New Hard Drive vs. New Computer

"Joy" wrote in message

> My husband's computer is getting various error messages and our computer
> man said he needs either a new hard drive or a new computer. He currently
> has a Toshiba laptop, bought in 2001, updated to WinXP (it had Win98).
> He doesn't need a laptop; it was passed on by another family member, it
> uses a docking station. I'm still using WinXP myself (no desire to go to
> Windows 7), and I'd just as soon keep his with WinXP, which would mean a
> new hard drive rather than a new computer. Any advice/suggestions?
>

"our computer man said he needs either a new hard drive or a new computer."

That's a wide open invitation. Save your money repairing the old laptop, the
labor
charges could be $$$ if it's not a simple hard drive replacement. I'd go
shopping
for a new computer.
 >> Stay informed about: New Hard Drive vs. New Computer 

"Joy" wrote in message

> My husband's computer is getting various error messages and our computer
> man said he needs either a new hard drive or a new computer. He currently
> has a Toshiba laptop, bought in 2001, updated to WinXP (it had Win98).
> He doesn't need a laptop; it was passed on by another family member, it
> uses a docking station. I'm still using WinXP myself (no desire to go to
> Windows 7), and I'd just as soon keep his with WinXP, which would mean a
> new hard drive rather than a new computer. Any advice/suggestions?

If your computer technician is confident that your error messages (which
unfortunately you do not quote) are caused by a failing disk then replacing
the disk is your most economical option. Some disk manufacturers make a free
cloning program available on their home site. You could also use some disk
imaging program such as Acronis True Image.

Upgrading the machine to Windows 7 is not an option.
 >> Stay informed about: New Hard Drive vs. New Computer 

Thanks for your reply.

There are two basic errors; that appear at different times. One appears in
white print on a black screen and says "Windows could not start because the
following file is missing or corrupt: System32\DRIVERS\pci.sys You can
attempt to repair this by starting Windows Setup using the original Setup
CD-ROM. Select (r) at the first screen to start repair."

When my husband took the computer to the tech, he took along the CD-ROM, but
the tech didn't get that particular error message! (The toothache that
stops when you go to the dentist. wrote in message

>
> "Joy" wrote in message

>> My husband's computer is getting various error messages and our computer
>> man said he needs either a new hard drive or a new computer. He
>> currently has a Toshiba laptop, bought in 2001, updated to WinXP (it had
>> Win98). He doesn't need a laptop; it was passed on by another family
>> member, it uses a docking station. I'm still using WinXP myself (no
>> desire to go to Windows 7), and I'd just as soon keep his with WinXP,
>> which would mean a new hard drive rather than a new computer. Any
>> advice/suggestions?
>
> If your computer technician is confident that your error messages (which
> unfortunately you do not quote) are caused by a failing disk then
> replacing the disk is your most economical option. Some disk manufacturers
> make a free cloning program available on their home site. You could also
> use some disk imaging program such as Acronis True Image.
>
> Upgrading the machine to Windows 7 is not an option.
>
 >> Stay informed about: New Hard Drive vs. New Computer 

The symptoms you describe indicate iether a drive problem or memory problem
I'm assuming your tech would have used the drive makers disk checking
utility.
If you clone a drive, then your tech is correct in that any corruption could
be carried forward.
How you proceed depends on what you want;
A new drive, then reinstall all your programs, assuming you have the cd's
A new PC? winxp was replaced by Vista which in turn was replaced by win7
Your money, your call

"Joy" wrote in message

> Thanks for your reply.
>
> There are two basic errors; that appear at different times. One appears in
> white print on a black screen and says "Windows could not start because
> the following file is missing or corrupt: System32\DRIVERS\pci.sys
> You can attempt to repair this by starting Windows Setup using the
> original Setup CD-ROM. Select (r) at the first screen to start
> repair."
>
> When my husband took the computer to the tech, he took along the CD-ROM,
> but the tech didn't get that particular error message! (The toothache
> that stops when you go to the dentist. wrote in message

>>
>> "Joy" wrote in message
>
>>> My husband's computer is getting various error messages and our computer
>>> man said he needs either a new hard drive or a new computer. He
>>> currently has a Toshiba laptop, bought in 2001, updated to WinXP (it had
>>> Win98). He doesn't need a laptop; it was passed on by another family
>>> member, it uses a docking station. I'm still using WinXP myself (no
>>> desire to go to Windows 7), and I'd just as soon keep his with WinXP,
>>> which would mean a new hard drive rather than a new computer. Any
>>> advice/suggestions?
>>
>> If your computer technician is confident that your error messages (which
>> unfortunately you do not quote) are caused by a failing disk then
>> replacing the disk is your most economical option. Some disk
>> manufacturers make a free cloning program available on their home site.
>> You could also use some disk imaging program such as Acronis True Image.
>>
>> Upgrading the machine to Windows 7 is not an option.
>>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: New Hard Drive vs. New Computer 

There are two types of hard disk errors:
a) Physical errors
b) Logical errors

Chkdsk.exe checks for logical (=file system) errors. It can repair some but
not all of them.

The hard disk diagnostic program that your disk manufacturer has on his web
site will check the disk for physical errors. This is the one you should
download and run right now.

Transferring the old disk's contents to the new disk makes sense: If it
works then you save yourself a lot of trouble. If it fails then nothing is
lost: Just do a clean installation of Windows on the new disk.


"Joy" wrote in message

> Thanks for your reply.
>
> There are two basic errors; that appear at different times. One appears in
> white print on a black screen and says "Windows could not start because
> the following file is missing or corrupt: System32\DRIVERS\pci.sys
> You can attempt to repair this by starting Windows Setup using the
> original Setup CD-ROM. Select (r) at the first screen to start
> repair."
>
> When my husband took the computer to the tech, he took along the CD-ROM,
> but the tech didn't get that particular error message! (The toothache
> that stops when you go to the dentist. wrote in message

>>
>> "Joy" wrote in message
>
>>> My husband's computer is getting various error messages and our computer
>>> man said he needs either a new hard drive or a new computer. He
>>> currently has a Toshiba laptop, bought in 2001, updated to WinXP (it had
>>> Win98). He doesn't need a laptop; it was passed on by another family
>>> member, it uses a docking station. I'm still using WinXP myself (no
>>> desire to go to Windows 7), and I'd just as soon keep his with WinXP,
>>> which would mean a new hard drive rather than a new computer. Any
>>> advice/suggestions?
>>
>> If your computer technician is confident that your error messages (which
>> unfortunately you do not quote) are caused by a failing disk then
>> replacing the disk is your most economical option. Some disk
>> manufacturers make a free cloning program available on their home site.
>> You could also use some disk imaging program such as Acronis True Image.
>>
>> Upgrading the machine to Windows 7 is not an option.
>>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: New Hard Drive vs. New Computer 

Not sure since the desktop won't open, how we could download anything?

"Pegasus [MVP]" wrote in message

> There are two types of hard disk errors:
> a) Physical errors
> b) Logical errors
>
> Chkdsk.exe checks for logical (=file system) errors. It can repair some
> but not all of them.
>
> The hard disk diagnostic program that your disk manufacturer has on his
> web site will check the disk for physical errors. This is the one you
> should download and run right now.
>
> Transferring the old disk's contents to the new disk makes sense: If it
> works then you save yourself a lot of trouble. If it fails then nothing is
> lost: Just do a clean installation of Windows on the new disk.
>
>
> "Joy" wrote in message

>> Thanks for your reply.
>>
>> There are two basic errors; that appear at different times. One appears
>> in white print on a black screen and says "Windows could not start
>> because the following file is missing or corrupt:
>> System32\DRIVERS\pci.sys You can attempt to repair this by starting
>> Windows Setup using the original Setup CD-ROM. Select (r) at the
>> first screen to start repair."
>>
>> When my husband took the computer to the tech, he took along the CD-ROM,
>> but the tech didn't get that particular error message! (The toothache
>> that stops when you go to the dentist. wrote in message
>
>>>
>>> "Joy" wrote in message
>>
>>>> My husband's computer is getting various error messages and our
>>>> computer man said he needs either a new hard drive or a new computer.
>>>> He currently has a Toshiba laptop, bought in 2001, updated to WinXP (it
>>>> had Win98). He doesn't need a laptop; it was passed on by another
>>>> family member, it uses a docking station. I'm still using WinXP myself
>>>> (no desire to go to Windows 7), and I'd just as soon keep his with
>>>> WinXP, which would mean a new hard drive rather than a new computer.
>>>> Any advice/suggestions?
>>>
>>> If your computer technician is confident that your error messages (which
>>> unfortunately you do not quote) are caused by a failing disk then
>>> replacing the disk is your most economical option. Some disk
>>> manufacturers make a free cloning program available on their home site.
>>> You could also use some disk imaging program such as Acronis True Image.
>>>
>>> Upgrading the machine to Windows 7 is not an option.
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: New Hard Drive vs. New Computer 

Joy wrote:
> Not sure since the desktop won't open, how we could download anything?

When you do maintenance on a computer, it helps to have a second, network
connected computer present. You can download things, and transport them
to the broken machine via floppy, CDROM, USB stick and so on.

As an example, if you had a broken Seagate hard drive, you'd go to another
computer and prepare a "SeaTools for DOS" floppy. If the broken computer
does not have a floppy, then you'd try a CD version, if one was available
for download. The nice thing about SeaTools for DOS, is this one is
self-booting, and doesn't need a working OS when you're in need of
a diagnostic test.

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=SeaTools&vgnex...d=720bd

After fake registration trash, you end up on this page.

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools/seatooldreg

SeaTools for DOS Version Floppy Diskette Creator or ISO CD-ROM Image
------------------------ ----------------------- ----------------
v2.13b (Graphical)

and would carry on from there.

Some hard drive manufacturers, provide no tools support to speak of. It
would suck to buy one of their products.

If you're in need of other tools to work with, a Linux LiveCD is
better than nothing. You would burn the CD on another computer,
after roughly a 700MB download. If a disk is visible, while booted
in an environment like that, you may be able to copy files and do
simple maintenance.

So there are some good, free things you can download. Some tool
packages are so large, you really need a broadband connection
to make them practical. The SeaTools for DOS is small enough,
you could download it over a dialup connection.

Paul

>
> "Pegasus [MVP]" wrote in message
>
>> There are two types of hard disk errors:
>> a) Physical errors
>> b) Logical errors
>>
>> Chkdsk.exe checks for logical (=file system) errors. It can repair some
>> but not all of them.
>>
>> The hard disk diagnostic program that your disk manufacturer has on his
>> web site will check the disk for physical errors. This is the one you
>> should download and run right now.
>>
>> Transferring the old disk's contents to the new disk makes sense: If it
>> works then you save yourself a lot of trouble. If it fails then nothing is
>> lost: Just do a clean installation of Windows on the new disk.
>>
>>
>> "Joy" wrote in message
>>
>>> Thanks for your reply.
>>>
>>> There are two basic errors; that appear at different times. One appears
>>> in white print on a black screen and says "Windows could not start
>>> because the following file is missing or corrupt:
>>> System32\DRIVERS\pci.sys You can attempt to repair this by starting
>>> Windows Setup using the original Setup CD-ROM. Select (r) at the
>>> first screen to start repair."
>>>
>>> When my husband took the computer to the tech, he took along the CD-ROM,
>>> but the tech didn't get that particular error message! (The toothache
>>> that stops when you go to the dentist. <S>)
>>>
>>> The other one appears on a light blue screen and says "Checking file
>>> system on C: The type of the file system is FAT32. One of your disks
>>> need to be checked for consistency". Then it proceeds to apparently
>>> do that checking and gives the % of how much it checks. It DID go to
>>> 100% and then the desktop would appear, but lately it stalls at a lower %
>>> and just sits there. Turning the computer off and on again is like the
>>> lottery, you don't know which screen and which error message you'll get.
>>> If the desktop DOES come on, it doesn't stay long. I've been TRYING to
>>> get a copy (or picture) of what programs are in the computer so I'll know
>>> what I'll have to put back in when we decide about a new hard drive, but
>>> it won't stay on long enough.
>>>
>>> By cloning, or disk imaging, do you mean in order to put the current
>>> contents on the new hard drive? I had asked the tech about that, and he
>>> said the only problem with that is that the errors (or faults or
>>> whatever) would be transferred to the new hard drive.
>>>
>>> I'm curious - why do you say that Windows 7 is not a option?
>>>
>>> The other
>>> "Pegasus [MVP]" wrote in message
>>>
>>>> "Joy" wrote in message
>>>>
>>>>> My husband's computer is getting various error messages and our
>>>>> computer man said he needs either a new hard drive or a new computer.
>>>>> He currently has a Toshiba laptop, bought in 2001, updated to WinXP (it
>>>>> had Win98). He doesn't need a laptop; it was passed on by another
>>>>> family member, it uses a docking station. I'm still using WinXP myself
>>>>> (no desire to go to Windows 7), and I'd just as soon keep his with
>>>>> WinXP, which would mean a new hard drive rather than a new computer.
>>>>> Any advice/suggestions?
>>>> If your computer technician is confident that your error messages (which
>>>> unfortunately you do not quote) are caused by a failing disk then
>>>> replacing the disk is your most economical option. Some disk
>>>> manufacturers make a free cloning program available on their home site.
>>>> You could also use some disk imaging program such as Acronis True Image.
>>>>
>>>> Upgrading the machine to Windows 7 is not an option.
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
>
 >> Stay informed about: New Hard Drive vs. New Computer 

On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:46:46 -0500, "Joy"
wrote:

>Toshiba laptop, bought in 2001, updated to WinXP (it had Win98). He
>doesn't need a laptop;

If you don't specifically need the portability of a laptop, I would go
with a new desktop computer.
 >> Stay informed about: New Hard Drive vs. New Computer 

On Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:22:30 -0500, "Joy"
wrote:

>By cloning, or disk imaging, do you mean in order to put the current
>contents on the new hard drive? I had asked the tech about that, and he
>said the only problem with that is that the errors (or faults or whatever)
>would be transferred to the new hard drive.

Joy,

Download a Hirens Live CD 10.0 at: [URL="http://tinyurl.com/ydw4jbs"]http://tinyurl.com/ydw4jbs[/URL]

Then boot burn a CD from it, then boot your from this CD. This allow
you to start Mini XP version, this allow you a change to copy to
external HD. Also this CD had HD test form varios HD manufacture for
a health of the HD.
 >> Stay informed about: New Hard Drive vs. New Computer 

Joy wrote:
> Not sure since the desktop won't open, how we could download anything?

Via your computer.
 >> Stay informed about: New Hard Drive vs. New Computer 

On Nov 22, 6:50 am, "dadiOH" wrote:
> Joy wrote:
> > Not sure since the desktop won't open, how we could download anything?
>
> Via your computer.
>
> --
>
> dadiOH
> ____________________________
>
> dadiOH's dandies v3.06...
> ...a help file of info about MP3s, recording from
> LP/cassette and tips & tricks on this and that.
> Get it at[URL="http://mysite.verizon.net/xico"]http://mysite.verizon.net/xico[/URL]

Joy, if there is nothing on the drive that you want to save, ask the
family member that gave you the laptop if they have the System
Recovery disks. If so run the disk(s)and it will put the laptop back
to the way it was when it was purchased. Maybe the drive is ok and
windows is corrupt? What have you got to lose?
-J
 >> Stay informed about: New Hard Drive vs. New Computer 

On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:09:22 -0500, Paul wrote:

>and would carry on from there.
>
>Some hard drive manufacturers, provide no tools support to speak of. It
>would suck to buy one of their products.

Just download Hirens 10.0 LiveCD got all the tool you need in one
disc.
 >> Stay informed about: New Hard Drive vs. New Computer 

Joy wrote:
>
> I'm curious - why do you say that Windows 7 is not a option?
>

Because drivers for the various bits of hardware found in your ancient
laptop probably do not exist.
 >> Stay informed about: New Hard Drive vs. New Computer