New Hard drive for Inspiron 530 - warning signs?

Hi Bev

I just gave it a go, and struggled to find this Diagnostic screen?

Hit f12 on restart, and arrived on a blue screen called "BIOS CMOS SETUP UTILITY"

Could not see a Diagnostic option, or boot to Utility partition option

I tried most options to see if it was on the next screen with no luck

Am i maybe running an older machine which needs a different route in???

Many thanks

:emotion-1:

Many thanks Bev :emotion-1:

Im going to run the Dell diagnostic, am i right in thinking its a 2.5" sata drive that i need?

would this do the trick?

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146933

Thanks again - Happy Xmas :emotion-1:

Thanks Osprey

Will see if i can dig out the disc and give it a try, will confirm

:emotion-1:

Hi Untamac,

To test the hard drive, you should run the Dell diagnostics from your Dell Resource disc. It's a bootable CD. So set your system to boot from the CD/DVD drive first, then boot to that. Run the extended tests on your drive.

Many thanks Bev :emotion-1:  Im going to run the Dell diagnostic, am i right in thinking its a 2.5" sata drive that i need? would this do the trick? http://www.ebuyer.com/product/146933  Thanks again - Happy Xmas :emotion-1:

untamac

No, the 2.5" laptop hard drive is not compatible the a Inspriron 530 Desktop, you need to buy an internal, 3.5", 7200rpm SATA hard drive.

Bev.

Ps. The procedure for running Diagnostics from the Resource Disc, is in the Link I posted.

Thanks again Bev & Osprey

Managed to dig out the disc and went through the diagnostics

Founds lots of errors with the following codes;

Error code OF0010244

MSG BLOCK 25309005, 

ERROR CODE OF00:0244

MSG BLOCK 25309033 | 25309035 | 25332492 | 26078766 | 26078767 | 26100617 | 26107683 | 26227194

OF001A44

25309005 | 25309033 | 25309034 | 25323492 | 26078766 | 26078767 | 26100617 | 26107683 | 26227194 | 29851903 

Sure you've all got much better things to do tonight.. but I'm assuming my hard drive is toast? 

Happy Xmas :emotion-1:

PS, thanks for the advice on the replacement drive Bev :emotion-1:

untamac

You assumed right, the hard drive is toast and you need to replace it and reinstall windows and load all the drivers and applications.

Have a Happy Christmas.

Maybe this is not the appropriate thing to say, as I've just said, your hard drive is toast.   :emotion-5:

Bev.

Good luck, Garry and hope everything works out, if not post back for help.

Bev.

Thanks again Bev

Hopefully it will limp over the xmas period, i have backed up most things 

Think im going to have a fun time trying to makeit all work again...:emotion-41:

Cheers:emotion-11:

Garry

Hi Bev

Im (finally) about to replace the drive, thankfully the old one is still working

I was woundering, could i install in the new drive while the old one is still working, then simply  "mirror" the old drive onto the new, then  use the new drive to boot from etc - and then remove the old drive

Will obviosuly mean i wont need to re-install everything, 

Is this possible?

Thanks :emotion-1:

Garry

Hey Osprey, thanks for that! :emotion-1:

I've done a little research and apprenlty this program is good; Acronis True Image

I'm hoping that when i open my tower, there will be the extra power and conntion cables available? here's hoping...

:emotion-11:

Garry,

Yes, that should work. Most drive manufacturers provide a utility for doing this on their site.

untamac

There is a spare power connector available inside the case, but you will need to buy a SATA data cable.

You'll need an imaging utility, similar to either Acronis True Image Home 2011 or Acronis Migrate Easy 7.0

First, install the new drive as the secondary, image the exsisting C:/ to it.

Immediately shut the system down, switch the data cable [SATA port 0] to the new drive, making the new hard drive the master and see if the system boots correctly.

Boot the system with only the new hard drive connected and remember to leave the original drive disconnected.

Before cloning a hard drive, be certain that existing drive has no corruption or virus on it, as these will be transfered to the new hard drive.

Note: Seagate hard drives have a free copy of Acronis, that is included in their retail boxed drives or can be downloaded from Seagate's site for use with their OEM hard drives.

This copy of Acronis can only be used with either a Seagate or Maxtor hard drive, you will also find that other hard drive manufacturers have their own free cloning software available.

Bev.

Ah great thanks Bev

Just had a look inside my tower, but could not find a spare power cable, so "borrowed" the dvd drives, also tried to use the connector from the dvd drive but it seemed to be a wire short, and even though i vainly gave it a try and rebotted, the drive was not showing on the PC

So will the SATA data cable act as a converter from the other available connectors, or does it plug straight into the wire loom???

Thanks again for your help

:emotion-1:

Garry