• We hope you have a fantastic holiday season to close out 2025! Thank you all so much for being part of the Tom's Guide community!

How to fix a disk read error? -(tried reinstalling Ubuntu)

Brokencomputer

Honorable
May 9, 2013
4
0
10,510
Hello. I have an acer 5732z and I would like to get it running. Is there something with the HDD? (320 gig wd) or maybe ram? Ubuntu will not install, so I think the HDD, but I am not positive. You can also send questions or answers to genesisgecko@gmail.com
 
A disk read error could indicate a HDD failure. How old is the drive? Doubtful it is RAM if you are getting a "disk read error". FYI - never a good idea to post your email address in any forum as you open yourself up to loads of spam.
 

Ok, thx. The drive is about 2-3 years old. It is a wd scorpio
 
The only other suggestion I have is that if you have access to an external drive enclosure you could place the drive in it and test it on another computer and maybe run some disk diagnostics on the drive.
 

Ok. I have a lot of old desktops, ill try putting it in one of those and running diagnostics. I could get another HDD.
 

Hi. Ok so I put the wd Scorpio black into a dell optiplex 320 and the exact same thing happened with the disk read error. Its a shame because its 320 gigs. Anyways I can get another from the same computer store I got the laptop from, in their dumpster. And another from a semi-exploded laptop.