Laptop hard drive.

macman

So the simplest way forward is to use disk imaging software to clone your hard drive over, and then replace the drive with the cloned one. As long as you do it before the drive goes completely, no problems.

Rikki

Donnie wrote: »

Ok, so get the new HDD. Do you intend to clone your old disc on to the new one? If you don't you will lose your Restore partition.

Have you already purchased the Windows 7 Discs?

Nothing bought yet.

I'm happy to stick with XP but don't know where to start on cloning. Is it complicated?


I have found a way to check the status of my computer. It has a Hardware Diagnostic tool.
HDD Test: This tool can check the condition of your hard disc drive. ( can take up to an hour) Have started this.

Donnie

Get one of these: 2.5" IDE ATA to USB 2.0 External Aluminium HDD Enclosure for £3.09.

Here is a guide to cloning. Take your time to read it.

Make sure you have XP SP3 installed before you attempt to clone the disc. Probably best to Restore to Factory Settings and then update to SP3 before you begin the cloning procedure.

Rikki

It can't check the status. It just comes up with 'an error has occurred' twice now.


I have checked the partitioning in Disk Management (Graphical View of my disc)

BACK UP - partition - Basic - FAT32 - Healthy (unknown partition) 4.0GB
HDD C: - partition _ Basic - NTFS - Healthy (System) 51 92GB



Hard Disk Drive Caddy Enclosure Case ordered. I will look at the BIOS for hard drive maximum size. Where exactly do I look? I have to often go there to reselect boot priority but that's all.

This is a steep learning curve for me so please bear with me.

Donnie

Clear out some space in your PM Inbox.

Rikki

Donnie wrote: »

Clear out some space in your PM Inbox.

Opps ok.:o

I have acronis true image ~ what discs do I need?

Donnie

Rikki wrote: »

Opps ok.:o

I have acronis true image ~ what discs do I need?

Have no idea, you'll have to check the guide to see whether a CD or DVD is necessary. Probably a CD-R is all that is necessary.

Rikki

I have signed in on another computer. I'm going to turn the other off and check the bios.

Don't know where to look.

Donnie

You can use CrystalCPUID to report your Motherboard and version of BIOS. This may help in order to check as to whether there will be limitations.
Just unzip the program and run the application.

closed

What evidence do you have that the hard disk is faulty, other than the HDD tool failing?