New Hard Drive vs. New Computer

[Joy]

My husband's computer is getting various error messages and our computer man
said he needs either a new hard drive or a new computer. He currently has a
Toshiba laptop, bought in 2001, updated to WinXP (it had Win98). He
doesn't need a laptop; it was passed on by another family member, it uses a
docking station. I'm still using WinXP myself (no desire to go to Windows
7), and I'd just as soon keep his with WinXP, which would mean a new hard
drive rather than a new computer. Any advice/suggestions?

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

My husband's computer is getting various error messages and our computer
man said he needs either a new hard drive or a new computer. He currently
has a Toshiba laptop, bought in 2001, updated to WinXP (it had Win98).
He doesn't need a laptop; it was passed on by another family member, it
uses a docking station. I'm still using WinXP myself (no desire to go to
Windows 7), and I'd just as soon keep his with WinXP, which would mean a
new hard drive rather than a new computer. Any advice/suggestions?

If your computer technician is confident that your error messages (which
unfortunately you do not quote) are caused by a failing disk then replacing
the disk is your most economical option. Some disk manufacturers make a free
cloning program available on their home site. You could also use some disk
imaging program such as Acronis True Image.

Upgrading the machine to Windows 7 is not an option.

 

[Joy]

Thanks for your reply.

There are two basic errors; that appear at different times. One appears in
white print on a black screen and says "Windows could not start because the
following file is missing or corrupt: System32\DRIVERS\pci.sys You can
attempt to repair this by starting Windows Setup using the original Setup
CD-ROM. Select (r) at the first screen to start repair."

When my husband took the computer to the tech, he took along the CD-ROM, but
the tech didn't get that particular error message! (The toothache that
stops when you go to the dentist. <S>)

The other one appears on a light blue screen and says "Checking file system
on C: The type of the file system is FAT32. One of your disks need to be
checked for consistency". Then it proceeds to apparently do that
checking and gives the % of how much it checks. It DID go to 100% and then
the desktop would appear, but lately it stalls at a lower % and just sits
there. Turning the computer off and on again is like the lottery, you
don't know which screen and which error message you'll get. If the
desktop DOES come on, it doesn't stay long. I've been TRYING to get a copy
(or picture) of what programs are in the computer so I'll know what I'll
have to put back in when we decide about a new hard drive, but it won't stay
on long enough.

By cloning, or disk imaging, do you mean in order to put the current
contents on the new hard drive? I had asked the tech about that, and he
said the only problem with that is that the errors (or faults or whatever)
would be transferred to the new hard drive.

I'm curious - why do you say that Windows 7 is not a option?

The other

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

My husband's computer is getting various error messages and our computer man
said he needs either a new hard drive or a new computer.

You don't say what the error messages are, so it's difficult to assess
whether what you've been told is good advice or not, but the choice of
a new hard drive or a computer is very strange. If the drive is
failing, you don't need a new computer.

He currently has a
Toshiba laptop, bought in 2001, updated to WinXP (it had Win98). He
doesn't need a laptop; it was passed on by another family member, it uses a
docking station. I'm still using WinXP myself (no desire to go to Windows
7), and I'd just as soon keep his with WinXP, which would mean a new hard
drive rather than a new computer. Any advice/suggestions?

That last sentence seems to contradict the first one above. Please
clarify what the situation is. And it's not at all clear to me what
you want advice or suggestions about. If you can replace his hard
drive, keep Windows XP, and that's what you want, what is your
question?

 

[JS]

My husband's computer is getting various error messages and our computer
man said he needs either a new hard drive or a new computer. He currently
has a Toshiba laptop, bought in 2001, updated to WinXP (it had Win98).
He doesn't need a laptop; it was passed on by another family member, it
uses a docking station. I'm still using WinXP myself (no desire to go to
Windows 7), and I'd just as soon keep his with WinXP, which would mean a
new hard drive rather than a new computer. Any advice/suggestions?

"our computer man said he needs either a new hard drive or a new computer."

That's a wide open invitation. Save your money repairing the old laptop, the
labor
charges could be $$$ if it's not a simple hard drive replacement. I'd go
shopping
for a new computer.

 

[DL]

The symptoms you describe indicate iether a drive problem or memory problem
I'm assuming your tech would have used the drive makers disk checking
utility.
If you clone a drive, then your tech is correct in that any corruption could
be carried forward.
How you proceed depends on what you want;
A new drive, then reinstall all your programs, assuming you have the cd's
A new PC? winxp was replaced by Vista which in turn was replaced by win7
Your money, your call

 

[Pegasus [MVP]]

There are two types of hard disk errors:
a) Physical errors
b) Logical errors

Chkdsk.exe checks for logical (=file system) errors. It can repair some but
not all of them.

The hard disk diagnostic program that your disk manufacturer has on his web
site will check the disk for physical errors. This is the one you should
download and run right now.

Transferring the old disk's contents to the new disk makes sense: If it
works then you save yourself a lot of trouble. If it fails then nothing is
lost: Just do a clean installation of Windows on the new disk.

 

[Joy]

Not sure since the desktop won't open, how we could download anything?

 

[Paul]

Not sure since the desktop won't open, how we could download anything?

When you do maintenance on a computer, it helps to have a second, network
connected computer present. You can download things, and transport them
to the broken machine via floppy, CDROM, USB stick and so on.

As an example, if you had a broken Seagate hard drive, you'd go to another
computer and prepare a "SeaTools for DOS" floppy. If the broken computer
does not have a floppy, then you'd try a CD version, if one was available
for download. The nice thing about SeaTools for DOS, is this one is
self-booting, and doesn't need a working OS when you're in need of
a diagnostic test.

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=720bd20cacdec010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

After fake registration trash, you end up on this page.

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools/seatooldreg

SeaTools for DOS Version Floppy Diskette Creator or ISO CD-ROM Image
------------------------ ----------------------- ----------------
v2.13b (Graphical)

and would carry on from there.

Some hard drive manufacturers, provide no tools support to speak of. It
would suck to buy one of their products.

If you're in need of other tools to work with, a Linux LiveCD is
better than nothing. You would burn the CD on another computer,
after roughly a 700MB download. If a disk is visible, while booted
in an environment like that, you may be able to copy files and do
simple maintenance.

So there are some good, free things you can download. Some tool
packages are so large, you really need a broadband connection
to make them practical. The SeaTools for DOS is small enough,
you could download it over a dialup connection.

Paul

 

[Jan Philips]

Toshiba laptop, bought in 2001, updated to WinXP (it had Win98). He
doesn't need a laptop;

If you don't specifically need the portability of a laptop, I would go
with a new desktop computer.

 

[Luan Pham]

By cloning, or disk imaging, do you mean in order to put the current
contents on the new hard drive? I had asked the tech about that, and he
said the only problem with that is that the errors (or faults or whatever)
would be transferred to the new hard drive.

Joy,

Download a Hirens Live CD 10.0 at: http://tinyurl.com/ydw4jbs

Then boot burn a CD from it, then boot your from this CD. This allow
you to start Mini XP version, this allow you a change to copy to
external HD. Also this CD had HD test form varios HD manufacture for
a health of the HD.

 

[dadiOH]

Not sure since the desktop won't open, how we could download anything?

Via your computer.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
....a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it at http://mysite.verizon.net/xico

 

[jinxy]

Via your computer.

--

dadiOH
____________________________

dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
Get it athttp://mysite.verizon.net/xico

Joy, if there is nothing on the drive that you want to save, ask the
family member that gave you the laptop if they have the System
Recovery disks. If so run the disk(s)and it will put the laptop back
to the way it was when it was purchased. Maybe the drive is ok and
windows is corrupt? What have you got to lose?
-J

 

[Luan Pham]

and would carry on from there.

Some hard drive manufacturers, provide no tools support to speak of. It
would suck to buy one of their products.

Just download Hirens 10.0 LiveCD got all the tool you need in one
disc.

 

[HeyBub]

I'm curious - why do you say that Windows 7 is not a option?

Because drivers for the various bits of hardware found in your ancient
laptop probably do not exist.