I brought my computer into Best Buy for repairs on March 7, 2005. Remember, I brought it in for repairs under the extended warranty, not to have the hard drive replaced. And if anyone who has used a large chain electronic store to repair their electrical equipment knows, these companies do not replace hard drives on the whim of the customer if they have to pay for the hard drive replacement covered under warranty. They try to do whatever is cheaper for the company, which normally means fixing the issues with the hard drive. With my hard drive, the issues couldn't be fixed so Best Buy, not me but Best Buy, made the decision to replace the hard drive. Actually, every part replaced under your extended warranty is paid for by an insurance company. If they run a test and find the hard drive failing, they can replace the part and the store gets paid $store's_cost_of_part+10% + $80. It's literally cheaper for the store to just replace your drive than it is to diagnose and fix.
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This sounds like a task for your modern PDA/phone. If you only ever write a line or two then there's no need to use a laptop to jot down ideas.