Computer Desktop Refurbished

Hard drive failure. What I did

Yesterday I had to change my hard drive and had a few issues that I was able to fix.

The problems started in the morning when my wife called me and told me that the computer would not boot. We have been having trouble with our hard drive for a while now and I was able to fix each time by just reseting the PC. This time though the computer was not seeing the hard drive. Using tools and knowledge that I had I had to do the following:

Install new hard drive

First of all I had to install the new hard drive. I was able to do this by disconnecting my CDR and leaving myDVD drive, two old hard drives in the machine, plus a new 80 gig drive with a 16 meg cache. I was unsuccessful at loading Windows though as I kept getting an error as the Windows setup was starting, after loading the drivers I would get an error that it could not load the setup. I switched to my CDR from the DVD drive and had no problems.

Setup Windows

I successfully did a quick format of the new drive (thanks for that new feature Windows XP) and successfully loaded Windows XP. This is pretty basic as I use a CD that not only has Windows XP on it but also has Service Pack 2 for XP slipstreamed onto it.

Rebuild hard drive partition table

After I booted to Windows I saw that my old drive was not showing up as a drive or a partition. If I right clicked on the partition in Disk Management it knew that the drive existed but could no longer find a partition on it. Windows Disk Management said that the drive was healthy, My first attempt was to create a partition but not to format the partition as I did not want to lose the data for good. I fought with this for a couple of hours as I did not back up lately and the wife would kill me if I lost all of her data. In the end I was able to use Test Disk from the Filesystem tools of the Dos Ultimate Boot Disk. It ends up that the partition table had a start but not an end and the program was able to fix this….whew I would have been in trouble….

Migrate Windows and Office data

After I had the old drive back I went into the BIOS and chose to boot from that drive. I was able to boot to the old Windows XP installation easily enough and did not want to keep any of the data there but thought it would be a good idea to transfer my Windows settings using the file and settings transfer wizard in Windows. I saved the settings using the wizard and chose this as the old computer and in the destination I chose a folder I created on the new hard drive called “transfer files”. I then decided to transfer only my settings as I knew that I was going to have to reload my software and would be manually copying over the file structure from the old drive to the new drive.

I also moved all of my settings for MS Office using the Save my Settings Wizard from the MS Office 2003 tools section. I was able to copy the settings, which come across as an OPS file to the same place as my Windows Transfer Files and Settings.

After I had moved the settings and files over I rebooted and went back into the BIOS and changed my first boot to the new hard drive and it’s windows XP installation. I was very happy to see that after running the wizrds for transfering the settings and after reloading MS Office 2003 I was able to move over my mail folder and saw all of my email, contacts, and best of all my email addresses (Still had to fill in the passwords for email but that’s OK). After a relogon I also had all of my desktop settings back includig the background picture of my daughter and the animated Pingu cursors.

Copy data from bad drive

Next I just did a blanket move of all of the files from the old hard drive to new into a new folder that I created in the root of the drive. I did this simply to save time as I am not sure about the stability of the old hard drive and fear that I will lose it again.

Reload software

I have started reloading software but as usual I am going to be slow about the move this time. I will install some of my favorite freewares and will install Streets and Trips, Adobe Acrobat, Macromedia Dreamweaver and Adobe Photoshop Elements and that’s it.

I have roughly followed about half of my Reloading Windows tutorial but since I have both drives functioning at the moment I have tried to cut some corners and make this work well as well as getting my wife up and running quickly for her work stuff this morning.

Computer Desktop Refurbished stuff to buy

Pal Pc Tracker - Stops Computer Theft!
Computer software that allows you to find your Pc anywhere in the world if it's ever lost or stolen!

How To Make Money Working From Home!
A practical, Step-By-Step guide to start making money on the Internet using your computer!

Cleaning Computers - Secrets Exposed!
How To Start Your Own Profitable Computer Cleaning Business - Step By Step Business Kit!

Computer Desktop Refurbished Recent Stories from around the internet

computer desktop refurbished

Apple 's online store is featuring new refurbished Mac , starting, this time around, from a quite affordable $699.00 for the 17-inch iMac with 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, Combo Drive and built-in iSight. Refurbished iMac 17-inch 1.83GHz Intel ...

New Refurbs Available – 17-Inch iMac Just $699.00 - Softpedia

Up until recently, getting a laptop for less than $800 has involved making painful compromises, settling for a refurbished system, or purchasing something at a fire sale. However, with the laptop industry on the brink of saturation, you don't have to ...

8 Laptops Under $800 - PC Magazine

Mention a computer-caused threat to millions and the first thing that comes to mind is the latest computer virus. Think again: An economy that has a love affair with all things electronic, ranging from desktop computers to cell phones to electronic ...

Disposing of e-waste - Everett Herald

When lamenting the passing of matte screened MacBook Pros last month, I noted that I was planning on using my two-year-old 15-inch 2.33GHz MacBook Pro until that matte screen model no longer functioned. At that point, I figured I’d probably head to ...

Shopping at Apple's Special Deals site - Mac Central

This all-in-one freebie isn't my most beloved freeware, but it's something that may appeal to users who want desktop-enhancement and system-management tools packed into one program. Capture .NET's translucent interface houses a clock, calendar, a ...

Read all 'Windows Software' posts in The Download Blog - Download.com

-- 3 new end-user data security & compliance customers, including 2 new customers through recently-formed strategic alliance with IBM Global Financing (IGF) for on-site auditing and data erasure services -- Achieved certification as a Microsoft(R ...

QSGI Reports Third Quarter Financial Results - MSN MoneyCentral

If all you watch is the local networks (ABC, CBS, NBC, etc.), don't pay for cable or satellite service. A traditional antenna will do (go to www.antennaweb.org to see what over-the-air stations are available where you live). You can even get high ...

Plug into tech on the cheap - Dallas Morning News

Americans spent $129 billion on consumer technology last year, but it's a good bet that number could fall in 2008, thanks to the slow economy. If you're pondering a reduced gadget budget, though, don't despair. There are many ways to reduce your ...

Dollar Wise: Technology need not short-circuit your budget - Dallas Morning News

Students at the Santa Maria Del Rio primary school in Colombia, one of two schools in the country that will serve as a pilot for the Windows version of One Laptop Per Child's XO laptop. (Credit: Microsoft) Microsoft announced a second country is ...

Read all '"borders of computing"' posts in Beyond Binary - CNET News

This Firefox extension should appeal to anybody trying to minimize bookmark and open tab clutter. Read It Later gives you a one-click option for saving the links and keeping track of which ones have been read. It also now sports deep integration with ...