Ok, this might be long winded and rambling and only semi-coherent. Sorry.
Computergeek1: Don't leave the forums, we really are here to help. The reason you're taking so much heat from people in this thread is because you asked a very basic question and then seemed to ignore the answer. You got a perfectly good answer in the second post.
You said that the point of the thread was to ask how reliable the HP test is. In the second, third, and fourth posts in the thread you were told "take it as gospel" "it should be obvious" and "kaput". So, you got your answer there right away.
The problem I (and the others) have with the rest of the thread is this: You had all of the evidence to support a failing drive, you mentioned reinstalling the OS to see if it was the drive (I'll come back to this later), and then said that "it seems fine now". If you're in the business, and know much of anything, honestly...there is almost nothing interesting about a failing hard drive. The fact that you were screwing around with it, and not running a backup and then a hardware diagnostic first means you don't really have any real diagnostic process....
I'm not trying to beat you up any further, but based on this thread, I think you need a lot more knowledge before you should be out on your own. Just because you're pretty good with computers and know how to run antivirus/spyware removal tools, or know how to install software, or whatever doesn't qualify you to be a tech. I know that there are different paths to becoming a good tech, but you should be a good tech before running your own business, in my opinion.... You should have an understanding of hardware diagnostics to run on each system, especially based on certain symptoms....
Every time someone asks a question like this, they defend themselves with "i am still learning" as if it's some unbeatable reason as to why you didn't know something that everyone else feels you NEED to already know. Personally, I think that excuse is B.S.
Yeah, we're all learning. If you're just learning about hard drive diagnostics, you should be a student, an apprentice tech, or working for someone else. If you're lacking that fundamental knowledge, what else don't you know?
My final couple of points are this: Maybe you already have too many clients to go work for someone else...maybe you're making a living being "a guy who knows computers pretty well".... While I don't agree with it (and would honestly tell you to go work for someone until you know more), I can by no means say don't do it. I only ask that you represent yourself truthfully to your clients and to us.
Don't be afraid to ask questions on technibble....even if we beat you up, we are here to help.
And...if you feel anything I've said in the post is too harsh, understand that I'm just telling you my opinion.
