Thinkpads Forum

Hi,



I am using a T410 laptop and it fails to load windows. It wil hang after the ThinkVantage start up page - stopping at a black screen with a blinking underscore (the one normally seen before the windows start-up page)



I have done the short SMART self-test with the following result

Error: Communication with device failed.



Extended SMART self-test = failed.

Failure accessing sector: (LBA 000000000000h)



What should I do now? Is my HD dead?
....

If you are still under warranty...call Lenovo. They may send you a new drive.

thanks, i have called them already and I should be receiving a new hard drive soon.



Is there anyway to savage my data in my old hard drive?

I would purchase a 2.5" SATA HDD enclosure. After installing your new drive and getting your OS on there, put your old drive in the enclosure and hook it up. It's possible you can get your data back that way, but it's still not guaranteed.

dlinhai wrote:Is there anyway to savage my data in my old hard drive?

Kick the disk, stomp on it, insult it.

(You can probably salvage the data on your old hard drive as the previous poster mentioned - hook it into a USB enclosure and give it a try. If that doesn't work...savage away!)

When my drive died, I ended up making a bootable Ubuntu live disc to recover the data.

I suppose you could also obtain SpinRite, which should stand a better chance to recover the information if the drive is seriously damaged.