Replacing a failed hard drive

js58426

js58426

js58426

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I have an old MSI laptop (out of warranty, spec below) with a hard drive that has failed. When I turn on the laptop I can hear a clicking sound from the hard drive and I get a message saying that no operating system can be found. I assume this means it's a physical problem and the only solution is to replace the drive. I'm not worried about losing data, storage space or performance. I just want to try to get this laptop working again.

My laptop has two hard drives and, assuming that only one of the HDDs is damaged, I'm wondering if it's possible to remove the faulty drive and reinstall Windows on the healthy drive.

How can I figure out which drive is damaged and which, if any, is healthy? And is it just a simple job of removing one HDD and putting the other in its place? Can I leave one of the HDD sockets inside the laptop empty or will this cause problems?


MSI GX660R - 474UK
Intel Core i5 (460M)
ATI Radeon HD5870 (1GB DDR5)
1TB HDD (2*500GB RAID 0)
6GB DDR3
Windows 7 Home Premium
 
You can leave HDD sockets empty and the laptop will probably try and boot from the next HDD.

You can reinstall windows on the healthy drive (though be sure to back everything up)
 
js58426 said:
1TB HDD (2*500GB RAID 0)
Click to expand...

You will likely need to delete the RAID0 Configuration first (probably CTRL+I whilst booting) before you can reinstall windows, but other than that just test with a single drive installed to determine which is clicking and has failed.
 
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