Laptop down

[Petrie.]

I think there's a program out there called HDTune or HDHealth or something like that.  It looks for bad sectors or can tell if parts of the drive are failing.

[landbeforetimelover]

Well if there's still a warranty he'd be better off to just send it in.  With some companies they will actually void your warranty if you use one of those programs.  I know sending it in really sucks Malte, but it's really your best option since you don't want to have to pay $100 for a hard drive (even more if you can't install it yourself) or void your warranty on a temporary solution.  You're in a real pickle here, but I wish you the best.