It is so sad to say in this rainy, windy and dark afternoon, the hard drive is gone forever. The big question mark is how I am going to tell my friend about this bad news.
I'd better post a comment to demonstrate my ability to communicate in the workplace. :)
HDD failure is probably the best fault a laptop can have because laptop HDDs are easily replaceable. Provided you have the details of the model of the laptop, if you lack the documentation the laptop came with, you can usually find it on the manufacturer's website. In fact, I'd suggest going through the manufacturer's website over google, 'cause searching for a laptop model in google is more likely to take you to reviews than it is to a support website.
That said, you shouldn't need to go to the manufacturer's website as replacing an HDD is generally pretty easy. Depending on the age of the laptop, you will either need to get an IDE 2.5" HDD or a SATA one. Generally older laptops use IDE HDDs while newer laptops use SATA HDDs.
If the laptop uses an IDE HDD, you may have trouble finding a replacement as that technology is somewhat obsolete. You may be able to find something by searching for "2.5" IDE HDD" on http://www.staticice.com.au - at least, that is where I would start my search.
If the laptop uses a SATA HDD, finding a replacement should be much easier. SATA HDDs tend to be of higher capacities than IDE ones, though I suspect this is due more to the age of IDE drives rather than any physical constraints. The thing to keep in mind with SATA 2.5" drives is that they come in two flavours: hard-disk drives (HDD) and solid-state drives (SSD). SSDs tend to have much lower capacities than HDDs and tend to be a lot more expensive. Where they excel is in their capacity to access the data stored on them very quickly. A good measure of their efficiency is in system boot-up time. Often a computer that uses an HDD may take anywhere from 40 seconds to a minute to boot up, whereas booting from an SSD takes easily half that.
tell them the truth, and blame them for being unsuccessful
ReplyDeleteWell make sure you friend consistently backs up his new HDD.
ReplyDeleteI'd better post a comment to demonstrate my ability to communicate in the workplace. :)
ReplyDeleteHDD failure is probably the best fault a laptop can have because laptop HDDs are easily replaceable. Provided you have the details of the model of the laptop, if you lack the documentation the laptop came with, you can usually find it on the manufacturer's website. In fact, I'd suggest going through the manufacturer's website over google, 'cause searching for a laptop model in google is more likely to take you to reviews than it is to a support website.
That said, you shouldn't need to go to the manufacturer's website as replacing an HDD is generally pretty easy. Depending on the age of the laptop, you will either need to get an IDE 2.5" HDD or a SATA one. Generally older laptops use IDE HDDs while newer laptops use SATA HDDs.
If the laptop uses an IDE HDD, you may have trouble finding a replacement as that technology is somewhat obsolete. You may be able to find something by searching for "2.5" IDE HDD" on http://www.staticice.com.au - at least, that is where I would start my search.
If the laptop uses a SATA HDD, finding a replacement should be much easier. SATA HDDs tend to be of higher capacities than IDE ones, though I suspect this is due more to the age of IDE drives rather than any physical constraints. The thing to keep in mind with SATA 2.5" drives is that they come in two flavours: hard-disk drives (HDD) and solid-state drives (SSD). SSDs tend to have much lower capacities than HDDs and tend to be a lot more expensive. Where they excel is in their capacity to access the data stored on them very quickly. A good measure of their efficiency is in system boot-up time. Often a computer that uses an HDD may take anywhere from 40 seconds to a minute to boot up, whereas booting from an SSD takes easily half that.
Well, hope that helps. :)