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I think I might be about to die.

Over the last few months I have had a few probs with my system, mainly viruses Etc.

Done quite a lot of reparatory work on my system and got it limping along fairly satisfactorily.

The last problem (Emails being sent out Etc plus SOMETHING affecting the smooth running) seemed to be disappearing BUT I noticed the odd 'Click' coming from the HD which I am sure didn't used to happen.

This is only occasional and not every day (I leave my system on 24/7 for approx a week before rebooting).

The other day I had a message come up as the HD was being accessed - something to do with hardware problem? That's a first.

I have experienced total loss (40Gb Deathstar) before.

Ok. I have now dug out a spare 80Gb and have connected that up as a slave and copied all my Jpgs, Mp3's and Doc's over to it anticipating a total failure.

What else should I do?

Should I make a 'Ghost' of my system (To the slave drive)to enable a quick install on the new 1Tb that I might have to purchase or should I just use the Dell disk and download latest drivers, updates and the like and do a clean install?


Also, whilst on the subject, is there anyone that can recover the files on my old IBM Deskstar for >< £100 or is the cost still around the £250 mark with no guarantees - I.e. you pay that whether or not they are successful? I vaguely recall that they used glass platters and being (then) unconventional are difficult to get data back from.

Advice as always, greatly appreciated.
"Unhappiness is not knowing what we want, and killing ourselves to get it."
Post Count: 4,111 Thanked 3,111 Times in 1,111 Posts (Actual figures as they once were))
Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
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Comments

  • gonzo127
    gonzo127 Posts: 4,482 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    if you have suffered from virus's i wouldnt recommend a disk imagae and would just go for a clean install and then pull your backed up files accross, for one this will give a nice clean install so all the bloat should be gone, and it will also make sure you dont bring any virus's accross if you do have some hiding
    Drop a brand challenge
    on a £100 shop you might on average get 70 items save
    10p per product = £7 a week ~ £28 a month
    20p per product = £14 a week ~ £56 a month
    30p per product = £21 a week ~ £84 a month (or in other words one weeks shoping at the new price)
  • free4440273
    free4440273 Posts: 38,438 Forumite
    http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp --- this is free and is very decent /.
    BLOODBATH IN THE EVENING THEN? :shocked: OR PERHAPS THE AFTERNOON? OR THE MORNING? OH, FORGET THIS MALARKEY!

    THE KILLERS :cool:

    THE PUNISHER :dance: MATURE CHEDDAR ADDICT:cool:
  • JasX
    JasX Posts: 3,996 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    IN FUTURE I'd also suggest it good practice to reboot your machine every 3 days or so tops.... I've had issues at work of machines that were succoming to viruses as the lack of a reboot was preventing the antivirus and MS security patches updating/applying properly or in a timely manner

    It takes alot less than 7 days these days for a published exploit to become a virus in the wild/on the net and find its way onto your PC.
  • Back up your personal data onto an external hard drive.

    Format the Hard Drive and do a clean install. Its a bit heavy handed, but you seem to know what you're doing :)
  • rizla01
    rizla01 Posts: 7,256 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Back up your personal data onto an external hard drive.

    Format the Hard Drive and do a clean install. Its a bit heavy handed, but you seem to know what you're doing :)

    But I am lazy/busy and would prefer to spend little time doing it.



    I was wondering if the 'Click' is a software problem or likely to be a HD problem?

    Do they occasionally click, esp if 3/4 full or under heavy load?

    Am I best to get another drive and make this a secondary drive or is it likely i can just re-format & partition this one?

    Its the 250Gb that came with the system (Approx 4 yrs old)
    "Unhappiness is not knowing what we want, and killing ourselves to get it."
    Post Count: 4,111 Thanked 3,111 Times in 1,111 Posts (Actual figures as they once were))
    Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
  • closed
    closed Posts: 10,886 Forumite
    edited 15 December 2010 pm31 3:13PM
    They can occasionally click

    Disk image it anyway, even if you want to do a clean install, then you have everything.

    Deathstar, depends how bad it is, what happens. A cheap fix is going to be software based (which you can do yourself), so it will need to be visible in windows/bios. If it's a headcrash, the longer it's spinning, the more the potential damage.
    !!
    > . !!!! ----> .
  • rizla01
    rizla01 Posts: 7,256 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    closed wrote: »
    They can occasionally click

    Disk image it anyway, even if you want to do a clean install, then you have everything.

    Deathstar, depends how bad it is, what happens. A cheap fix is going to be software based (which you can do yourself), so it will need to be visible in windows/bios. If it's a headcrash, the longer it's spinning, the more the potential damage.


    No, the disk isn't recognised. I wish!

    Tried everything inc freezer trick - all to no avail.

    Loaded with my 1st GD's first photos and 4 years of holiday snaps. :(
    "Unhappiness is not knowing what we want, and killing ourselves to get it."
    Post Count: 4,111 Thanked 3,111 Times in 1,111 Posts (Actual figures as they once were))
    Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.
  • JJ_Egan
    JJ_Egan Posts: 20,281 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Click is usually known as the click of death .



    Four year old always on drive even if you got it back i would not trust it .

    Its possible that you can get the data back at high cost £500 + from data recovery firms .
    Tried everything inc freezer trick - all to no avail. wont work on modern drives with multiple platters .

    jje


    jje
  • closed
    closed Posts: 10,886 Forumite
    Freezer trick probably made it worse. If you have no intention of spending 100's on it, sometimes they can come back to life after sitting on a shelf for a while.
    !!
    > . !!!! ----> .
  • asc99c
    asc99c Posts: 134 Forumite
    One other possibility is put it into a USB enclosure, instead of connected through IDE. Sometimes the disc may take a long time to spin up, and the PC only waits so long to decide what is connected and working. If it's connected via USB then it can take longer to spin up and still be recognised.
This discussion has been closed.
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