Need Tech-Y Advice: Laptop Hard Drive

[NooraK]

I just got off the phone with Tech Support, and long story short, it appears that the hard drive on my laptop is about to cr*p out.

I started getting corrupt file errors in P3 a few weeks ago, and now it won't open at all. The same thing happened last year, and I ended up losing all of my data because something went wrong, the laptop wouldn't work, and a friend re-installed Windows (wiping everything out in the process).

Tech Support had me uninstall and reinstall P3, but I still got the same errors. Their conclusion is that there's probably something wrong with my hard drive, especially based on what happened a year ago. The tech also said that while reinstalling Windows would possibly fix the situation for the time being, it would continue to happen, since the issue appears to be with the hard drive itself.

So here's the question: Do I purchase and have a tech savvy friend install a new hard drive, or do I save a bit longer and just get a new laptop? My current laptop is about four years old. With a really quick web search, I saw that new hard drives for my laptop can be found from $30 and up depending on the size, brand etc. The friend would probably charge about $50/hour for his services.

I'm thinking it'd probably cost me around $150-$200 to get the hard drive issue taken care of. I see advertisements for new laptops all the time for under $500, but I haven't looked closely enough to see if any of those would have the specs I would want.

I'd like to know what the wise Cheffers think.

 

[NooraK]

Also - in the mean time, I need to install P3 onto DH's desktop so that I can submit an order. While thinking about that, I remembered that someone mentioned they had P3 installed on a portable hard drive so that they can easily switch between computers without worrying about backing up on one and restoring on the other. I wonder if I could/should try to install P3 on my external hard drive? I'd be afraid of losing my data if the P3 update file is what's corrupt. That EHD has all of my photos on it.

 

[Nanisu]

Can't you get an external hard drive and use it instead? I bought one at Costco about a year ago for less than $100 and it's just fine. Plugs into the USB port.

 

[barbara_anne]

I had issues with mine a few months ago also. I was told by tech support that it was basically my laptop or a problem with Windows and that I would need to run a clean install of Windows.
Something didn't jive with their explanation with me because I was only having issues with that program and it only got worse after I called tech support and tried their solutions. Even the backup that I had made the night before I had problems wouldn't resolve the issue (kept getting errors that something was corrupt and that various files were an issue) after uninstalling and reinstalling.
This is what I did to get mine working and didn't lose any of my data:

1. Made a copy of the workspace folder in P3 (mine was located in C:\users\myname\PamperedPartnerPlus\workspace) and saved it on my external hard drive. (Hopefully tech support had you save this folder before you uninstalled and reinstalled the program. If not, does your laptop do auto backups? or you could also try to do system restore and try to restore to before you had first uninstalled P3)

2. Uninstalled P3, rebooted my laptop and then reinstalled.

3. After reinstalling P3 and setting everything up like new, I clicked on Tools, Restore and then went into the workspace folder that I had saved on my external hard drive, clicked on the .backup folder and then selected the file with the most recent date and everything was working perfectly again.

If you are worried about your pics on your external hard drive, email the backup file to yourself and download and install from the other computer. That way you don't have to worry about losing your pics.

If you are absolutely positive that the hard drive is the problem, I would replace the hard drive until you find a new laptop that you would be happy with. If your intent is to spend less than $500 on a new laptop, I personally wouldn't spend 150-200 just to replace the hard drive. It should take less than 30 minutes to swap out the old hard drive with a new one -- you may want to also think about upgrading your memory if it is not already maxed out while you are paying someone to swap the drives.
Then in the future when you do find a laptop that you like, you can use the old one to take to shows or whatever else you want to use it for.

 

[wadesgirl]

Buy a Mac - problem solved entirely! Okay I know that's not feasible for most but I've had mine for 2 1/2 years and have only had 1 small problem with it and that was due to FireFox being dumb.

I'm not a techy person but to me, fixing your problem now by getting a new hard drive may sound like a better fix than waiting until later. After that then I would work on saving for a better laptop for the next time around.

 

[Sheila]

If you do decide to get a new Hard Drive consider investing in a Solid State Drive. That's where I am right now. The kids knocked my laptop off the couch a few months ago and broke it. I pulled out the hard drive and put in Hubby's hard drive (identical laptop) and the computer itself works fine. So I know that the hard drive needs to be replaced ... for the SECOND time. I don't want to keep buying hard drives, so this time I'm planning to go the SSD route. They have no moving parts to break, so they will hold up to more abuse than a regular hard drive.

By the way, swapping out a hard drive on a laptop is super easy! Unscrew the door, unplug the old, plug in the new & replace the door. You shouldn't have to pay anyone to do that for you.

 

[abigailhutch]

That is a tough question....I guess it really depends on how much you like your current laptop....For me personally, if I had to deal with your issue, I would just buy a new laptop! Mine is so old...probably at least 5 years old.....so I would love to have a newer one! and you can actually find really great deals on laptops now! If you can buy a new hard drive and feel confident to try and replace it yourself instead of paying someone....I saw go for it! (Do you have a computer savvy friend who will do it for you for free???)
Good luck!

 

[NooraK]

Nancy - I do have an external hard drive, which is where all my documents are now backed up. The problem is, I can't run my OS from there, so I can't completely replace the laptop hard drive with an external one. I am contemplating that I might be able to at least run P3 from it, since I tried to install on DH's PC, and P3 doesn't work on his version of Vista.

Barbara Anne - I've already tried uninstalling and re-installing P3. I did make a back up of the workspace folder onto my desktop, onto the EHD and onto my flash drive. I also have a backup of my P3 data on my flash drive.

I do believe it's the hard drive, since the same thing happened about a year ago. I think P3 is just the canary in the coal mine.

wadesgirl - I wish I could afford a Mac!

Sheila - thanks for the suggestion. I do think a new hard drive is going to be the option to go with for now. As for paying someone to do it... I know I could probably do it myself, but I consider myself to be just knowledgeable enough to be dangerous. Plus, said friend has been unemployed for over a year, and I'm sure he'd appreciate the work. It's a way I can help them out withouth them feeling like they're taking a handout.

 

[Sheila]

Just out of curiosity, what's the brand of your hard drive? I've had TWO Western Digital ones go bad on me. I never had that issue with other brands. So I'm not sure if it's the kids being old enough to be rough, or if it's the brand. More than likely, it's the kids! LOL

And I don't blame you for helping him while he's unemployed! I paid a guy once to pull up some fence in my back yard for the same reason. I could have done it myself, but he was out of work & really needed the money.

 

[NooraK]

I have a Dell laptop, so whatever brand they use, not sure. My EHD is a WD Book that my mom bought for me at Costco. Haven't had issues with the EHD.

 

[ShellBeach]

Something that is free to try, is run a CHKDSK on your C: drive.
It might be able to recover bad sectors and you might not need to buy anything at all!



How to perform disk error checking in Windows XP

 

[NooraK]

Something that is free to try, is run a CHKDSK on your C: drive.
It might be able to recover bad sectors and you might not need to buy anything at all!



How to perform disk error checking in Windows XP

Thank you for the link. The error I got from Windows recommended I run that, and I've tried to do it based on what I've found in the Help feature of Windows. I can't tell if anything's worked though. Maybe the directions on the page will help me.

 

[NooraK]

So, then how do I know if the ChkDsk worked? It tells me I have to schedule it to run when I restart my system, but when I do so, I don't see anything indicating it's running. I get no results. And I still get the same error when trying to install P3.

 

[ShellBeach]

Yikes, that doesn't sound good! It's supposed to run before you get the 'Welcome' screen for windows.

Try running system file checker.
Start > Run > sfc /scannow > Enter, noting the space in the command


Does that go through? Don't plan on using your PC for a while. It can take about 45 minutes - depends on your hard drive size.

 

[NooraK]

I'll have to try that when I get home.

 

[ShellBeach]

I hope it works for you! Then you still need to run the CHKDSK. You will definitely know if CHKDSK runs - it also takes a long time. Like I said, it should pop up before you even get to the Windows welcome screen and are able to log on.

Just to be clear, you do have Windows XP and not Vista?

 

[NooraK]

I hope it works for you! Then you still need to run the CHKDSK. You will definitely know if CHKDSK runs - it also takes a long time. Like I said, it should pop up before you even get to the Windows welcome screen and are able to log on.

Just to be clear, you do have Windows XP and not Vista?

See, I would have expected ChkDsk to run for a while, that's why I figured it wasn't working. And yes, I have XP. Only DH has Vista, beacuse he didn't listen to me when he bought his computer.

 

[barbara_anne]

The best thing to do is not to run it in explorer because if there is a program opened using a file that it is trying to scan, it won't run. Run it in dos mode (I can't remember if this is an option when you start up your computer in XP because I now have Vista and 7 on my laptops and desktop) When your computer is booting up, before you get to the windows logo screen, hit F8 and you will get options to start in safe mode, command prompt, etc.

- Have you tried running chkdsk via the command prompt window?

- Also, other than your saved backups and the workspace folder that you have on your external hard drive, are all files and folders pertaining to P3 removed from your laptop?

-Are you reinstalling P3 from CC or do you have a disc? If you are installing it from CC, are you selecting Save or Run?

 

[NooraK]

Let's see...

The best thing to do is not to run it in explorer because if there is a program opened using a file that it is trying to scan, it won't run. Run it in dos mode (I can't remember if this is an option when you start up your computer in XP because I now have Vista and 7 on my laptops and desktop) When your computer is booting up, before you get to the windows logo screen, hit F8 and you will get options to start in safe mode, command prompt, etc.

- Have you tried running chkdsk via the command prompt window? I would have no idea how to do this I tried running it by going to the Start button, and clicking Run and putting in the command. It then says it can't be run, and if I'd like to schedule it to run when the computer restarts. When I restart, it doesn't run apparently.

- Also, other than your saved backups and the workspace folder that you have on your external hard drive, are all files and folders pertaining to P3 removed from your laptop?I uninstalled P3 and then restarted to ensure it was completely removed before trying to reinstall.

-Are you reinstalling P3 from CC or do you have a disc? If you are installing it from CC, are you selecting Save or Run? The other night, my computer was telling me it would take about 3 days to download P3 (DH's said the same thing, so I think it was the internet connection). I have a disk, and I was attempting to reinstall from there, and then running the Manual Update I had downloaded a couple of days ago. No luck.

 

[NooraK]

I tried to run the thing Shell suggested above. I'm getting a message that says some files need to be copied to the DLL Cache, and asking for the Windows XP disk. I don't have that.

 

[ShellBeach]

I was afraid you might get that message with the sfc command (System File Checker). It means some system files are corrupted. I was also afraid you'd say you didn't have the XP disk. This makes it a more difficult, but not impossible.

What needs to happen is, get known good copies of each of the DLL files it lists. That is why it is asking for the XP disk.
Do NOT google and just download these files, as that is risky. I think you can get some of them from your husband's Vista PC, but let me have a look around and post back on that. They may not be the right versions between the different operating systems.

I don't suppose you wrote down the exact files SFC is asking for?

BTW you are doing what barabara anne posted, that is command mode or DOS when you click start > run and get the screen with the black background. However if you run CHKDSK this way, you need to type CHKDSK C:/F for it to fix errors.
If you run it from Windows Explorer > Properties > Tools, there are little checkboxes instead.

 

[NooraK]

Well, I've got P3 running for right now. I installed it onto the EHD, and it works. I've left a message with my friend to see if I could talk to him about my options. DH started talking yesterday that I should get a new laptop. While I'd love to do that, I still don't know if that's the right path.

 

[ShellBeach]

Sounds like a plan, talking to your friend. If he has that XP disk you need, you might not have to get a new PC.
Good to hear you got P3 installed!