Hardware Issues / Backing up data

[MattD]

Note: This is somewhat of a technical topic, however I am posting it here in the Chit-Chat forum as it doesn't have much relevance to FIRST.

This morning I went to turn on my laptop to quickly check my e-mail before I had to leave, and when I tried to log in on Windows it just starting hanging. I also have Ubuntu installed, so naturally I just switched to that, and it worked fine (and as a matter of fact, it still is - I am using it right now to post this even).

After further investigation when I booted Windows in safe mode constant messages came up about read/write errors followed by the famous BSoD. I then ran Dell's hardware diagnostics and was left with this from the read test on the hard drive drive:

Error Code 0F00:0240
Block 25913201
Address mark not found or media error

Error Code 0F00:0244
Block 26746546
Uncorrectable data error or media is write protected

These two messages came up over and over for several blocks, so I just aborted that test feeling confident enough that this is where the problem is.

It looks like my hard drive is hosed and that I will have to order a replacement from Dell. It shouldn't be too much of a problem because the laptop is still under warranty. I am by no means a hardware expert (especially when it comes to laptops) so I am looking for advice on what the appropriate course of action should be. I'm not sure if I should stop using the drive for now or not based on how quickly it will spread and ruin the rest of it.

The thing that confuses me the most here is why it has such a profound impact on the performance of Windows, and yet on Linux I wouldn't have even known about it. I guess most of the problem areas reside on the Windows partition?

This should serve as a reminder to everyone that it's important to back up your data regularly. I personally haven't done this in a while and now I wish I did. When you don't think you have anything that is worth saving your attitude completely shifts when you've lost it or know that you may lose it.

Just for reinforcement, I'll say it again: remember to back up your data!

The first thing that I will do tomorrow morning will be to back up everything important, but for now I think I need to get some sleep.