From: timOleary on 20 Jan 2010 23:05 I use Windows XP pro. My PC has two WD SE16 WD2500KS SATA 250G hdds. When I start the PC in the morning I am hearing a whirring noise coming out of the PC and I think it is the C drive. Where can I read up on how to add a drive, and mirror everything on the current C drive onto the new drive? What is a smart choice in an enterprise grade HDD? I am thinking the warranty has expired on the drives. Thanks
From: philo on 21 Jan 2010 07:47 timOleary wrote: > I use Windows XP pro. My PC has two WD SE16 WD2500KS SATA 250G hdds. > When I start the PC in the morning I am hearing a whirring noise > coming out of the PC and I think it is the C drive. > Where can I read up on how to add a drive, and mirror everything on > the current C drive onto the new drive? > What is a smart choice in an enterprise grade HDD? > I am thinking the warranty has expired on the drives. > Thanks A new drive will typically come with cloning software or the mfg may have it on their website. Open the machine and disconnect the drive you suspect to confirm the problem. Then if the drive you suspect is indeed the one making the whining noise...yes I'd definitely replace it
From: Andrew E. on 21 Jan 2010 12:11 If you had IDE hds,then xps own XCOPY would work,but dont think it does with SATA..With a faulty hd,download the WDC DOS hd check utility,install to a floppy,boot pc to floppy (maybe a cd version is available).Usually the simple scan version will pick up a flaw,otherwise use the extended one.. "timOleary" wrote: > I use Windows XP pro. My PC has two WD SE16 WD2500KS SATA 250G hdds. > When I start the PC in the morning I am hearing a whirring noise > coming out of the PC and I think it is the C drive. > Where can I read up on how to add a drive, and mirror everything on > the current C drive onto the new drive? > What is a smart choice in an enterprise grade HDD? > I am thinking the warranty has expired on the drives. > Thanks > . >
From: Anthony Buckland on 21 Jan 2010 19:36 "timOleary" <timothy.w.oleary(a)gmail.com> wrote in message news:d34c797c-10db-4be1-8b08-5ab068deabd9(a)33g2000vbe.googlegroups.com... >I use Windows XP pro. My PC has two WD SE16 WD2500KS SATA 250G hdds. > When I start the PC in the morning I am hearing a whirring noise > coming out of the PC and I think it is the C drive. > Where can I read up on how to add a drive, and mirror everything on > the current C drive onto the new drive? > What is a smart choice in an enterprise grade HDD? > I am thinking the warranty has expired on the drives. > Thanks Get imaging software, such as Acronis True Image. Make a complete image of your drive, on an external (USB-connected) drive. If you need to buy an external drive to do this, look on it as a good investment, you can use it to back up your machine routinely for a long time afterwards. Check it with the imaging software (now is not the time to find that you made an image with a flaw in it, which could happen if there are any bad regions on the external drive). If you feel at all nervous, make another image on your external drive, and check it too. With the imaging software, make a recovery CD, better yet make two, CDs are cheap and you want to be sure. Buy a replacement drive (bigger than the old one is good, and gives you room to expand for little cost). Remove the old C drive and install the new one. Read the instructions that come with the new drive first -- opening your computer up gives you the opportunity to do all kinds of damage, such as touching the wrong things without grounding yourself to the machine, etc. Using your recovery CD, boot up and recover the complete image you made from the external drive. Test everything to make sure it works properly. If you had anything private or sensitive on the old drive, destroy the disk in it (I use a little kitchen torch to destroy data surfaces) before throwing it out -- after all, it didn't completely fail and somebody could have no end of fun with the data on it (such as stealing your identity, pretending to be the owner of your copy of WinXP or other software you bought and installed, etc. at great length). But don't be in any hurry to throw it out -- work for, say, a few months first to be sure all your programs and data are ok.
From: Tom J on 21 Jan 2010 23:22
Anthony Buckland wrote: > "timOleary" <timothy.w.oleary(a)gmail.com> wrote in message > news:d34c797c-10db-4be1-8b08-5ab068deabd9(a)33g2000vbe.googlegroups.com... >> I use Windows XP pro. My PC has two WD SE16 WD2500KS SATA 250G >> hdds. >> When I start the PC in the morning I am hearing a whirring noise >> coming out of the PC and I think it is the C drive. >> Where can I read up on how to add a drive, and mirror everything on >> the current C drive onto the new drive? >> What is a smart choice in an enterprise grade HDD? >> I am thinking the warranty has expired on the drives. >> Thanks > > Get imaging software, such as Acronis True Image. > Make a complete image of your drive, on an > external (USB-connected) drive. If you need to buy > an external drive to do this, look on it as a good > investment, you can use it to back up your machine > routinely for a long time afterwards. My son just sent me a 2TB IoSafe USB hard drive and Acromis True Image backup software. I just finished the image backup to the new external drive and it went like clock work. A caution - I did read the very long manual that came with Acromis before even starting the install. I'm sure that saved me the troubles many have with this software!! Tom J |