Hard Drive Failure

[wal65]

My wifes hard drive has just failed on her vaio. it's a home pc and only used for mail kids homework and internet shopping.

Its 17 months old (no extended warranty bought)

Is this usual for a Sony product?
Will Sony do anything if I contact them?
Spent 800 pounds on this and expected a better lifespan

Any suggestions welcomed

[stephanius]

The best remedy for a faulty hard drive out of warranty is to replace it yourself if you are no stranger to a screwdriver or have someone at hand who'll take care of it. For most models that means unscrewing an access door from the bottom, removing any screws that hold the hard disc frame in place, removing the frame and then removing the disc from the frame and reverse for the new drive.

Buying a replacement hard drive on the open market is usually the way to go - you can get more capacity or a cheaper price than the historic price of the part plus stocking costs.

Make sure you check the interface and dimensions of the drive. While usually only the shorter side is quoted (2.5") some models use 9.5 or 12.5 mm thick drives. Fitting a thinner drive is no issue, but the other way around you may be unable to fit it. Power requirements and heat given off by newer drive are usually lower than that of older drive models, so that is no issue. Regarding the interface, the only question is: legacy ATA or SATA. There are no mechanical hard drives that can use more bandwidth than SATA I offers, so SATA I, II or III is irrelevant.

I know it's no consolation, but elapsed time since purchase doesn't have much impact on a hard drive's reliability. The time it ran, what it did and how and if it was moved while working are what matters.

Note that you'll need the system recovery discs you burned when you began using the VAIO to restore the factory build to it. If you don't have those and you were planning on using the factory image, make sure you contact VAIO Support in time so you are not suffering from a delay after your new hard drive arrives.

[jhc2063]

The Toshiba  Hard drive on my Vaio (VGN-FW5)  failed in exactly the same time frame - 17 months. My computer also cost in excess of £800. Sony quoted £300 to repair it  Numerous emails and expensive £0.35 per min calls to Sony Europe.

Have just bought an upgraded hard drive from Amazon at £51

will let you know how it performs after fittings.

Did you know Sony USA provide the following

Fee calls  to service staff, email address for support, two year warranty.

Strange that the computer my Sony replaced ( Dell inspiron 9200 ) is over 5 years old and still going strong.

Update  21-7-2011

Sony Europe have contacted me and have offered a free one of repair,  as I have been a good customer having purchased 5 lap tops for family and friends.

Computer now in the workshop for repair.

Will report on the service after completion.

Update 26-7-2011

Laptop returned in full working order . Hard drive now replaced

Thanks to everyone at  Sony for organising the repairs.

John

Message was edited by: jhc2063

Message was edited by: jhc2063