Hard Drive Issues

[RaidenDude]

Well hello there, dear reader.
I'm having a problem with one of my harddrives on my laptop.
I have 2x 500 GB harddrives, and lately the 2. harddrive has been a bit troublesome.
Sometimes the laptop makes a lot of screeching noises, and a lot of times the harddrive doesn't come up in My Computer and i can't access anything on it.
(Like if you would dismount a memory card)
Now, when i hit my laptop(Yes, i raged quite a bit), it worked again!(With ALOT of screeching noises)
Now, not even hitting on it works to get the harddrive working again.
Also, i remember about a month earlier Windows(I'm using 7) telling me that it had problems reading the harddrive. So i ran some checks it suggested, and it told me everything was okay.
What i think has happened is that the harddrive has perhaps slipped a bit out of place inside the laptop, so its not really connected anymore.
Either that, or its defect.

Can anyone help me with this?
It's on an Acer Aspire 7738G.
I would be deeply grateful to anyone helping me on this issue.
(Btw, im quite computer litterate, but NOT with components)

 

[RaidenDude]

Awww......
From now on, whenever i boot up a black screen will come up telling me something like
"SMART predicted failure on harddrive"And it tells me that i should make a backup of my files... And i must press F1 to continue booting.
Can anyone please help, if possible, before it's too late?

 

[Snipeye]

Just for some additional history, how old is the laptop, and how long have you had those two hard drives? Also, I'm assuming you have them in a RAID setup, and if so, what kind?

 

[RaidenDude]

The laptop is about 1 year and a week old, and the harddrives came with the PC.
Also, i'm not sure about the RAID things....
I haven't set them up myself(I guess Acer or the store i bought it at had set it up), and i have no idea how to check what RAID i have, but the closest i have gotten to checking was in hard drive management, it told me the harddrives were standard(basic?).

 

[pillar]

sounds like a possible hard drive either crashed or something along those lines. never really heard of using RAID on a laptop tho. acer has never used such technology on a laptop before, as far as i know. who did u get the laptop from? i would highly suggest that you either call the company back up or whichever store you got the laptop from, you take it back to them & describe the issue. ive had a hard drive thats made those kinds of noises before (definitely not within a week of having it tho).

 

[Monkey Brawler]

http://secure2.tx.acer.com/FixMyAcer3/FixMyAcer.aspx

go to this site to see if its still under warranty. If its not, get it replaced fast. Sounds like its probably failing. If you want it handled before it to late, You should get it replaced asap.

 

[RaidenDude]

sounds like a possible hard drive either crashed or something along those lines. never really heard of using RAID on a laptop tho. acer has never used such technology on a laptop before, as far as i know. who did u get the laptop from? i would highly suggest that you either call the company back up or whichever store you got the laptop from, you take it back to them & describe the issue. ive had a hard drive thats made those kinds of noises before (definitely not within a week of having it tho).

I got it from a Norwegian store called "Lefdal".
I'm probably going down there and talk to them pretty soon if things don't work out.
And btw, i said i had my PC for A YEAR and a week.

 

[RaidenDude]

http://secure2.tx.acer.com/FixMyAcer3/FixMyAcer.aspx

go to this site to see if its still under warranty. If its not, get it replaced fast. Sounds like its probably failing. If you want it handled before it to late, You should get it replaced asap.

The site tells me that the serial number is invalid, even though i have checked it 3 times now.
And, YES im 100% sure im putting in the right number, its the one saying "S/N" under the PC.

 

[Cacophonus]

Err, first off, this is probably your fault for hitting the laptop- now you know to rage on something else, preferably less expensive as well, the next time you feel the need. Second, the HDD's are either in RAID 1 or no RAID at all; RAID 0 wouldn't allow you to boot at all with one disk dead, and the other mirroring RAID's need more than 2 drives. Other than that, if your store can't help you, just buy a new harddrive (www.newegg.com or its equivalent where you live; even from the store you bought the pc from) and use it to replace the downed disc- though the next time you get it to display in your explorer, make an image of it (say, using Ghost) for your own data.

Ohh, and the original idea of having the HDD slip out of place to lose connection probably has nothing to do with it- based on the screeching noise and hitting it, I'm more inclined to say that the arms/heads have contacted the platters than a connection being loose.

 

[RaidenDude]

It's been coming up in the explorer again lately, but i don't need to make a backup of it...
The only things i have there are games, music, and movies.
I've found the very same harddrive on a Norwegian online store too, for 80$, but really, what i don't like is that Acer doesn't acknowledge my serial number as valid.
I mean, i even went to the place where you can purchase extended warranties, and it still told me it was invalid.
So, im not that concerned about my harddrive right now, i'll just buy a new one if it decides to give up.

Thanks for all the help though, EVERYONE who has replied!