hard drive replacement

[Jo-Anne]

After getting the blue screen of death on my 6-year-old Dell Dimension 8250
(running WinXP SP3), I ran Checkdisk/R. It "fixed" the hard drive, at least
to the point where I was able to back it up with Acronis True Image (I did a
full backup to each of two external hard drives). Now I need to buy a new
drive and restore everything to it.

My old drive is an IDE--a 60GB Ultra ATA/100, 7200 rpm. Although the
manufacturer isn't identified, the ID number on it shows it is most likely a
Hitachi DeskStar.

I'm sure the new drive needs to be an IDE, but what else do I need to look
for? For example:

* I THINK my computer will be OK with a larger drive, say 160GB; but is
there any way to make sure?

* Is 7200 rpm an OK speed?

* Any suggestions for a reliable company to buy the drive from?

I'd be most grateful for suggestions of what to look for in a new drive for
this computer.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

 

[Malke]

wrote:

(snippage)

My old drive is an IDE--a 60GB Ultra ATA/100, 7200 rpm. Although the
manufacturer isn't identified, the ID number on it shows it is most likely
a Hitachi DeskStar.

I'm sure the new drive needs to be an IDE, but what else do I need to look
for? For example:

* I THINK my computer will be OK with a larger drive, say 160GB; but is
there any way to make sure?

* Is 7200 rpm an OK speed?

A 160GB will be fine. 7200 rpm is fine. I like Western Digitals or Seagates. A
160GB IDE drive will run you around $40-45. Here are some examples:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150014 103530091&name=100GB - 200GB

Malke

 

[Jo-Anne]

wrote:

(snippage)


A 160GB will be fine. 7200 rpm is fine. I like Western Digitals or
Seagates. A
160GB IDE drive will run you around $40-45. Here are some examples:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010150014 103530091&name=100GB - 200GB

Malke

Thank you, Malke! The WD 160GB was exactly the drive I had my eye on--and
Newegg is the only online computer company I've dealt with. Their service
has been fantastic. I'll order the drive today. Does the following sound
like the right way to deal with the new drive?

* Exchange the old drive for the new one; no need for new cables.
* Put the Acronis bootable CD into the drive and turn on the computer.
* If all goes as it should, Acronis will open. At that point, attach the USB
external hard drive with the backup on it, and use Acronis to restore
everything, including the operating system.

Thank you again!

Jo-Anne

 

[Malke]

Thank you, Malke! The WD 160GB was exactly the drive I had my eye on--and

Newegg is the only online computer company I've dealt with. Their service
has been fantastic. I'll order the drive today. Does the following sound
like the right way to deal with the new drive?

* Exchange the old drive for the new one; no need for new cables.
* Put the Acronis bootable CD into the drive and turn on the computer.
* If all goes as it should, Acronis will open. At that point, attach the
USB external hard drive with the backup on it, and use Acronis to restore
everything, including the operating system.

1. Jumper the new drive correctly and install it.
2. Attach the USB external hard drive to the system.
3. Turn on the computer with the Acronis bootable CD in the drive.
4. Restore from your Acronis backup onto the new drive.

Malke

 

[Jo-Anne]

1. Jumper the new drive correctly and install it.
2. Attach the USB external hard drive to the system.
3. Turn on the computer with the Acronis bootable CD in the drive.
4. Restore from your Acronis backup onto the new drive.

Malke

Thank you, Malke!

Jo-Anne

 

[JS]

Thank you, Malke!

Jo-Anne

Jo-Anne

Just make certain that Acronis assigns the new
drive as C: and doesn't reassign your USB as C:
and the new drive as D:

Also remember that Image backups are
FAT32 image backup to new drive's FAT32 partition
and NTFS to NTFS. (That is if you decide to partition
the drive before you do the restore)

 

[Jo-Anne]

Jo-Anne

Just make certain that Acronis assigns the new
drive as C: and doesn't reassign your USB as C:
and the new drive as D:

Also remember that Image backups are
FAT32 image backup to new drive's FAT32 partition
and NTFS to NTFS. (That is if you decide to partition
the drive before you do the restore)

Thank you, JS! How do I make sure that Acronis assigns the new drive as C:/?
Also, I don't partition the C:/ drive myself, but I noticed when Acronis did
its first backup (and all subsequent ones) that Dell apparently has put some
information in a FAT32 partition, which Acronis recognizes and presumably
copies properly.

Jo-Anne

 

[Patrick Keenan]

After getting the blue screen of death on my 6-year-old Dell Dimension
8250 (running WinXP SP3), I ran Checkdisk/R. It "fixed" the hard drive, at
least to the point where I was able to back it up with Acronis True Image
(I did a full backup to each of two external hard drives). Now I need to
buy a new drive and restore everything to it.

My old drive is an IDE--a 60GB Ultra ATA/100, 7200 rpm. Although the
manufacturer isn't identified, the ID number on it shows it is most likely
a Hitachi DeskStar.

I'm sure the new drive needs to be an IDE, but what else do I need to look
for? For example:

It does not need to be IDE. All that's necessary is that it be supported
by your system board.

When you restore the image, you will get partitions of the original size.

* I THINK my computer will be OK with a larger drive, say 160GB; but is
there any way to make sure?

Check with the system manufacturer, as the relavant item is what the BIOS
supports. Only they will know this.

If the drive is larger than supported, you just won't get access to all of
it.

* Is 7200 rpm an OK speed?

It's the standard speed for non-laptop drives.

* Any suggestions for a reliable company to buy the drive from?

Who you buy it from has less meaning than who made the drive.

 

[JS]

Thank you, JS! How do I make sure that Acronis assigns the new drive as
C:/? Also, I don't partition the C:/ drive myself, but I noticed when
Acronis did its first backup (and all subsequent ones) that Dell
apparently has put some information in a FAT32 partition, which Acronis
recognizes and presumably copies properly.

Jo-Anne

That Dell partition is most likely the system restore partition
used to do a fresh install (no a repair) of XP.

It effectively returns your PC back to the way it was when
you first opened the box and turned on your PC.
This may be a clue that you have no recovery or full copy of XP
when you purchased the computer.

To make a long story shot this small partition is usually hidden.
If you check your owners manual there should be
a section about how to use this special/hidden partition
to restore XP. For more information about this feature
(F11 key) see: http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/fixes.htm

Since you are replacing the old drive with a new drive
and you have an Acronis Image backup, if you have
time on your hands you can try the F11 trick (but only after
the new drive is up and running) to see if it works (just remove
the new drive and only have the old drive installed).
Note: If the old drive is too far gone than this partition may also
be corrupted and the F11 will fail. If the partition is good your
drive will be restored but all you existing data will be lost.

How do I make sure that Acronis assigns the new drive as C:/?

That's the rub, I normally use Ghost but I also recently purchased
Acronis and the one and only time I used it the drive letters got
messed up, but this was with a preformatted drive. I would hope
that with a new unformatted drive Acronis will offer to partition
and format the drive and assign the correct drive letter so may not
be an issue (with luck) as you walk through the recovery/rescue procedure.

Also the Dell 8250 is a vintage 2002/2003 PC and depending on the
specific options you ordered may or may not support a 160GB drive.
If this is the case the BIOS may only report the drive as 137GB in size.
Not to worry however as I had the same problem with an old Dell so
I just partitioned and formatted the first 135GB.

 

[Paul]

Thank you, JS! How do I make sure that Acronis assigns the new drive as C:/?
Also, I don't partition the C:/ drive myself, but I noticed when Acronis did
its first backup (and all subsequent ones) that Dell apparently has put some
information in a FAT32 partition, which Acronis recognizes and presumably
copies properly.

Jo-Anne

If you want to examine the primary partitions on the original
drive, you can use this program. This program doesn't tell you
everything there is to know, but if you're trying to determine
how many partitions the original drive might have had,
this might be a start.

ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/tools/pq/utilities/PTEDIT32.zip

In this example, there are four partitions. The first one is strange,
in that the type is "DE", which is a Dell-ism. With PTEDIT32, you can
double click that field, and a table of values is shown. From that,
you can see things like 07 and 0C as conventional file systems.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c5/ghostimage/PTEditVista.jpg

There is a more complete table of values for the partition types, here.

http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/partitions/partition_types-1.html

And an article here, on partition_table and friends.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_table

Now, if I was to compare that to Disk Management, chances are
Disk Management would have shown three partitions. And then
I might not know about the "DE" one. As long as your backup
software is detecting stuff like that, you don't have to worry
when cloning the drive. But otherwise, it doesn't hurt to use more
than one utility, to view what is on the Dell/HP/Compaq/Gateway disk.

Paul

 

[Jo-Anne]

That Dell partition is most likely the system restore partition
used to do a fresh install (no a repair) of XP.

It effectively returns your PC back to the way it was when
you first opened the box and turned on your PC.
This may be a clue that you have no recovery or full copy of XP
when you purchased the computer.

To make a long story shot this small partition is usually hidden.
If you check your owners manual there should be
a section about how to use this special/hidden partition
to restore XP. For more information about this feature
(F11 key) see: http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/fixes.htm

Since you are replacing the old drive with a new drive
and you have an Acronis Image backup, if you have
time on your hands you can try the F11 trick (but only after
the new drive is up and running) to see if it works (just remove
the new drive and only have the old drive installed).
Note: If the old drive is too far gone than this partition may also
be corrupted and the F11 will fail. If the partition is good your
drive will be restored but all you existing data will be lost.


That's the rub, I normally use Ghost but I also recently purchased
Acronis and the one and only time I used it the drive letters got
messed up, but this was with a preformatted drive. I would hope
that with a new unformatted drive Acronis will offer to partition
and format the drive and assign the correct drive letter so may not
be an issue (with luck) as you walk through the recovery/rescue procedure.

Also the Dell 8250 is a vintage 2002/2003 PC and depending on the
specific options you ordered may or may not support a 160GB drive.
If this is the case the BIOS may only report the drive as 137GB in size.
Not to worry however as I had the same problem with an old Dell so
I just partitioned and formatted the first 135GB.

Thank you again, JS! Actually, Dell did supply a CD with the operating
system on it.

As long as I don't have to worry about Acronis missing the partition (and as
I said, its mention of it was the first I knew of it), I think I'll be OK on
that score.

If indeed my BIOS doesn't support the full 160 GB, that too will be OK;
given that I've used only half of my current 60 GB drive, even 135 GB sounds
good to me.

Keeping my fingers crossed that Acronis performs as it should. A friend has
used it for years and has bought several new drives and restored to them
without a hitch. But given my lack of experience in this area, I can only
hope it works as it should. I think my new drive will arrive around
mid-week, and I'll report back on either the success of the installation and
restore or its failure.

Jo-Anne

 

[Jo-Anne]

If you want to examine the primary partitions on the original
drive, you can use this program. This program doesn't tell you
everything there is to know, but if you're trying to determine
how many partitions the original drive might have had,
this might be a start.

ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/tools/pq/utilities/PTEDIT32.zip

In this example, there are four partitions. The first one is strange,
in that the type is "DE", which is a Dell-ism. With PTEDIT32, you can
double click that field, and a table of values is shown. From that,
you can see things like 07 and 0C as conventional file systems.

http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c5/ghostimage/PTEditVista.jpg

There is a more complete table of values for the partition types, here.

http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/partitions/partition_types-1.html

And an article here, on partition_table and friends.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partition_table

Now, if I was to compare that to Disk Management, chances are
Disk Management would have shown three partitions. And then
I might not know about the "DE" one. As long as your backup
software is detecting stuff like that, you don't have to worry
when cloning the drive. But otherwise, it doesn't hurt to use more
than one utility, to view what is on the Dell/HP/Compaq/Gateway disk.

Paul

Thank you, Paul! I'll keep this information on hand. Right now, I'm just
hoping I can get the restore done properly!

Jo-Anne

 

[Jo-Anne]

It does not need to be IDE. All that's necessary is that it be supported
by your system board.

When you restore the image, you will get partitions of the original size.


Check with the system manufacturer, as the relavant item is what the BIOS
supports. Only they will know this.

If the drive is larger than supported, you just won't get access to all of
it.


It's the standard speed for non-laptop drives.


Who you buy it from has less meaning than who made the drive.

Thank you, Patrick! I did manage to find an online manual for my computer at
the Dell site, and I printed off the pages dealing with taking out the old
drive and putting in the new one. I'm not sure what to look for--if it's
even in the manual--in regard to whether the BIOS will support the larger
drive. For what it's worth, last year I let Dell check my computer for the
current system configuration, and it reported "BIOS Version A03" and "BIOS
Date 02-24-03." The BIOS vendor was shown as Dell. I don't know if that's
any help.

I just ordered a Western Digital IDE hard drive, 160 GB. I've been using
their external drives and like them and so am hoping the internal one is
good too.

Jo-Anne

 

[Daave]

Thank you again, JS! Actually, Dell did supply a CD with the operating
system on it.

I'll bet that that FAT32 partition is the diagnostic one, which can be
very helpful.

 

[Jo-Anne]

I'll bet that that FAT32 partition is the diagnostic one, which can be
very helpful.

I wouldn't be surprised--but how does one access it?

 

[JS]

See: http://www.goodells.net/dellutility/index.htm
http://forums.techarena.in/operating-systems/1161018.htm

 

[Jo-Anne]

Thank you, JS! I think I understand something about it now, and I've
bookmarked both websites for reference (I back up my bookmarks regularly).

Jo-Anne

 

[JS]

You're welcome.