Posted: 8/18/2010 8:36:36 AM EDT
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Should I install a new harddrive or just buy a new system?
I have never installed a harddrive, if I go that route, exactly what will I need to purchase? I know I need a hardrive, what do I do about windows 7, will it come on the harddrive or will I need to purchase it seperatly? Update, OK In the system I am running right now, the one with windows 7 and vista, I have a SETA drive. I pulled the tower open, cleaned it and pulled the hard drive out. It is a SETA drive. The IDE drive was out of a another tower I have here. It has XP on it. So I am going to order the SETA drive and new OS and install sometime in September. I spoke with a firend of mine who also said I might as well upgrade the ram sticks as well. Looks like I can get the parts for what I need for around $300 and have a new machine. So that is the game plan. |
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Quoted: Should I install a new harddrive or just buy a new system? I have never installed a harddrive, if I go that route, exactly what will I need to purchase? I know I need a hardrive, what do I do about windows 7, will it come on the harddrive or will I need to purchase it seperatly? Are you sure that it's the hard drive that failed? You would need to purchase a new HDD and an operating system (like windows 7 that you mentioned)...that should be it assuming all you need is a new hard drive. You will need to install windows on the new drive and set it up...this may or may not be something you wish to attempt, but most people can do it if you are somewhat familiar with computers. Hard Drives here: http://www.pricewatch.com/hard_removable_drives/ |
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HDDs are cheap, but software will cost you. If you are replacing the existing drive you wont really need much for cables.
If the HDD failed your computer should boot through the BIOS screen, then it will usually say no Operating System found. What are the symptoms? |
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Should I install a new harddrive or just buy a new system? I have never installed a harddrive, if I go that route, exactly what will I need to purchase? I know I need a hardrive, what do I do about windows 7, will it come on the harddrive or will I need to purchase it seperatly? Are you sure that it's the hard drive that failed? You would need to purchase a new HDD and an operating system (like windows 7 that you mentioned)...that should be it assuming all you need is a new hard drive. You will need to install windows on the new drive and set it up...this may or may not be something you wish to attempt, but most people can do it if you are somewhat familiar with computers. Hard Drives here: http://www.pricewatch.com/hard_removable_drives/ Well my current hard drive is full, I have cleaned up everything that I do not need, so I want to install a larger hard drive. I am sure I can do it, just never have attempted it before. Cost would decide if I buy a new system or upgrade this one. |
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HDDs are cheap, but software will cost you. If you are replacing the existing drive you wont really need much for cables. If the HDD failed your computer should boot through the BIOS screen, then it will usually say no Operating System found. What are the symptoms? Hard drive is full, I installled windows 7 in a up grade from Vista, ever since it just has never run right and I am having a few issues with everything freezing or not booting up right. I figure a fresh harddrive and now OS will get me right again. |
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Make sure you know what type of harddrive your system uses. SATA or IDE? If it is SATA, there will be a narrow cable, usually about 3/8" across, coming out the back of your drive and connecting it to the mother board. If it is an IDE drive, the cable will be a 2 1/2" wide ribbon cable. You can purchase a new drive and a copy of Win 7 Home from Newegg for about $200. |
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Tell us about your current system, and what you commonly use it for. What do you have that is filling up your drive now.. Documents, porn, what? Online banking, web surfing, some photo storage of family pics.. Sorry no porn... Current system is a Dell dimension E520, cant remeber the exact specs, something like 2gigs of Ram, I think a 500gig harddrive.. |
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Make sure you know what type of harddrive your system uses. SATA or IDE? If it is SATA, there will be a narrow cable, usually about 3/8" across, coming out the back of your drive and connecting it to the mother board. If it is an IDE drive, the cable will be a 2 1/2" wide ribbon cable. You can purchase a new drive and a copy of Win 7 Home from Newegg for about $200. What if it has both, on the right side is a 5 pin plug, on te left is about a 2" wide ribbon. |
Preloaded Operating System? If it is, then you may have a system restore function to make the system look like a New system. If it was Preloaded, then you will probably have to buy a New copy of Windows if you replace the Hard Drive.
Impeach Obama for Not doing His Job.  
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Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Should I install a new harddrive or just buy a new system? I have never installed a harddrive, if I go that route, exactly what will I need to purchase? I know I need a hardrive, what do I do about windows 7, will it come on the harddrive or will I need to purchase it seperatly? Are you sure that it's the hard drive that failed? You would need to purchase a new HDD and an operating system (like windows 7 that you mentioned)...that should be it assuming all you need is a new hard drive. You will need to install windows on the new drive and set it up...this may or may not be something you wish to attempt, but most people can do it if you are somewhat familiar with computers. Hard Drives here: http://www.pricewatch.com/hard_removable_drives/ Well my current hard drive is full, I have cleaned up everything that I do not need, so I want to install a larger hard drive. I am sure I can do it, just never have attempted it before. Cost would decide if I buy a new system or upgrade this one. How about just adding a second drive? That way you can keep all of your loaded programs and OS that you are currently using. If that is an option for you then it should be quite an easy install. |
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Should I install a new harddrive or just buy a new system? I have never installed a harddrive, if I go that route, exactly what will I need to purchase? I know I need a hardrive, what do I do about windows 7, will it come on the harddrive or will I need to purchase it seperatly? Are you sure that it's the hard drive that failed? You would need to purchase a new HDD and an operating system (like windows 7 that you mentioned)...that should be it assuming all you need is a new hard drive. You will need to install windows on the new drive and set it up...this may or may not be something you wish to attempt, but most people can do it if you are somewhat familiar with computers. Hard Drives here: http://www.pricewatch.com/hard_removable_drives/ Well my current hard drive is full, I have cleaned up everything that I do not need, so I want to install a larger hard drive. I am sure I can do it, just never have attempted it before. Cost would decide if I buy a new system or upgrade this one. How about just adding a second drive? That way you can keep all of your loaded programs and OS that you are currently using. If that is an option for you then it should be quite an easy install. Once C: is full its going to take more then an average user to accomplish this. |
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Should I install a new harddrive or just buy a new system? I have never installed a harddrive, if I go that route, exactly what will I need to purchase? I know I need a hardrive, what do I do about windows 7, will it come on the harddrive or will I need to purchase it seperatly? Are you sure that it's the hard drive that failed? You would need to purchase a new HDD and an operating system (like windows 7 that you mentioned)...that should be it assuming all you need is a new hard drive. You will need to install windows on the new drive and set it up...this may or may not be something you wish to attempt, but most people can do it if you are somewhat familiar with computers. Hard Drives here: http://www.pricewatch.com/hard_removable_drives/ Well my current hard drive is full, I have cleaned up everything that I do not need, so I want to install a larger hard drive. I am sure I can do it, just never have attempted it before. Cost would decide if I buy a new system or upgrade this one. How about just adding a second drive? That way you can keep all of your loaded programs and OS that you are currently using. If that is an option for you then it should be quite an easy install. Once C: is full its going to take more then an average user to accomplish this. I purchaed a 1tb external hardrive about 6 months ago, I can move my pics and such to it, but that is it, it helped but not like I thought it would. A buddy said I should just get a new hard drive and be done with it. |
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OK looks like I have a IDE drive, I found this one on new egg...good ?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136111&cm_re=ide_internal_hard_drive_3.5-_-22-136-111-_-Product |
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Should I install a new harddrive or just buy a new system? I have never installed a harddrive, if I go that route, exactly what will I need to purchase? I know I need a hardrive, what do I do about windows 7, will it come on the harddrive or will I need to purchase it seperatly? Are you sure that it's the hard drive that failed? You would need to purchase a new HDD and an operating system (like windows 7 that you mentioned)...that should be it assuming all you need is a new hard drive. You will need to install windows on the new drive and set it up...this may or may not be something you wish to attempt, but most people can do it if you are somewhat familiar with computers. Hard Drives here: http://www.pricewatch.com/hard_removable_drives/ Well my current hard drive is full, I have cleaned up everything that I do not need, so I want to install a larger hard drive. I am sure I can do it, just never have attempted it before. Cost would decide if I buy a new system or upgrade this one. How about just adding a second drive? That way you can keep all of your loaded programs and OS that you are currently using. If that is an option for you then it should be quite an easy install. Once C: is full its going to take more then an average user to accomplish this. I purchaed a 1tb external hardrive about 6 months ago, I can move my pics and such to it, but that is it, it helped but not like I thought it would. A buddy said I should just get a new hard drive and be done with it. Congrats on saving the Important stuff. That is the Most important part of the Battle. 
Impeach Obama because it is a Teachable Moment.
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Well the E520 shipped with a 200GB disk drive. The OS install will be a few gigs, a few more gigs for applications. You may want to have someone technical (local expert) help you figure out why your drive is full of cruft. Have you really taken almost 200GB worth of pictures? |
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OK looks like I have a IDE drive, I found this one on new egg...good ? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136111&cm_re=ide_internal_hard_drive_3.5-_-22-136-111-_-Product Did you Open the case and look at the MotherBoard? 
Impeach Obama to Teach the Children about Corruption.
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Well the E520 shipped with a 200GB disk drive. The OS install will be a few gigs, a few more gigs for applications. You may want to have someone technical (local expert) help you figure out why your drive is full of cruft. Have you really taken almost 200GB worth of pictures? He may just need to clean out the Temp files. 
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Quoted: Well the E520 shipped with a 200GB disk drive. The OS install will be a few gigs, a few more gigs for applications. You may want to have someone technical (local expert) help you figure out why your drive is full of cruft. Have you really taken almost 200GB worth of pictures? Not that hard to do...I've taken ~20k pictures in the last 5 years...with an 8MP dSLR shooting in RAW that takes up a lot of space... 
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Well the E520 shipped with a 200GB disk drive. The OS install will be a few gigs, a few more gigs for applications. You may want to have someone technical (local expert) help you figure out why your drive is full of cruft. Have you really taken almost 200GB worth of pictures? What Ithink I did wrong last year with windows 7, was I did not do a clean install, I installed windows 7 over vista, when I boot up I get the option to run either one, so I think with both vista and 7 on the hdd, it is full and I cannot delete anything else off of it without the os going more screwy than it is, basicly my screw up. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Well the E520 shipped with a 200GB disk drive. The OS install will be a few gigs, a few more gigs for applications. You may want to have someone technical (local expert) help you figure out why your drive is full of cruft. Have you really taken almost 200GB worth of pictures? Not that hard to do...I've taken ~20k pictures in the last 5 years...with an 8MP dSLR shooting in RAW that takes up a lot of space... Agreed. But my assumption is anyone running a dSLR and taking THAT many pictures would have figured out an appropriate storage solution long ago. |
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get a real disk defrag tool , and a good virus scanner.
try UltraDefrag and Avira Run both on the system. That should help, also move all the extra files ( pictures and movies ) to the external drive. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Make sure you know what type of harddrive your system uses. SATA or IDE? If it is SATA, there will be a narrow cable, usually about 3/8" across, coming out the back of your drive and connecting it to the mother board. If it is an IDE drive, the cable will be a 2 1/2" wide ribbon cable. You can purchase a new drive and a copy of Win 7 Home from Newegg for about $200. What if it has both, on the right side is a 5 pin plug, on te left is about a 2" wide ribbon. The 5 pin is the power cable. You have an IDE drive. |
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Make sure you know what type of harddrive your system uses. SATA or IDE? If it is SATA, there will be a narrow cable, usually about 3/8" across, coming out the back of your drive and connecting it to the mother board. If it is an IDE drive, the cable will be a 2 1/2" wide ribbon cable. You can purchase a new drive and a copy of Win 7 Home from Newegg for about $200. What if it has both, on the right side is a 5 pin plug, on te left is about a 2" wide ribbon. The 5 pin is the power cable. 
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Hard drive is full, I installled windows 7 in a up grade from Vista, ever since it just has never run right and I am having a few issues with everything freezing or not booting up right. I figure a fresh harddrive and now OS will get me right again. You will need discs to both Vista and W7 Upgrade... |
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Quoted: Quoted: HDDs are cheap, but software will cost you. If you are replacing the existing drive you wont really need much for cables. If the HDD failed your computer should boot through the BIOS screen, then it will usually say no Operating System found. What are the symptoms? Hard drive is full, I installled windows 7 in a up grade from Vista, ever since it just has never run right and I am having a few issues with everything freezing or not booting up right. I figure a fresh harddrive and now OS will get me right again. That part in red is the problem right there. Do this; Buy another hard drive. Not a _replacement_ but a drive that you will store data on. Install it in the computer or use one of the "external drive bay" things. Copy whatever you filled your hard drive with to the new drive. (Movies, MP3s, iTunes library, whatever) Get out the Win7 Upgrade CD and repeat your upgrade process. EXCEPT when it asks you if you want to over-write the existing operating system say NO. Remove the partition and format the drive (which will WIPE YOUR DATA), and the reason you copied all your files on the other drive. This will leave you with a fresh Win7 install that is not screwed up because it's "over" a Vista install. Then LEAVE your files on the other drive and just use them there. You will have a faster, newer, and less prone to failing drive with your data on it, and plenty of room to install programs on the other drive. Note, you may not be really in need of a reinstall. There are probably lots and lots of places where there is space. Some games take several gigs, so uninstall a few things you may not really be using and see how it goes. |
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Quoted: Quoted: Hard drive is full, I installled windows 7 in a up grade from Vista, ever since it just has never run right and I am having a few issues with everything freezing or not booting up right. I figure a fresh harddrive and now OS will get me right again. You will need discs to both Vista and W7 Upgrade... Actually, he might not. Windows will under certain conditions put a "this install is approved" message in memory first and won't ask for the upgraded version or the new key even if the entire file system on the drive is wiped during the install. |
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HDDs are cheap, but software will cost you. If you are replacing the existing drive you wont really need much for cables. If the HDD failed your computer should boot through the BIOS screen, then it will usually say no Operating System found. What are the symptoms? Hard drive is full, I installled windows 7 in a up grade from Vista, ever since it just has never run right and I am having a few issues with everything freezing or not booting up right. I figure a fresh harddrive and now OS will get me right again. That part in red is the problem right there. Do this; Buy another hard drive. Not a _replacement_ but a drive that you will store data on. Install it in the computer or use one of the "external drive bay" things. Copy whatever you filled your hard drive with to the new drive. (Movies, MP3s, iTunes library, whatever) Get out the Win7 Upgrade CD and repeat your upgrade process. EXCEPT when it asks you if you want to over-write the existing operating system say NO. Remove the partition and format the drive (which will WIPE YOUR DATA), and the reason you copied all your files on the other drive. This will leave you with a fresh Win7 install that is not screwed up because it's "over" a Vista install. Then LEAVE your files on the other drive and just use them there. You will have a faster, newer, and less prone to failing drive with your data on it, and plenty of room to install programs on the other drive. Note, you may not be really in need of a reinstall. There are probably lots and lots of places where there is space. Some games take several gigs, so uninstall a few things you may not really be using and see how it goes. That is what I tried to do last year. I failed. |
| WD and Seagate are both great drives. What you have is a SATA drive (Serial ATA). They now have SATA 3.0 and that is what I would go with. If I were you and the computer MOBO permits run two HDDs if you filed 500GB easily you are going to want to run two drives. That way you wont have to migrate most of your media to a new drive, which can be a huge pain in the ass (depending on the computer of course). |