Laptop hard drive died after just 19 months

lafemme51

I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop which I bought new less than 20 months ago.

The hard drive has now died.

Not only do I have the expense of a new hard drive to buy but also the expense of recovering the data from the broken hard drive.

Someone has suggested that it is reasonable for me to have expected it to have lasted longer than 19 months and that if I take it back to Currys with my receipt I would have a good case for them to fix it - anyone had any dealings like this with defective laptops/PCs?

flappy_mcwarbucks

Why would they? Unless you have an extended warranty, they won't touch you.

Also, let this be a lesson on the importance of regular backups

closed

Died completely or corrupt?

You could try under the sale of goods act, but a new one doesn't cost much provided you have the means to reinstall windows. Your data recovery won't be covered.

lafemme51

Someone at work in IT used to work for PC World and apparently if pushed hard enough they would repair things like this, and it was under the sale of goods act as it is reasonable to expect a brand new laptop to last more than 19 months.

A replacement hard drive of the same size as the SATA one I have is quite expensive as its 320GB.

To recover my data is going to cost at least £60 (if the drive is not too badly damaged). The SMART message is failure immenent back up data/replace hard drive and its not making a noise so apparently this is a good sign in terms of recovery being possible.

I have the Windows CDs which came with laptop so I can sort this out myself.

I don't think it is unreasonable to expect a laptop to work for more than 19 months without a major component going wrong.

closed

£30 or so for a new hard disk

If it's not readable, it's going to cost far more than £60 to recover data. If it is readable, get your data off now.

TEDDYRUKSPIN

19 months is way too short for a new hard drive. Expected life averages around 7 years and some have last for 10 years and beyond.

2 ways to deal with the above:

(1) Go back to the company who sold you the laptop / computer. Ask them to retrieve important data for free and a brand new hard drive.

(2) Open up the hard drive section of the laptop. Note the make of the laptop hard drive. Go on the website and you will notice that the company in question usually has some form of warranty for the hard drive. I had a hard drive which was 6 years old and seagate replaced it. Just remember they will usually replace is with a refurbished hard drive.

Good luck.

lafemme51

TEDDYRUKSPIN wrote: »

19 months is way too short for a new hard drive. Expected life averages around 7 years and some have last for 10 years and beyond.

2 ways to deal with the above:

(1) Go back to the company who sold you the laptop / computer. Ask them to retrieve important data for free and a brand new hard drive.

(2) Open up the hard drive section of the laptop. Note the make of the laptop hard drive. Go on the website and you will notice that the company in question usually has some form of warranty for the hard drive. I had a hard drive which was 6 years old and seagate replaced it. Just remember they will usually replace is with a refurbished hard drive.

Good luck.

Thank you. I have already removed the hard drive and its case (am obviously going to put it back in before I return it to Currys) and I will make a note of the number and google it.

Given I have only had it 19 months I was going to ask them to recover my data for free. I cannot log in in safe mode even so I cannot extract the data myself. I have about 9000 mp3s on there so I do want to recover what I can!

lafemme51

closed wrote: »

£30 or so for a new hard disk

If it's not readable, it's going to cost far more than £60 to recover data. If it is readable, get your data off now.

I have had a few quotes of £20/25 even £45 for a 160GB drive but this SATA one is 320 GB which appear more expensive.

At any right I am going to try and get Currys to sort this out for me given its age.

Visiondvd

Hello
I work at this stuff, a 320 gb Sata 2.5 fitted with windows reinstalled and various software, cost from me, £70 aint that expensive really is it?
You have a 12 month warranty with hard drives, thats it, you be wasting time and effort to try and pursue this.
To recover your data buy a 2.5 inch external caddy, usually about £10, insert your fault drive, plug it in your newly fixed laptop, and you may be suprised. If it dont work bin it and download your mp3's again.
trust me less of a headache than trying it out with some tech geek at Currys, or even worse Toshiba.

lafemme51

Visiondvd wrote: »

Hello
I work at this stuff, a 320 gb Sata 2.5 fitted with windows reinstalled and various software, cost from me, £70 aint that expensive really is it?
You have a 12 month warranty with hard drives, thats it, you be wasting time and effort to try and pursue this.
To recover your data buy a 2.5 inch external caddy, usually about £10, insert your fault drive, plug it in your newly fixed laptop, and you may be suprised. If it dont work bin it and download your mp3's again.
trust me less of a headache than trying it out with some tech geek at Currys, or even worse Toshiba.

I had absolutely no idea that an external caddy was so cheap. I think to avoid the stress I might have a go at this.

Someone at work was going to use their caddy but to be honest at that price i'd rather have my own and have a go as I like to get involved and know how things work.

Can you recommend where I can get a 320GB SATA disc from? I have the recovery disc so can install Windows 7 from that.

Thank you

andygb

flappy_mcwarbucks wrote: »

Why would they? Unless you have an extended warranty, they won't touch you.

Also, let this be a lesson on the importance of regular backups

We are supposed to be nice to "Newbies" on here, but in your case, I will just say - go away Mr unhelpful Tosspot.