[karimy]

My husband wrecked his bike with the laptop in his backpack a few months ago. Now it says that there's an imminent failure on disk 4, press f1 to continue anyway. Everything is running fine on the laptop, and I can boot it just fine, but every now and then, the hard drive does make a noise like it's rubbing or something. I can't afford a new hard drive, so I'm wondering if I create an image of the hard drive and put it back on, will the computer automatically keep everything off of disk 4? (I only use half of the hard drive anyway). If not, is there a way that I can tell the computer not to use that portion?

Thankyou.

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karimy
I strongly suggest that you back up your data a.s.a.p as the HDD can fail at any moment.

You need to provide information about your notebook, this includes the model name or series number (not serial) providing these details will enable us to better assist you, once we have the specs we can suggest ways to secure your data and then some HDD testing for you to do.

[phillpower2]

karimy
I strongly suggest that you back up your data a.s.a.p as the HDD can fail at any moment.

You need to provide information about your notebook, this includes the model name or series number (not serial) providing these details will enable us to better assist you, once we have the specs we can suggest ways to secure your data and then some HDD testing for you to do.

[karimy]

Sorry for not having it to begin with and taking so long to get back to this. It's a Gateway. The series number is 84702304325 and the model number is MD2614u. Backing up the important info was one of the first things I did, but now I've barrowed an external harddrive that will fit an image, which sounds so much easier than re-installing all of my programs--although I kind of wonder if I should take the time to clean things up. Oh, and this is kind of off topic, but when reinstalling the OS, how do you get it to recognize the scroll thing of the laptop mouse?

[phillpower2]

No worries, good to hear that you have backed up your data.
Some freeware for you http://easeus.com/di...y/home-edition/

but when reinstalling the OS, how do you get it to recognize the scroll thing of the laptop mouse?

If the mouse works then the wheel should work, if not it may be damaged.

[karimy]

I understand how to back up my data; I just don't know where it gets put when I reinstall it. If only disk 4 is bad, I'd like to use the rest of the hard drive and not have to replace it. Will it automatically just put it onto the rest of the harddrive, or do I have to tell it?

Also, about the mouse; I mean the little pad on the laptop. It's supposed to make the screen scroll when you run your finger up and down the right side. We put windows 7 on a while after we bought it, and at that point it stopped working, like I lost a driver or something.

[phillpower2]

If only disk 4 is bad, I'd like to use the rest of the hard drive and not have to replace it.

What you describe suggests that your HDD is partitioned so to confirm this can you follow the guide below please;

Go to Start then to Run/Search
Type in compmgmt.msc and click Enter
On left side click on Disk Management
On right side you will see your hard drive.
Now I need you to take a screenshot and attach it to your next reply.
Do the following to take a screenshot while the above is open and showing on your desktop.

To capture and post a screenshot;

Click on the ALT key + PRT SCR key..its on the top row..right hand side..now click on start...all programs...accessories...paint....left click in the white area ...press CTRL + V...click on file...click on save...save it to your desktop...name it something related to the screen your capturing... BE SURE TO SAVE IT AS A .JPG ...otherwise it may be to big to upload... then after typing in any response you have... click on browse...desktop...find the screenshot..select it and click on the upload button...then on the lower left...after it says upload successful...click on add reply like you normally would.

So you are aware a partitioned drive is a single drive that is split into separate storage areas, an example of this could be C: main drive for the operating system, D: system restore and E: for data storage, they are all on one physical drive but kept separate to prevent the data from becoming corrupted etc, if the HDD is mechanically damaged in any way the whole drive is affected and will fail not just a single partition.
Other drive letters you may see on your system such as F:, G: or H: may be for devices such as thumb drives, card readers and external storage devices and should not be confused with HDDs.

The touch pad issue may be a driver or settings issue and can be sorted after the HDD issue has been resolved.