New Hard Drive - Clueless

[Harlacan]

So I have a 4600 that's a little more than one year old and now needs a new hard drive - Go Figure!

(I'll keep my opinion about this matter to myself) This will be my first repair job.

Can anyone tell me how difficult this will be to Uninstall the old one and Install the new one?  

Is there any type of programming I need to do after it's installed?

I'm assuming we will loose all saved data that's on the PC now?

Does a hard drive fail due to viruses?

Finally, any helpful advice would be great.

Thank-You ALL!

[BonoBoy]

It isn't too difficult to install a new hard drive- it's just a matter of having the confidence to do it!

Hard drives can fail for a lot of reasons and can do so very easily- but I have never heard of a hard drive becoming completly unusuable due to a virus. At worst- a format and reinstall usually does the trick!

Hope this helps you a little bit

[Shadow84]

Are you absolutely sure your HD is kaput? Does it still work at all? Can you run any diagnostic utilities?

If it is indeed dead then the data is most likely gone. There are ways to retrieve the data but it is beyond the scope of most users and is very expensive to have a third party try and rescue it.

As posted by BonoBoy, installing a new HD is fairly easy hardware swap. Just follow the owners manual re: opening the case and such( static electriciy is a concern).

After the new drive is in you'll have to install Windows from the Dell disc and the various hardware drivers for the chipset, graphics, sound, modem, etc. Then do a Windows update and/or install SP2. Finally, install your favorite programs. I'd suggest you search for a more detailed tutorial about this subject before you take the plunge. It is a valuable thing to know as sooner or later a system rebuild will be necessry to get your computer running like new. Good luck.

[MSL]

Harlacan,

Can anyone tell me how difficult this will be to Uninstall the old one and Install the new one?
Instructions for replacing the hard drive in a 4600 are here.

Is there any type of programming I need to do after it's installed?
You will need to reinstall the operating system, drivers, and any programs.

I'm assuming we will loose all saved data that's on the PC now?
If the drive has failed, yes. You can always try to install the old drive as a slave to see if you can recover any

files.

Does a hard drive fail due to viruses?
A virus cannot make a hard drive fail mechanically.

Finally, any helpful advice would be great.
Some general instruction.

Marc

Dimension 8200: Intel P4 3.06GHz w/HT enabled, AO9 Sponged BIOS, 1.5GB PC800 RDRam, WD 80 GB (7200 RPM) ATA primary HDD, WD 160GB (7200 RPM) ATA secondary HDD, Dell 1800FP, 128MB ATI Radeon 9700 PRO w/TV out, GVC-REALTEK Ethernet 10/100 NIC, Conexant HSF V92 56K Modem, Samsung 16x DVD-ROM, NEC 4x DVD+R/RW CD-RW, TEAC 1.44M 3.5in Floppy, HK 695 Spkrs., Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, OfficeXP Pro (added), WindowsXP Pro

[Harlacan]

Hi Shadow84 -

You had a good point, The hard drive isn't completley kaput! -- The PC will start about half the time and the other half, well you guessed it, It don't! We are basically going by what Dell says we need to do, they had us run several test and sent them the results, They also informed us that the "system is not reconizing the hard drive" so I'm asssuming we need a new Hard Drive. Whats your opinion??

Thank-you all in advance!

[Shadow84]

Well Harlacan, in that the advice you received from Dell is based upon objective dx testing, it sounds like a new HD is in your future. Fortunately, HD's are a bargain these days with rebates and sales. I've had very good experiences with New Egg and Zip Zoom Fly. I'm partial to Samsung and Western Digital but everyone seems to have their favorite brand. Just make sure your motherboard BIOS is compatable with the size you choose, many can't support anything over 137GB without a BIOS upgrade.

MSL had some excellent links for more info and a good suggestion for an attempt at rescuing the data on your failing drive. Maybe you can try and back up your data to a CD or external drive before you remove the old drive. Good luck.