Recieved a SMART predict failure notice

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I kinda freaked out on this.
I did back things up to be safe.
It is a fairly old laptop running Win 7.
Time to chunk it?


 
You can replace the Hard Drive with a new one, at little cost, and probably much higher capacity. It's up to you, but needing a new drive is the least reason to replace a laptop or desktop. ALL hard drives fail at some point, it's a matter of when, not if.

You were using it before you received the notice, was it not useful to you?
 
How much space do you need? You can replace it with a small SSD for around $50 which will make it much, much faster.
 
Put a SSD like a Samsung EVO in instead the performance increase alone will breathe new life into laptop and is far more reliable then a mechanical drive.

It did wonders for my older laptop that couldn't be upgraded past 4gb of Ram.
 
Originally Posted By: zorobabel
Try to clone it first, then reinstall win if cloning doesn't work.


+1

Hopefully, your new HD will come with cloning software.
 
All the HD/SSD company provides cloning software that can be downloaded.
Otherwise, there are some free trial 30 days that can clone the HD to a new HD.

A lot of Youtube video on how to do it.
 
Unless you need the extra capacity, a faster hard drive would be better than a bigger one.
 
What are the rest of the specs on the laptop? What processor and how much ram, mainly. A hard drive or ssd can be had for $30 to $100. However, if you need to replace the battery at some point, add at least $20. If the power supply goes, that's another $20. If the power jack wears out or breaks, that's another $10-20. All of that is assuming cheapest ebay parts.
Depending on age, it may not be worth maintaining. Otherwise, you can still update it to windows 10 for free, and adding an ssd will make it faster than its ever been.
 
Id try to see if chkdsk can fix it first. Try defragmenting the disk and doing a chkdsk on startup. It will run short and long tests to see if any sectors are repairable. Worst case its not fixable, in which case a new HD solves the issue.
 
Originally Posted By: Rolla07
Id try to see if chkdsk can fix it first. Try defragmenting the disk and doing a chkdsk on startup. It will run short and long tests to see if any sectors are repairable. Worst case its not fixable, in which case a new HD solves the issue.


Backup before doing this as it will stress the drive. If it is on the verge of [censored] the bed this will speed it up. SMART errors are not usually software related. If you are keeping the laptop I second the idea of getting an SSD. It will make the machine much faster all around.
 
Related question:

Does Windows 7 backup have the capability to populate a new SSD with the full backup image, system & data, and make it bootable upon doing a Restore from the Win 7 rescue disk that it made? Like the way Norton Ghost could do?

I'm running a quad core 17" laptop bought new in early 2010 (HP DV7-2270us) that has a 7200rpm drive made (or marketed) by IBM (relabeled Seagate?...) that so far is still working fine and has the SMART monitoring. However, I've thought lately about swapping in an SSD just to speed up the laptop as well as replace the hard disk before it does start to get flakey. Just not sure if the standard backups w/ system image I've been doing are capable of setting up an SSD in a turn-key way.

P.S. Assuming as SSD would also draw much less power, which is always a good thing for an aging laptop.
 
Originally Posted By: LoneRanger
P.S. Assuming as SSD would also draw much less power, which is always a good thing for an aging laptop.

IIRC they take less power when idling but sometimes more power when working. They do take less time to work, though. Not sure what the net power savings are.

Another benefit for a laptop: complete immunity to vibrations and magnets. That's a game changer.
 
Originally Posted By: LoneRanger
Related question:

Does Windows 7 backup have the capability to populate a new SSD with the full backup image, system & data, and make it bootable upon doing a Restore from the Win 7 rescue disk that it made? Like the way Norton Ghost could do?

I'm running a quad core 17" laptop bought new in early 2010 (HP DV7-2270us) that has a 7200rpm drive made (or marketed) by IBM (relabeled Seagate?...) that so far is still working fine and has the SMART monitoring. However, I've thought lately about swapping in an SSD just to speed up the laptop as well as replace the hard disk before it does start to get flakey. Just not sure if the standard backups w/ system image I've been doing are capable of setting up an SSD in a turn-key way.

P.S. Assuming as SSD would also draw much less power, which is always a good thing for an aging laptop.


Yes but you will need to make recovery media to go along with your backup and use the recovery media to reinstall all your files not the Windows setup.
 
SSD's draw about 1/3rd the power of a mechanical drive. 2-6 watts on average. (No motors spinning platters / electromagnetic servos)
 
Originally Posted By: Rolla07
Id try to see if chkdsk can fix it first. Try defragmenting the disk and doing a chkdsk on startup. It will run short and long tests to see if any sectors are repairable. Worst case its not fixable, in which case a new HD solves the issue.


No, no, no.

SMART is actually going into the firmware of the HDD to detect low level issues while chkdsk just do read write test that HDD firmware mask the issue from you.

My guess is your drive is failing and it is already reallocating sectors. You have a finite amount of time you can move data out of it. If you are really lucky you may be able to clone the drive, but don't count on it (may fail within hours).

Backup quick, and get another hard drive (or warranty replacement), and reinstall from backup or clean install your OS. Most companies have free version of cloning firmware but sometimes you have quirky setup that they may not work (Toshiba's version won't if you use BIOS based raid, but if your SMART is working it is unlikely to be the case).

Good luck, and hurry.
 
Drive needs replacement. Back up important files then you can attempt a clone. If that fails, run chkdsk/r and that should mark the failed sectors and let the clone complete.

If you call the laptop manufacturer they should be able to provide a windows 7 install disc
 
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