i got this message today when i started my computer. multiple rebooting did not help, but when i shut off the computer and turned it on again it started ok. this happened once before a few months ago.
should i get a new hard drive/computer? will reformatting help? or is some non-harddrive component dying?
I suspect that the hard drive is failing. I’d get a new one, ASAP.
Sounds like the drive to me, you might not ever be able to boot it up again. Backup now. :)
BACK UP EVERYTHING RIGHT NOW!
I mean, right now, this very minute. Starting with the stuff that is most important. This is exactly what happened to me two weeks ago, and while I was futzing around trying to figure out what might be wrong (my computer, too, rebooted fine after I got that error the first time), the hard drive failed entirely and I lost everything on it.
ok, looking over new egg, i can easily afford a sub 100gig drive. they mostly say 7200rpm so i guess that’s ok.
but will it fit into my old dell computer dimension xps t600r? the hard drive is probably about 3.5", how can i be sure?
i mean, are all drives about the same size? what about the power and other connections?
New hard drives are pretty much 3.5" unless it’s for a notebook. If it’s under 100GB then it’s most likely IDE and your system should have no problems accomodating the drive, space and connectorwise. Just make sure the description says IDE interface and you’re good to go.
You may want to connect the new drive in the system either as a slave or as a master (by disconnecting the CD-ROM and using that cable for the drive) and do an image copy of your old drive to the new one.
Good luck.
some questions:
been reading some past hard drive threads and i am getting more confused.
when the new drive arrives, do i have to format it? will it be pre-formatted?
will my 5 year old computer have trouble with the fact the new drive is 80gigs, vs the original 10gigs?
thanks for the help so far.