Think my machine is on its last legs

michael · August 29, 2011, 03:08:21 PM

I get this message when I start up the computor,

Ive read that theres pretty much nothing I can do, can anyone suggest where I might get a new hard drive, and are they easy to fit?

lesmond · August 29, 2011, 03:16:27 PM

You need to get anything you value off your hard disk ASAP. At least you have some warning of impending failure.

If you press F2 at the screen shown, does the computer still start?

If it does, get your data onto an external disk drive, a big flash drive, or CDs / DVDs, anywhere but the existing disk. Best not to turn it off if it does start, as it might not do it twice.

If you are handy with a screwdriver, a new hard disk isn't hard to fit, it's reloading the operating system, device drivers, and software is the fun bit. There are two main types of hard disk, so be sure to get the right one!

Lesmond

Lawrence · August 29, 2011, 03:16:53 PM

This is the spec for your current drive, Seagate ST3250310AS 250GB Hard Drive SATAII 7200rpm 8MB Cache so as long as you get one compatible, though it will probably be larger capacity now.

So many places to buy from just google SATA 2 hard drive.

Have you been able to back everything up, or do you have windows cd's

Edit - listen to Les, he's a pro

Rod · August 29, 2011, 03:20:43 PM

If you're not au fait with PC hardware, it might be worth getting a specialist local computer firm to fit a new hard disk for you, it shouldn't cost the earth and they should also be able to restore Windows etc. assuming you have the backup DVDs of all your software.

At least a new hard disk should be faster than the old one!

Rod

poliss · August 29, 2011, 03:32:46 PM

I buy most of my cumputer stuff from Play.com. A new hard drive costs around the £60+ mark. They also do external USB hard drives for backing up data.
Fitting a new hard drive is fairly simple. Restoring your data may be harder.
I wouldn't use a computer firm to do it myself as you never know what they might do with your sensitive data, such as online banking passwords. I also open up my old hard drives and destroy the disks.

Tank · August 29, 2011, 03:35:57 PM

I send mine to Lesmond.... as he does it for a living!

My old laptop is in the process of recovery with his company.

lesmond · August 29, 2011, 04:05:33 PM

Any reputable computer repair company (such as mine

) will keep your data on a dedicated hard drive on a secure, offline, encrypted data storage server, for as short a time as possible, put it back where it belongs on the repaired computer, have a signed off paper trail of who accessed what, and delete the recovered data beyond hope of restoration immediately the job is done.

£60 will get you a 2TB hard disk, if you know where to look.

We would charge £100 inc VAT to sort this, provided the existing drive was an "easy" recovery.

EtchedPixels · August 29, 2011, 05:41:15 PM

It's also worth looking at getting a pair of disks and setting them to run as a mirror if you can. Given the price of disks these days and the value of what is on them having a mirrored drive pair and a backup is a good idea.

lesmond · August 29, 2011, 05:45:59 PM

Quote from: EtchedPixels on August 29, 2011, 05:41:15 PM
It's also worth looking at getting a pair of disks and setting them to run as a mirror if you can. Given the price of disks these days and the value of what is on them having a mirrored drive pair and a backup is a good idea.

Absolutely. Disk space is for pence these days.

I do this, and also have a DOS script (anyone else remember those?) which backs up all my important stuff to four locations, two of which are off site. Not that I'm paranoid about data loss or anything.

poliss · August 29, 2011, 06:10:19 PM

Would that be PCDOS?

lesmond · August 29, 2011, 06:15:31 PM

It started out in CP/M, then migrated to PCDOS, then to MS-DOS, and now on to what passes for the command prompt in current Windows boxes.

Having compared then with now, it has advanced a bit

cudders · August 30, 2011, 05:44:15 PM

Always run two disks.. I dont bother with any fancy mirroring..not needed..

Partition your main drive and have the operatijg system on it's own partition, data on the other. Often the operating system fails not the drive, nice and easy to rebuild, all data is safe on the 2nd parition. This can then be set to auto back up onto the second drive!

Easy peasy.

Cudders

poliss · August 30, 2011, 05:51:24 PM

Mine's set up like that. Unfortunately, because of all the security upgrades etc. the partition with the operating system is getting full. :-(

galway · August 30, 2011, 06:45:24 PM

Cudders, could you explain the partioning in a bit more detail (how to do it?). I notice I have a C and D drive, C is 50% full and D is only 10% is this the same thing? I Have bought an external drive but as far as I can tell I can only save my personal files to this, photo's etc, which I have done.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thaks
Paul

cudders · August 31, 2011, 09:45:16 AM

Quote from: poliss on August 30, 2011, 05:51:24 PM
Mine's set up like that. Unfortunately, because of all the security upgrades etc. the partition with the operating system is getting full. :-(

Ah yes, need to make sure the operating partition is a decent size. I tend to go with 50GB..more than enough. You can use 'Partition Magic' type software to increase the size of it..This is what I tend to use.

Also I have 3 other partitions, one for my core data, ones for programs, games etc and one for the back-up of the core data, the other disc I used to save this back-up again, I do this every month and keep the last 2 years just in case! Never lost anything I wanted to keep. Programs can always be re-loaded from disc if needed but data can be lost if not backed up. Of course this can be recovered sometimes by software or a x-editor. I also crash and re-build Windows now and again..get's rid of all the junk.

Cudders