Flash Memory / Hard Drive failure

HP 311-1000 NR
Bought this computer new in 04/2010. Have used it for nothing but internet and itunes. Have used it maybe a total of 40 times in 18 months. Hard drive storage being used was maybe 30GB out of 250GB.
Turned on today, and got a black screen with error message "Flash Memory Error Hard Drive Failure"
Have not installed any new software in months. Had only been using the computer to visit Nike.com website the night before.
Computer has run it's antivirus and tune-ups without any errors every time I turn it on. No previous errors or freeze ups prior to this.
Any advice? Is this simply a matter of having the flash memory replaced? Thanks for any time and help.

we need to make sure that the HDD on the com works fine
here is the helpful link
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00439024&tmp_task=solveCategory&cc=us&dlc=en&la...
If you hav windows 7
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Similar Messages

Flashing Earth - Hard Drive Failure?

In October 07 my MacBook HDD of less than a year crashed and had to be replaced. For about a week now I have been getting a "Flashing Earth" on the gray screen whenever I re-boot or cold-start the computer. The Earth flashes a regular 36 times before the apple logo appears and the system mounts.
Is my hard drive failing again? I have run both the Apple verification tool as well as the Tech Tool diagnostics, and all appears ok, but clearly I'm worried with the symptoms and may have a short window to be proactive about a fix.
I have backups in the form of Time Machine, as well as a drag-and-drop copy of the System folder on a portable drive.
What's my next course of action?
Thanks for your suggestions/help.

*"Is my hard drive failing again? "*
No. You've set it to look for a network boot volume before looking to it's own hard drive.
Change it using System Preferences --> Startup Disk

Hard Drive Failure (Flashing folder with question mark!)

After reading some of the topics on the forum, I know that the flashing folder with the question mark that I get when I try to turn on my Macbook is hard drive failure. I know to fix it that I need to Boot with the Installer Disk in the Drive, holding down The C key. But, will doing this destroy all of my pictures and other content? My pictures are really important and I dont want to lose them and I never backed them up ( dumb move, I know!).
Thanks!!

There are two basic possibilities when you get the flashing ? : 1) the hard drive is physically damaged or dead and 2) the hard drive has data errors
When you attempt to boot up with the system disks and then switch to Disk Utilities, the first thing to look for is if the program sees your drive. If it doesn't the drive is almost certainly dead and getting data from it will be costly. If the program does see the drive you'll want to attempt to repair it - press the repair button. If the repair fails, another repair utility may be able to repair the damage, at least well enough to get your data off. That program is DiskWarrior. If the repair succeeds the computer probably will need to have the OS reinstalled - my experience is about 90% of the time the repair fixed the drive but left the OS damaged.
When you reinstall the OS select options on the first screen beyond the language selection screen. Here you can (hopefully) select Archive and Install. This option will install a new operating system but leave the programs and data unchanged.
<short lecture on>As you've learned, it isn't if your drive sill sometime fail, it is when. Hard drives are relatively inexpensive. Buy one and backup your drive at least weekly. At the very least purchase a flash drive large enough to copy your very very important data and burn a DVD every week or month.<short lecture off>

My MacBook Air chimes during startup but flashes a bar at the bottom then shuts down, is this a hard drive failure or a hard ware failure? Please help I miss my laptop

First generation MacBook Air running OSX 10.6.8

Hi,
From what you describe it's certainly a Hard Drive failure so you'll definetely need to contact HP. Personally, considering this is the 2nd HDD in under 2 months, I say it's either bad luck ( however unlikely ) or there is another issue at play - it may be worth suggesting this to HP when you contact them.
Regards,
DP-K
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Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience

Macbook Pro 2011 extremely slow wondering if hard drive failure

Hello, I want to start off by saying I'm not a huge computer guru, so that is why I'm coming here first. My Macbook Pro worked very well for a year, and then it has slowed down drastically. I've always been a windows user so mac is kind of foreign to me, but I'm trying to learn.
Some problems I've encountered are 1. Extremely slow running whether internet related, or just an application. I have checked the activity monitor and nothing is hogging up my memory. 2. Spinning wait cursor (rainbow circle) when I try to do ANYTHING. It takes minutes to start computer once it makes it to home screen. The circle just spins for a few minutes. Even just web surfing it's there. 3. Battery drains from 100% to less than 20% in 30 minutes, which again is annoying. 4. When battery drains the fan turns on and seems to drain battery even faster. 5. I get a lot of random errors forcing shut down of programs. I have ignored this problem for two years by not using my laptop or using it very minimally, but I am going to be needing a laptop again for school and not just my iPad and phone so I was planning on taking my macbook to genius bar, but wanted to check here first since Apple is an hour away. Plus I want to be able to use the piece of equipment that I spent a decent chunk of change on. I used time machine to back up everything today. I know its not a space issue as I have 300+ free GB on hard drive. I have tried to read through similar posts, but its overwhelming so I came here to post my own question.
I ran disc utility and there were some errors, which were able to be corrected after a couple tries. Computer still slow though when trying to do anything and running rainbow circle.
In recovery mode I reinstalled OSX
I was finally able to install updates after completing the above that were not able to be installed before.
I ran etre check, this is the report that came up:
Problem description:
Extremely slow computer, possible hard drive failure
EtreCheck version: 2.0.11 (98)
Report generated November 3, 2014 9:25:29 PM EST
Hardware Information: ℹ️
MacBook Pro (13-inch, Late 2011) (Verified)
MacBook Pro - model: MacBookPro8,1
1 2.4 GHz Intel Core i5 CPU: 2-core
4 GB RAM
BANK 0/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
BANK 1/DIMM0
2 GB DDR3 1333 MHz ok
Bluetooth: Old - Handoff/Airdrop2 not supported
Wireless: en1: 802.11 a/b/g/n
Video Information: ℹ️
Intel HD Graphics 3000 - VRAM: 384 MB
Color LCD 1280 x 800
System Software: ℹ️
Mac OS X 10.7.5 (11G63) - Uptime: 0:6:50
Disk Information: ℹ️
Hitachi HTS547550A9E384 disk0 : (500.11 GB)
S.M.A.R.T. Status: Verified
disk0s1 (disk0s1) <not mounted> : 210 MB
Macintosh HD (disk0s2) / [Startup]: 499.25 GB (357.49 GB free)
Recovery HD (disk0s3) <not mounted> [Recovery]: 650 MB
OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5970H
USB Information: ℹ️
Apple Inc. BRCM2070 Hub
Apple Inc. Bluetooth USB Host Controller
Apple Inc. Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
Apple Inc. FaceTime HD Camera (Built-in)
Apple Computer, Inc. IR Receiver
Thunderbolt Information: ℹ️
Apple, Inc. MacBook Pro
Kernel Extensions: ℹ️
/System/Library/Extensions
[not loaded] com.Logitech.Unifying.HID Driver (1.2.0 - SDK 10.0) Support
/Users/[redacted]/Downloads/LCC Installer.app
[not loaded] com.Logitech.Control Center.HID Driver (3.5.1 - SDK 10.0) Support
Startup Items: ℹ️
HP IO: Path: /Library/StartupItems/HP IO
Startup items are obsolete and will not work in future versions of OS X
Problem System Launch Agents: ℹ️
[failed] com.apple.coreservices.appleid.authentication.plist
Launch Agents: ℹ️
[not loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support
[loaded] com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager.plist Support
[running] com.Logitech.Control Center.Daemon.plist Support
[invalid?] com.luthresearch.savvyconnectmenu.plist Support
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Java-Updater.plist Support
Launch Daemons: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.fpsaud.plist Support
[invalid?] com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist Support
[invalid?] com.luthresearch.scservice.plist Support
[loaded] com.oracle.java.Helper-Tool.plist Support
User Launch Agents: ℹ️
[loaded] com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist Support
[failed] com.apple.CSConfigDotMacCert-[...]@me.com-SharedServices.Agent.plist
[loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist Support
User Login Items: ℹ️
iTunesHelper Application (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)
Dropbox Application (/Applications/Dropbox.app)
SavvyConnect UNKNOWN (missing value)
Google Chrome Application (/Applications/Google Chrome.app)
HP Scheduler Application (/Library/Application Support/Hewlett-Packard/Software Update/HP Scheduler.app)
Internet Plug-ins: ℹ️
Silverlight: Version: 5.1.10411.0 - SDK 10.6 Support
FlashPlayer-10.6: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Support
Flash Player: Version: 15.0.0.152 - SDK 10.6 Mismatch! Adobe recommends 15.0.0.189
QuickTime Plugin: Version: 7.7.1
JavaAppletPlugin: Version: Java 7 Update 67 Check version
3rd Party Preference Panes: ℹ️
Flash Player Support
Growl Support
Java Support
Logitech Control Center Support
Time Machine: ℹ️
Time Machine not configured!
Top Processes by CPU: ℹ️
      11% Safari
      3% WindowServer
      0% fontd
      0% Google Chrome
      0% ps
Top Processes by Memory: ℹ️
245 MB WebProcess
206 MB System Preferences
168 MB Safari
99 MB mds
82 MB Google Chrome
Virtual Memory Information: ℹ️
1.37 GB Free RAM
1.57 GB Active RAM
318 MB Inactive RAM
1.03 GB Wired RAM
436 MB Page-ins
0 B Page-outs
Basically I'm wondering if anything sticks out in this report. I was thinking it could be a possible hard drive failure. I know my computer has been dropped on the floor at least a few times. Thoughts are appreciated. Thank you for your patience.

Eab, I feel your pain! I am replying simply to share my similar ongoing experience with my early 2011 17 inch MacBook Pro, running Mavericks with seeming ample hard drive space, [applications requiring less than 100GB, about 200GB data (total drive space of 500GB)] & 4GB RAM. (Disclaimer: I am not a wise or computer-savvy mac guru - simply a fellow traveler who has had a very similar set of problems - apps taking forever to load, rapid battery depletion & super overheated MacBook. While I am a Genius Bar groupie, getting to the Apple store is, for me, akin to an antarctic polar expedition (i.e. problematic). Having spent endless hours struggling with a similar issue, I offer you a synopsis of my struggle/experience.
STEPS TO DATE:
1.Installed several memory utility programs (Daisy Disk & MacCleanse) system
maintenance program to regularly and thoroughly empty application caches (Adobe apps & internet browsers being tremendous hogs), identify and remove language elements and other redundant space hogs, etc.   Result: Small, but real improvement when I forced myself to perform a "scan and delete" session every second major computer run (typically about 6-8 hours in length). However, this did nothing to help the problems regularly detected when I run the Disk Utility which almost invariably demonstrates disk permissions that need to be repaired and, with increasing frequency, has demonstrated actual disk errors that require restarting and walking through a disk repair protocol. I did bring it to the Genius Bar where they kindly reinstalled Mavericks which they could do in about an hour versus the several hours that doing this at home requires. This did identify that my RAM was, on fact, a limitation on the speed at which I could run certain apps.
2. My next move was to install an additional 4GB of RAM. I bought the new RAM on eBay for about $90 because, with 3 kids equipped with MacBooks & iPhones, I simply couldn't afford the official Apple RAM. I even installed it myself, with the help of a YouTube video. Result: Giant improvement in speed (starting up or switching apps. If I had realized how simple it turned out to be, I would have done it well over a year ago. Some minor improvement in the overheating problem, but persistent problems with disk permissions continually requiring repair and periodic disk repairs (using Disk Utility) required.
PLANNED FINAL INTERVENTION:
3. I am purchasing and installing a solid state drive (ssd) and simply chucking the original hard drive, after considerable discussion with my savvier mac friends. It has become clear to me that, sadly, every hard drive has a finite life affected by a variety of factors. I am, in fact, hard on my equipment - running multiple graphic apps simultaneously, transferring massive GBs of data between my laptop, time capsule and an array of hard drives. I will let you know how it goes, but can share that the decision to get a solid state drive followed many conversations with multiple Mac guru-types (in the hope of saving you similar painful tribulations). The cost varies according to the size of the drive, but $400-$500 would buy a reasonable starting size. I am waiting for Black Friday sales, myself. Amazon (where I will likely purchase the ssd) is already offering a number of pre-Black Friday deals. While I don't really feel like putting out that amount of cash, I reassure myself that a new drive will almost certainly solve the disk errors (with a solid state one offering more durability) & will help me prolong the life of my MacBook Pro by a couple of years hopefully. It beats buying a new Apple MacBook only three and a half years after investing close to $3k for this one!
I am certain that more experienced forum users could point you to software that could help defragment your drive or may be able to offer other solutions. I've simply had enough of struggling with burning thighs and head-banging behavior triggered by slow performance. I hope this is helpful to you in some small way. The war is not yet over, but I'm feeling good about the battle plan!

Satellite A-35-S159 Hard Drive Failure

Hi,
I am getting a message that a hard drive failure is imminent. I am prepared to replace the hard drive. (I might need your help there, hope not!) Prior to this, I tried to upgrade the memory, and was having crash events. Do you think that the crash events were hard drive related and not memory upgrade related, as I originally thought? Do you think with the replacement of the hard drive that the memory upgrade might take?
Also, will I be able to get the drivers I need from here? i don't have a Toshiba recovery disk, i will have to install WXP on the new drive.
Thanks for any help!

Satellite A35-S159
All your Toshiba drivers and utilities are here.
But you are far better off ordering the recovery media from Toshiba by calling Customer Service at 800-457-7777. (Have the computer's serial number and a credit card handy.)
When you restore the hard drive from there, all the drivers and utilities have been preinstalled in the correct order.
-Jerry

Satellite C855-1GQ - hard drive failure warning

Hi
suddenly my laptop has started showing me "hard drive failure warnings" and I honestly have no idea what to do about it please can someone help me.
Symptom: The PredictFailure flag is set on the disk
Cause: A logical disk has the SMART Predict Failure bit set.
Details: This disk is experiencing a problem and predicts that the drive will fail
Symptom: Pred Fail
Cause: A device has reported a "Not OK" status.
Details: The device, Disk drive, is reporting a bad status value. This device will not be available until the issue is resolved. The Plug and Play ID for this device is \\.\PHYSICALDRIVE0.

Hard drive failure can be cause of computer is bumped or jostled while it is running; the electric motor which allows the platter to spin fails due to bad bearings or other components; filter on your air intake gets too clogged or the filter isn't working properly.
Extreme heat while running causes the electronic circuit board to fail.
There is a sudden power failure while the disk is writing.
You can try the following solution:
Firstly, create a bootable CD/USB by Windows Boot Genius
Windows Boot Genius is a multiple windows repair tool which can be used to fix all computer errors, create bootable CD/USB, recover data lost and unlock windows password, etc.
We just need to insert a CD or USB flash drive and run the program, then click "burn".
Secondly, set the computer boot from CD/USB after enter into the BIOS menu.
Thirdly, start to fix Hard Drive Failure with the CD/USB created at the first step.
At this section, the wizard will tell us what we need to do according to our computer's issues.

Hard drive failure

Hello everyone, my macbook is like around 3 years old, and a couple of days ago my hard drive died. This is really unfortunate since I couldn't back up most of the files I had in that drive. The thing is, this happened to me 1 year ago, and I'm noticing that I had similar scenarios prior to the hard drive failures. The first time that this happened, the night before my first hard drive died, I was erasing tons and tons of files from my macbook, I was just cleaning my downloads folders, deleting stuff I wasn't using anymore, that night I deleted like around 20gigs of data(pictures and music mostly), and the day before my second hard drive died, I was deleting files as well, this time I deleted like 13gigs. Both drives died because of the famous "clicking of death" sound. My macbook wouldn't boot, and was flashing a question mark folder in both cases.
My question is: was this just coicidence? or deleting tons of gigs of files at once will make your hard drives die. I've heard deleting files you no longer use is good for your hard drive. I must stress that I didn't delete any system files, I tested both hard drives via USB hard drive enclosures and the hard drives were just unrecognizable.

@tyrekm
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Thank you,
Omar
I Work for HP

Hard drive failure on HP G62-219WM Notebook PC with Windows 7 64-bit

I have HPG62 laptop since 10/1/10. I have had 3 hard drive failures since August. I also replaced the LCD monitor in October 2011. With last hard drive failure in November 2011, I also have "wireless module not working". I ran the diagnostics from laptop: Smart Check test, Run-in test, Hard Disk test, & Memory Module 1 ALL failed. Smart Check test provided ID: RK2A7S-53H5RS-XD002J-60FT03. Memory Module 1 provided ID: RK2A7S-53H5RP-XD002J-409F03. My question is what is causing the hard drive to fail so many times and why are there so many things going wrong with 14 month old laptop?

Hello @AmberNPilcher,
Welcome to the HP Support Forum and thank you for your post.
Now lets see what we can do about your red pixel issue.
First thing first. You are noticing the red pixels on black backgrounds this would most commonly be a stuck pixel. There are a few things that can be done to fix this and they will work in most cases.
If you can please. Post back with your model and product number so i can see what software and hardware you are working with. Here is a link to help you find this.
How Do I Find My Model Number or Product Number?
Please get back to me and i will see what we can do to fix you up.
Thank you again and have a great day.
Please click the "Thumbs Up" on the bottom right of this post to say thank you if you appreciate the support I provide!
Also be sure to mark my post as “Accept as Solution" if you feel my post solved your issue, it will help others who face the same challenge find the same solution.
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I work on behalf of HP

Hard drive failure on my Pavillion DV6500

Howdy,
I have a 2.5 year old HP Pavillion DV6500 with hard drive failure. I can turn the laptop on, but right before Vista starts I get this error message telling me that something is wrong with the hard disk. I've tried running System Recovery through F11 at the boot, but that didn't work out since my comp could not recognize any hard drive. That was pretty weird.
I went over to a friend of mine who has a docking-station. We took the hard drive out of the comp and put it in his docking-station to try and save what was left of my files, but the software we used to search & recover (Recuva) the files just found like 4 files or something. I had no idea what those files did, but I remember one of them was an .OLD-file.
Any idea what I could do now? I have some pretty important school-work files from the University I need to recover.
Sincerely,
Alen Mistric

The software I use is called Easy Recovery Professional but it cost me about $400 for my copy and is a near professional piece of software. Recuva is about the only freeware data recovery software out there. Which is why it is so cool. One other trick I have used on occasion is to connect the drive to a computer running Linux. Linux sees hard drive file structures a bit differently and sometimes if there is corruption in the master boot record or file alocation table which keeps Windows from seeing the file structure, Linux still can see it. You can run Linux on any computer with a Linux Live CD, and probably the best ones are Suse and Knoppix and Ubuntu. Just google, for example, Ubuntu Live CD and you will find a download mirror, burn the disk from the downloaded .iso and then boot the computer from the disk. Any recent version of any of the above 3 Linux distros can see and write to ntfs file systems. If you find files you can then also plug in a memory stick and move the files over.
As far as freezing, I think that is an urban legend. I have tried it a few times without any success. As long as you do not let condensation bulid up on the drive from a temperature differential it can't hurt. In other words, freeze the drive in a plastic bag sealed tight and wrapped in a towel. Let the drive warm to room temp before you take it out of the bag and towel so it does not start looking like a glass of iced tea on a 100 degree day.

Can the flash storage hard drives in the brand new 15inch Macbook Pro Retina Display laptops (10.22.13) be upgraded/replaced in the future?

Can the flash storage hard drives in the brand new Macbook Pro Retina Display laptops that were just released a few days ago (10.22.13) be upgraded/replaced in the future? I will need more than the basic 256GB for sample libraries using music software, among other things, but currently larger flash drives from Apple are too expensive. I ask because I'm in the process of buying one of the new 15inch Macbook Pro Retina Display laptops right now (or at least right after I get an answer to this question).
I saw in the Mac store when I started looking at the build options for ordering the Macbook Pro that under Memory it said the memory was built into the computer and therefore could not ever be replaced or upgraded in the future. So I was wondering if something similiar might be the case with the flash storage drives even though the same wasn't written under the hard drive options? If these flash drives can be replaced in the future then I would just purchase the starting 256GB drive and suffer through using connected external hard drives, as unwieldy as that would be, until there were potential replacement flash drives with larger storage capacties available on the market or through Apple for more reasonable prices. But if the hard drives in these laptops can't be replaced/upgraded I would go for the 500GB drive option (even though paying an additional $300, before taxes, for just 244GBs more storage space is absolutely outrageous no matter how great flash drives are with their read/write speeds, no moving parts to break, and lighter weight/thinner builds allowing for an overall thinner laptop). I would even go for the larger 1TB option, which is really what I need, except that costs an additional $700 which is more than enough to buy me a new 50inch, HD, flatscreen TV from a reputable brand if I were so inclined! (And yes, I understand the youth of the technology, current limits to flash drive capacities, and the reason for the high prices. I know I'm not getting bilked...)
So yeah, does anybody have an answer to this question? Can the flash hard drives in the new Macbook Pro Retina Display laptops, just released, be upgraded/replaced in the future? Any answers are greatly appreciated and will save me some much needed cash on my purchase of one of these laptops! And I should also ask, if so, can they be replaced by the laptop owner with the normal toolset through the normal, easily done methods of hard drive replacement in laptops that has been common, or would I have to bring the laptop to a Apple technician?
Thanks everybody!

The modules are proprietary. They are installed in a slot secured with a tiny screw.
macsales.com has been working on providing aftermarket modules for the older models that were on the SATA Bus.
These newer ones are likley directly on the PCIe Bus. That will take some time to develop.

Lost source fla, still have swf (hard drive failure)

A year ago I experienced a hard drive failure, lost a lot of
.fla files. I have a swf (my own work) that I want to import so
that I can access the asset files (images, video). Naturally, when
I open the swf, it plays, but if I attempt to import it, I get an
empty timeline.
Is there a way to import the swf and extract the assets? (I
seem to remember doing in Flash 5 long ago).

I've encountered the same issue and resultant needs in having
lost my original Flash "fla" files due to a burglary at my home.
I've retrieved the converted "swf" files from my website server,
and would LOVE to know if anyone can provide help in accessing them
within a Flash document ("fla").
I spoke with an Adobe tech (FYI) and found that as far as
"Adobe" can help:
1. You can import your "Library" from the previous ".swf"
files by:
a. Opening a new project in Flash.
b. Once inside your new document: Open: File > Import
> Import to Library (not "Stage").
c. Navigate to the ".swf" file you wish to access and select
it for Import.
d. Your "Library" items from the ".swf" file are then
imported to your new ".fla" document's Library.
e. I have not found a way of retrieving any other settings,
codes, timeline events, etc.
In my case I had selected the options for protection from
download, etc. when creating my ".swf" files––all so
that they would be "protected" on the web. Unfortunately, this has
made it very likely impossible for me to access them as well.
There may be some third-party product or workaround for this
situation.
DOES ANYONE KNOW OF A SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM?
("Backup, backup, backup!")
HINDSIGHT IS ALWAYS 20-20!

Mac Pro 1,1 Hard drive failure... sorta. Then not.

I have a MacPro 1,1 Quad core 2.66 processor, with what I believe is the original 250 Gb hard drive. I'm running OSX 10.7.5.
Today when I powered it on, I could hear the hard drive spooling up (same sound as normal) then I heard 6 clicks and could hear the hard drive spooling down for a few seconds. It then spooled up again, heard 6 more clicks and it spooled down. Finally it attempted once more to spool up which was followed by 1 click and then spooled down with no more tries at booting up. Monitor showed blank grey screen until about the single click which brought up the grey screen with folder symbol with the question mark in it. I pressed the power button which turned it off. I tried powering up several additional times all with the same pattern of clicks and visuals on the monitor.
I did some research and tried to run the Apple Hardware Test by inserting the second of my original install disks and holding down the D key. Instead of bringing up the Apple Hardware Test, my hard drive managed to boot up completely with no clicks, and now appears to be running fine. I restarted and also did shutdowns... my Mac is booting up completely normally. I took the opportunity to make sure I have a recovery disk and the ability to download and install a new copy of Lion if the need comes up any time soon.
The main question is... was this likely an indication of a hard drive failure about to happen, as I tend to want to assume, or was the clicking sound and failure to boot a symptom of something else? Booting up while pressing "D" with the second install disk inserted shouldn't have fixed a hard drive problem... I wouldn't think. Also, anyone know the max size a replacement hard drive could be? I'll go with the same kind of hard drive as is currently in it, but not sure on if I'm limited to the original 250 Gb size.

BTmy1andonly wrote:
I'm not sure I understand your reference to "clone and backup." I assume it's something else besides a standard backup done with Time Machine?
The main things to realise…
Clones are a static copy of an OS or disk.
Generally they don't have the history of older files (some can).
OS clones are usually bootable - a really fast solution to 'oh carp my disk died' moments.
Schedule one to be made as often as you can afford to lose data (e.g once a day, or every other day etc).
Time Machine is a 'rolling backup'.
TM copies new files, preens older stuff & then deletes when space is running out.
It also excludes some inessential system files (like logs) - technically you will not get an identical copy back from a TM restore.
Archives are for the occasions where you want to store on another media for permanent safekeeping.
These need to be capable of being read in whatever timeframe you need to store for (a year, a decade…)
Don't archive with proprietary backup software or proprietary media, otherwise you will have a tough time finding a machine to connect it to it & run the software.
Several copies on different disks, probably on different media too (e,g. HD + Flash storage + archival DVD's…).
You may want to revisit archives & duplicate them to new media once in a while depending on how important it is.
Ideally you would have some offsite copies to protect against fire/ theft etc.
If you are in business you need to employ all options, if it's just iTunes music & some family photos, you still need to employ 3 types of backup

DM3 1035DX Hard Drive Failure.....Need to reload operating system on new HD but how?

I have a DM3-1035dx which had a hard drive failure. When you turn it on it starts booting up and then shuts off and restarts. I took out the HD and then got to the point where it asked for the operating system so I am pretty sure the HD is the problem. I can get into set up and change the boot sequence but what should I boot to? I don't have a floppy or CD drive although I would get a usb drive it it will work. I also don't have recovery disks just the windows product key? Any help will be greatly appreciated!

Put the hard drive back in and go into the BIOS (press F10 when you see the HP splash screen on bootup) and navigate to the Diagnostics Tab, then select Memory and/or Hard Drive tests and see if either of those return an error.
If there is no error try a hard reset. You can do this by removing the battery and unplugging the AC Adapter. Then press and hold the power button on the laptop for about 30 seconds, then put the battery back in and plug in the AC Adapter and try turning it on again.
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Chronic T400 Hard Drive Failures

Our company has been using Lenovo laptops for five years, depending primarily on the T61/T400/T410 family of laptops. We first purchased T400s in late 2008, and deployed almost 40 of them between 2008 and 2010.
Beginning this spring, we have had a string of catastophic hard drive failures on T400s purchased in 2009. In nearly all of these cases, we end up with a HDD Initialization Error (or similar) that render's the drive unrecoverable, particularly because we use PGP to encrypt the drives. With the PGP encryption, if we cannot access the boot sector of the drive and decrypt the disk, it is impossible to recover any data.
In the past three to five months, I believe that we have had almost ten T400 PCs experience a catastrophic disk failure.
The 2010 cohort of T400s have been more reliable, but perhaps that is because they are younger. I don't believe that any of our T61 machines experienced a disk failure before their 36 month refresh date.
I have heard from another company in our region that they have experienced similar problems with 2009 T400s. Has anyone else experienced this, and more importantly, diagnosed the root cause? Is it heat related, caused by manufacturing defects, or related perhaps to PGP? Although Lenovo is always prompt with disk replacements, the overhead associated with reimaging and risk of data loss is becomming a challenge for us to manage.

i think the OP is referring to multiple T400 as T400s, the T400s was not around in late 2008, it was released in the end of June 2009 if my memory serves me correctly.
Regards,
Jin Li
May this year, be the year of 'DO'!
I am a volunteer, and not a paid staff of Lenovo or Microsoft

Flash Memory / Hard Drive failure

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