Well, the hard drive on my Dell Latitude is no longer making that horrible grinding noise, the sound that preceded the previous hd failures (two in the last year) on this machine. I'm beginning to wonder if I've got some bad heat condition or possibly a structural or shock-absorption problem. It doesn't seem like it would be the drives since each one has been a different model and they failures have all happened in this one machine (but none of my co-workeers with identical machines have had the problem.)
Things sound good today and I'm now well backed up. I've only got this machine as long as I'm with my current employer and that's scheduled to end in about five weeks so I'm still crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.
Laptops kick ass. Laptops suck.
Posted by asa at August 19, 2003 06:07 PMMy bet would be heat. I've seen similar symptoms from hard disks that are on the brink of failing and running rather warm. Try to keep it cool, and leave it running if possible so you don't end up in a situation where the disk simply won't spin up again. Better to obtain a warranty replacement and ghost it over while the drive still works. Depending on the tech you happen to get on the phone, some will be more willing to send out a replacement before total failure... what a novel idea. :)
-Furo
Posted by: Furo on August 19, 2003 06:59 PMI remember reading that you tried Linux on your desktop. If you run Linux on that laptop, see the smartmontools package.
http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/
It's in Debian unstable and probably in other distribs.
stop using your laptop as a doorstop.
Posted by: alanjstr on August 20, 2003 06:26 AMI work at a Help Desk at my college, a college which gives laptops to all students to use. Our current models are Latitudes (C510s and C540s, just phased out the C500s).
We get failed hard drives ALL the time. Sometimes we can save the data and swap hard drives, sometimes it all dissappears. But it seems to be a heating issue. The hard drive just isn't cooled enough if the laptop is used frequently (lucky for me, I use my own desktop more).
I don't know if there's anyway to make it cooler, but yeah heat is an issue in Latitudes.
Posted by: Quark on August 21, 2003 04:18 PMBah! Forgot something. Reboot your computer, hold ctrl-alt and keep hitting 'D' (it's best to continuously tap it as the timing is hard to get right).
The computer will run basic diagnostics on your hard drive. If it gets a FAIL code and is still under warranty, DELL is supposed to gaurantee a replacement for it. But they need a FAIL code or they say it isn't justified (even if the hard drive is grinding).
Posted by: Quark on August 21, 2003 04:23 PM