SMART failure predicted

[teresatanner]

Okay so I did a chkdsk and my laptop is runing. I think i had some corupt files from removing the battery from the back.  But now when i turn on my laptop i get  a black screensaying...
SMART failure predicted on Hardisk O:HTS42128OH9AT00(PM)

Warning: immiatly back up your data and replace your hard drive. A failure may be imminent.

But my laptop is running normally

is that a standern msg maybe that comes on after you do chkdsk off msdos?

or could my harddrive really be shot???

[soybean]

Warning: immiatly back up your data and replace your hard drive. A failure may be imminent.

Take that warning seriously.  If you don't have your data backed up, do so immediately and be thinking new hard drive. See Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology, or S.M.A.R.T for some good info on SMART.  

I don't have a lot of experience with laptops but I'm wondering whether you used improper procedure in removing that battery, which may have caused damage.  

[teresatanner]

how do i back up my data???  and how much are gateway hard drives?!?!?


and  could my harddrive be bad but yet my computer running perfect??  likenormally.

yes i did remove it the wrong way at frist it wouldnt start then i put the boot xp cd in it and scan disk and it says it recovered alot of problems i did to it but maybe it lost alot of data?

hmm i suck at computer sorry

[amandalee]

Soybean is right--you should immediately back up your data.  Thankfully, your laptop is still running, I got this message and could not get into windows to back up my data at all.
There are alot of ways to back up your files.  If you have a CD or DVD burner, you can back up your files to a CD or DVD.
You can also get an external hard drive, which hooks up to your computer with a USB connection, and you can back your data up to that
Here is some general info about external hard drives:
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-external-hard-drive.htm

Good luck.

[soybean]

Backup by burning to a CD or DVD, copy or backup to an external hard drive or, for a small amount, to a flash drive.  

[Edit: Ah, I didn't see lapprincess' post before I posted.]

A replacement drive does not need to be a Gateway.  In fact, your current drive is probably not made by Gateway; I don't believe Gateway makes hard drives.  The major hard drive makers are Western Digital, Seagate, FUJITSU, Hitachi, etc., as you can see at Notebook,  / Laptop Hard Drives Deals, from newegg.com.  If you look elsewhere, be sure to get a 2.5 inch hard drive, since you have a laptop. Desktop computers use 3.5 inch hard drives.

Even though you computer may appear to be running normal, if you see that warning everytime you start, again, take it very seriously and be prepared for a total hard drive failure to occur at any time.

[GX1_Man]

Am I correct in my assumption that you need to take this to a repair person as you have never done this before? If you have important data that you need to retrieve and no geeky friend to help, that may be the wisest thing to do the first time.

[amandalee]

Great minds, Soybean, haha.  
When my hard drive died, I had no idea who the manufacturer was, so I just replaced it with a Hitachi 60GB one (2.5" is the size you need for a laptop).  Here's a similar one to what I got (made by Seagate rather than Hitachi):
 http://www.meritline.com/60gb-seagate-momentus-5400-2-5400rpm-ultra-ata-100-12-5ms-8mb-cache-hard-disk-for-notebook.html

I'm not very mechanically inclined, and slightly computer illiterate when it comes to anything having to do with hardware, but with some time and effort, I managed to replace the hard drive myself. Here are some general instructions to give you an idea of the process:
http://www.cmsproducts.com/pdf/driveremoval/510141.0%20(HP(CQ)%20Universal).pdf

Of course, it could be different depending on the kind of laptop you have.
Doing it myself saved a ton of money, but if you don't want to attempt this yourself, places like Circuit City and Best Buy can to the repairs. (GX1-Man posted before I finished writing this).

[teresatanner]

i have a 6 month old gateway  mx6441  so it might  be expensive huh?



also.. im tring to back up my computer i have some dvd-r 's laying around...  that will work.

and i have alot of pictures and songs on my computer will that take alot of disks to put on?  and all i really care about are my pictures, songs, my interenet explorer favorites, and some programs

will i have to make one disk my gatway stock prgrams and one disk my pics and my songs and stuff?

[amandalee]

I would hope that a 6 month old machine is covered by warranty.  Try to call the store you bought it at or the manufacturer to see if they can help.

[teresatanner]

forgot to mention that....  i bought it off my friend that just went to collage in france. the warrenty not good for me

[amandalee]

Ok, DVD-Rs can hold alot of information.  Whatever information you want to put on them is up to you, it will be easy to access the data on them, so it doesn't matter if you put pictures and songs together on the same disk.
I'm not exactly sure how much data one DVD-R can hold, but if you have a few of them, backing up all the pictures (these are usually pretty small files) and songs should be no problem.  
 :exclamation I'm not sure about backing up programs though.  If you have the original software for the programs (like the disk you put in the disk drive to install it), you can just re-install the programs; but this is a question for someone smarter than me.