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Getting new laptop HDD via warranty. Will they screw me over, just reformat it?

post #1 of 5
12/14/09 at 10:59pm
Thread Starter 
If you see this crossposted in multiple forum websites, it's because I'm really frantic about this, not because I have no faith in this one.

My laptop hard drive has bad blocks. Luckily only my root partition was hit (home directory is fine, all the important files are intact,) but I'm going to need a new one.

I have a two year warranty which will expire sometime in late March or early April, I'm not sure exactly but I could check. It has traditionally taken over a month for the full process of getting a laptop back from the repair depot, so time is of the essence.

Now, some background on the competence of this company's (Toshiba's) particular repair organization: When I sent it the last time, they reformatted my Ubuntu installation because "The damaged motherboard corrupted the Windows system files." I'm worried that I will get the same "repair" this time, and I'll get it back with a brand new Vista installation on the same old broken hard drive. Since the warranty is so close to expiring, I can't risk the chances of getting screwed over.

So, I have a few questions.
  • Has anyone been in a similar situation? If so, what happened? Details (manufacturer, which depot you sent it to, etc.) would also be nice.
  • What do you recommend I do or say to get them to replace the drive?
  • What do you recommend I do or say if they do not replace the drive?
  • Is there some kind of serial number or something which I could use to verify that they have replaced it (preferably without opening up the computer.)

Thanks!
-Max.
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post #2 of 5
12/15/09 at 10:54am
1. I would just find a way to back up the current "bad" drive and be done with it. Image it to some CDs/DVDs

2. Document what you believe that is a "bad" disk, and insist that you get a disk replacement and not a reformat and re-installation.

Good luck.

cheers ...
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post #3 of 5
12/15/09 at 10:41pm
Unless I am missing something I think they will replace. If they didn't I think you could run a diagnostic with one of many free utilities? Also don't some free list unique info that could tell you if the same HDD?

Good luck.
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post #4 of 5
12/15/09 at 10:46pm
My Inspiron 1520 has a built in hard drive scanning tool (or whatever it is called) that when it detects a problem it gives you an error code. If your bios/laptop has such application, run it and try to get an error code.

Whatever you do DON'T fix the bad sectors or you will loose your only evidence of your HDD failing.

I can tell you by experience that bad sectors will pop up again even if you "fixed" them, sometimes the problem comes back way bigger than what it was and a total dissaster can occur.

Cheers!
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post #5 of 5
12/23/09 at 3:30pm
Ideally, checking whether the drive serial/revision/etc numbers on the hard drive sticker changed apon return, and especially if it has the word "Recertified" on it.

But if physically accessing the hard drive is not an option, then you could use the HDD manufacturer's utility to read the above information from the drive.
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