without further details, normally implies that the replacement hard disk was a brand new, unpartitioned and unformatted one. The evolution of the thread seems to imply - strangely enough - that not only the "replacement" hard disk was an used/recycled one, but also an "untested" one . Additionally, the "replacement" disk evidently had some failure of some kind (of whatever extents/relevance cannot obviously say) as besides being partitioned/formatted it was left with the filesystem in a "dirty" state. If the disk was actually replaced under warranty I would - before anything else - question the provider of the warranty, give them back the "replacement" hard disk and downright require a brand new (in a sealed box) hard disk or a refurbished AND certified one (depending on what the warranty covers, and how it covers it). Pretty sure I partitioned and formatted it beforehand, however this machine was having some odd power issues and I may have unplugged it on my first attempt not knowing that it wasn't recognizing the battery, thereby flagging the partition as dirty.