doubt you'll receive any guidance from dell if it's not a warranty replacement item.

what model laptop and what problems are you having?

Ghost, as long as you used 10 or higher, will work as well.

Thanks for your help, I have a 100gb drive and I want to install it on inspiron 700m but I want to get the exact copy of the hdd I have now to the new one, did it with ghost but it will not load somebody else is going to do the same and they recommended:

You can buy Acronis TrueImage from www.newegg.com for about $30.

Will this do the job I need? I do not want to pay 30$ just to know that it does not work for me like ghost did, thanks,

Julius

Make a Ghost boot CD. Mount the new drive in an external shell (or mount the old drive there and the new one internally). Boot the Ghost CD and do a direct clone (sector copy). DO NOT REBOOT THE SYSTEM WITH BOTH DRIVES ATTACHED when the process finishes. If you've cloned with the new drive externally, mount it internally and DISCONNECT the old drive. If you've mounted the new drive internally, DISCONNECT the old drive. Boot the system. Windows will detect the new drive and require one more reboot. After that it's safe to connect the old drive again.

Message Edited by ejn63 on 08-20-200611:14 AM

sorry for my ignorance but I cannot find any option of how to:

Make a Ghost boot CD

Where can I find it? Thanks,

Julius

The CD Ghost comes on is bootable.

I have symantec works premier that comes with ghost will that cd work to boot? Thanks,

Julius

You'll have to try it; if it doesn't, Ghost should have a provision to make a boot CD from within the program.

No problem Juba, glad to help in any way :)

B

Will try this now, will keep updated, thanks,

Juba

Hi there,

Acronis True Image (available FREE on a 15-day trial) and works like a DREAM is available from:
http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/download/trueimage/

I've tried it when upgrading my Inspiron 1100 from 30GB hard disk to 80GB - NO HASSLE!

Only extra thing that you need is a USB caddy, something like this (which is what I used) >
http://www.akasa.co.uk/images/product_photos/cases/water_mark_ak_en_01bk.jpg

Procedure:

1) Download Acronis True Image from URL above

Touch a radiator or some other grounded metal object before removing hard disk from anti-static package
DO NOT touch the pins at the rear of the drive, nor it's underside - handle only by its edges

2) Fit new hard disk into the external caddy (don't need to screw it in)
3) Connect up USB cable between caddy & pc
4) Connect 5V power supply to external USB caddy (if required)
5) Fire up Acronis True Image.

NOTE make sure that you keep the option to leave your primary hard drive unaltered (this way if it all goes ti*s up you have your original drive intact).

After about 40 mins, you will have an exact copy of your original hard drive "cloned" to the new hard drive.

6) Disconnect USB and power cable from external caddy (after first "stopping" the device in XP (precaution) TOUCH radiator (or other grounded object) before removing hard disk from external caddy.

7) Unscrew the internal hard disk caddy in your laptop & slide it out (screws are on the underside of the laptop, caddy also contains slot for PCMCIA card).
8) CAREFULLY remove the rear adapter from the hard disk (don't bend any pins) and unscrew hard disk from this caddy. Place original Dell hard disk in the new hard disk's anti-static bag. KEEP THESE SCREWS SAFE!
9) CAREFULLY fit rear adapter to your new (cloned) disk. Note there is a blank pin on the adapter (so that it is keyed and only fits one way). DON'T force the adapter - check carefully the alignment (you don't want any bent pins!) NOTE: It may be a little stiff but should go on relatively easily.
10) Do up the screws on the laptop's internal caddy (there are usually 4 and they are numbered, 1-4) IN ORDER, 1 FIRST, then 2, etc.
11) Slide internal caddy into laptop & do up the caddy retaining screws from the underside of the laptop. Make sure it is the CORRECT WAY UP! Don't force it -it may be stiff but should go in relatively easily.
12) Boot up laptop.

Initially, you will get an Acronis screen, then laptop will re-boot.

Voila! Brand new (= bigger & faster) hard drive installed!

Hope this helps. Let us know how you get on.

B

Message Edited by Bjones39 on 08-21-200610:27 PM

Post removed - duplicated

Message Edited by Bjones39 on 08-23-200605:17 PM

I done everything but I get this:

Loading PBR for descriptor 2...done

And it does not load, any more ideas? thanks,

Juba

I too want to know about Dell Support.  Why do they not respond after several weeks of emails to the support tech folks.  I have a Inspiron 6000 bought brand new last November from Dell.  Where is the award winning Dell Support at???????  I have hard drive not working and modem not working.