Random BSODs out of nowhere, 0x000000F4 & 0x0000007A

[dennis96411]

I have an old Dell laptop with a 40GB Hitachi drive from 2003 or earlier, and it still works fine to this day.

Posted in more that 100 hard drive failure related threads during the last year. The percentage of a failing Seagate is the least, whereas Hitachi is on the top.

Secondly, there is seatools, the best way to recover failing HDDs ... and that part of function is available for Seagate discs only.

Thirdly, their customer service is better, compared to the other HDD brands I personally have used.

If I do end up getting another Seagate, I hope it would last longer than this one.

 

[Arc]

http://www.sevenforums.com/bsod-hel...sod-when-idle-but-not-gaming.html#post2539037

Exactly the ame issue as yours, but the HDD is a Hitachi. So it may happen with anything.

 

[dennis96411]

Which backup software would you recommend, Paragon Backup and Recovery or Macrium Reflect?

 

[Arc]

Which backup software would you recommend, Paragon Backup and Recovery or Macrium Reflect?

The second one .... most of us in SF use it and suggest it.

 

[mastervinc]

Update: I've bought the cds and am currently running Memtest, so far it has 2 passes. I tried the Seatools program but it didn't recognize my hard drive.

 

[dennis96411]

So I imaged the hard drive and restored it to my old Toshiba drive that came with this laptop. It was a painless and seamless process with Macrium Reflect. I can definitely notice the performance difference between 5400RPM and 7200RPM now...

Another quick question. I have the Intel HM55 mobile chipset, and it only supports up to SATA 3Gbps, not 6Gbps. If I were to put a SATA III drive into it, will it work? I know if it does it won't perform at the maximum potential speed, but I just wanted to know if it were compatible (hopefully not slower than a SATA II drive anyway).

 

[Arc]

It will work, but will not perform at its maximum potential speed

You know the answer

Anyway, our main concern is the BSOD. So let us know how it is running with the replacement HDD Wish you all the best.

 

[dennis96411]

It will work, but will not perform at its maximum potential speed

You know the answer

Anyway, our main concern is the BSOD. So let us know how it is running with the replacement HDD Wish you all the best.

Thank you so much for your help! I guess I can just use the old hard drive until I need more storage capacity or until I feel like I need more speed. S.M.A.R.T. indicates that there are no errors with this drive, so I should be okay for now.

Oh, and since you recommended Seagate and I need it to be 750GB or above, I found this: http://www.seagate.com/internal-hard-drives/laptop-hard-drives/laptop-solid-state-hybrid-drive/
It's 5400RPM, but it says it's "faster than traditional 5400RPM hard drive". I believe it has 8GB of flash memory. How realistic would the result be? Is it enough to beat a regular 7200RPM hard drive?

Last question. Are refurbished hard drives better than brand new hard drives? I've heard that they go through extensive testing to make sure that they work before they're put out.