Laptop Harddrive

As mentioned a while back, my girlfriend dropped her laptop and now whenever it's turned on, it gets as far as the Windows screen with the scrolling bar.... then restarts and does this over and over.

I installed Ubuntu onto a spare (6GB) drive and that seemed to work ok. But When trying to install my *copy* of XP onto it, it switched itself off before completing.

I'm assuming if it installed Ubuntu ok onto that drive, it's perhaps just that XP is too large for a 6GB drive???

So, do I just replace the drive wth a like-for-like (40GB 4200) one, or use this as a chance to upgrade to something bigger and faster?

I've tried to find out if there's a max size I can use in the laptop (Packardbell Easynote C3300), and asked around but with no joy as yet.

Does anyone know if I'd be able to replace it with for instance a 120gb drive?
Would it still have to be a 4200RPM one or could I try something faster.... is it worth while?

I'll be able use the drive in an external usb caddy as a portable if it doesn't work anyhow, but would still rather check before splashing out.

Cheers.
MO!

 

You should be fine with a 120 gig drive, but i'd stick with 4200 spin as faster drives can run hotter and might place too much power drain on your ps

 

I'd seen it mentioned on various forums I'd searched across the net and have just had the predicted response from PB....

.... "Sorry I am unable to help with your enquiry, but if you call *** they can help...." etc...

I'm pretty sure they'd have the information available to them, but as others have mentioned, they seem more interested in getting their customers to call a premium rate number!
And from what I've heard you end up waiting for several minutes before they actually get to you!

Great service!

So, can anyone recommend a drive? 120GB was just an example, happy to go higher or lower. Any bargains about?

Cheers.

 

Hi Mo,

XP won't install onto your spare drive because Linux is on it! To get those two to co-exist you have to install XP first, then Linux. It doesn't matter if you removed Linux first, XP will still detect the mbr records and do a runner!

Your original problem is likely to be because there is a corrupt file Windows needs during boot-up, this crashes the boot-up sequence and, if the machine is set to re-boot if it crashes, off it goes again! Endless loop

If you still have your original drive, try getting to the boot options screen, (F2, F11, F8 - it varies), and booting to the 'Last known good' option. If this fails try putting in the original cd and selecting 'repair' when you get the chance.

Good Luck

 

Thanks for the reply!


I don't need to press any buttons to get this option. After the initial Packard Bell screen where I can go into BIOS, it goes to a screen saying "We apologize for the inconvenience, Windows did not start successfully, this may be due to a recent hardware or software change....."

Then the options for start up modes.

When I tell it to start using the last known good option, it still does the same. Flashes a blue screen for a fraction of a second then restarts. All start up modes do the same thing.

I don't have the original discs that came with the laptop. Just a copy of XP.

If I boot from this and attempt a repair will it delete the files that are on there?

Is there any way of getting XP onto the spare harddrive? Perhaps putting it into my external USB case thing, and formatting it?
Should this allow me to install XP onto it?

Is 6GB big enough to install XP onto?

Thanks again!

 

Proper poorly, then!

1. Yes - there is a fair chance that the 'Repair' option, run from the install disc, will delete your data. The main problem will be if it needs to rewrite the file table, then all the old references will disappear - not good.

2. As far as I'm aware, no version of Windows will install to an external device. If you google for 'Bart's PE' you will find a way of getting it to run from cd - which may help with getting the data off the old drive, before you try anything too drastic.

3. 6gb may be enough to do a clean install but there certainly won't be room for anything else - like programs and stuff

If you can get the data off the old drive first, I'd try re-installing from scratch onto the existing drive. (Either Bart's PE or a live Linux cd should help with getting the stuff off.) That should tell you if it's just a file corruption problem or if there is something more serious going on. If you swap out to a new hard drive - I concur with lbr's comments, keep the speed to 4200 and don't worry too much about the size, although I'd keep it to 120gb or below, just because of the increased power drain.

Or £299.00 and a trip to PC Walled

 

MO!, get yourself one of these.

 

Dev! That truly is FUGLY!!!

New harddrive being ordered....