[dba-Tech] Format hard drive and start over

Hi Tina,

Over the last few years, I have had relatively few disk failures, but once I
get over the initial shock of losing a drive, I am always delighted because
it gives me an excuse to open the drive and show some one how beautiful the
inside is.  Inside your hard drive is a very clean place.

Have fun with it, you may think it is pretty enough to be an ornament of
sorts.

Mark

2009/11/1 Tina Norris Fields <tinanfields at torchlake.com>

> Hi John,
>
> SpinRite is running on level 4 - smooth as silk until it reached
> cylinder 4,141, head 252.  Here it is laboriously climbing through
> sectors - up to sector 41 as I am typing this message.
>
> Perhaps the thing to do is just replace the hard drive.  It is a Western
> Digital 60GB drive, identified in Setup as: WD600BB-75CAA0.
>
> I can boot to Windows (it's XP, not XP Pro) and do lots of stuff, but
> there's a good chance if I let it sit for a few hours, it will suddenly
> not find the hard drive.  Frequently, there is a boot message that the
> hard drive is operating outside of normal specs, strike F1 to continue
> or F2 for Setup.  Sometimes in that situation, Setup does not see the
> hard drive, sometimes it does.  Usually F1 continues the boot sequence,
> although occasionally it stops again, this time with a "no keyboard"
> message.
>
> What kinds of hard drives do you have lying around, and why are you
> willing to part with one?  For how much?
>
> Thanks so much for your response and help.
>
> T
>
> John Bartow wrote:
> > Hi Tina,
> > Run SpinRite and have do a check of the entire hard drive. Doesn't pay to
> go
> > through installing the OS from scratch if the hard drive is bad. I have a
> > ton of hard drives laying around here if you need a different one let me
> > know.
> >
> > If you have a Product Key number (on the MS sticker) on the case of the
> > computer you can use a disk with the same product to install Windows from
> > scratch. Then you won't need to worry about formatting or anything as it
> > will be an option in the installation procedure. If installing XP and it
> has
> > less than SP2 then download SP2 and SP3 on you main PC. Install those SPs
> > from a USB stick as soon as Windows install is done. If you need drivers
> for
> > the PC you can download them from the manufacturer's web support site and
> > install them from a USB stick too. XP, SP2 and SP3 will take some time to
> > install so don't bother watching them once started :o)
> >
> > Also don't bother installing any additional apps (including security)
> until
> > done with all of this.
> >
> > Good Luck Tina!
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
> > [mailto:dba-tech-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Tina Norris
> > Fields
> > Sent: Friday, October 30, 2009 7:06 PM
> > To: Discussion of Hardware and Software issues
> > Subject: [dba-Tech] Format hard drive and start over
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > Please hold my hand while I do this for the first time.  I've been given
> > a used Win XP machine, with a 60GB hard drive that is failing.  I would
> > like to reformat this hard drive and reinstall the operating system and
> > see if I can get some good out of the machine - for teaching kids and
> > others, and for playing around; this is not a production machine for
> > me.  Before I dive into this for the first time, I would like a little
> > guidance.  Okay?  I'm listening.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > T
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