Possible dead/failed hard drive

[BluJay614]

A friend of mine was booting her computer when she got the following message. Apparently, everything was working just fine half an hour before. I'm wondering if it could be a failed/dead hard drive. It's an Insperon 3520

[The Sloth]

damm, seems like your HDD controller is dead. 

[ProjectBox153]

It could be a few different things. Do you have the computer? If so, pull the HDD and see if another system recognizes it. 

[BluJay614]

1 minute ago, nerdslayer1 said:

damm, seems like your HDD controller is dead. 

So, this is a case of replacing the HDD?

[The Sloth]

Just now, BluJay614 said:

So, this is a case of replacing the HDD?

yup get an ssd. 

[BluJay614]

1 minute ago, nerdslayer1 said:

yup get an ssd. 

Beautiful. They are not going to like that.

[The Sloth]

1 minute ago, BluJay614 said:

Beautiful. They are not going to like that.

a cheap ssd will last longer and make the system more responsive. 

[BluJay614]

1 minute ago, nerdslayer1 said:

a cheap ssd will last longer and make the system more responsive. 

True..... Unfortunately, they are trying to get school work done.

[Emberstone]

17 minutes ago, BluJay614 said:

True..... Unfortunately, they are trying to get school work done.

Do as Jamiec1130 said first. Test the drive in another system to ensure the drive itself is dead. Don't trash data that may still be good (though it's most likely that the drive is dead).

[ARikozuM]

Please don't accept the first thing that you hear on the forum. Do as @Jamiec1130 said before jumping to conclusions.