Quick Hard Drive Diagnostic Question
 

A friend of mine gives me a call saying he dropped his laptop (Dell) about a foot and it turned off. When he turned it on he got something to the affect of "No bootable devices found" and after running the diagnostic test it said it failed the DST Short Status test.

Now, I could obviously tell that something has happened to the hard drive. To be sure, I looked up the DST status short test or whatever the hell it was called and all that did was confirm it. The thing I'm wondering is, will this just be a case of open the laptop and reseat the hard drive (it was disconnected) or is it more likely that the hard drive died and possibly suffered a catastrophic failure?

What do you guys think? It might be a day before I have a chance to look at it, so any input would help. Plus the whole warranty thing is a big deal.

I work on Dell laptops for a living and the DST short test failing = dead hard drive. See if it's under warranty. If it is, you can get a new one in 3 days for free. If not, order one off of NewEgg (it'll work fine) for $60.

Yeah that's what I figured :( Thanks. I feel bad for him since his data is now obliterated, but what are you gonna do.

When you turn it on can you hear the hard drive spin up? Does it make clicking sounds?

If the drive does spin up there is hope for retrieving the data. I won't go into the details until after you respond as i'm limited on time right now.

Yeah like I said I can't access the computer until tomorrow at the earliest, but I was hoping he could find the warranty between now and then. Once I am hands on and if there is no warranty I'll obviously try standard recovery procedures.

try taking it out and reseting it, however if the drive was on at the time, especially if it was in use, the heads may have broken on the platter.

I have had multiple drives go bad on me and always recovered the data without a problem without voiding any warranties. If the drive spins up you should get a cable which converts it to a standard ide drive and then slave it on a good system (the cable costs a few bucks and is totally worth it). Then on that good system try to pull the data over.

If the drive is clicking when you turn it on place it in an air tight ziplock and try to get as much air out as possible. Then place it in the freezer for a day. Then try the first step again.

Yeah, I have a USB-IDE doohickey with a laptop converter, and I'm all set.

Thanks as always guys.