Computer just kinda... died.

Speed Racer

I just tried to boot up my computer, a Toshiba Sattelite laptop with Windows 7, and got the following message:

SMART Failure Predicted on Hard Disk 0: TOSHIBA MK5055GSX - (S1)

WARNING: Immediately back-up your data and replace your hard disk drive. A failure may be imminent.

Press F1 to continue

So, question 1, how the FUCK did I manage to do this? This computer isn't even three months old, and this is my first Windows computer but I thought I was taking pretty good care of it, doing ant-virus scans regularly and making sure it was fully updated.

Secondly, whats the cheapest way to fix this? School has got me basically broke but I cant get by without a computer (currently posting from a PS3) Im guessing that I have to buy a new hard drive and also some means to transfer my data from the current one to the new one?I wouldn't even know what to ask for.

This computer was a gift, and if it came with the OS on the disc then I never got it, so theres also that.

Computer specs in case that helps somehow:

Windows 7 home premium 64 bit
Intel Core 2 Duo T6600
6GB DDR2 RAM, 500GB HD

Not gonna lie I am freakin out pretty bad right now.

I should probably point out that I am basically on the verge of being computer illiterate, so I'd appreciate any advice given in complete dumbspeak.

Visti

It's probably nothing you did or virus or anything like that. Just a faulty hdd.

Iconoclysm

This MAY not be as bad as you think. SMART stats for a drive change naturally over time with wear and tear, but sometimes a drive may take a longer time to spin up than usual or may record a glut of newly detected bad sectors then the SMART failure prediction kicks in and says "Wow, at this rate of detected errors this drive is gonna die in like 90 days!". The thing is, its got such a small data set of errors to work with (especially when new) that it often gets things very wrong.
Thats not to say the drive wont die in 90 days but chances are equally good it'll carry on chugging away for years.
From personal experience SMART understandably errs heavily on the side of caution.

If it were me, I'd backup my docs and stuff regularly from now on to a cheap external usb2 hard disk, keep using the drive and see if the smart stats change drastically for the worse in the next couple months.
Theres plenty of free "smart stat monitoring apps" available to keep an eye on this. Google is your friend.

Speed Racer

How exactly can I go about backing up my hard drive without being able to actually boot up the computer? This is probably obvious but again, computer stupid.

Ego

When you hit F1 after the message, will it boot into windows? If not, what happens?

Don't take chances obviously on data, if it boots after you hit F1 make sure you copy off all the important stuff you can't afford to lose to a USB stick or an external drive.

Then do some digging (google your laptop model + restore discs and that sort of criteria) to see if the laptop can write it's own restore discs. Most laptops that come with no DVDs can do it. IE: Acer almost never ships laptops with dvds, but all of them are preconfigured with software to burn backup/restore discs. Toshiba Sat's, like Acer, have low profit margins so I'm pretty sure Toshiba will have done the same thing.

If you can write restore discs, then at worst you'll have to buy a replacement laptop HD for the machine.

Speed Racer

I havent hit F1 because the phrasing of the message made it sound like the hard drive might shit itself if I do, and I had wanted to figure out how to back it up before trying.

Dirty Drawers

If your laptop is still within the warranty period, I would suggest calling them to setup for a repair. You'll probably also need the receipt to prove ownership. I haven't dealt with computer manufacturers for a while and I don't know if they would recover data from the drive since it usually costs money and can cause legal problems.

If your laptop is less than 3 months, try calling the store it was bought from. Even if it's after 3 months, most stores like to keep customers happy and would tell you to bring it in and they can replace the drive.

If not try to find a friend with a pc and see if he has an IDE to sata, or usb adapter that you can slave your laptops drive on to theirs and try to extract data that way. Warning:Opening laptops without the manufacturer sending a tech is seen as a void of warranty.

Data retrieval is the hard part. Mostly because most companies don't want to deal with legal hassles. I suggest just getting a new hdd if it's still in warranty if you can live without the data loss.

Speed Racer

I THINK everything other than the OS itself is saved on my dad's external drive so that shouldn't be too big of a problem.