Urgent HDD/SSD advice needed guys!

[HookeyStreet]

Im pretty sure my laptops 160GB WD Sata HDD is about to kick the bucket. For some reason a problem started today. Whenever I try to transfer a file from my laptop to my external HDD, or even extract a large file using WinRAR on my internal HDD, my entire system locks up and I have to hard reset

Im currently trying to backup my data to DVD (because I seem to be able to do this at the moment...touch wood!) and then Im going to format the HDD to see if that corrects the problem.

I tried an HDD scan and fix but it gets stuck @ 17% and wont budge past the point no matter how many times I try

I also tried to do a system restore, but for some reason my one and only restore point was today....but this wont even work (windows comes back with an error if I try to system restore to this point)

Has anyone else got anything I could try?

If not, does anyone know what the best SSD drive for around £100-£120 would be (as large and fast as possible)

Thanks in advance

PS: I did post this in the 'storage' section but nobody seems to check it. If a mod could please delete my other thread I would be grateful.

 

[Fourstaff]

I would agree with you that your HDD is dying, but no idea why though. Sorry, couldnt help you there.

On the other hand, why would you want a ssd if you are looking for large? Large and fast doesnt usually go together, so I assume that you prefer large over fast:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/180517

 

[HookeyStreet]

I would agree with you that your HDD is dying, but no idea why though. Sorry, couldnt help you there.

On the other hand, why would you want a ssd if you are looking for large? Large and fast doesnt usually go together, so I assume that you prefer large over fast:
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/180517

sorry, I meant the largest and fastest for that price, sorry

ie, I wouldnt mind a small 32GB-64GB aslong as its one of the fast ones

 

[Fourstaff]

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/173953

I wouldnt buy SSD yet for normal use, they are still too expensive unless you specifically needs them .

 

[95Viper]

Did you try WD's Diagnostics on it?http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=702&sid=30&lang=en

I believe they may have a three warranty to, check your drive here:http://support.wdc.com/warranty/index_end.asp?lang=en

Check pantherx12 FS thread, he may have one:http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=105810

Goodluck, over there

 

[HookeyStreet]

Did you try WD's Diagnostics on it?http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=702&sid=30&lang=en

I believe they may have a three warranty to, check your drive here:http://support.wdc.com/warranty/index_end.asp?lang=en

Check pantherx12 FS thread, he may have one:http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=105810

Goodluck, over there

No I havent but I will now. Thanks m8

 

[techspec6]

I'd recommend a 60GB OCZ agility SSD.

I currently own:
3x 30GB Vertex
2x 120GB Agility
1x 60GB Agility

Installed in 4 computers and 1 playstation.

If you can do with only 30GB, the Vertex is a great value. Overall, there's not much difference in performance between the Vertex and Agility drives. The 120GB SSDs are a little faster due to the additional NAND chips which take advantage of the additional channels which access the NAND in parrallel, similar to how RAID works.

SSD + TRIM firmware + Win7 = Best combinition. No maintenance, just install and enjoy.

Jason

 

[HookeyStreet]

I'd recommend a 60GB OCZ agility SSD.

I currently own:
3x 30GB Vertex
2x 120GB Agility
1x 60GB Agility

Installed in 4 computers and 1 playstation.

If you can do with only 30GB, the Vertex is a great value. Overall, there's not much difference in performance between the Vertex and Agility drives. The 120GB SSDs are a little faster due to the additional NAND chips which take advantage of the additional channels which access the NAND in parrallel, similar to how RAID works.

SSD + TRIM firmware + Win7 = Best combinition. No maintenance, just install and enjoy.

Jason

Thanks for the advice. Wouldnt I need an Intel SSD to enable 'trim' (this is something a m8 told me) Or do you mean I could buy any SSD, install a Trim FW and it will work on my Windows 7 Ultimate 64x laptop? EDIT: I just did a bit of research about TRIM on wikipedia.....as you can tell I dont know much if anything about current SSD's lol

Does the PS3 actually benefit from having a SSD installed (ie load times) and is it a problem that TRIM wont be active on an SSD installed in a PS3.

I upgraded my PS3 HDD from an 80GB to 160GB purely so I had more room to leave XvidHD movies on it, not better performance I bet an XBOX360 would benefit more from using an SSD if the full game was installed to the SSD.