Need Some Computer Help

[momof1princess]

okay, here's what's going on (i'll be as brief as i can):
this morning, after our power came back on from the storm (i live in alabama), i turned my computer on (it's on a surge protector) and a screen came up i've never seen before - it looked like a system specs page, and about 2/3 of the way down, it said, in capital letters, that hard drive failure is imminent! and for me to back up my computer now.
so, i tried to do the windows vista backup and restore, but it failed on disk 3 (disks 1 and 2 completed fine) and said it was aborted, but i didn't click anything to stop it.
now i don't know what to do. DH said if it came down to it, i could buy a new computer, but this one is only 2 years old, and i'd like to squeeze another year out of it, if i can.
anyone have any opinions on what may be going on? or is it just a lost cause?

(i have a firewall and internet security, so i don't THINK it's a virus)

 

[crazelion]

I would worry about getting safety first. Then my computer at the moment.

 

[dawson5]

Is there anything on that hard drive that you need? If not, swap it out. It should take like all of 5 minutes to replace. The time consuming thing will be reloading your operating system and other programs.

 

[momof1princess]

i've managed to copy the files i absolutely HAVE to have if the hard drive fails. my concern in replacing the hard drive is, i don't have a windows disk, so i'm not sure how i would replace the OS. my computer came with windows vista pre-installed, and the disk wasn't included.

 

[dawson5]

Contact your manufacturer, there should be something they could do. They might charge you a few $$ for the disc or you could find someone with the disc and install onto your new hard drive and use your serial number. (Mine is on a sticker on the back of my machine.)

*ETA: My son has done this. I never have had to. He's never had an issue doing this.

 

[momof1princess]

Contact your manufacturer, there should be something they could do. They might charge you a few $$ for the disc or you could find someone with the disc and install onto your new hard drive and use your serial number. (Mine is on a sticker on the back of my machine.)

great idea i'm pretty sure i know someone who has a copy.

 

[jlewisinsyr]

A lot of PCs that are shut down abrubptly due to a sudden power failure will throw a "hard drive" warning as you saw, but usually this goes away on a reboot (we have seen it on our PCs, and they run fine - months and months later).

If the computer will still boot and run, you can buy a new hard drive and run the image function included with software for the hard drive (most of the time you need to download it, but it is free if you buy one of the major manufacturer drives like WD or Seagate). This software basically we create a mirror image of the existing drive in terms of how the software is loaded. Once the image is complete, take out the old hard drive and run the new one.

 

[momof1princess]

A lot of PCs that are shut down abrubptly due to a sudden power failure will throw a "hard drive" warning as you saw, but usually this goes away on a reboot (we have seen it on our PCs, and they run fine - months and months later).

If the computer will still boot and run, you can buy a new hard drive and run the image function included with software for the hard drive (most of the time you need to download it, but it is free if you buy one of the major manufacturer drives like WD or Seagate). This software basically we create a mirror image of the existing drive in terms of how the software is loaded. Once the image is complete, take out the old hard drive and run the new one.

oh my, that may be beyond my limited technical capabilities, but, if the hard drive does fail, i'll give it a shot.

DH wants to buy me a new surge protector. he says that this morning's storm may have caused a small power surge which the surge protector didn't completely stop (for the past 2-3 weeks, it's been refusing to turn on sometimes when i press the switch), thus, causing the computer to give me the hard drive warning when i turned it on.

i may need to turn the computer back off shortly-we're expecting a 2nd wave of storms to hit the area in the next couple of hours.

 

[JR6ooo4]

you need to unplug it to protect from surges, not just turn it off.

Also:

I use carbonite realtime backup service. only $55 a year. when a new file is created on my computer it automatically starts being sent to their secure online servers.

You can choose what folders you want to back up, or just do all of them.

Mikeeee

 

[momof1princess]

okay, guys, i shut down my computer and restarted it about 40 minutes later, and i got that same screen, telling me hard drive failure was imminent. i guess it's time to see if i can find my warranty papers. i know i purchased an extended warranty, just not sure where i put the paperwork!

 

[westom]

i've managed to copy the files i absolutely HAVE to have if the hard drive fails. my concern in replacing the hard drive is, i don't have a windows disk, so i'm not sure how i would replace the OS.

First learn if you really have a problem. If the system has problems, those problems have been recorded in the system (event) logs maybe even months ago. Windows routinely works around problems. You don't learn about them until you read hardware logs.

Second, some malware claims hardware or virus failures have been detected so that you will click on and load their malware.

Third, that is why more responsible computer companies provide comprehensive hardware diagnostics for free. All companies have them. Only the more responsible provide that diagnostics software. Your 'unknown' is the perfect reason why all computer need such diagnostics.

Fourth, diagnostics may also be downloaded from the manufacturer. Either directly from the disk drive manufacturer. Or from (system foolishly requires you to reconstruct this URL) Tripple w dot bootdisk dot com. The resulting CD-Rom contains disk drive diagnostics from all disk manufacturers. Only more responsible companies (including computer and drive manufacturers) provide the existing diagnostics for free. You need to execute one now.

Fifth, never fix anything until you first know what is wrong. Fixing something (ie reloading software) when some other failure exists can exponentially complicate the problem. Do not find problems by fixing good things. Provides were at least two examples of how to know something long before fixing anything.

And finally, the only protector that does effective protection must be where surges would enter the building and with a short as possible (ie 'less than 10 foot') connection to single point earth ground. Plug-in protectors can even make surge damage easier. Have even created house fires. And do not claim to protect from typically destructive surges. Don't take my word for it. Show me how its claims to protect from surges that are hundreds of thousands of joules? The requested answer from their spec sheets will include numbers. And good luck finding that numbers. Power strip protectors claim to protect only from surges that typically cause no damage. That is called 100% protection ... only from that type of surge.

Every homeowners with transistors anywhere inside the house must properly earth one 'whole house' protector - to even protect power strip protectors. A superior solution costs about $1 per protected appliance. How much is that power strip? 25 times more money?