Dead Hard Drive - How to replace it

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Gerry said:
Thanks Shenan

This statement caught my eye "Clean install from Upgrade media (Only
comes in 'Retail'):" Upgrade Disks are they normally only available
for Retail versions?
Click to expand...

Upgrade CDs (upgrade installation CDs for Windows XP) are retail only.
OEM versions cannot be used to perform in-place upgrades.
BTW whenever a user in these newsgroups says they have "original"
disks I am always reluctant to take that as 100% reliable. If the
Dell computer is that old i.e. ME era the OP might be better
advised to spend their money on a new computer rather than spending
more money resurrecting a "museum" piece!
Click to expand...

And they might - but they should not have to spend much money (other than
<$100 on a hard disk drive) at all in this case.

Recall, the OP said, "I use this cmputer as a music server with a secondary
internal drive to play through my Tivo. Now I can't and I was hoping
someone could give me step by step directions on how to replace that drive
(all the drivers, OS stuff to make it run like new)." <- so they 'requested'
a method to recover this machine and pretty much directed the conversation.

Could they buy a new PC? Sure. For less than $400? Sure. And would that
$400 computer be more powerful, have some sort of warranty, etc? More than
likely.

However - in this case - they seemed pretty specific about what they wanted.
They had a setup they were comfortable with, it worked up until the hard
disk drive failed and they just want to replace said bad hardware and
continue with their comfortable status.
 
Shenan

All that you say is true. A lot of water has passed under the bridge
since I read the original post. Your powers of recall are somwhat better
than mine <G>.


--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
Thanks everyone for the discussion of this topic, though I may be
confused on what to do now.

1.) I did buy a new computer but it has Vista and the Tivo Home
Service (for music) doesn't work with Vista yet so I can't access the
music that I transferred to my new computer.
2.) I have a lot of additions on this computer and would like to try
to save it as a backup (new CD-RW, upgraded RAM, secondary hard drive,
Windows XP (it came with ME), firewire card, USB 2.0 card, wireless
keyboard/mouse, and a Wireless G card.
3.) These are the backup disks that I have
- Dell Dimension Resource CD
- Drivers & Utilities For Reinstalling V.90 Date/Fax Modem for MS
Windows (I assume I don't need this since I took the modem out to
isntall my wireless card)
- Applications Backup: Dell-Installed Programs
- Operating System (Reinstallation CD MS Windows XP Home Edition
including SP 1 (I don't know where this CD came from but I have it.
It could be from an old labtop that my company issued me a few years
ago)
- I also have a full copy/CD of Windows XP Pro that I used to
upgrade from Millenium Ed. I would have bought the upgrade version but
this was given to me by a friend who worked at Microsoft at the time
- The one thing I don't have is a backup CD for MS Office that I
had on my Dell 4100. I do have all of the installation files on a
backup drive from when I was having problems with that software a few
years ago. I also have Office 2007 from when I bought my new
computer. Can I install that if I fix my Dell 4100?

Thanks again,
Alex
 
Gerry said:
Thanks Shenan. The comments by you and Ron air issues, which those
contemplating buying computers from Dell and the like, need to be aware
of. A full copy of the operating system on CD is essential if the user is
to safeguard their investment in a new computer.
Click to expand...

Note that many systems that come without CDs *do* allow you to create
recovery CDs or DVDs. Not that I agree with this tactic, but it's the
responsibility of the purchaser to follow through and make the recovery
discs.

Systems that rely on recovery partitions should not be purchased, period,
and the seller and manufacturer told why. That is a fatally flawed
design, and denonstrates contempt for the purchaser. When the drive dies,
as it *will*, there is no possibility of repair without a new license.
If they have used an XP upgrade CD having previously started with say 98
do they need a 98 CD to install XP on a new drive?
Click to expand...

Yes, they need to show the XP Upgrade install qualifying media. A Win98 CD
may not work, but a 98 SE should. An ME disk will certainly work, but a
Windows 2000 CD will *not* work if the XP upgrade version is Home - that is
considered a downgrade, as various fundamental features in 2000 are not
available in XP Home.

HTH
-pk

--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Click to expand...
 
Interesting Patrick. The OP has now responded and much of what Shenan
guessed has turned out to be true. The OP has asked a lot more new
questions. Being a coward I think I will leave these to Shenan and
maintain my watching status <G>.

--
Regards.

Gerry
~~~~
FCA
Stourport, England
Enquire, plan and execute
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
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