View Full Version : Hard drive may be going bad . . . need help.
The only game I've played in recent months has been Duke Nukem 3D. Within the past month or so, it has begun to lock up my computer. I didn't have a clue what the deal was, and figured maybe one of the more recent eDuke snapshots just wasn't agreeing with something in my computer. But, I played Duke Nukem Manhattan Project a few days ago, and it did the same thing. In both cases, it would lock with a looping sound, so I had the idea of disabling my sound card. That didn't work, but with the sound off, I was able to hear something weird going on. My hard drive was making strange sounds. I wish I could describe them better, but you know the sound a hard drive makes when you turn off your computer? Almost like a paper clip being dropped, or something? Well, that's what this sounded like. Hard drive stopping sound, then a slight whir. Hard drive stopping sound, then a slight whir. After a few times, it would lock up and require me to restart the computer. I tried installing both games on my external hard drive, but it still caused the main drive to make that sound and still locked up.
So, I'm guessing I need a new hard drive before it totally crashes. The thing is, I know absolutely nothing about this kind of thing. I've added a few secondary hard drives from time to time, but my main drive has always been preloaded. What I want to know is: first, does the above paragraph ring any bells, and make you think, "Yeah, crash situation in the making." Second, if I go out and buy a drive, how do I get it set up as my main drive, without having to start all the way over? Would I first set it up as a secondary drive and somehow transfer the stuff on this drive over? Or, would I have to just install the drive and put my recovery/installation disc in? I don't own Windows in anything other than the installation disc version, so I can't just load Windows new unless I buy it as well.
Thanks for any help you can give.
Jiminator
10-14-2006, 03:15 AM
most drives today include software to do what you need. sounds like you have an older system so i will assume you have a eide drive (they use a wide ribbon cable). you essentially would gst the new drive, connect it to the same cable as your old drive, set the new drive to be master and the old drive to be slave, then boot the system using the cd rom or floppy they provide. The software should load and give you options. you want to format the first drive and copy all the files from the second drive. should be fairly easy. next, disconnect the old drive, reboot the system, and you should be good to go.
It never even occurred to me that the new drive would have software to handle all of these issues. Sounds like it'll be easier than I suspected. Thanks!
Duoae
10-15-2006, 03:04 AM
That is so not true. Since when has an OS been included with a HDD? Or a file recovery programme?
I've bought at least 5 HDD's in the last 5 years and not one has had any software included...
You'll only have your OS CD if it came with your PC (i'm sure you'll know this) otherwise you don't need file recovery software as you can still access your HDD.
Jiminator
10-15-2006, 04:09 AM
in the US the setup disks are standard, the software can also be downloaded from the various websites:
http://www.maxtor.com/portal/site/Maxtor/menuitem.3c67e325e0a6b1f6294198b091346068/?channelpath=%2Fen_us%2FSupport%2FSoftware+Downloa ds%2FTop+Downloads&downloadID=57
http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/drivers/discwiz.html
OEM (and other parts of the world) may get nada...
Duoae
10-15-2006, 04:38 PM
Ah, i stand corrected then. I guess we don't get them over here. I just use normal programmes not some special ones from the HDD manufacturers.
:)
Nessus
10-19-2006, 08:43 PM
Umm, maybe I'm misunderstanding but a hardrive setup disk is going to bebasically useless for what he wants to do.
You are going to need a windows install disk. If you dont have one you are going to have to get one. Unless you ghost the bad drive onto a new drive you are going to have to reinstall everything and start from scratch and then transfer your data to the new drive while it is still working.
Jiminator
10-19-2006, 11:05 PM
no, the disks that come with harddrives will copy everything over. from there it is set the new drive to master, reboot, and be done.
As a second option he can boot to safe mode on the original drive, drag and drop everything over in explorer, reboot and so forth. its actually much faster, but sometimes there are permission problems on some of the files, etc....
I've done both, so I know they work. of course my preference would be a clean install. takes a few hours to reinstall everything, but you can't beat the new-os scent....
I still haven't done anything on this yet, and I've decided I don't much care about having to start over. I think bookmarks and a crappy MSPaint picture I made of Duke are the only things I really care about, and I can easily move those over to my external drive. I've got an OEM preinstalled/recovery version of WindowsXP. Will I be able to use that on the new drive, do you think, or do they have some kind of safeguards that won't let you just install it on any drive?
Jiminator
10-22-2006, 10:15 PM
try it, if it doesn't work, then nothing lost.
Duoae
10-23-2006, 03:21 AM
What happens if the thing fails and all the data is lost in the process? :)
Mr.Fibbles
10-26-2006, 01:30 PM
that is why you back up before doing anything that could mess it all up. I keep things backed up. I just made a back up of my bookmarks and I have a few CD's of things. I have a box I call my "OMG I F***ed UP MY COMPUTER AGAIN" box. It has OS's, Office, Nero, drivers, and other essential CDs.
In brief, backing up is important. Saved games and such are somewhat essential but you can always redo it, if the game was worth it, you wouldn't mind.
Jiminator
10-26-2006, 02:38 PM
he said that he would run the recovery on the new drive, the old one would be intact.
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