kevin_standlee: Kevin after losing a lot of weight. He peaked at 330, but over the following years got it down to 220 and continues to lose weight. (Default)
kevin_standlee ([personal profile] kevin_standlee) wrote2007-03-13 09:24 pm
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A Surplus of Hard Drives

I've put in a request to Dell technical support to see if they'll replace the hard drive that failed while I was in Oregon. That was the largest of my hard drives, at 80 GB. The second-largest (60 GB) was in the backup computer on which I'm running now. Besides those, I actually have two 40 GB drives left over from older, retired machines. I've put one of those 40 GB boxes into one of the computers and am runing a CHKDSK on it to make sure it's okay, and then I'm going to do the same thing to the other 40 GB drive later or tomorrow if possible. (It's possible the other 40 GB drive was never formatted, though.)

My two Inspiron 600m laptops are identical, other than the older of the two is slightly more worn. (The backup machine wasn't used that often.) I might move the working 60 GB drive from the backup machine into the "main" machine and redo the profiles, espeically if Dell won't replace the defective drive (I think it's still under extended warranty, but I'm not certain).
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(Anonymous) 2007-03-20 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
Hello,

My name is Mike, I’m a Technical Analyst located at Dell corporate headquarters in Round Rock, TX. I'm part of an internet outreach team developed to interact with the online community regarding technical questions and issues that customers face with Dell products. I've read your post and wanted to make sure that you being taken care of. If you are having any problmes getting the drive replaced or contacting Dell please feel free to write back to me at customer_advocate@dell.com with this topic in the subject line, ATTN: Mike B. (Dell hard drive question), and I'll get back to you ASAP.

Thank you,

Mike.
Dell customer advocate

[identity profile] kevin-standlee.livejournal.com 2007-03-20 06:22 pm (UTC)(link)
It took three tries to convince Tech Support that I had actually gone through all of the troubleshooting steps, but they seem to have started the process of shipping me a replacement drive.

When I submitted the query, I told them I'd run diagnostics and got a particular error, which I quoted. They responded with a list of standard troubleshooting steps similar to what I'd already done. I carefully went through this list exactly as it was given to me and got the same error as before. I reported this error, copying back the message from the Dell support person and explaining what I'd done. I then received a message copying my own reply and telling me to do exactly the same things that I'd already done. Clearly the support person had either not read or at least not understood what I'd said. I replied again, saying, "If you'd actually read my message, you'd know that I did all of the things you said to do already." Finally, after all of that, I got a reply saying they are going to ship me a replacement drive. But it wasn't easy.

(Anonymous) 2007-03-23 07:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Well as disappointed as I am to hear about the troubles you went through, I’m glad that they are sending out the replacement drive. Hopefully this will get everything taken care of for you, but if you do have any problems after the drive is replaced, please feel free to send me an email. I’ll keep this case open for a while and check back here before I close it out, but like I said, hopefully this will get you back up and running. I appreciate you taking the time to respond and I hope you have a great weekend.

Thanks again,

Mike
Dell customer advocate

[identity profile] kevin-standlee.livejournal.com 2007-03-23 07:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, the drive is here; I haven't had time to install it yet, though. I expect to give it a shot this weekend.

(Anonymous) 2007-03-28 02:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Kevin,

I just wanted to check in and see how the hard drive swap went. Hopefully you’re back up and running without any problems. Please just let me know how everything went and if you need anything else.

Thanks,

Mike.

[identity profile] kevin-standlee.livejournal.com 2007-03-28 03:01 pm (UTC)(link)
I got the new drive installed and working. What was holding me up from returning the old one was that the old drive did manage to boot even though it continues to test with a bad sector. That being the case, I was uneasy sending it back loaded with so much of my personal data, so I had to spend some time erasing as much of the drive as I could, and that took a couple of evenings.

I have my personal data erased from the drive using one of the file-erasing tools. (I sort of wish I'd had a bulk magnet handy.) The old drive is now packed up in the return box and I'm going to drop it by the DHL office on my way to work this morning.
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