Hard Drive Diagnostics. What else can I try? T60, WD Scorpio

[amy55407]

I'm not positive this is the right place to post this so let me know. I have a T60 and I recently got a WD Scorpio Blue 320 gb to do a clean install on. The battery light often flashes fast at startup. When it does this it takes a long time to start and sometimes it just seems to get stuck flashing and I'm unable to open any programs. I need to do a hard shutdown (Is that what you call it when you need to press the start button to shut it off) and restart. I've downloaded the WD diagnostic tool and the drive "passes". I did a quick checkdisk and that looked ok too. I've read a bunch of bad reviews at Newegg of this drive failing with some frequency. Is there anything else I can do to test the drive or anything else I might look at?

As an aside, I'm now itching for a new laptop. I've looked at the T400 and the new T410. I may actually jump the Lenovo ship and go for a different brand. The screen on my T60 is impossible to see in any kind of natural light. It sounds from what I've read about the newer laptops that screens continue to be a low priority for Lenovo. At the minimum, I want a screen I can see outside.

Thanks.

[ZaZ]

You might want to fire up PC-Doctor or System Toolbox if you've done your updates. It can test all the hardware on your machine. HD Tune can test the drive as well.

If you're looking for a screen to use outdoors, the T400 with the high nit screen is good choice if you can find one. It's about three times as bright as a typical notebook screen. Brightness is the key factor for outdoor usability, though it will effect your battery life. You're probably right Lenovo is more interested in cost than producing a quality screen, but no one else is doing anything better either.

[amy55407]

I was behind on my updates. I'm just finishing the extended test and everything is passing.