[katherz9]

I didn't get a CD with the puter, I don't know anyone that has one....I am screwed!!
gonna call Geek Squad

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Problem was nimerous instances of spyware, malware and a couple virus's. Geek squad
ran thier fix disk and got windows to come up and puter is working but will still only run chkdsk to
stage 4 of 5 96% complete, they are coming out today to address that and the defrag problem. I don't know how I got
all that garbage in there. I run Norton antivirus and spy sweeper, guess thats not enough. I have
Zone alarm firewall plus one in the modem and one that came installed on the puter.
What else do I need???????

Kathy

[katherz9]

Problem was nimerous instances of spyware, malware and a couple virus's. Geek squad
ran thier fix disk and got windows to come up and puter is working but will still only run chkdsk to
stage 4 of 5 96% complete, they are coming out today to address that and the defrag problem. I don't know how I got
all that garbage in there. I run Norton antivirus and spy sweeper, guess thats not enough. I have
Zone alarm firewall plus one in the modem and one that came installed on the puter.
What else do I need???????

Kathy

[The Skeptic]

Could you find out the make of your hard disk? I would suggest that you run the manufacturer's disk checker because I am quite sure that the problem is with the disk itself. Honestly, I doubt that the problem is malware related.

Download Everest from my list of links below. click Storage and then click Physical drives. Write down what you see in the top line. (drive no 1).

[katherz9]

okay, found my hard drive is failing. It still working okay but could go anytime.
I went to microcenter and got a Seagate 500G external hard drive to back everything up
before installing a new hard drive. They talked me into getting Norton Ghost 14.0. Supposedly
I can use that to make a shadow of the entire puter, send it to the external drive, then
after Dell installs new harddrive, I should be able to put everything back on the puter, operating
system and all. Now just got to figure how all this stuff works.
Any help would be greatly appreciated

[123Runner]

I would do it 2 different ways.

1st, I would back up ALL the important stuff you want to save. That is pics, data, music, MY documents, etc. You can even back up your email program. Usually there is an "export" function.
I would also look for and save any program license codes.
All this is good to have anyways.

2nd, you can then use Norton to clone the main drive to the backup, and then after the new drive is in, clone it back.

Is this a laptop or desktop computer?
Is it under warranty?
My thoughts are to buy an xtra drive as the replacement and clone right to that. It will in turn become the main drive.

[katherz9]

It is a desktop Dell XPS 400, running windows XP Pro. Yes I have a few weeks left
on my warranty. I was under the impression that the 500gig hard drive would hold every thing
I have on the puter....I have about 32gb totalon the computer and just want to clone
everything to the external drive, then put it back when new drive is installed,,wahlaa, no
fuss, no muss. then would back up new drive and all on the extenall drive as extra insurance
in case it screws up again. By everything, I mean all games, programs, aol, etc.
Kathy Whatcha think??

[123Runner]

500gb is plenty big for what you have.
Dell might even clone your old drive to the new 1 they install. I do not know their policy on this, but it would not hurt to ask.

Otherwise you need to make an image of the drive. That way you can restore the image to the other drive.

Clone is to make an exact copy of your old drive.
Image is to make an image of the old drive.

You can make multiple images of the drive and then choose what image you want to use. These can be stored on the 500gb drive.
If you clone the drive, then the drive you cloned to is all ready to be used. You can not use the drive for anything else. The clone will allow the drive to be installed and all program, email, documents, etc will be functional.

You can not save programs (unless you are saving the executable). A installed program can not be saved.

Quote from another web site to better describe image vs clone.

For all practical purposes, an image and a clone are identical - it's just a clone is an exact copy where an image is an exact copy compressed into a single file or set of files. A clone can be installed and booted up, an image would have to be restored to a blank drive using the imaging software's restore process, which can usually be run from a bootable CD. The advantage to images is you can store more "stuff" on the hard drive you are using for storing images, or you can use alternate media (CD, DVD, etc.) for the image.

[katherz9]

So, if I make an image of the drive using Norton 14.0, transfer it to the external HD, it
will NOT save operating system or any exe files????
kathy

[123Runner]

An image is 1 file (.gho) and can be saved on the HD or copied to CD/DVD.
Then using the Norton program, you would restore it to the main HD. The computer would become bootable and all programs would work.

As you make the image, you will save it to the 500gb drive.

[katherz9]

okay, got it. will let you know how it works when I am done.
Thanks for the help.
Kathy

[katherz9]

Got new drive installed, reloaded windows. did all updates. Opted to just save files and folders,
reinstalled...all is working fine now....was the hard drive all along, just glad the darn thing is
working again.
Thanks for all you peoples time and help.
Kathy

[The Skeptic]

Thanks for letting us know.