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| Thread ID: 25995 | 2002-10-16 22:29:00 | death and hard drive | mark c (247) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 89933 | 2002-10-16 22:29:00 | One of the common fixits for comp. problems is "wipe your HD nice and clean and then reinstall". What if the HD doesn't work enough for you to be able to wipe it clean? I had a look at a friend's bung comp. and the techie he ended up taking it to said it was unfixable and is selling him another. Just a puzzle. :) |
mark c (247) | ||
| 89934 | 2002-10-16 22:41:00 | If there is no backup and you need data on it then you need a data recovery service like Computer Forensics in Auckland The hard drive can not be recovered if they are going to replace it If it is still working intermittently, you can back it up and also ghost it so that your system is back quite quickly (though this is not your current scenario). |
Marty2001 (421) | ||
| 89935 | 2002-10-16 23:14:00 | That's why we do regular backups, mark ;-) How old was the hard drive? It should have a reasonably long life but there are duds out there . godfather said not long ago that he had a three-month old drive die on him (replaced under warranty) . If it's dead then it's dead but like the other poster said if there is important stuff that you want off it then it can be done - at a price . |
Susan B (19) | ||
| 89936 | 2002-10-16 23:17:00 | A bit more - did the techie say what was wrong with it? What problems was your friend having with it? If it had shutdown problems and/or the scandisks were showing lots of lost clusters and that kind of thing, then it definitely was on the blink. | Susan B (19) | ||
| 89937 | 2002-10-16 23:28:00 | The HD was ancient, maybe early 90's and was near it's end. It worked alright until he messed up an installation and then it jammed on the 2nd POST screen. More the point was the puzzle that how do you fix something if what you use to fix it is inaccessable. Like if the solution to problems on yr HD is to reformat and you don't have reformat as an option, because of the problems. Thanks. :D (lots of puzzles, I could be here all day) |
mark c (247) | ||
| 89938 | 2002-10-17 03:54:00 | You don't boot from the hard disk you are going to format. I've got one old box which doesn't even need a bootable floppy to format a hard disk --- There's a test/format programme in the BIOS setup. | Graham L (2) | ||
| 89939 | 2002-10-17 04:32:00 | it is posable to have a full hard drive failure and need a new one but that is only $200 if he is begin sold a new system then it sounds like the tech just wanted to sell him a new box..... I find it had to think of any way a system could be " unfixable " unless it was hit by lightning or a truck. if the tech cant say exactly what is the problem and what cant be fixed and why then i would be thinking he is just in it for a sale of a new box..... and I bet he offers to take the old system away and "dispose of it" |
robsonde (120) | ||
| 89940 | 2002-10-17 05:07:00 | Mark, Disks can have one of two faults: Software Fault Hardware Fault Most faults are software . When things go too far wrong then it's time for a reformat . To reformat you retrieve your start-up disk (created when you installed the operating system), check if it has format . exe on it (and if not copy it from another machine), boot from your floppy drive, reformat and reinstall - all from the a: drive . Hardware faults do occur though as with anything built in the last few years (Here the jinx started a couple of weeks ago with the toaster, progressed through the dishwasher, a car, the printer and has now reached the electric jug . Nothing is immune) . Floppy disks have an expected lifespan of a year or two, CDs of 100 years (I think) and I can't remember the hard drive stats but it's no where near the CDs . |
Heather P (163) | ||
| 89941 | 2002-10-17 19:35:00 | Mean Time Between failure of a Hard drive is around 500,000 hours, depending on brand etc. Which if you used your computer for 8 hours a day. It should last about 171 years |
roofus (483) | ||
| 89942 | 2002-10-17 20:43:00 | If anyone is quoting 500,000 hours then they are guessing . The only way to prove such stats is to test it . What were people doing 57 years ago (500,000 / 24hrs x 365days)? Creating hard drives for testing purposes? What about turn offs, crashes, restarts, knocks, movement? These would all help to reduce life span . Even if something had been under test for the last 57 years it would have been under controlled conditions and under standards issued 57 years ago . Sorry, today we live in a throw-away society . "Lifetime guarantees" are just that . From the birth of a product till it's death . |
Heather P (163) | ||
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