Posted on 12/28/2012 6:37:43 PM PST by Chickensoup
My Vaio stopped working this morning. The little disk light goes on and on. I took it to this diagnostics guy who said he would be able to tell if he can get it going.
My question. Can the hard disk be replaced? I have been looking for replacements and havent seen one I like as much.
I surf, run my website, check email and bank online. Not much else.
help!
My question. Can the hard disk be replaced? I have been looking for replacements and havent seen one I like as much.
I surf, run my website, check email and bank online. Not much else.
I just realized that I handed my computer with all my information to a guy I hardly know. Tax info on there. Hmmmm. Should I be worried?
help!
*IF* the problem is the hard drive it can be replaced for less than $50. A tech who knows his stuff can determine that in about 30 minutes.
Depends on the laptop but yes they can be repaired. Hard drives aren’t usually too bad.
Sometimes its more expensive to repair then to replace.
Depends if he is honest! I sure if he is in the business of repairing computers, you should be fine......
Laptop hard drives are very easy to replace. Generally one screw removed, one cover removed and you can unplug the hard drive. Hard drives are cheap. If you have an image of your disk on DVD, you can easily load that on the new drive.
Sorry to hear your computer is having issues. Some thoughts:
1. Please tell me you’ve backed up the machine on a regular basis.
2. Before you do anything else, call the guy and tell him you want to try to back up the computer before he does anything. See if he can pull the drive and back it up. Buy an external hard disk if you don’t have one.
3. If it is just the drive, you should be able to purchase a new one and get it installed. Fry’s, Best Buy, etc. can do this for you.
4. IF it’s more than the hard drive, you’re probably going to be in the market for a new computer. Laptop circuitry is pretty much all jammed onto a single board. If that goes, you’re out of luck.
5. Yes, you should be worried if this guy has your tax info. Probably not too much unless you’re rich and he can blackmail you.
Yes, it can be repaired. If it’s the hard drive that should be apparent by any competent tech. It can easily be replaced. Now, getting the data from it may be a different story depending on the severity of the damage.
check your model number but this might help - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMO-W5LSq50
the hard drive is about the easiest thing on a laptop to replace - you can do it yorself AND you wont even need directions- its pretty obvious
get it to reformat and install a new operating system will be harder, if you are not at least a little tech savvy.
Salvaging your data on your old drive is possible- with some (not free) diagnostic tools for hard disk recovery- I just spent over $100 for some software to recover data from my my failed drive and I got 99% of it.
so.. if you’re sure it is the hard drive- yank it out and buy one from best buy or online
But... if it is NOT the hard drive and there is a problem with the motherboard then it is almost easier to replace it (especially if it is more than a couple of years old) - they are almost like throwaways now.
Stil with a good nam like Dell and you will have fewer problems. I had had less luck with a toshiba i bought and i refuse to buy anything from HP anymore
ASUS is good n beefy but power hogs
I consider myself lucky if my daughters lasts for over a year before they break somethign or another
Yes, Hard Drives costing less than $100 are easy to replace if that is the problem. Other parts such as system can be replaced but sometimes cost more than replacing the Laptop. A new hard drive is something many people can do themselves. And can be found at Office depot , Best Buy ....
Thanks.
If the present hard drive can not be made to work, a new drive can be obtained for around a hundred dollars. It is a fairly easy replacement. When your computer was new, hopefully it came with a CD that you could use to rebuild or reinstall your operating system. You will need this CD to install the operating system on the new hard drive.
If it is the hard drive itself, yes. Most of the other components are not cost effective to repair or replace.
A good hard drive costs about $100, assuming it is a recent model. Installing one in a laptop does not take long, usually. Did you have backups of everything? If not, this isn’t going to be a lot of fun.
Assuming your laptop has a lot of hours on it...
Get yourself a new laptop, and get a hold of a USB drive chassis to copy the data off your old drive.
For under $500, you can get a brand new machine with a warranty, the latest OS, faster processor, more memory, bigger drive, etc.
5. Yes, you should be worried if this guy has your tax info. Probably not too much unless you’re rich and he can blackmail you
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LOL. Boy there is no chance of THAT!
Am just scraping by... but if I have to buy a new computer I need to do it by the 31rst.
Sure ... Get a solid state drive for the old laptop and its sort of like nitrous bottle on your station wagon....goes a lot faster .....:o)
Did such on a 12 year old plus laptop and loaded Ubuntu from Linux vs windows etc etc ... It’s now my screaming fast antique laptop.
99% of laptop problems that usually are desktop replacements versus really packed around and subjected to drops and rough handling etc just need a physical and digital cleaning which may require a the OS to be reloaded versus just updated.
My experience and opinion only .... Merry New Year !
For under $500, you can get a brand new machine with a warranty, the latest OS, faster processor, more memory, bigger drive, etc.
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Boy I havent seen anything new like that.
I have 4mb 500GB 3.something and I dont see anything inexpensive with some push to it. I dont do much but I do a lot of it, all at once and need a fast computer.
1. Please tell me you’ve backed up the machine on a regular basis.
Every time I went to the office and plugged in the usb, The Maxtor backed it up. Recently I looked at those Maxtor files and they listed that they didnt copy file after file after file after file.
HD replacement is RIDICULOUSLY easy. Like changing a headlight. Most peope don’t know this, and fixers profit from that ignorance.
I see from above that others have told u how 2 do it.
So you got the new one in there —how to passage all your old data from the old drive. OK for that you buy a “dad enclosure” (usually it costs $20 or less). You insert the old HDD into the enclosure (which is like a plastic slot with some metal stuff in there and a cable coming out of the side), then connect the enclosure/old HDD complex into the computer.
Your computer will recognize the new device, and then you use ordinary clicks to transfer the data (which can be over 2 hours, sometimes).
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