Asus service support isn't willing to think outside the box. I have been having an issue with the hard drive on this laptop for over two and a half weeks and getting someone to call me back was useless; because they couldn't resolve the issue. The laptop one day started moving extremely slow, so i called. The person we spoke to went through the normal Power Cycle trouble shooting procedure. When the laptop wouldn't start they suggested I send it in or take it to best buy (their authorized repair center). Since I needed to get this taken care ASAP i took it to Best Buy. Best Buy concluded that the hard drive was in "complete failure" I called Asus back and was told that this issue could be software related!?! The hard drive isn't on. Can't get off the initial boot animation, the hard drive isn't spinning, making any noise or vibrating at all. Asus suggested backing up the hard drive and sending it in. Since the hard drive isnt working, i had to take it back to Best Buy so they could extract the files. I have all my newborn photos on the hard drive and a few clients' photo sessions on the drive that i needed to get off. Best Buy let me know that they would have to access the actual disk to extract the files. I called ASUS just to update them on the process and they informed me that it would void my warranty if Best Buy had to open the hard drive.  If they couldn't access my files without taking the hard drive apart then i would just have to send it in and ASUS will just wipe it and send me a new one. I'm not saying that ASUS is responsible for my files being lost. I am well aware that i should have backed up the photos, but what got to me was them telling me that they couldn't trust Best Buy's diagnostics, so if Best Buy broke the seals, it would void the warranty on the laptop. Their authorised repair center couldnt be trusted?!?! I would have to send the hard drive in, but "back it up if you can." Every time i talked to someone, they would tell me "sorry you cant access any of your files, i understand you can back it up by accessing the disk and pulling the files, but you cant" Every time they talked to me they told me to back it up!  After a week and a half of fighting with them, i couldnt wait any longer, i called them back for a fourth time, just to ask them to send me a recovery disk. I informed them i would be buying a new hard drive from Best Buy and paying Best Buy to install Windows 8 from the recovery disk. ASUS told me they dont have recovery disks for windows 8, i can reinstall windows 8 off of the hard drive that has a recovery partition. Since the hard drive isnt working, ASUS recommend i send it in and they will swap out the hard drive and install Windows 8 (but of course, back up the files that you can)