Dell Studio XPS 16 - Hard drive Targeted read test failure

Any mechanical device can fail for any of a host of reasons at any time.  With hard drives, it can be physical or electronic damage - could be as simple as that the drive was dropped (or the system was dropped in shipping) before it was installed, or a weak spot in the media tested OK at the factory but subsequently went bad.

First thing to dispense with is the "I'm not willing to accept..."

The hard drive HAS failed and the solution  -- the ONLY one - is to have it replaced under warranty.

Call Dell with the error and they'll ship a warranty replacement to you right away.

thanks very much for the quick reply. I understand the situation, I am now just uncertain about how my hard drive could have crashed in such a short time?

REALLY TOO FUNNY...now for my third attempt to post a review----

I posted a response (see below) that was rejected because it violated the "Terms of Use" The Term of Use I violated was "Your post contains language that we believe to be harassing, unlawful, or otherwise objectionable" In that I did not post any vile, crude or inappropriate words, the only thing I can figure out is I violated the "otherwise objectionable". Apparently, criticizing Dell for poor equipment that I paid for and quite frankly got taken to the cleaners over is "objectionable" to Dell. So much for "valuing your participation in the Dell Community". For the third time, here goes:

I have been purchasing Dell computers for both business and personal use for more than 10 years. Two years ago, I purchased a Studio 16 XPS for alot of money (over $2,500). This has turned into the single worst decision I have made as regards computers in my life. I have had the hard drive crash in this laptop 3 TIMES!! I did purchase the longest extended warranty possible, and because Dell makes INFERIOR QUALITY laptops now, that has been the best investment ever

Yes, they send out a new hard drive every time (after you work your way through the customer service people who speak little to no English in Pakistan, or India or wherever Dell has farmed this out to), but its the same INFERIOR QUALITY garbage that just crashed (all have been Toshiba hard drives). Of course, theres no way to recover the lost data from the last back up, and then theres the joy of reinstalling all the programs, working through the issues of getting Windows reinstalled , updated and working like you had it before, trying to reinstall all the fonts that always seem to be lost, etc etc. Dell must think that all us poor idiotic schmucks that are stupid enough to purchase their horrible equipment have nothing better to do but suffer through the hours of time it takes to try and get back to where we were before their INFERIOR PRODUCT quit.

If you lose your mind and decide to go ahead and purchase a Dell, the FIRST purchase you need to make is a redundant backup system, and then you ought to subscribe to a third party on-line backup service as a further precaution. Then, make sure you purchase all the warranty you can buy (you'll need it!!). Finally, make sure you have a good physician because you'll need some good drugs to both relax you and lower your blood pressure, when it CRASHES----because m experience is that there's a 90%+ chance it will!!!

Or, you can buy something dependable and worth the money from almost any other manufacturer-----

I feel for you. I have a 2 month old (!) XPS 15 with multiple problems. It was 12 days old when they said the hard drive failed. They replaced it BUT then the operating system failed. A thumbdrive they sent did NOT totally fix all the issues.  They claim it is all software related and will do nothing but insist I continue to spend hours and hours on the phone with DELL support.  It is maddening.  GOOD LUCK, I am afraid you will need it.

I'm in the same boat. I bought a Studio XPS 16 in Oct '10 and have had two HD failures. The first occurring 4 months after purchase and the second HD lasted 8 months. My laptop was never dropped or jostled around and never left my house and it's unreal that you can't get a decent HD considering the money they charge for their XPS line.