Topic: I need a new Hard Drive!!!
started by: DRUFER
Posted by DRUFER on Apr. 29 2002,03:44
I went on my computer friday morning to find the "Operating system not found" message.:( My dad reinstalls Windows ME. We look at the hard drive space and find out it says there are only 2 FREAKING GIGS AVABLE. Its supposed to be like a 30 gig HD. So we start looking at getting a new hard drive. My question is this: Since we have the HP restore disks, will they load up windows ME and the other software even if there is a new hard drive in? Or are we gonna have to insert the crobar in the wallet and buy a new copy of windows. If we are gonna do that, any recomendations on what windows to buy? my dad is dead set against buying XP because he "dosent want mr.gates snooping around the computer." Thanks for the help.
Posted by fatalbert on Apr. 29 2002,03:47
go with 2K
Posted by Dysorderia on Apr. 29 2002,04:22
98se is pretty solid
Posted by BlackFlag on Apr. 29 2002,04:32
/me agrees with dys.
Posted by Rshias on Apr. 29 2002,05:17
| Quote (DRUFER @ 28 April 2002,22:44) |
| My dad reinstalls Windows ME. We look at the hard drive space and find out it says there are only 2 FREAKING GIGS AVABLE. Its supposed to be like a 30 gig HD. |
Was this immediately after formatting, or was it a system restore? If it was immediately after formatting, there's a problem. Since I doubt that HP's come preloaded with 28 gigs of data, I'm going to leap to the conclusion that either the hard drive size is being recognized incorrectly, or you have unused space on other partitions.
If this was a system restore, it's probably just an issue that you have a shitload of stuff downloaded or installed. The cheapest solution would be to delete all the crap you don't need.
Now, going by your post, I can't fathom why you'd feel the need to replace Windows, but itf you're dead set on a new copy, look into 98SE or XP, depending on what your system can handle. 2k is nice as well, but it's not quite as user friendly as the previous two.
For a hard drive recommendation, I'd say get a Maxtor D740X - 40 gig, 7200rpm, ATA 133. It's fast, reliable, and cheap.
Posted by editor on Apr. 29 2002,05:22
I upgraded ME to 2000 this week; there were a lot of things that stopped working as a result.I tried out XP the next day, and I'm quite pleased, although all of Office Premium quit and would not accept the (illegal) disk.
LM is emailing an illegal copy of XP Office to me right now.
400 MB is a lot even for DSL.
I really like XP.
Posted by Beldurin on Apr. 29 2002,06:02
first thing to try is run a HD util (such as PartitionMagic) to see if the HDD is just mis-partitioned. It may be that only a 2GB part. was created and the rest is sitting unformatted. That's most likely what happened, since if you lost 28GB to damage, the thing probably wouldn't even spin up.The good news is that most factory restore discs are only hardware-specific when dealing w/peripherals and such (vid cards, NICs, USB, etc.) The HDD shouldn't be a problem as long as its equal to or larger than the old one. You'll probably need to tweak the partitioning later to avoid wasting space though. Hope this helps!
Posted by Wiley on Apr. 29 2002,13:59
WinXP doesn't let Bill Gates snoop around on your computer without your permission. Yes, if you use the upgrade wizard to download patches the wizard will scan your harddrive for application that can potentialy cause problems with Windows and install a fix if one is available. It will not however send a message to your local law enforcement telling them to kick down your door because you have a bootleg copy of photoshop. I have an illegal copy of Office XP on mine and I'm not really worried about it. You have the option to turn Auto Update annd the Update Wizard off all together. You can also turn off Remote Assistance / Terminal Service, just remember to download patches manually. XP has run perfectly on my machine. I never turn this machine off, and currently it has been running since I moved here ...never been turned off or rebooted.
Posted by DRUFER on Apr. 29 2002,19:48
My father did some more work this afternoon. The bios is set for a fat32, but the hard drive thinks its a fat 16. Now we may not need a new hard drive, if we can get the HD to relize its a fat32. Thanks for the help guys.
Posted by veistran on Apr. 29 2002,20:08
get partition magic.
Posted by Beldurin on Apr. 30 2002,03:30
| Quote (veistran @ 29 April 2002,14:08) |
| get partition magic. |
hmmm....that sounds familiar...who recommended that?
Posted by veistran on Apr. 30 2002,05:28
hey, he seemed oblivious to your advice, so I figured a repition was warranted....
actually I wasn't really paying attention to the old posts other than to notice he narrowed down the problem so I posted the best solution to the newly redifined problem.