"Hard Drive failure. Replace or Repair" What do I do?

[XM Keeper]

My parents computer gets an a type of error message stating something about how the hard drive is failing and that they should back up their data. When you press F2, Windows boots normally and runs fine. My parents are backing up most of their important data, but should they worry if it will fail? Is their a possibility that everything will be fine? And if their hard drive does die, do they just use the recovery disc that came with their computer and re-install windows? Please help me so I can help them.

 

[cmichael138]

Can you tell us the make and model? You can run a HD diagnostics software program to determine the health of the HD, or run Chkdsk:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265
You would need to have someone with some knowledge to remove the HD if it dies and replace it with a comparable one, then run the recovery software program to install the OS on the new HD.

 

[XM Keeper]

I just figured that it is still under warranty. I'm just afraid that recovery disc won't work because in my past, they haven't. The computer is a Compaq Presario QC5700F PC. This isn't the first time we have had a problem with a Compaq Presario too.

 

[ismailroslie]

me too... my laptop shutdown itself. I have run the seatools but its failed. does it really caused by the harddisk or other thing?

 

[XM Keeper]

It runs fine. But we are just afraid that the hard drive will randomly die on us.

 

[Ragnarok666]

Ive been told again and again by people that if your hard drive starts to get flaky its best to just get a new one, its not worth risking any data not backed up, and its a pain when it does happen. You might be right, the hard drive isnt going to die and you can continue using it, but generally this is not correct, when an error comes up its because something inside went wrong, if you have it under warrenty great go and get it replaced as soon as possible. Better to be safe then sorry.