[dolbytg]

I have a Dell Inspiron 570 that is coming up on boot that it has a hard-drive disk failure. I used to be able to get into a utility by pressing F8 I think, that would take me to a diagnostic program, but that isn't working anymore. Is there any way to boot this thing up and run some sort of diagnostic on the hard drive or should I just take it that the hard drive is crashed and take it in to a computer shop. I would rather fix this myself but not sure how to proceed. Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Dolbytg

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Since all the utilities are packed in the faulty disk you cannot run any test unless it's done from an external source like a bootable CD.

Find out the make of your hard disk and download from here the hard disk test program of this particular manufacturer. Create a bootable CD and run a full test. This will tell you if the problem is with the hard disk itself. If it is, it must be replaced.

[The Skeptic]

Since all the utilities are packed in the faulty disk you cannot run any test unless it's done from an external source like a bootable CD.

Find out the make of your hard disk and download from here the hard disk test program of this particular manufacturer. Create a bootable CD and run a full test. This will tell you if the problem is with the hard disk itself. If it is, it must be replaced.

[dolbytg]

Ok, the hard drive is a Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 750GB. I tried to download the software from Seagate but the computer that I am using runs Windows Vista, the one that crashed on me runs Windows 7. I can't get the computer to boot up at all. If I replace the hard drive would you recommend going with a different brand or replacing it with the same, or are there more things that I can do to check the drive out?
Thank you for your suggestions and information.

Dolbytg

[The Skeptic]

The testing utility that I want you to run is a DOS file. You use your computer only to download the file from which you will create a bootable CD. The fact that the computer runs Vista Or Win 7 or XP is irrelevant.

Use the link that I gave you and find "Seatools for DOS V. 1.1". Use the link "Seatools for DOS (ISO CD-ROM image) to download the ISO file. Burn it to a CD to create a bootable CD and boot the computer with the new CD. Run a complete test.

Please note: burning an ISO file to a CD is not like burning other files. Your burning software must be capable of burning ISO files. If it isn't, download a burning program from here.

Re HD quality: I think they are all the same and I can't recommend any.