T61 Hard Drive Failure - Next Steps?

[krame00]

Hiya Obiwans -

This T61 is killin' me. I am in way over my head. I have had nothing but issues with the dang thing. I have had it for a year, and now it is out of warranty.

I have a T60 for work, and it runs tirelessly (in fact I am using it now). I suppose something can be said for the ol' corporate image.

Now my hard drive seems to have an error. PC Doctor tells me so. The computer will boot and load windows, but runs slower than the old 486 sitting in the garage.

So - my next step is to find some sort of utility to see if I can restore it. Otherwise I will need to go purchase a new one.

So:
1. Any opinions on which utility to use? Hitachi's looks good but their website is down at the moment.
2. Any opinions on which HD to purchase if I need one?
3. I am confident I can install the hardware, but how do I go about reloading the original image that the machine came with (or do I even want to do that)?

Thanks for the help!

[richk]

The first thing to do is certainly to get your data backed up. I'm not talking about the OS files or applications that can be reinstalled. Have you created a set of restore CDs? (the ones to recovery to factory settings) You have a one-time option to do that under thinkvantage utilities. As far as what kind of drive, I like Hitachi and Fujitsu, but everyone has their favorites. I would replace the drive, because once you start having errors, it is downhill from there. What ssize and speed is your origional disk? Is it big enough? Fast enough? Buy bigger than you think you need.

[Marin85]

I would go for a Hitachi drive. The 7K200 is a bit older (and hence cheaper), but is rock-solid drive and still offers excellent performance. I think you have two options. The first one is to use the T60 to rescue your current data using the ultrabay. Your second option is to put your new HD of choice instead of the faulty one and use the T61 ultrabay for probably one last access to the faulty one. Since the HD in question has already started degrading, the less you use it, the higher the chance is to rescue your data (that´s why one last access). I don´t think it´s a good idea to do it the other way around, i.e. to put your new HD (without an OS installed on it) in the ultrabay and in this way copy over your data because you will then have to boot in your faulty drive and the additional HD activity (due to OS) may make things even worse.

Hope this helps

Marin

[krame00]

Thank you for the advice. I am now in the midst of creating the recovery disks. I am such a dunderhead for not doing it when the HD was well. I had no idea that was something I should have done.

I am in the second attempt now, the HD froze on my first attempt.

Cross your fingers for me - or it is likely you will see a "LF: T61 Recovery Disks" post from me in the near future.

[Marin85]

For your sake I hope that the additional activity won´t destroy your data!

[krame00]

Ah yes - I have all of my data files, etc. off of it onto another computer - so I think we are good.