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elroy
25/04/2011, 8:19 PM
Grateful if any IT heads could help me out here.

Dell support center ran a PC check up test. All tests came up fine with one exception, the SMART short self test failed. Google tells me this is a sign of an imminent hard drive failure. Can anyone confirm this to me or if it may as be indicative of something else? Any advice/recommendations of what to do would also be appreciated.

(I have a dell inspiron 125 with microsoft vista. Processor is Intel Core 2 Duo T5800 @2.00ghz - its about two and half years old at this stage).
dcfc_1928
25/04/2011, 10:24 PM
If SMART reports a fault, it could be an indicator that your hard-drive might be about to fail. However, I once had a HDD that errored with "imminent drive failure" for over a year.

Err on the side of caution and back everything up, before replacing the HDD.
A face
26/04/2011, 10:31 AM
Buy an external hard drive and back it all up straight away .... its all simple after that
elroy
02/05/2011, 12:41 PM
Buy an external hard drive and back it all up straight away .... its all simple after that

Thanks. Done that. Just have backed up all word, excel, videos, pictures etc. Any other programs that I should be backing up??

Also assuming the hard drive does give up, ball park cost to replace??
A face
02/05/2011, 6:17 PM
Also assuming the hard drive does give up, ball park cost to replace??

Depending on how big you'd want it but about €50 no more anyway.

Have a look here -> http://www.komplett.ie/
dahamsta
03/05/2011, 12:11 PM
Thanks. Done that. Just have backed up all word, excel, videos, pictures etc. Any other programs that I should be backing up??

Why not just back up everything?
A face
03/05/2011, 12:47 PM
Why not just back up everything?

If you go to Start -> All Programmes -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Backup

This will allow you to back up the full profile and you just restore when you are done.
dahamsta
03/05/2011, 1:52 PM
That'll package it up into a nasty Windows format though. I'd just copy it all over, then you can be sure it'll restore anywhere you want.
A face
03/05/2011, 2:56 PM
That'll package it up into a nasty Windows format though. I'd just copy it all over, then you can be sure it'll restore anywhere you want.

But he'll want to copy his profile over but cant if he is logged in, unless of course he created another profile and then copies over the first one.
dahamsta
03/05/2011, 3:53 PM
Fair point. I'm more your reinstall and start again type, clear out the cruft. :)
A face
03/05/2011, 7:33 PM
Fair point. I'm more your reinstall and start again type, clear out the cruft. :)

But look at all the stuff you could be hoarding though ;)
elroy
03/05/2011, 8:55 PM
If you go to Start -> All Programmes -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Backup

This will allow you to back up the full profile and you just restore when you are done.

Thanks, sounds the easy way.


That'll package it up into a nasty Windows format though. I'd just copy it all over, then you can be sure it'll restore anywhere you want.

Cheers, just a case of selecting everything on the C: drive and copying across i presume? Sorry me and computers are very basic.
dahamsta
04/05/2011, 10:15 AM
But look at all the stuff you could be hoarding though ;)

True, I am a total hoare. Uh...


Cheers, just a case of selecting everything on the C: drive and copying across i presume?

Nah, forget that, A face is right, use the Windows backup tool.