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my wife has a prob on her laptop .... she gets the following message:

the following hard disks are reporting failure: disk name: Toshiba MK1246GSX ATA device volume: C:\

she has already tried to defrag, run malware, cc cleaner etc and still gets the message ... she uses AVG antivirus

any help?

 

If you haven't already back up any important files before you do anything else.

How old is the laptop/drive?

 

Sounds like the hard drive is on it's way out Dim, has it taken any recent falls or bumps? hard drives really don't like that the good mews is there usually not too expensive to replace (around £30-£60 depending on how much space you want) hard drives do have a limited life and laptop drives especially due to the moveable nature of a laptop:o

 

files are backed up ... not sure of the age of the laptop, but that should not be a problem .... it has the latest software and has been working well

it still works, but switches off by iteself from time to time and gives that error message

 

thanks for that .... has not been dropped or bumped .... it will be worth fixing if it is not too expensive

 

Depending which version of Windows you're using.

My Computer or Computer > right click on the C drive > Properties > Tools > Error checking, check now for errors.

That's roughly what it is for Windows 7, will be similar for XP and Vista.

It may take a while though.

As A said above, wont cost too much to replace drive if necessary.

 

replacing it is the fix I'm afraid Dim hard drives are a closed unit and not physically fixable as I understand it although you say it keeps switching itself off? that sounds like and overheating issue to me which might be the root cause of the drive problems how hot does it get? where are the fan vents located on the laptop? and does your wife use the laptop on her lap or soft cushioned surfaces?

back to the drive you can get software which will be able to tell you the health of the drive but I've never used any on windows so I'm having a look for a good free one on google for you

take a look here Dim: http://www.hdtune.com/download.html and scroll down to HD Tune (the free one) and then install it and do a quick scan (last tab and click the check box for quick scan)

 

thanks ... will have a look tommorow ... thanks for the link!

 

(SLIGHTLY late to the party but...)

My advice is to only have one (active) security/anti-virus (AV) program on your PC.

The only reason I say that is for performance. If you have more than one AV program running at the same time then each file you open is being scanned not just twice, but concurrently, which will adversely affect the performance of your machine.

When adding any software to your PC, it's also worth paying some attention to the installer.

Not so much for the T&Cs (although of course we all should...but really who actually does!?), but for the prompts that ask if you also want to installed 'McAfee', or 'Norton', or the 'Ask Toolbar', and so on. This is the most common way that people end up with multiple (and unwanted) anti-virus products on their PCs. There's nothing wrong with these extra products being installed, but they're not what you're actually trying to install, and they just 'bloat' your PC and make it run slowly.