My laptop is becoming slow and makes noise at start up.
Based on what I've heard in the past and read, this usually means the hard drive is about to fail. I quickly backed up all the content on the computer- so that fixes that concern.

I like this laptop and haven't had any other issues with it. It has an i7 and 6 gb of ram so it is certainly capable for what I need it for.
Is the hard drive easily replacable on a laptop? At this point I'd go towards a SSD. The prices have come down- but my question is how much to get it up and running. I don't think I'd be able to do this myself, so I'd have to pay the fees for the install. At this point is it worth it? I imagine I'd also have to buy a new copy of Windows 7?

You shouldn't need to buy a new copy of win 7.....it's licensed for the laptop. Check the CD/DVD's that came with the laptop.....might be some restore disks that you can run against the new HDD to restore it up to a factory load.
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you should be able to swap the hard drive out for solid state drive
that'll run much much better and 100% silent

If you don't have the Win7 disk.

Just download the version (http://www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads.12325/)you currently have. Don't "upgrade or downgrade" as your key code will not work..
The links are to Microsoft and are downloaded via digital river.. These are ISO files so you can burn them to DVD then install.

Don't do a restore.. Restores suck and put back so much unneeded bloatware.

You need to make sure the settings for your drive in bios should be ACHI.

Do a fresh install so you don't have to fart around with registry settings... Change your power options to NEVER shut off harddrive.

Good luck..

you should be able to swap the hard drive out for solid state drive
that'll run much much better and 100% silent

Silent, faster, cooler...Win
Posted from my iPhone/Mobile device

Hard-drives are a piece of cake to replace.
3 screws and you're done.
Is the noise you're hearing a whirring noise...or clankity, cluck?
Could just be your internal fan if it's clankity, cluck.
If it's whirrring or a pitched noise...HDD

Don't fear the job, plenty of help on here.

Good Luck

As expected the hard drive crashed and the computer is not functioning.
I now have two questions:

1). Will a SSD work on all computers. This computer was built in 2010- but is pretty modern with an i7 and 6GB of ram. When speaking with Dell, they said the motherboard in it would not support a SSD. Is this a sales tactic or could there be some truth to it?

2). When hard drives crash like this are they unrestorable? I backed upp all my data so it is not an issue, but I have other concerns. Dell offered me a good price for them to replace the hard drive and go thorugh the computer and fix anything else that may be in need of repair, and clean it up. I was considering this option as it is close to the price I'd pay for a regular harddrive. My only concern is I imagine they pull off parts and later repair them to be refurbished for other repairs. I wonder if I have anything to worry about- for example is my data recoverable? Could someone else somehow end up with it- or is that hard drive toast?

Greg as far as if the HD is compatable, you can go to.new egg and use the chat on the site, their customer support is amazing.

You will need a restore disk or im install diak to get your os back on it.
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Real pain hey Greg :wall:
I've experienced this myself and more than once, no fun!
A word of caution, it's possible to have backed up a failing hard drive to only find out later that the backup is junk. (Currupt)
There are outfits out there that can retrieve data from a smoked HD. It ain't cheap though, they actually remove the disk or open up the HD and spin her around and read the data.... Saved my tail once, big time!
I was concerned about the info on the disk also,,, the guy laughed at me,,, I guess no one actually sees the data

Good luck