Disk Read Error

lufcgirl

On my older laptop (a Toshiba of which we've had numberous problems with the charging port but still under a year old) it's now saying upon start up 'Disk Read Error, pleasee Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart, but when we do, it comes up with the same error again.

Is there anything we can do?

Halloway

You should check the drive connection. If the drive is secure and connected properly then either the disk has become corrupted or it has failed completely. If you have a rescue CD or partition then now is the time to use it. Otherwise you might want to try reinstalling your OS with a complete hard drive format. If that fails then the drive is knackered and you need a new one.

lufcgirl

At the risk of sounding completely stupid, how do I do any of this?

I've never taken a laptop apart to check the drive is connected properly and don't have a clue how to reinstall everything!

bengalknights

Hi

can you still login to windows, if so try running the chkdsk utility

as a newbie im unable to post a link but if you google chkdsk the microsoft support site should show you how to do it and this should show or repair errors on your drive

lufcgirl

It comes up with starting windows, and then then the error comes up. So it's not like I ever get into the home screen. So I don't think I could as theres nowhere comes up to type anything.

jack_spratt_2

I had a similar problem and it was the hard drive that had failed !!

I had photos backed up to another external hard drive !! I hope you had yours backed up or you may not be able to recover them

andy2004

what is the error,
if you can get online download and burn a copy of Hirens Boot cd, boot from that disk
then run HDD REGENERATOR, depending on the size of the disk i suggest having it plugged into the mains, as this can take upto 12 hrs, basically it checks every sector of the drive, no data will be lost, and any sectors it finds that are bad it tries to fix. Just used the same program on a DELL.
its under hard drive tools, Hirens Boot cd 9.9 is the latest, FREEWARE also has some other tools on there aswell.
As the laptop is under warranty, option 2 would be to contact the shop where you bought it, who will then send it back to toshiba to get them to 1, replace the drive. 2, use the recovery disc.