Miscellaneous laptop discussions forum: How to check state of the hard drive on HP laptop

Hi Bob,
Unfortunately my warranty ran out towards the end of February and the booting up problem started after that.
In the first place before calling in a technician is there a diagnostic I can run myself to check the state of the hard drive.

Hi Bob,
I have to replace the hard disc but need advice about moving on to a different brand.
Unfortunately having been loyal to the HP brand for many years I am disillusioned with the HP products I have bought - Two successive HP Pavilion models have had disk and other troubles - have also had 2 successive HP all in ones which gave me endless problems - The present one keeps reinstalling itself and the scanner won't work but that's another story.
I am finding I am spending a huge amount of time dealing with computer problems (which doesn't go down well with my wife) I need to "get a life" so I have virtually reached the conclusion that it is time to move on from HP and buy another brand in the hope that I will get greater reliability but for me who knows little about computers it is difficult assessing what to go for.
I don't have any particular price range in mind ( or budget ) but the specification of my current HP Model dv 9000 series has been OK for my use and any input as to which alternative brands/models I should consider would be greatly appreciated.
Needs to be a laptop because of desk space limitations here at home and it is handy to take it to another room occasionally.
My use is home use ( some small amount of part time work use from home as I am beyond retiring age - i.e Word docs, excel docs and also ,email and surfing the net.