My slave drive.....

[plonkah]

From what I saw at the Dell website, DB's model is not 64 bit capable, so x64 versions are out. However, he should at least try Windows 7 32 bit. If it gives him trouble, he could go back to XP SP3 (another clean install), but AFAIK the driver support in Win 7 is quite good. In any case, a clean install is highly recommended.

Echo this PLUS it has backward compatibility support in most cases so say you have a program which cannot work in native 7, you can get the OS to try it in say Vista or XP, if it works, those settings are saved and you can run it in that compatibility mode every time.

For me one of best selling points of 7 is the built-in system image backups - deadly - you set system up as you want it - save image to extyernal HD, burn a recovery DVD. If it all goes TU, you boot from recovery DVD into Windows Restore, point it at your backup and within a couple of hours, your system is back how it was at time you did backup !! Also. if you make changes (significant ones) just do an incremental. Personally, I keep a log of ALL changes on my machine, and when I get to a point of either one or several significant changes, I do an incremental backup, then overwrite as needed. Finally, if I consider it advantageous (i.e time taken to create and then restore a new FULL backup is less than time taken to restore full then incremental (due to number of changes - therefore data amount on incremental), then I will take a new FULL backup and ditch previous one.

One final thing - always take a new system restore point before making any significant changes (very easy in 7).

And one final, final thing - my bloody USB drive has come out in sympathy with yours !! I think I am right in saying (someone please correct me if not), that if SATA drive is still OK, and the problem is (as is commonly seen) either corruption of drivers or firmware, I can remove drive and using a SATA to USB port, just copy the data. I could then look for a decent enclosure for the drive (i.e. not anything shipped with a MAXTOR USB drive).

[emuler]

A quick and relatively painless method is to buy another hard drive. Remove your existing hard drive, put in the new one, and experiment all you like. If you get stuck, go back to using your old hard drive as before until some geeky friend can help you out. (Yes, you can do all that without removing drives by changing settings in the BIOS, but that's geeky too. ) Don't delete stuff from your old hard drive until you are sure you haven't forgotten to backup something vital.

Know your hardware. When you go to the manufacturer's website to download drivers, sometimes they'll show you a list of a few dozen products and ask you to choose which driver you want. Knowing your motherboard's model number, for instance, is vital. Open device manager and write down the names of the NIC, sound adapter, etc. I like to get all the drivers in advance and put them in a folder somewhere safe (NOT on the hard drive that you are about to format!); saves a lot of time later.

Tools that backup your drivers are useful, but not so useful when you are moving to another OS. In most cases you need new drivers, but at least the tool should tell you which hardware you've got so you can find and download the correct driver. That is one of the reasons I like Intel motherboards - all the latest drivers are available in a single download location, neatly arranged by OS.

FLL, clean installs are like engine overhauls and tune-ups. You don't want to get them done every month, but when you do, you notice the difference.

Oh, and avoid Phuzzy's step 3 unless you are reinstalling the same version of that software. New versions are not always backwards compatible with settings from previous versions.

[Phuzzy4242]

Oh, and avoid Phuzzy's step 3 unless you are reinstalling the same version of that software. New versions are not always backwards compatible with settings from previous versions.

Hmm, you're probably right. I usually don't upgrade my software every time a new version comes out - if it ain't broke don't fix it - and I also have the installers for every software I use in folders on a data drive, so this method works well for me and really speeds up getting back in operation after a disaster. I don't copy every program from Program Files, just the ones I know have worked that way in the past. If it screws up the program, I just uninstall/reinstall it and it's all good.

I also use alot of portable programs. These don't need to be installed, merely copied and a shortcut made, and they don't change anything in the registry. Great for flash drives too. For instance, the Teracopy program emuler told us about has a portable version. There's even a portable eMule available.

[emuler]

Actually, emule has always been portable. The only registry tweak it does is to register itself for ed2k links which can be done by clicking the button on the preferences main page. Just download the zip file instead of the installer, extract to any folder/partition, right click emule.exe and 'send to desktop> create shortcut', and you're good to go. If you use a non system partition (recommended), after reinstalling the OS, just create a shortcut from emule.exe to your desktop.

About the software versions: my focus was on moving to a new OS, hence my comment, as you'll have to upgrade to newer versions of many programs because of the new OS.

Have you tried the other way: copy the saved folder to the expected location first, and then install the software to that same location? Many installers will detect the presence of configuration files and will not overwrite them unless necessary.

[plonkah]

Know your hardware. When you go to the manufacturer's website to download drivers, sometimes they'll show you a list of a few dozen products and ask you to choose which driver you want. Knowing your motherboard's model number, for instance, is vital. Open device manager and write down the names of the NIC, sound adapter, etc. I like to get all the drivers in advance and put them in a folder somewhere safe (NOT on the hard drive that you are about to format!); saves a lot of time later.

If you are using Windows, either Winmsd or msinfo32 will give you this in text format, or really geeky, start-run-drivers. When installed Windows 7, had zero problem with drivers, two "bangs" but by using the GUID and googling it, was able to source these from HP site without any issue (they were real peripheral stuff like touchpad and infrared). Seriously impressed with W7 up till now.

[Debaser]

I just had a scare!
I turned on my PC this evening only to be greeted with "sata primary hard disk failure, push F1 etc etc".
Nothing worked so I forced my PC to close and tried again.
The second time everything worked fine (I guess).
Now im confused because it should be my slave drive playing up.

So do I have two dodgy HD’s now or what?

[Phuzzy4242]

Were the drives purchased at the same time? Both might be going bad at the same time - unlikely but not unheard of. Let me ask another question... how's the cooling in the case? Drives can go real flaky when they get too warm, especially for extended periods. Had a Western Digital 250 GB that did the same thing you're describing. The drive itself was OK, but the electronics didn't like the heat - it caused bluescreens even though it was a secondary drive, not the boot (system) drive. Moved it where it got more cooling and it was fine - I gave it to my son for his computer and he's still using it after 4 years.

Even so, I'd be thinking about replacing both drives. I just bought another Seagate 500 GB for $90US at Walmart, and you can find them cheaper online (MWave is pretty good). I like Seagates (the software that comes with it makes it very easy to move your boot drive to the new drive). Western Digital is OK. I wouldn't pay money for a Maxtor and I'd hesitate taking it even if you just gave it to me. I sure wouldn't trust it for important data - very slow, very noisy, very high failure rate.

[Debaser]

I’m pretty sure the cooling s fine. The fan speeds automatically speed up and down as required, and its a pretty big fan as well!
The power supply is new and has a good fan on it.
I also give the inside of the case a dust every now and again so nothing gets clogged up.

The hard drives have a 2 year gap in ages. Both are Maxtor.
I know its common knowledge that Maxtor external hard drives are crap but I didn’t realise that included internal ones as well.

Could it be that the dodgy slave would make the primary drive show errors, and in fact the primary drive is ok?

If I have to replace both hard drives maybe I should just buy a new machine..... When I can afford one that is!

[Phuzzy4242]

I never met a Maxtor I'd pay cash money for, internal or external, even back in the days when they were Quantum. In my experience, they fail more often than all the other brands combined. I'm amazed companies like Dell use them because even if they get a huge price discount, warranty repair is expensive.

It is possible for a slave drive to cause wackiness. Even though your fans are working and changing speeds, that doesn't mean the hard drives aren't getting hot, especially Maxtors, and especially if they're mounted next to each other. Heat kills hard drives.

I'd still be worried of imminent failure if I saw that "primary hard disk failure" message. If that puppy fails, you got problems. My drive cage can hold six SATAs. I have three 500gig Seagates in it with an empty slot between each to get airflow and they stay around 33°C/91°F.

Download HD Tune from http://www.hdtune.com/download.html and test your hard drives (it's freeware). It also shows your drives' temperatures. Also download and create a BartPE CD (from http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ also freeware) - if your primary drive goes, you can boot BartPE and may be able to copy your hard drive files to another hard drive. It supports USB drives (flash or external) if you have them plugged in when you boot the CD.

Techie hint - if the hard drive dies and you can't read from it, put it in a ziploc bag and put it in the freezer for a couple hours until it's very cold. Remove from freezer, connect to computer on its side (in other words, if it was mounted horizontally, set it vertical and vice versa), and get as much data off of it as you can before it warms up. You usually only get one final shot at rescuing your data, but that's one more shot than you had before.

But let's hope you don't have to do that.

[Debaser]

In the freezer!! I think ill give that a shot sometime
Yes the drives are practically touching, as is the storage design of the case.

I think im on borrowed time now. The primary drive fails every other time I start the PC, so im just going to leave it running from now on.

Most of what I want is backed up in terms of data and favourites etc.

What I need to know now is what to look for in a new PC.
One of my concerns is the rate of new technology. I don’t wana buy something that will be obsolete within a year.
They say solid state hard drives will be the norm by this time next year.

I want a PC designed to be left running 24/7 / I have no interest in laptops / I want lots of storage space / a good back up system (my mate has some kind of dual Hard drive system, is that what people use now?).
What should I be looking for in terms of spec???

PS If I’m gone more than a week you will know my PC is dead and ill be saving for a new one which will take a fair while!