Hard Drive Failure

[boshu22]

The hard drive on the HP laptop I bought last summer failed. I have to get it replaced and it's going to cost me about $250 after parts, labour and taxes. Until then, I'm stuck using a computer that I bought in 1996 (it's amazing I could actually use that thing until 2006).

Anyway, the repair guy said that the hard drive failed because it was bad luck/faulty manufacturing. Sometimes, you just get stuck with a bad drive. "It happens" was what he said.

I wonder, though, if the failure is from downloading torrents and then converting them into DVDs (I download lots of Asian soap operas/variety shows). If I understand correctly, the hard drive is always going when you are downloading/uploading torrents and I can definitely tell the strain the computer is under when I convert the AVIs to DVDs.

Does anyone have an opinion? Would torrents and AVI conversions cause my hard drive to die after only ten months of use or was my repair guy right -- it was just bad luck?

I was planning to buy an external hard drive for $100 or so, set the torrents to download/upload from it and set the conversion programs to use that drive. However, I've been told that it would be impratical because using an external hard drive would kill download/upload speed plus using an external hard drive to convert AVIs to DVDs would take at least twice as long as an internal one.

Is that true? If it is, then I won't bother with buying an external. Any opinions? Advice?

[JohnnyMalaria]

However, I've been told that it would be impratical because using an external hard drive would kill download/upload speed

Unless your internet connection is >400Mbps, what you were told is nonsense. USB 2.0 external drives can read/write data at a max. speed of 480Mbps (in short bursts). FireWire external drives can operate at 400Mbps (the latest can do 800Mbps but a different interface is needed).

plus using an external hard drive to convert AVIs to DVDs would take at least twice as long as an internal one.

Is that true? If it is, then I won't bother with buying an external. Any opinions? Advice?

Converting AVIs to DVDs (i.e., MPEG2 encoding) is a very computationally intensive activity and the use of an external drive is unlikely to impact the overall time taken.

Personally, I'd invest in an external drive....

[RabidDog]

Replace that drive yourself for $100 or claim on the 12 month G'tee.

Your drive may have failed due to your torrenting and encoding. This is called "drive shame" .. no no.. really (lol)
But the heat generated in your badly ventilated laptop and the constant thrashing of the (single?) drive may have caused premature failure. An external drive would be a very good idea. Do your encoding on your desktop PC .

[redwudz]

I'd add a external drive, but your laptop drive shouldn't have worn out, your repair guy was right.

If you had a easily replaceable HD, I would be tempted to just buy a generic replacement HD and stick it in myself. HP does have complete manuals online that show how to do that. Sometimes it just involves removing a few screws and pulling it out of there. Reformatting can be a pain, though. I bought a copy of XP home and used that for my HP laptop and tossed the HP restore discs. The HP factory drives are likely preformatted and they charge a premium for them.

HP internal DVD drives are really expensive. I paid $240US for a replacement DVD ROM drive for my laptop. And that was the bare drive. It still took me a couple of hours to install.

[ntscuser]

Does anyone have an opinion? Would torrents and AVI conversions cause my hard drive to die after only ten months of use

I very much doubt it. Also I have had drives that appeared to have died, only to miraculously recover after I had bought a replacement for them

[boshu22]

Converting AVIs to DVDs (i.e., MPEG2 encoding) is a very computationally intensive activity and the use of an external drive is unlikely to impact the overall time taken.

Personally, I'd invest in an external drive....

So, the processor is the determining factor for conversion time and what drive I end up writing to wouldn't that make much of a difference? Is that correct?

If so, then I'm definitely getting a drive.

Does anyone have any recommendations on a good brand for external HDs?

[TBoneit]

10 Months! Why is it costing you anything? Did you buy it new? Used?

It should have a 1 year warranty from HP.

I just wiped a dv1000 (dv1227US) version. I saved the sw directory from it beforehand. Installed a new copy of XP Pro, ran the s/w installer. Started the s/w installer a 6:45PM, at 6:58 it was done. In the morning I'll look and see to be sure but based on past performance by HP laptops that should have installed all the drivers and s/w that came with the laptop. Thte sw directory runs over 2Gig in size.

I mention this for future reference by others if you can save that directory you can really speed up a fresh install. You can do one by one under your control or just automate it and select what to install.

In what way did your drive die? Just because it won't boot doesn't make it bad. I would have downloaded the 30 day trial of ontracks drive diags and run that to be sure.

If you've been on torrents you could have just gotten gunked up with malware. I've seen computers so infested they took a 1/2 hour to boot and clicking on start took a while til that popped up. The whole time you could see the drive activity light going.

Recommend going to someplace that rolls their own and be sure not to get maxtor. Or go to Best buy and get the Western Digital externals.

FYI we sell a 80 gig installed in a laptop, with drivers and security updates and the proper burning software and DVD playing software for $198 + tax. By the proper software I mean what was previously installed by the maker. So if it had RecordNow and WinDVD you'd get that if it had Roxio and Power DVD you'd get that and so on. Unless the drive was stone dead we'd also try a data recovery for an extra $49 +/- depending on how long it took.

So at $250 canadian it is in the ballpark. However if bought new I'd be on the phone to HP first.

Good Luck

[Jeremiah58]

If I understand correctly, the hard drive is always going when you are downloading/uploading torrents and I can definitely tell the strain the computer is under when I convert the AVIs to DVDs.

Regardless of how you are going to solve your hard drive problem, I would strongly advice not to convert AVIs to DVDs on your laptop.
Just buy a standalone DVD/DIVX player to watch those AVIs on your TV.

[boshu22]

10 Months! Why is it costing you anything? Did you buy it new? Used?

It should have a 1 year warranty from HP.

I bought it during an "open box" sale for $300 less than the regular selling price. I paid $900 for a $1200 computer. I was told expressly that the 1 year warranty was void. These were computers that were returned to the store within the 7 day return/exchange period, checked out and repaired (if needed). I was told mine was returned one day after purchase and did not need repair so it seemed OK to me. It's from the dv1000 series, I forget the exact model number.

In what way did your drive die? Just because it won't boot doesn't make it bad. I would have downloaded the 30 day trial of ontracks drive diags and run that to be sure.

I'm not that technically proficient to try that kind of thing. Basically, my drive just died while I was surfing Yahoo! Sports using Firefox. I got a blue screen of death that mentioned something about the kernel and then it shutdown automatically and restarted. When the re-boot didn't happen for about 15 minutes I knew something was up. I stuffed in the recovery CD and tried to get the recovery console but all I got was "this path/drive is not valid".

When the repair guy came, he put in some CD, said that it was bad that the drive wasn't even being recognized and that it was a sure sign that the drive had failed. He took the computer back to his shop to hook it up to his computer and confirmed it.

If you've been on torrents you could have just gotten gunked up with malware.

I'm very particular about the torrents I download and I also regularly run virus protection, spyware detectors, etc. so I'm pretty sure it wasn't that kind of thing.

Recommend going to someplace that rolls their own and be sure not to get maxtor. Or go to Best buy and get the Western Digital externals.

No maxtor but Western Digital is OK -- got it.

How about I/O Magic, is that any good?

[boshu22]

Regardless of how you are going to solve your hard drive problem, I would strongly advice not to convert AVIs to DVDs on your laptop.
Just buy a standalone DVD/DIVX player to watch those AVIs on your TV.

Yeah, I know that's probably the most efficient way to go but I like the benefits of putting it into DVD format.

Is doing AVI to DVD conversion a real strain on a computer -- so much so that it'll lead to premature breakdown?

[Nelson37]

Doing these conversions is certainly heavy usage, but in no way should it cause a breakdown. I have drives that have been doing this for several years.

The additional heat, in a laptop, could certainly be a major factor as was mentioned.

Try the warranty with HP. It should NOT have been voided according to the conditions you have mentioned. Nothing to lose.

Replacing the drive is fairly simple, you need a small phillips screwdriver and gentle hands. The mylar connectors are fairly fragile, and the plastic clamp tends to get brittle over time.

Using a second drive for source or target can give some speed increase. Moving some of the heat outside the PC may be a benefit.

A laptop is not the ideal machine for this usage. I compare a laptop to a folding bicycle. It has some specialized usages, but these involve serious compromises in the machine.

[Jeremiah58]

Regardless of how you are going to solve your hard drive problem, I would strongly advice not to convert AVIs to DVDs on your laptop.
Just buy a standalone DVD/DIVX player to watch those AVIs on your TV.

Yeah, I know that's probably the most efficient way to go but I like the benefits of putting it into DVD format.

Benefits of putting it into DVD format?
Which benefits?
Anyhow, I believe that you will eventually buy DVD/DIVX player and learn for yourself that there are no benefits to put AVIs into DVD format.

Is doing AVI to DVD conversion a real strain on a computer -- so much so that it'll lead to premature breakdown?

A strain for your laptop is definitely significant. Your CPU (1.66 GHz) runs with 100% during such a conversion, with a fan spinning like hell to cool it down. I would never use it for that kind of a work, as Nelson37 have already mentioned.

[AlanHK]

Is doing AVI to DVD conversion a real strain on a computer -- so much so that it'll lead to premature breakdown?

A laptop is inherently more fragile than a desktop PC. It's more cramped, so is more prone to overheating. Grinding out an AVI to an MPEG takes several hours of work, which runs the processor and disk continuously.

If you're going to use your laptop for this, check the temperature -- there should be some diagnostic apps in a recent machine. Also, you can buy a cheap ($10) laptop stand, including fans on the bottom, which might help keep it out of the red.

But instead of connecting up external drives, if you have the room, you could get a cheap, used PC and let it grind the files out for you. It doesn't need a nice video card, or more than minimal RAM, just one or preferably two hard disks. People give these away, literally, or maybe your shop can hook you up. Something 2-3 years old is quite capable of doing the job. Laptops are designed for portability, not for running batch jobs like a mainframe.

[TBoneit]

The other problem is that when the CPU fan dies it will be harder and morer expensive to replace in a laptop and will for sure have to come from HP.

I don't recoomend heavy CPU useage things for a laptop.

Next thing is buy the cheapo Phillips Divx player. Re-encoding to DVD you are losing quality.

We did one HP that had one of two fans bad and HP would only sell the whole assemble for big bucks. Laptop cpu fans should not be running full time in normal conditions.

I second the call HP for warranty, you might get lucky. I can't see where a open box shouldn't have full warranty. Maybe not from the store but from the maker it should be warrantied.

IO magic? you never know what you are getting as they buy whatever is cheapest this week and rebadge it and box for sale.

[boshu22]

Thanks for all the advice and input everybody.

I followed AlanHK's advice (shout out to a HKer from a former HKer) and ended up buying an used desktop for $180. Only $10 more than I was going to pay for a Western Digital 120 GB External Drive. The computer is a Compaq Evo D510 with the following specs:

2.4 Ghz Intel Pentium 4
256 MB RAM
40 GB hard drive

Good enough for my purposes and no more strain on my laptop. Nevertheless, I'll be looking into DVD players that can play DIVX.

By the way, I'm going to give a shot at getting the warranty honored by HP.

Thanks again for all the input. Much appreciated.

[Jeremiah58]

2.4 Ghz Intel Pentium 4
256 MB RAM
40 GB hard drive

It would be wise to upgrade to, at least, 512 MB RAM.

[bevills1]

FYI check http://bensbargains.net/ to find great deals on hard drives and other items from various vendors. I've seen 500 GB external drive around $150 and internal 160 GB drives $40 or less after rebate. About 6 months ago I got Western Digital 160 GB internal for free after rebate from Office Depot, and about 3 months ago I got 500W power supply free after rebate from Fry's.