Hard Drive Failure

[pinkfreud123]

After booting up my laptop after several months of non-use, the computer emitted a very loud, shrill sound and failed to boot.  After 3 more attempts I was able to access the Diagnostics screen.  From this I learned that the hard drive failed one of two tests, with the following failure ID:  64KTJF-1N09NH-QFPJXG-60U003.  In the Knowledge Base article I was informed to contact HP Support.  So, what does this mean exactly - that the hard drive has to be replaced?  Is my little-used computer gone?

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

The error code reported, Hard Disk 1 Quick Test Failure, does mean the hard drive needs to be replaced and the operating system reinstalled.

Below is the link to the service manual for your notebook.  The HDD R & R procedure can be found in chapter 4.

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c03221579

You may want to consider purchasing a better performing, normally more reliable 2.5" solid state drive as a replacement.

After you install the new drive, you can reinstall W10 by creating installation media by the media creation tool at the link below.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

[pinkfreud123]

Thank you for your response and information, Paul.  The computer is about 6 years old and it cost me a bundle, but it has not been used a great deal.  In your opinion do you believe that the replacement of the hard drive and the re-installation of Windows 10 can be performed by an average user with a little tech-savvy?  Do you believe that it would be cost effective, knowing full well that all of my data/information will be lost during the process?

Again, thank you very much for your reply, Paul.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

If you like your notebook and it is in very good condition other than the broken hard drive, take a look at chapter 4 of the service manual to see if you are up to the task.

It seems pretty easy to me, and I don't like working on notebooks.

If you don't need a lot of storage space, you can replace the hard drive with a 500 GB SSD model like this...

https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-500GB-Ultra-NAND-SATA/dp/B072R78B6Q

Or if you want to replace the drive like the one that died on you, this would be a good choice...

https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-BarraCuda-128MB-2-5-Inch-Internal/dp/B07D99KFPL/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=1...

Reinstalling W10 would be no charge except for an 8 GB USB flash drive (if you don't have one that size or larger already), or a DVD-R disk.

So you can fix it for $65 or less.  Seems like a good deal to me...a whole lot cheaper than buying new.