yr warranty and is very fast
 

deusex

Distinguished
Jun 19, 2006
1,025
0
19,280
I forgot to say that the DST failure code was Error Code : 1000-0146

Can that also be a overheating problem, as also a HD prob?

My comp runs at 45C-47C when booted for an hour, over 50C when 2 hours...
 

blue68f100

Distinguished
Dec 25, 2005
1,803
0
19,780
That's normal for notebook drives.

I've notice the 7200rpm drive runs cooler. I think it is related to less time working.

Have no idea what the code is, do a google search on it.
 

JesterX

Distinguished
Feb 13, 2006
128
0
18,680
You know the topic title is kind of misleading. Because its not a Dell Hard Drive, Dell doesnt make hard drives.

I would recommend getting a WindowsPE disk (MiniPE XT) which has some nice tools for testing the HD. You'll have to torrent that btw,
 

blue68f100

Distinguished
Dec 25, 2005
1,803
0
19,780
My 4200rpm drive ran 54-55c all the time. The new 7200 lowered the temp to 45-47.

I also increased the ram from 512 to 1024, which may have helped cut down the disk mem swaping.

But I keep my laptop cooling clean. I blow out the dust on a montly basis. I have even torn my apart and re-apply the thermal Paste to the cpu, switched over to AS5, now the fan run on low 95% of the time.
 

JesterX

Distinguished
Feb 13, 2006
128
0
18,680
srry :oops:



ISn't MiniPE XT a windows Boot disc or something? - does it repair HDs also?

Reapir? It can't repair physical damage, but theres Scan Disk (Avast + other ones) in it. It also has WD's Data Lifeguard Utilities and what not.

If you want data recovery, SpinRite is probably your best bet.
 

kamel5547

Distinguished
Jan 4, 2006
585
0
18,990
My hard drive has been acting up lately (a hitachi 60 GB ATA 4200 rpm) in a Dell Laptop, I can't boot past the loading screen - I 've already done 3 windows repair reinstallations, and the third time was done 20 min ago from typing this thread...

I've found a component tester (pressing Fn button when booting), and when the Short DST test comes up, it says fail......what does that mean?

Is there any way I can fix this drive by myself...some utlity maybe...chdsk...?
:cry: :cry: :cry:

Please help me!!!

laptop specs:
Intel Pentium M 1.5GHz CPU, 512 MB RAM, Geforce go5200.

If you fail the DST test your hard drive is bad or will be.... repalce it.

If it was under warranty a DST failure is enough for an automatic replacement even if you ahve NO other issues, it indicates immenent hard drive failure.
 

deusex

Distinguished
Jun 19, 2006
1,025
0
19,280
Somehow, I've had this DST failure for over 4 months, and it hasn't broken down entirely, but I'm not too happy about repair-reinstalling XP like almost every day just to boot XP and work on it. :evil:

to jesterx, i was talking about software damage, (ie. data corruption).

What are the chances of Spinrite "healing" my Hard Drive?
-want to know before getting it...
 

joefriday

Distinguished
Feb 24, 2006
2,105
0
19,810
Okay, so...no more Dell partition. That's okay. If you have the ability to run repair installs, you must have a windows XP cd handy. How 'bout just a regular good ol' reformat/install using the XP CD instead of a repair install? You could at least see if it works.
 

blue68f100

Distinguished
Dec 25, 2005
1,803
0
19,780
You blow out the dust through the intakes and exhaust vents. Will warn you, if it's never been done it can be nasty, do it outside. And lint actually stickes to the fan and can block the cooling fins on the heat sink. Some times the only way to clean it is take it apart so you can scrape the packed stuff off.

Remember, every time you start you notebook up the closer it is to failing all together. BACK OFF ALL DATA WHILE YOU HAVE ACCESS.

At least you are geting a warning, alot of time you do not.
 

deusex

Distinguished
Jun 19, 2006
1,025
0
19,280
I want to, but it is going to be a huge hassle transferring about 40 GB of media and files to another source.....the low-level format didn't work, will a sole format work then???

ANYONE KNOW THE BEST WAY TO TRANSFER 30-40 GB of files NOT USING ANOTHER HD? CDs?....HELP!!!
 

blue68f100

Distinguished
Dec 25, 2005
1,803
0
19,780
Compressed air is good (if clean, free of water and oil) , more pressure than caned air. If you can see your fan you may want to use a paper clip to keep it from spinning. Compressed air can really make the fan spin up and may damage the bearing.