Checking a laptop for internal damage?

[Tym]

Hi guys!

Came in this morning found a laptop had fallen off its shelf pretty high up. Its just a generic HP, but apparently it has some pretty important data. It appears to be working fine but is there any way I can check for internal damage? Without stripping it etc.?

Its not for me, I'd just get over it, but apparently they want to know if its going to randomly fail on them, and thats out of my area of expertise :3

Cheers y'all!

[phoenix1234]

Hi guys!

Came in this morning found a laptop had fallen off its shelf pretty high up. Its just a generic HP, but apparently it has some pretty important data. It appears to be working fine but is there any way I can check for internal damage? Without stripping it etc.?

Its not for me, I'd just get over it, but apparently they want to know if its going to randomly fail on them, and thats out of my area of expertise :3

Cheers y'all!

If it can boot into the OS, everything is just fine. Maybe you can run a full check disk to examine if the harddisk is ok via the command :
chkdsk c: /r /f
(required reboot)

You can also download the free copy of Sisoft sandra to check important equipments (RAM, CPU, etc.)
http://www.sisoftware.net//?d=dload&f=sware_dl_3264&l=en&a=

[baldgye]

Shake it, if it rattles alot you might be in trouble, if it rattles a little you should be ok and if it dsnt rattle at all you should probably drop it again to make sure its ok

[SpAmRaY]

Hi guys!

Came in this morning found a laptop had fallen off its shelf pretty high up. Its just a generic HP, but apparently it has some pretty important data. It appears to be working fine but is there any way I can check for internal damage? Without stripping it etc.?

Its not for me, I'd just get over it, but apparently they want to know if its going to randomly fail on them, and thats out of my area of expertise :3

Cheers y'all!

If it can boot into the OS, everything is just fine. Maybe you can run a full check disk to examine if the harddisk is ok via the command :
chkdsk c: /r /f
(required reboot)

You can also download the free copy of Sisoft sandra to check important equipments (RAM, CPU, etc.)
http://www.sisoftware.net//?d=dload&f=sware_dl_3264&l=en&a=

^^ Along with this, if the system has important data it should be backed up elsewhere.

[Tym]

^^ Along with this, if the system has important data it should be backed up elsewhere.

Cheers guys, and its important enough, but cheaper for the money guys to pay someone to redo it than it is to back it up onto an external or whatever 

[tp4tissue]

um.. first... stop using it...

pull out drive.. back up important stuff onto desktop..

Then put drive back in.. use it until it dies...  throw away.. buy new one.

[Tym]

To pls read above

Also you use eclipse more than I do

[smknjoe]

^^ Along with this, if the system has important data it should be backed up elsewhere.

Cheers guys, and its important enough, but cheaper for the money guys to pay someone to redo it than it is to back it up onto an external or whatever 

I'm not sure I understand. It's cheaper to pay someone to fix it rather than back it up?

[Tym]

No sorry,  badly written.

In their eyes its cheaper to pay someone (someone already on the pay role) to re-gather the data than it is to buy an external hard drive.

You have to remember these computer-iliterates don't think like you or I, which is why I was trying to fix it for free now so I don't have to re-gather (its mostly spreadsheets from different places) it later.

[smknjoe]

Gotcha. If it's just a few files you can use a flash drive or better yet just e-mail them to yourself/themselves.

As for "fixing" any problems, you have to wait for it to break first.

[quickcrx702]

No sorry,  badly written.

In their eyes its cheaper to pay someone (someone already on the pay role) to re-gather the data than it is to buy an external hard drive.

You have to remember these computer-iliterates don't think like you or I, which is why I was trying to fix it for free now so I don't have to re-gather (its mostly spreadsheets from different places) it later.

Transfer the files over the network to a server with RAID 1, 5, 6, or 10.  Computers or laptops should not have important data on them for exactly this reason.  Important documents need to be on a server or in a secure online site.  If your company doesn't have a server, offsite backup, or even just any type of backup storage, and they refuse to spend money on it, then you need to find a new company to work for.  Eventually there will be a huge data loss, and they will try to blame you or at least get upset when you can't recover the data if you are in charge of their IT.  Even if you don't work in IT operations, and are a programmer or do some other function, you will be out of a job when all of the customer data disappears and they have to go out of business.  Also, the IT director or manager, depending on the size of the company, should be fired ASAP if that is the case.  It might be cheaper to pay someone to gather the data again to put on a spreadsheet, but this reveals a much larger issue.

[Tym]

Yeah unfortunately

Thanks! I'll have a dig around see what I can grab

And thanks quick I will speak again about backing up, but in their heads the information is around and this is just a collection of it (though a few hours of work:))

[quickcrx702]

Ask them how much their data is worth.  If they lost all of it, could they still do business?  No business, even fast food joints or retail shops, can afford not to do backups.  Imagine how much work it would be to start over and put everything back into digital format.  That's how I get businesses to buy stuff they think they can't afford when I'm doing IT consulting, by showing them that they can't afford not to do it.  There are also opportunity costs, where you can show them that inefficiencies cost time, and therefore money, so technology expenditures are a must to be competitive.