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Question

HDD heelp please!!

by Apr 9, 2016 11:37AM PDT

Hi all, im from Lithuania, my english isn't very good so please forgive if i do speling mistakes. And im fresh at computers.
Soo like 3-4 months ago i had a problem with my laptop (couldnt boot, change sata to IDE and reinstaled windows) everything was OK. Windows worked fine and i was pleased. But as i played lol and i got nervous after a bad match i just took out laptop's batery ant went to sleep, and suddenly i cant start my pc... at first i had a problem that windows just didnt start (at firsr jt showed "windows ks loading files" and then loaded strangly like in win xp "microsoft corporation etc." But after that nothing. Absolutly nothing...) then i tried to instal windows. Had a setup in flash. In bios selected first hdd second. But it was hung on black screen with a mouse... then i figured out to disable quet boot (dont know how it spels Grin) and it finaly started. But now a fu**ing problem again. When i camed to disk selecting i get " Windows cannot be installed to disk 0 partition 2. (Details: the disk may fail soon. If other hard disks are available, install windows to another location)" but i can still go "next" i read that i should formar the partition but i cant :/ again problem: failed to format the selected partition [Error: 0x80070057].... i can delete it but he doesnt dissapear.. tried to format with cmd. Still the same.. diskpart doesnt help.. when i try to instal win it says "windows could not format a partition disk 0. The error occurred while preparing the partition selected for insyallation. Error code 0x80070057" so i mean I know that probably HDD is dead but still want to know is it rly dead, or is it just sata ? How to know ? How to check without other device ? Couse i have no chance for that and is it a way to fix it or i have to buy a new one ? (And another thing i forgot is that i dont know could this afected something or not but i kind of deleted system reserved partition, then somehow got it back Grin) please help me someone im soo pisedd withou pc im like without air, and i would get a new hdd next month, can u help mee? :/

Discussion is locked

16 Posts
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Answer
put the battery back in
by Apr 9, 2016 11:43AM PDT

Check on boot to be sure it's booting to the drive with the operating system on it. It's possible your BIOS reset itself and if you have more than one drive, it's going to the wrong one. I suspect you messed up your drive OS since you said you deleted some partition.

If the laptop has a DVD drive, try booting to a disc, such as a LIVE Linux disc (Ubuntu, Mint,...) At least that may let you get data off in case you need to reinstall the system from scratch.

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Answer
hi, thanks u replied
by Apr 9, 2016 11:56AM PDT

Amm, i puted the batery back in, but i dont rly understand what do u mean with more than one driver. I have one hdd, one operating system. Ore im just not getting something Grin i have dvd driver but i took it out should i put it back? Where to get that linux ? Can i flash it maybe?

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some use HDD and an SDD for added speed
by James Denison Apr 9, 2016 12:02PM PDT

I don't know it's just one drive. As for Linux;

http:distrowatch.com
tells you where to find them all

http:osdisc.com
for those who can't make their own from ISO file

http:linuxmint.com
very popular linux version 17 with Long Term Service, burn ISO image to DVD.

http://lubuntu.net/blog/lubuntu-14042-available
has a CD version for those who can't burn to DVD.

If you can boot to a Linux DVD and everything works OK with it, then your problem is either HDD or the OS on it. At least then you are sure where the problem is. If you boot the Linux and it gives you similar problems or fails to boot, then other problem.

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links
by James Denison Apr 9, 2016 12:04PM PDT
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thanks
by Ernys Apr 9, 2016 11:30PM PDT

I'l try all this then gonna reply.

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yay
by Ernys Apr 10, 2016 10:04AM PDT

just moved to copying files Grin, is that ok ? i mean it means that it will install ? Grin

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It means you can save your files
by James Denison Apr 10, 2016 11:00AM PDT

the rest is yet conjecture. Confused

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Answer
well :/
by Apr 10, 2016 9:58AM PDT

I downloaded, took all day because my net is sloow -.- i downloaded ubuntu 14.04 and its now intstalling... but i think its kinda stuck on "creating ext4 file system /in partition 1 of SCSI1 (0.0.0) (sda)...'' :/ so i think il wait an hour and if it wont work should i cancel it ?

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it failed...
by Ernys Apr 10, 2016 10:46AM PDT

failed to instal, dont remember the first error but when i tried to instal again i got "invalid argument during seek for read on/dev/sda", i runned the test memory and i got:*****Pass complete, no errors, press Esc to exit***** ***, -.- now im rly confused... :/

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what Rob said
by James Denison Apr 10, 2016 11:03AM PDT

sounds like your HDD is dying or has died. However, in the interim, you can do a full install of that Linux to a flashdrive just like the flashdrive was an HDD and use that in the interim. You can also use the LIVE DVD in the interim, but remember to save anything to a flashdrive since that DVD system is "read only" and it only saves to "ramdrive" in dynamic RAM which disappears soon as the computer is turned off.

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In linux
by James Denison Apr 10, 2016 11:07AM PDT

drives are not exactly letters, only. Dev is for device. Sd is for scsi disk, even when it's not. Used to be hd for hard disk, and sometimes that's still used, especially in boot files for grub. So, when you see /dev/sda, that means it's the device called scsi disk "a". If there were 2 partitions you would see /dev/sda1 and sda2. The next physical hard drive would be /dev/sdb. So, Linux starts all hard drives at letter "a" and partitions are given a number up assignment. Floppy drives would be /dev/fd and optical drives are /dev/so for scsi optical and number up if 2 such drives, like so1 and so2.

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Answer
"invalid argument during seek for read on/dev/sda"
by Forum moderator Apr 10, 2016 10:54AM PDT

That's one of those errors I've seen with a failing HDD. What HDD is this? Try the HDD maker's test tool.

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hdd model
by Ernys Apr 10, 2016 11:51AM PDT

its WD3200BEKT. (320gb) well, i actualy think its dead already because nothing works, cant instal win xn (cant format..) cant instal win 7 (cant format, beggin installation) and failed with linux. Soo i give up on this hd. And im asking for a bit of suggestion what hd should i buy? I realized that i dont need much of space, just for lol and browsing i would be k with 60- 80 gb. But i dont know is there a hd like this that could fit, so if anyone can suggest i would br very happy Happy. (Model, space and etc) thanks again for everyone who replied, rly happy that there is a good forum where u can get quick help, answers and stuff Happy

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That's a bog standard laptop drive.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Apr 10, 2016 11:59AM PDT

I can't tell you which one to replace it with since there are hundreds of models that will work.

Be sure to pull the drive into some USB case or desktop for a final test.

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best deal I saw
by James Denison Apr 10, 2016 12:35PM PDT
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and this
by James Denison Apr 10, 2016 12:39PM PDT
Back to Laptops forum

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