Hard Drive issue

[Boppa-Wasch]

I have a TOSHIBA, Satellite P25-S477 Lap Top. The hard drive is starting to act up. Lock up, not recognized, etc... I have backed up all the files. I can take the drive out, start the computer, turn it off, re-insert the hard drive and it will be recognized and start as usual. It's currently working fine........It's like it just locked up and wouldn't run.

Is there any way I can just do some sort of back-up that will put the entire contents and programs that are currently on the C: drive on an external drive and then replace the Hard drive. Then put it all back on the new drive without losing anything or having to re-install everything?

Any other options??????
Not critical ...........yet.:dunno: :help: :computer:

 

[Wasch_24]

You need to "image" or "ghost" the hard drive onto the external drive.

I'm not sure how you would then get the image off the external drive and onto the new one.

The Geek Squad at Best Buy would likely do it for a fee, discounted if you buy the new hard drive there.

 

[Broadway Joe]

You need to "image" or "ghost" the hard drive onto the external drive.

I'm not sure how you would then get the image off the external drive and onto the new one.

The Geek Squad at Best Buy would likely do it for a fee, discounted if you buy the new hard drive there.

I agree, you could also try Firedog from Circuit City, I heard they are great.

 

[Boppa-Wasch]

I tried to do an entire back up of the C: drive, the file would only allow 4 gig to be transfered to the file.

 

[Wasch_24]

As far as I know the back-up will not take the OS and programs.

An image or ghost will basically take what is installed and saved on the current drive and replicate it on the new one.

 

[Jwrussell]

Yep, best bet is to hit BB or CC and have them do it for you while getting the new HD there. Will cost you more than doing it yourself and bargain shopping everything, but then you need to figure out how to do everything.

 

[Boppa-Wasch]

Best buy says they can't do a "ghost" (?). Would have to re install Windows and all other current items. (?) Will check with C C. 80 Gig is $60.00 plus install fee of $40.00.

 

[Jwrussell]

Wow. That's kind of steep for an install isn't it? I've never done it, but I was under the impression the install of a HD was about as simple as it gets.

 

[Tegu]

The other brothers are right on, you need to make an image of the hard drive and then put the image on a new drive, to accomplish this you will need some software and a desktop with an adapter to hook up the 2.5 inch drive. If you do not have a desktop I would take it somewhere where they have the equipment, however I will say that if windows is locking up, it may not be the drive, it could be the OS needs to be reinstalled anyway...If the drive is not being recognized by the PC in the bios you may want to flash the bios or install a bios update, and see if the problem goes away, is the hard drive making any noises to indicate the bearings are going bad or the head is not reading properly? My experiance with hard drives going bad is that they usually head south pretty quick, but I would run a diagnostic on it and make sure that is the problem.

 

[earnold25]

if i were you, i'd buy an external hard drive enclosure (for 3.5") drives. take out the HD and stick it in there. plug that into a working pc and copy the contents to there.

also, like some other people said, ghosting a drive is another option. you can do this by sticking the new HD in the usb enclosure, and running ghost from yoru laptop with your existing hard drive still installed. ghost can put the image on the usb hard drive.

 

[Boppa-Wasch]

Wow. That's kind of steep for an install isn't it? I've never done it, but I was under the impression the install of a HD was about as simple as it gets.

Two screws and it comes right out.....

 

[Boppa-Wasch]

The other brothers are right on, you need to make an image of the hard drive and then put the image on a new drive, to accomplish this you will need some software and a desktop with an adapter to hook up the 2.5 inch drive. If you do not have a desktop I would take it somewhere where they have the equipment, however I will say that if windows is locking up, it may not be the drive, it could be the OS needs to be reinstalled anyway...If the drive is not being recognized by the PC in the bios you may want to flash the bios or install a bios update, and see if the problem goes away, is the hard drive making any noises to indicate the bearings are going bad or the head is not reading properly? My experiance with hard drives going bad is that they usually head south pretty quick, but I would run a diagnostic on it and make sure that is the problem.

Does make a not-so-good noise when it does it. Using now with no issue's.....I think it was not recognized because it "locked up". once I removed and re-installed, it was recognized and works.

 

[Boppa-Wasch]

if i were you, i'd buy an external hard drive enclosure (for 3.5") drives. take out the HD and stick it in there. plug that into a working pc and copy the contents to there.

also, like some other people said, ghosting a drive is another option. you can do this by sticking the new HD in the usb enclosure, and running ghost from yoru laptop with your existing hard drive still installed. ghost can put the image on the usb hard drive.

I have 160 gig Western Digital, external that runs of the the USB port. Will this work? And, will it be recognized once the new hard drive is installed? I think Norton has a software for this.....not sure.

 

[Fox]

Ray, I build my own PC's and just built a new one. I am a huge fan of external drives and imaging software. I am now using Acronis True Image Home, version 11, and a Seagate Free Agent Pro. It is a long story, but suffice to say that during the PC build in December I had to restore images to my hard drive on a regular basis due to data corruption from a little known Microsoft bug. Fortunately, I was taking images at regular intervals during my build; e.g. -- OS, OS + updates, OS + Updates + Office, etc. I therefore had several images to choose from.

I restored my Acronis images ~15 times during the month of December, to completely different drives of varying sizes. My latest image is about 40 GB. Every single image was restored from a portable drive using the Acronis rescue CD. Every image worked perfectly - booting the first time, every time. I never had to reinstall a single piece of software. I have used a lot of high-end backup systems over the years, but this is the simplest, fastest and most reliable method I have found for protecting my system and data. Various combinations of system and data backups, done separately will allow you to return your PC to almost any previous, reliable state. Acronis is the shiznit and saved me days upon days of troubleshooting had I been forced to perform manual repairs. I think I paid about $29 for the software from Newegg or one of the other online vendors. The Free Agent Pro was about $120, but can handle USB, Firewire or eSATA.

Now, having said all this it may be a software problem. I have seen this issue with Windows before, although XP is generally stable. Acronis should work fine with your WD. Acronis runs from within Windows when creating the image. You can create your own rescure CDs tailored for your system. You may be able to use the rescue CD to create an image, although I have not done it that way. Acronis supplies a bootable CD with their software. There is an inexpensive way to do external backups if you have external Molex connectors (power). In that case you can use a bare drive and just set it on the table, plug in the power and data connections and you are in business.

 

[Tegu]

I have 160 gig Western Digital, external that runs of the the USB port. Will this work? And, will it be recognized once the new hard drive is installed? I think Norton has a software for this.....not sure.

Probably not without an adapter, they are not very expansive, the 160 is probaby a standard size drive, but yours is a laptop drive, The software is called norton ghost, but there are others out there, some available for free, remember you will have to boot from the software on a disk to perform the clone, you can not just run it from the drive you are trying to image and get a full clone of the existing hard drive so the software you use will need drivers to recognize your USB drive, that is why I recommend using a desktop and installing the old drive as a secondary, performing the clone and putting the image on the primary HD, then putting in the new drive and putting the image back on.

 

[Boppa-Wasch]

Found a place local that will install HD (80gig)and run the ghost to move everything over for $150.00. They say all I will have to do is turn the switch and I will notice no difference.......

 

[earnold25]

I have 160 gig Western Digital, external that runs of the the USB port. Will this work? And, will it be recognized once the new hard drive is installed? I think Norton has a software for this.....not sure.

it will work if you get an adapter. ebay has them for cheap.

norton makes the ghost software. you should be able to do it no problem.

 

[earnold25]

Found a place local that will install HD (80gig)and run the ghost to move everything over for $150.00. They say all I will have to do is turn the switch and I will notice no difference.......

that seems a bit steep to me.

 

[Boppa-Wasch]

that seems a bit steep to me.

Found Norton Ghost for $70.00, HD $69.00....$150.00 doesn't seem too bad when I can take it in Monday AM and have it back Monday PM.....

 

[Clinton]

Here's how to copy your Windows hard drive at no cost beyond a new hard drive:

Buy yourself a 2.5" hard drive and an external USB enclosure. (Oops, I see you already have it.)

Download Knoppix, burn to a CD, and boot from that CD.

Open a terminal and enter this command:

dd if=/dev/sda of=/dev/sdb bs=512 (Device names may vary.)

Or here's the point and click method:

http://helpdesk.its.uiowa.edu/backup/knoppix.htm

Swap the new drive for the old. You'll probably have to speak to some guy in India to reactivate Windows...