How do i fix my 80gig HD



  • i have this maxtor hard drive and i cant fix it with the xp cd anymore

    it first started when i was using system commander and i was partitioning it, then it froze. along with that i lost all my created divx movies and memories that i haded saved to dvd. so i waited like 30 minutes while it was froze and didnt hear my computer doing anything so i restarted and i got a black screen saying something about system boot failure or something like that. so i tried reformatting it and that failed. then i tried paragon to formatted and i think i got worse because i got an i/o error and now my motherboard dosent even recognize the hd in the bios. i got all the bios stuff right but it still dont see it. the hard drive just makes thies clicking sounds that almost sound like beeps. i went to the maxtor website and sownloaded the diagnostics tool and durring the reformatting with thoes tool i got an error saying "your hard drive is failing". um i tried to see if i could use the warenty but it was expired by one year someone said that they called and that this was a problem with the maxtor hd with xp and that theres nothing they could do with it over the phone. how can i possibly fix the clicking noise or anything?



  • Once you hear that clicking noise, chances are the drive is done for
    good. I've had a few drives go down like this and it has always been
    for the count. If you need to get data off of the drive, I have had
    luck with placing the drive in a freezer bag, then leaving it in the
    freezer for a few hours. Once you take it out, immediately hook it up
    to a computer with enough drive space to copy everything from the bad
    drive and start pulling the data.



    This is only a temporary fix and your drive will eventually start clicking again and then die.



  • Buy a new hard drive, they are only $100 or so.    
    Restore all your data from backups.   If you don't have
    backups that is a WTF worthy of a post to www.thedailywtf.com (check
    that site out, there are lots of examples of really stupid things
    people do with computers).



    If you don't have backups you deserve worse abuse than the
    above.   It has been well known for as long as I've been in
    computers that hard drives crash once in a while, taking all your data
    with them.  That is why companies make "backup
    software".   Sure most uses of backups are to restore
    accidentally deleted data, but that is a secondary reason for them, the
    primary reason is so you can recover from failed hardware.



    Of course if you are like me you just don't save anything important on
    your hard drive.   Anything I lose can be downloaded (legally)
    from the Internet.



    Okay, if you really need the data back, open the phone
    book.   Look for the data recovery pages, and select a
    company to do this for you.   They have special clean rooms
    where they will open your drive, move the platters to a different
    drive, and re-create as much as they can.   Expect to pay
    several thousand for this service or more.



  • holy shyte you just typed a lot for no reason.  what part of your response do you feel was constructive?  not everyone is as smart as you, hank, ol' buddy ol' pal.......



  • @hank miller said:



    Okay, if you really need the data back, open the phone
    book.   Look for the data recovery pages, and select a
    company to do this for you.   They have special clean rooms
    where they will open your drive, move the platters to a different
    drive, and re-create as much as they can.   Expect to pay
    several thousand for this service or more.




    Why wouldn't he at least attempt to use the procedure I posted before going this route?



    Sincerely,



    Richard Nixon



  • well i did have quite a bit of the super important stuff backed up on dvds,( like5 dvds) but , i did loose a whole lot that i didnt have backed up. and i actually thought of the freezer thing once befor but now that u mention it would cost thousands of dollars, im gonna try the freezer and see what happens. what i had on it was not worth thousands. id rather buy a whole bunch of 300 gb hard drives with thousands of dollars



  • @raiden22006 said:

    well i did have quite a bit of the super
    important stuff backed up on dvds,( like5 dvds) but , i did loose
    a whole lot that i didnt have backed up. and i actually thought of the
    freezer thing once befor but now that u mention it would cost thousands
    of dollars, im gonna try the freezer and see what happens. what i had
    on it was not worth thousands. id rather buy a whole bunch of 300 gb
    hard drives with thousands of dollars




    Just make sure to have a computer ready to go with a working hard drive
    already installed before you put your dead drive into the freezer -
    it's probable that if the freezer trick does work, it'll only work once.



    Also, don't you just love it when people start criticizing you for not
    having everything backed up instead of offering some constructive help?




    Sincerely,



    Richard Nixon



  • did the freezer  thing with my external maxtor 120, runs perfectly
    since, 3 months or so...(and no, I don't put anything important
    there...)



  • @Richard Nixon said:



    Why wouldn't he at least attempt to use the procedure I posted before going this route?




    If the data is not backed up, and it is critical, then you would pay
    the pros now because the freezer trick could do more
    damage.   If the data is interesting, but not critical, the
    freezer trick is worth the money it would save. 



    Your call.  I have no clue how important this data is.



    As for first post: I've been in the data protection business (not just
    backup, though backup is an important part) for about 10 years, with
    various companies.   I am getting tired preaching the backup
    story until we (mostly our marketing liers, but that is a different
    rant that you call can guess) blue in the face, only to hear stories of
    disaster like this guy's.



    Please people, if it is important back it up before disaster
    strikes.   These stories are heart breaking, and all too
    often all I can tell someone is too bad, your data is gone for
    good.  



    I have had to tell people that their data could not be recovered, not
    even by the expensive pros, no matter how much money you
    have.   I'm tired of it, and there is no reasons.  
    Backups are not that expensive.  (Not to mention they put the food on my table)



  • @hank miller said:

    @Richard Nixon said:


    Why wouldn't he at least attempt to use the procedure I posted before going this route?




    If the data is not backed up, and it is critical, then you would pay
    the pros now because the freezer trick could do more
    damage.   If the data is interesting, but not critical, the
    freezer trick is worth the money it would save. 



    Your call.  I have no clue how important this data is.



    As for first post: I've been in the data protection business (not just
    backup, though backup is an important part) for about 10 years, with
    various companies.   I am getting tired preaching the backup
    story until we (mostly our marketing liers, but that is a different
    rant that you call can guess) blue in the face, only to hear stories of
    disaster like this guy's.



    Please people, if it is important back it up before disaster
    strikes.   These stories are heart breaking, and all too
    often all I can tell someone is too bad, your data is gone for
    good.  



    I have had to tell people that their data could not be recovered, not
    even by the expensive pros, no matter how much money you
    have.   I'm tired of it, and there is no reasons.  
    Backups are not that expensive.  (Not to mention they put the food on my table)




    But to take that tone with someone who has obviously made a mistake
    does nothing to solve the problem except make you look like a jerk.



    I have been a fan of the English language for years and years. I've
    told people to use correct grammar and spelling when conducting any
    business with me. Should I reply to your post and tell you that you are
    garbage because there are numerous errors that strike me at merely a
    casual glance? What does that solve? Wouldn't it be better to tell you
    that you should take some remedial English classes?



    Yelling and getting mad about a situation does nothing to solve it and
    most often makes more trouble. People who realize that are much more
    valuable to society than loud, arrogant jerks.



  • ive made some mistakes yeah but i would have fixed it if i could have gone back and edit it without going thru so much difficulties.

    3 months. thats amazing. mine is still in the freezer. I have a 300 gb hard drive but i wasent able to put xp on it because it had too much space on it and xp only goes up to 160 gb so im using another maxtor i have and that one is much older and has 6 gb . not only that, it has problems too but is still running right now. it keeps stalling and freezing up but at least it dosent restart or anything. its really annoying. does this mean its gonna break soon?



  • If it starts to click, some of your data is already long gone... it's the sound of the disk heads grinding the platters and themselves to powder. Trying to do anything more to it would make it worse since everywhere the heads touch when they move will be gouged. Software won't help.

    If you *really* want your data back, then data-recovery-centers may be able to salvage some of it, at a rather high price.

    Just get a new drive and make backups. Signs that an old drive is failing are increased noise and decreased speeds since it has to re-read the sectors constantly.



  • @raiden22006 said:

    ive made some mistakes yeah but i would
    have fixed it if i could have gone back and edit it without going thru
    so much difficulties.

    3 months. thats amazing. mine is still in the freezer. I have a 300 gb hard drive but i wasent able to put xp on it because it had too much space on it and xp only goes up to 160 gb so im using another maxtor i have and that one is much older and has 6 gb . not only that, it has problems too but is still running right now. it keeps stalling and freezing up but at least it dosent restart or anything. its really annoying. does this mean its gonna break soon?



    Wow. The Daily WTF just jumped the shark now that this guy has arrived on the scene. Hey genius, I've got a 250 gig drive currently housing Windows XP without any problems. People like you shouldn't exist.

    Sincerely,

    Richard Nixon


  • @llxx said:

    If it starts to click, some of your data is
    already long gone... it's the sound of the disk heads grinding the
    platters and themselves to powder. Trying to do anything more to it
    would make it worse since everywhere the heads touch when they move
    will be gouged. Software won't help.

    If you *really* want your data back, then data-recovery-centers may be able to salvage some of it, at a rather high price.

    Just get a new drive and make backups. Signs that an old drive is failing are increased noise and decreased speeds since it has to re-read the sectors constantly.



    You've added nothing new to this thread. Everything you said has already been posted. Please don't ever post here ever again.

    Sincerely,

    Richard Nixon


  • i guess im a little new at this but i dont really know how to do that. so im uising it as a slave drive its not like im wasting it



  • @raiden22006 said:

    i guess im a little new at this but i dont
    really know how to do that. so im uising it as a slave drive its not
    like im wasting it




    Don't speak like an expert when you're not. And you are most clearly not.



    Sincerely,



    Richard Nixon



  • Richard Nixon,

    please take a look at what you're posting before you accuse others of trolling. So far, you've managed to:

    • accuse someone (although you didn't specify who) of not "offering some constructive help" -- this is a discussion forum, not exclusively a help forum. Off-topic is allowed.
    • call Hank Miller a "jerk",
    • say he has bad grammar,
    • accuse him of calling Raiden "garbage" (when all he did was vent about his personal experience),
    • accuse him of "yelling and getting mad" (likewise),
    • imply he is of little value to society,
    • and - in a reprise of your earlier insult - call him a "loud, arrogant jerk".
    • told Raiden "people like [him] shouldn't exist" because - as it appears to me - he was misinformed about XP's ability to cope with large HDs, and cited this misinformation believing it to be fact.
    • told Llxx to "[not] ever post here ever again" for bringing nothing new to the conversation -- as far as I can tell, his comments about "gouging" had not already been mentioned. Anyway, this is a public forum. You've got no business telling people what to do. Maybe you would've if you'd started the thread, but you didn't.
    • and, finally, ordered Raiden to "[not] speak like an expert when you're not". Yes, you appear to be correct in your assessment of his expertise, but that's no need to get bossy.

    So, although I hesitate to apply labels, I think you'll find that the vigilante here is also the troll. That would be yourself.

    By the way, if you're going to launch an attack on me now, I'll warn you in advance that I won't reply unless you manage to raise a valid point.



  • @Irrelevant said:





    please take a look at what you're posting before you accuse others of trolling. So far, you've managed to:

    By
    the way, if you're going to launch an attack on me now, I'll warn you
    in advance that I won't reply unless you manage to raise a valid point.





    Two points:


    1. I never accused anyone of trolling.


    2. Your reply will most likely be as uninformed and uninteresting as
      your original statement - lacking any type of basis in reality. I had
      specific reasons and rationale behind the above posts. You failed to
      mention why you obviously disagree with my rationale and instead put
      words that I did not use into my mouth. Thus, I hope in your little
      mind, you believe I have not raised any valid points. Your reply is not
      needed.



      Sincerely,



      Richard Nixon


  • @Irrelevant said:

    Richard Nixon,

    please take a look at what you're posting before you accuse others of trolling. So far, you've managed to:

    • accuse someone (although you didn't specify who) of not "offering some constructive help" -- this is a discussion forum, not exclusively a help forum. Off-topic is allowed.
    • call Hank Miller a "jerk",
    • say he has bad grammar,
    • accuse him of calling Raiden "garbage" (when all he did was vent about his personal experience),
    • accuse him of "yelling and getting mad" (likewise),
    • imply he is of little value to society,
    • and - in a reprise of your earlier insult - call him a "loud, arrogant jerk".
    • told Raiden "people like [him] shouldn't exist" because - as it appears to me - he was misinformed about XP's ability to cope with large HDs, and cited this misinformation believing it to be fact.
    • told Llxx to "[not] ever post here ever again" for bringing nothing new to the conversation -- as far as I can tell, his comments about "gouging" had not already been mentioned. Anyway, this is a public forum. You've got no business telling people what to do. Maybe you would've if you'd started the thread, but you didn't.
    • and, finally, ordered Raiden to "[not] speak like an expert when you're not". Yes, you appear to be correct in your assessment of his expertise, but that's no need to get bossy.

    So, although I hesitate to apply labels, I think you'll find that the vigilante here is also the troll. That would be yourself.

    By the way, if you're going to launch an attack on me now, I'll warn you in advance that I won't reply unless you manage to raise a valid point.



    My apologies! I forgot to post my compliment for you! While your post contained lies about me, it did contain some nice formatting. Bravo!

    Sincerely,

    Richard Nixon


  • Wow. Only on TheDailyWTF. Some poor little l33t hAx0r kid breaks his hard drive, asks for some help, and we...


    1. Teach him the freezer trick (so sad it didn't stop here...)
    2. Give him a hard-time about the importance of commercial back-up solutions.
    3. Advise him to ask his mum for $2000 for an intensive data-recovery session. Before,
    4. Descending into a series of insults and (albeit nicely formatted)
      accusations about each other's grammar, expertise and general
      incompetence.



      I especially like the bit where hank asked whether the data on the
      drive was critical or just merely 'interesting'. I couldn't decide
      which a 300gb drive stuffed full of pr0n, mp3 and warez would be to the
      life and well-being of an adolescent.



      Apologies, raiden, if you're not a kid who broke his hard drive and are
      actually a sysadmin at an international brokerage house. If so, could
      you let us know which one so I can make sure I don't own any of your
      stock?



      As for Nixon, I believe he was actually making a point about the
      general futility of trolling with his abusive posts. Either that or
      he's suffering from weapons-grade schizophrenia.


  • @Richard Nixon said:

    Just make sure to have a computer ready to go with a working hard drive already installed before you put your dead drive into the freezer - it's probable that if the freezer trick does work, it'll only work once.

    <FONT face="Courier New" size=2>i've tried this before.  i ended up putting a frozen slab of seaweed into my Hewlett-Packard and destroyed the whole thing.  you think DISK ERROR is bad?  try getting rid of slimy green sea salt crap out of the processor fan.</FONT>



  • @murphyman said:

    )

    2. Give him a hard-time about the importance of commercial back-up solutions.


    I especially like the bit where hank asked whether the data on the
    drive was critical or just merely 'interesting'. I couldn't decide
    which a 300gb drive stuffed full of pr0n, mp3 and warez would be to the
    life and well-being of an adolescent.



    Apologies, raiden, if you're not a kid who broke his hard drive and are
    actually a sysadmin at an international brokerage house. If so, could
    you let us know which one so I can make sure I don't own any of your
    stock?




    I never specified a commercial backup.  I just said that I write
    commercial backup and am sick of seeing people not use anything. 
    There are free backup programs that work good enough for many
    people.   Commercial solutions are better in my biased
    opinion, but either is several orders of magnitude better than none.



    You would be surprised how many critical systems do not have good
    backups.  Most (I think all) large companies have good backups,
    but small companies rare have good backups.  I've heard the tears
    of customers who did a backup to their hard drive, and then cried when
    the hard drive crashed and took both the data and the backup. 



    While raiden gives the impression that he only has mp3s, videos, and
    porn (with good odds that it is all illegal); I cannot make that
    assumption, because I have seen too many people with critical data in
    his situation.  (Besides if his data really was illegal mp3s,
    videos, and porn he would just download it again, which makes it more
    likely that this data is important and not easily recreated)



    I'm well aware that my grammar and spelling is terrible.  I have
    no idea how I would fix them.  (other than run spell check, which
    I already do)



  • Hmm, why is Raiden all of a sudden a haxor kiddie?

    He has a problem with his harddrive. And he didn't make a backup. I must admit, I never make backups.. For one, buying 50+ DVDs to backup 250 GB of stuff doesn't really sound so cheap.

    Drak [:S]



  • @Drak said:

    Hmm, why is Raiden all of a sudden a haxor kiddie?

    He has a problem with his harddrive. And he didn't make a backup. I must admit, I never make backups.. For one, buying 50+ DVDs to backup 250 GB of stuff doesn't really sound so cheap.

    Drak [:S]



    Not to mention the fact that optical media degrade over time and thus are a poor choice for backing up data.

    Sincerely,

    Richard Nixon


  • @Richard Nixon said:

    Not to mention the fact that optical media degrade over time and thus are a poor choice for backing up data.

    <FONT face="Courier New" size=2>i've degraded your mom over time and she's an excellent choice for backing up my data anytime, anywhere.</FONT>

    <FONT face="Courier New" size=2>affectionately,</FONT>

    <FONT face="Courier New" size=2>emptyset</FONT>



  • @emptyset said:

    @Richard Nixon said:

    Not to mention
    the fact that optical media degrade over time and thus are a poor
    choice for backing up data.

    <font face="Courier New" size="2">i've degraded your mom over time and she's an excellent choice for backing up my data anytime, anywhere.</font>

    <font face="Courier New" size="2">affectionately,</font>

    <font face="Courier New" size="2">emptyset</font>



    You failed to live up to expectations with that one. I really expect better from you than mom jokes.

    Sincerely,

    Richard Nixon


  • @Richard Nixon said:

    You failed to live up to expectations with that one. I really expect better from you than mom jokes.

    <FONT face="Courier New" size=2>you can't expect anything from me!  i'm ZANY.</FONT>



  • @emptyset said:

    @Richard Nixon said:

    You failed to
    live up to expectations with that one. I really expect better from you
    than mom jokes.

    <font face="Courier New" size="2">you can't expect anything from me!  i'm ZANY.</font>



    Since you declare that you are zany, I can expect zaniness. You failed to deliver. Step it up or you get the hose.

    Sincerely,

    Richard Nixon


  • @Richard Nixon said:

    Since you declare that you are zany, I can expect zaniness. You failed to deliver. Step it up or you get the hose.

    <FONT face="Courier New" size=2>it's considered bad form to edit other people's posts in your reply.  i never said i was zany.</FONT>

    <FONT face="Courier New" size=2>predictably,</FONT>

    <FONT face="Courier New" size=2>emptyset</FONT>



  • @emptyset said:

    @Richard Nixon said:

    Since you declare
    that you are zany, I can expect zaniness. You failed to deliver. Step
    it up or you get the hose.

    <font face="Courier New" size="2">it's considered bad form to edit other people's posts in your reply.  i never said i was zany.</font>

    <font face="Courier New" size="2">predictably,</font>

    <font face="Courier New" size="2">emptyset</font>



    I like that. You're back in my good graces. We can spoon tonight.

    Sincerely,

    Richard Nixon


  • @Richard Nixon said:

    I like that. You're back in my good graces. We can spoon tonight.

    <FONT face="Courier New" size=2>don't forget to pick-up some crisco and garbage bags at the store.</FONT>



  • Nixon,

    Actually, I think you raised a valid point. Er, sorry about that. Now you mention it, I agree that you didn't actually accuse anyone of trolling. I retract, and apologise for, that claim.

    You did, however, call Hank Miller a "loud, arrogant jerk", tell Raiden he "shouldn't exist", and tell Llxx to "[not] ever post here ever again". As such, I do mildly resent being told that my post was "uninformed" and "lacking any type of basis in reality". One inaccurate statement doesn't render an entire post false.

    Ah well, I guess we've both done our fair share of accusations and such rubbish now (please don't pick up on that as some kind of personal attack; no accusations at all would count as a fair share, too), and regardless of appearences, I don't particularly enjoy it. I'm happy to let it lie, now I've defended my, er, lack of lack of basis in reality ( =P ). Friends? (Or acquaintances, at least?)

    (By the by, I'm flattered that you took the time to comment on my formatting. I find that it aids understanding when one presents things nicely, even if it takes a little longer. "More haste, less speed", and all that.)



  • @Irrelevant said:

    Nixon,

    Actually, I think you raised a valid point. Er, sorry about that. Now you mention it, I agree that you didn't actually accuse anyone of trolling. I retract, and apologise for, that claim.

    You did, however, call Hank Miller a "loud, arrogant jerk", tell Raiden he "shouldn't exist", and tell Llxx to "[not] ever post here ever again". As such, I do mildly resent being told that my post was "uninformed" and "lacking any type of basis in reality". One inaccurate statement doesn't render an entire post false.

    Ah well, I guess we've both done our fair share of accusations and such rubbish now (please don't pick up on that as some kind of personal attack; no accusations at all would count as a fair share, too), and regardless of appearences, I don't particularly enjoy it. I'm happy to let it lie, now I've defended my, er, lack of lack of basis in reality ( =P ). Friends? (Or acquaintances, at least?)

    (By the by, I'm flattered that you took the time to comment on my formatting. I find that it aids understanding when one presents things nicely, even if it takes a little longer. "More haste, less speed", and all that.)



    Irrelevant - I whole-heartedly accept your apology and forgive your error. We remain eternal best-friends.

    Sincerely,

    Richard Nixon


  • @Richard Nixon said:


    Irrelevant - I whole-heartedly accept your apology and forgive your error. We remain eternal best-friends.

    Sincerely,

    Richard Nixon

     

    why does HE get to be your friend? i want a friend! He mocked you, what have i done?

    nothing!

    I WANT A FRIEND!!!

     

     

    as for the HDD issues, it serves all of you right for having such large harddrives.

    Since when do you need such large storage devices, to store source code? hmm??

    That should be all that consumes your time and attention.



  • @raiden22006 said:

    I have a 300 gb hard drive but i wasent able to put xp on it because it had too much space on it and xp only goes up to 160 gb



    That's a bit of a low limit... I'm running XP on a 1200 GiB drive with no problems.



  • @slainangel said:

    @raiden22006 said:

    I have a 300 gb
    hard drive but i wasent able to put xp on it because it had too much
    space on it and xp only goes up to 160 gb



    That's a bit of a low limit... I'm running XP on a 1200 GiB drive with no problems.


    A 1.2 TB drive?
    The largest drive I've seen is 400 GB. Is this a bunch a drives configged to create a huge logical drive?



  • @John Smallberries said:

    A 1.2 TB drive?

    The largest drive I've seen is 400 GB.


    The biggest I've ever seen with my own eyes was just 300 GB unless I've
    seen a bigger one without knowing it, but there are at least two brands
    500 GB drives (Hitachi and Seagate) available in stores now.



  • I guess the drives are on raid stripping mode... Whichs create a huge "drive"...

     

     

    @ my work we have an Canopus Edius HDV with 600 GB redudant raid (4 drives of 300GB).

    We can say it is 1.2 TB on 4 drives but since it is redudant, it's only 600GB usable.

     

    @John Smallberries said:

    @slainangel said:
    @raiden22006 said:

    I have a 300 gb hard drive but i wasent able to put xp on it because it had too much space on it and xp only goes up to 160 gb


    That's a bit of a low limit... I'm running XP on a 1200 GiB drive with no problems.


    A 1.2 TB drive?
    The largest drive I've seen is 400 GB. Is this a bunch a drives configged to create a huge logical drive?



  • ahahahahah :D

    I have to laugh about this...

     

    I guess I can believe on this.. I had a long time ago a ZX Spectrum - Timex 2048, I did also the freezer thing... but it worked properly while the temperature was low... What is good doesn't last forever :)))

    My best "technique" was to hit the computer on the floor... that always gave one week without problems..

    After one week... PUMM on the floor... LOL :))))

    I guess the components were quite "unstable" ...

    :)

     

    @rumo said:

    did the freezer  thing with my external maxtor 120, runs perfectly since, 3 months or so...(and no, I don't put anything important there...)



  • I'm having a bit of indecision.

    I currently passed my old computer on to my mom. Its HD has seen three Seldon Crises already, but went through unharmed, so far:

    - quietly dropping down from DMA5 to PIO and leaving me wondering why the hell launching Notepad disrupts music playback. Scandisk fixed the issue.

    - Months later, suddenly not being able to boot from that disk again, BIOS error, magically booting normally the reset after that and sending me into a backup frenzy. I only have about 7 GB of 'irreplacable' data, - so that didn't take more than an evening.

    I then bought a new computer, and all my bits are safely tucked away on the new 80 Gig.

    - Yesterday, under my mom's reign, a BlackSOD error in System32/config/blah at boot, requiring an 'upgrade' of XP right on top of the old XP (because I suck at the Repair pseudo-DOS-console), replacing the corrupt files, Scandisk then for the first time showing a couple screens of fixes and reallocations and index checks.

    ---

    I wonder if I should wait for the drive to fail completely (within the next six months? ten), while she backs up stuff regularly, or just buy her a new drive right away. I have money. It'll be like a little gift from a Good Son to his mumsywumsy.



  • @dhromed said:

    I'm having a bit of indecision.

    I currently passed my old computer on to my mom. Its HD has seen three Seldon Crises already, but went through unharmed, so far:

    - quietly dropping down from DMA5 to PIO and leaving me wondering why the hell launching Notepad disrupts music playback. Scandisk fixed the issue.

    - Months later, suddenly not being able to boot from that disk again, BIOS error, magically booting normally the reset after that and sending me into a backup frenzy. I only have about 7 GB of 'irreplacable' data, - so that didn't take more than an evening.

    I then bought a new computer, and all my bits are safely tucked away on the new 80 Gig.

    - Yesterday, under my mom's reign, a BlackSOD error in System32/config/blah at boot, requiring an 'upgrade' of XP right on top of the old XP (because I suck at the Repair pseudo-DOS-console), replacing the corrupt files, Scandisk then for the first time showing a couple screens of fixes and reallocations and index checks.

    ---

    I wonder if I should wait for the drive to fail completely (within the next six months? ten), while she backs up stuff regularly, or just buy her a new drive right away. I have money. It'll be like a little gift from a Good Son to his mumsywumsy.


    Why would you give a computer with a failing drive away anyway? You should have at least had the decency to give it away to someone who knows how to replace a drive on their own AND informed that person that the drive was failing.

    Sincerely,
    Richard Nixon



  • @Richard Nixon said:

    Why would you give a computer with a failing drive away anyway? You should have at least had the decency to give it away to someone who knows how to replace a drive on their own AND informed that person that the drive was failing.

    Sincerely,
    Richard Nixon


    You have a point there.



  • @dhromed said:

    I'm having a bit of indecision.

    I currently passed my old computer on to my mom. Its HD has seen three Seldon Crises already, but went through unharmed, so far:

    - quietly dropping down from DMA5 to PIO and leaving me wondering why the hell launching Notepad disrupts music playback. Scandisk fixed the issue.

    - Months later, suddenly not being able to boot from that disk again, BIOS error, magically booting normally the reset after that and sending me into a backup frenzy. I only have about 7 GB of 'irreplacable' data, - so that didn't take more than an evening.

    I then bought a new computer, and all my bits are safely tucked away on the new 80 Gig.

    - Yesterday, under my mom's reign, a BlackSOD error in System32/config/blah at boot, requiring an 'upgrade' of XP right on top of the old XP (because I suck at the Repair pseudo-DOS-console), replacing the corrupt files, Scandisk then for the first time showing a couple screens of fixes and reallocations and index checks.

    ---

    I wonder if I should wait for the drive to fail completely (within the next six months? ten), while she backs up stuff regularly, or just buy her a new drive right away. I have money. It'll be like a little gift from a Good Son to his mumsywumsy.


    i had a 20GB that did the same. but the only way to recover it was to do a low-level format/repartition.
    there were times when it died and i was able to recover SOME data from it, but not always.
    i sold it to a second hand parts guy for 30$. i dont see him anymore.



  • @XoK said:

    I guess I can believe on this.. I had a long time ago a ZX Spectrum - Timex 2048, I did also the freezer thing... but it worked properly while the temperature was low... What is good doesn't last forever :)))

    My best "technique" was to hit the computer on the floor... that always gave one week without problems..

    After one week... PUMM on the floor... LOL :))))

    I guess the components were quite "unstable" ...

    :)

     

    That's because the 7805 chip inside the ZX was getting so hot it melted some of it's solder. When you kick it it makes better contact, until the next time it gets hot enough to melt the solder... Replace the 7805 with a new one and make sure you use some good thermal goo at the connection to the heat radiator.



    Anyway, the moral of this sad history should be... Don't use MAXTOR disks to store important data. All disks fails but most of the time MAXTOR do so without any kind of warnning.


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