10 replies to this topic

[banditboy2006]

just booted up the spare lappy but its went to check disk on boot up

 

does anybody know what would have caused it

[Idontknow]

Failing or failed HDD usually.

[banditboy2006]

whats the best course of action backup important files and format the hardrive and if that doest sort it

 

i need to buy a new hardrive

[nails]

just let it boot as per normal (you may have to leave it for an hour while it performs the check). once finished let windows load and when its settled backup your files either copy your files manually or use a program like acronis to make a 1:1 copy of the drive.

[banditboy2006]

its done the check and its booted okey i have fought about defragging it but the it will take days with the size of the harddrive

[Bencrest]

Should never take days to defrag unless the drive is buggered.
 
Download HDTune (free) and look for errors and warnings - if unsure check back.

Edited by Bencrest, 05 February 2014 - 10:33 PM.

[Idontknow]

You might be lucky and it was just a clitch, and the hard drive is actually ok, but as nails said now would be a good time to backup any files you wouldn't want to lose.

 

I would put off defragging or anything like that until you got your files backed up as defragging is HDD intensive and if its on its way out that could kill it off completely.

 

If it turns out Its a false alarm and your drives fine then no harm done as its never a bad thing to have backups

 

 

Good luck.

[nails]

defragging wont repair a drive. 

[richy1976]

hirens boot cd

[killcrazy]

Yea windows checking the disk is usually the first sign of it starting to fail although it could still last many months or even years.  No way to tell unfortunately.

 

I'd highly recommend an SSD (depending on how much space you need / cost ratio) - I got one for my laptop and the speed difference makes it worth the added expense

[stanmarsh14]

hirens boot cd

 

Indeed, and run Victoria, but make sure you start the comp in either safe mode, or use the mini XP function on Hirens.

If the drive is failing, Victoria should pick it up.

Also worth noting down the drive manu and model number reported by Victoria, as some of the manu tools for some drives (Which are normaly free), are very handy at backing stuff up, and fixing errors like on file tables, but obviousaly can not fix hardware faults.