internal hard drive problems/windows missing files

Just don't ask which brand of HD or you will start a religious battle. I swear by Western Digital, but others swear at WD and swear by Seagate. A lot of people stay away from Samsung, Yeasu and OEM drives of unknown origin.

I suggest you looks for a "name" drive with at least a three-year warranty. Save your receipt and do whatever is necessary (if anything) to register your warranty with the manufacturer. And remember to always backup your data as every drive will die someday, the only question is will it be tomorrow or ten years from now.

Dick

 

Get a new drive...you never know what a used drive has been through, and there are utilities that can hide many types of problems.

The big seagate-vs-WD fight seems to be at a truce...neither side can convince the other of anything, and we don't want to fight anymore. The only thing we can agree on is that these are the two best brands, and that all others are inferior (with the exception of SAS drives, 10K/15K drives, and SSDs). However, this is mostly for desktop (3.5") drives. For laptop drives, not even I like seagate drives....I like Hitachi laptop drives, even though I would never use their desktop drives. My laptop and my PS3 both have Hitachi drives, and I recomend them frequently, and use them for laptop repairs & upgrades. They are cheap and basic, but they last.