PCG-FX701 hard drive bad sectors (Hitachi DK23DA-20)

[daverayment]

Hi,

My VAIO laptop is nearly two years old and I've started having trouble with my hard drive. I did a disk scan and it looks like there are bad clusters on my C drive. Can anyone help answer the following questions please?

1) Is my hard drive still under warranty?
2) If the drive isn't under warranty, can I buy a replacement or (preferably) buy a different manufacturer's drive that will fit? Any ideas which models are compatible and where to get them from?
3) Are the bad clusters a sign of the hard drive becoming totally unusable or could it be a temporary thing? (I.e. if I do a reformat could the problem go away?). I'd rather not do surgery on my VAIO if it can be helped

Many thanks in advance. Cheers,

Dave

[robpaxton]

Sony only warrant the system for one year but you may be able to get Hitachi to replace the drive as their drive warranty is normally three years - so to be honest I'm not too sure on this point.

Yes you can replace the drive with another model/make. All you need to do is get a standard two and a half inch notebook drive.

Normally bad clusters indicate that the magnetic coating is flaking off the drive platter or that the platter has suffered a head collision. The drive usually gets worse and worse until it becomes unusable, the problem will not go away of it's own accord.

HTH

[daverayment]

Thanks very much Rob, that's a great help. I'll get in touch with Hitachi and see if I can get the thing replaced.

Cheers,

Dave

Dave Rayment

[daverayment]

I raised the problem yesterday with e-Support, but all I received was an obviously pre-prepared statement saying to call their hotline, which would be charged at 15 quid or something ridiculous because my machine is out of warranty. No thanks - I know the problem is the hard drive, I don't need to spend 40 quid to send the whole machine off to have it checked by someone who will run the exact same tool!

Wholly unsatisfactory in my opinion. I'd have at least expected a personal response from Sony, instead of a cut-and-paste job. Just because my machine is out of warranty doesn't mean that I am any less valuable a customer.

[kee-lo_]

 Just because my machine is out of warranty doesn't mean that I am any less valuable a customer.

Well said :smileygrin:

[Qbix]

You think that's bad (and it is) when I told one company (somethingWorld .. I forget who) that one of the links on their support site was dead they asked me to confirm that my computer was in warranty before they would reply. When a wireless access point from LinkSomebody failed they said they wouldn't sell me a replacement power supply and that I was not permitted to reveal the contents of their mail to any third parties. Since the email contained nothing of commercial priviledge this seemed a little OTT. It's funny that the replacement says Belkin on the side - I wonder why LinkSomebody changed their name?.

Am I going a little off topic here?

Q

[tellingd]

Am I going a little off topic here?

Q

Not at all Q - enjoyed reading it

[kee-lo_]

You think that's bad (and it is) when I told one company (somethingWorld .. I forget who) that one of the links on their support site was dead they asked me to confirm that my computer was in warranty before they would reply. 

ROFL what a load of rubbish