Ideally if you run the Dell diagnostics and the drive comes up with a diagnostic error then that should be sufficient evidence for Dell to replace the drive.

bj1bmx,

If you are under warranty and you have called in recently about a specific problem, and then your warranty expires (before that issue could be resolved by us) we will still honor the warranty to repair/replace that specific device.

after trying to straighten the situation out on the phone with no luck, i emailed tech support.  they were incredibly helpful and i am being sent a new drive.