[johnsoncolleena]

my hard drive is failing it is 20g have windows and such on it have secondary one in for media which is 160g what would be the best options to remedy this and how? not real familiar with these kind of things any help would be appreciated.

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Personally, I would back up all important data off of the 20GB one (pictures, music, documents, etc.) onto the 160GB one. Then I'd go buy a new one.

After buying the new one, I'd take the 160GB one out, and put the new one in as the secondary hard drive. I would then download PC Inspector Clone Maxx and use it to make a floppy disk that can clone the hard drive.

I would then restart the computer, with the floppy in the drive, and clone the failing hard drive onto the new one. Then I'd wipe it with a data wiper, take it out the computer, and have a little fun destroying it. I'd then take the new hard drive, put it as primary instead, and then put the 160GB back in as secondary.


BTW, before we do any of that, how do you know it is failing?

Edited by computerwiz12890, 15 February 2006 - 08:56 AM.

[computerwiz12890]

Personally, I would back up all important data off of the 20GB one (pictures, music, documents, etc.) onto the 160GB one. Then I'd go buy a new one.

After buying the new one, I'd take the 160GB one out, and put the new one in as the secondary hard drive. I would then download PC Inspector Clone Maxx and use it to make a floppy disk that can clone the hard drive.

I would then restart the computer, with the floppy in the drive, and clone the failing hard drive onto the new one. Then I'd wipe it with a data wiper, take it out the computer, and have a little fun destroying it. I'd then take the new hard drive, put it as primary instead, and then put the 160GB back in as secondary.


BTW, before we do any of that, how do you know it is failing?

Edited by computerwiz12890, 15 February 2006 - 08:56 AM.

[johnsoncolleena]

from my first post in here

does the new have to be the same size [20g], why the switching of the two?

[computerwiz12890]

No, it doesn't have to be the same size. It can be much bigger if you like.

Since the Hard Drive with your operating system is failing, we would have to reinstall the operating system onto the new hard drive when you buy it. By using the cloning program, it will not only copy your operating system to the new one, but also all your settings, documents, programs, etc. So all your stuff would be transferred, as if nothing happened. That is assuming the hard drive isn't too far gone...

I was reading your past post and you said you have all your data onto 3 DVDs. Is it simply your data, or are they special recovery DVDs with your data too? If so, we can just use these instead of the cloning program.

[johnsoncolleena]

the program was nero back it up and i created a new drive backup with partitions ect.
what do i do with this also what do if it crashes before i get the new drive? just load the first disk into the the new drive on start up? thanks for your help

[computerwiz12890]

Sounds like we can forget about the cloning program then. To make sure, you can put the first DVD in it now, restart the computer, and see if it comes up and asks you if you want to restore.

Let me know if it asks you that.

[johnsoncolleena]

yeah went to a restore page asking to pick load all drivers or maximum memory i believe

[computerwiz12890]

ok. cool. Go ahead and buy the new hard drive you want. Make sure you buy one that is compatable with your computer (meaning either a SATA hard drive or an IDE hard drive. In your case, it will probably be IDE. You can tell if you have IDE by the ribbon cables in your computer. If you have them, then it is IDE.)

When you get the new hard drive, take the bad one out and put the new one in as primary. Then use the DVDs to restore. If you need help with restoring, let me know.

Edited by computerwiz12890, 15 February 2006 - 09:45 AM.

[johnsoncolleena]

do you have a suggestion for a good hd and yes have no idea how to restore do i just put the disc in and follow the prompts is there anything i should be careful of as i wont be online when i do this
thanks again

[computerwiz12890]

I got my terminology mixed up. When you go looking for a hard drive, if you have ribbon cables, you will be looking for an ATA hard drive, not IDE. There is a big difference between SATA and ATA. Serial ATA is the same thing as SATA, so be careful when looking at hard drives. If you use ribbon cables, an ATA hard drive is what you will need.

I will be glad to help you through the recovery, but it should have onscreen prompts that are easy to follow. If you have any trouble though, I'm here for ya.

As for hard drive recommendations, I can't say I have enough experience to give you the best recommendation, but I can tell you what I've noticed so far. Personally, I have a Western Digital Hard drive. It is 3 years old, and yet it is still in near perfect condition. Plus I've heard good things about them.

Western Digital

For an external hard drive, I use Seagate, and it seems pretty good. I'm not too familiar with them, but they seem to make great products.

Seagate Hard Drive

And then there's Maxtor, which seems to be the cheapest for the same goods. I'm not at my house right now, but I believe I have Maxtor as my second hard drive. I don't know much about them though...

Maxtor Hard Drive

Edited by computerwiz12890, 15 February 2006 - 10:51 AM.

[johnsoncolleena]

thanks alot