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There’s nothing worse than sitting down in front of the computer in the morning, coffee in hand,
powering up the computer to a blue screen or no operating system. This usually means that the hard drive
has cashed in its chips. (Don’t panic too quickly, it could be just a bad connection, sometimes on
restart it works. You may even have a floppy disk in the floppy drive. Pop that out and try again.) Just
because your hard drive bit the bullet doesn’t mean its parts aren’t salvageable. |
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The above scenario will often lead to a full-reinstall of the Operating System and a general
reassessment of life. In the end, you will possibly come to the conclusion that it may be more
cost-efficient to buy a new computer. But what about those files and pictures on the old hard drive?
This depends on the actual health of the hard drive.
1. If the hard drive isn’t breathing at all:
Unfortunately, you’ll need to take it
in to a shop that specializes in backup recovery
and will charge you your first and second born.
(It will be a hard lesson learned in the importance
of backing up to CD’s or other media.)
2. If the hard drive is breathing:
More likely than not, you can retrieve those
files. |
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If you have enough guts to dig into the heart of your computer,
turn your computer off (this is very important), then open it up and look for the hard
drive, a metal rectangular box 5.25 inches long in a standard desktop. Before you yank
it out, notice the cables that go into it. Notice the wide hard drive cable and notice
the red line running down the right side of it. Unplug it and plug it back in once the
same way, got the hang of it? Good!
Now go buy a new hard drive and replace it with
the old one (or buy a new computer). Don’t
trash the old hard drive, we will get back to
it soon. Pull out those system restore CDs or
Operating System CDs. Put the new hard drive
in your computer exactly like the old one was
connected. Next, put the restore CD in the CD
drive and start the computer. (Be sure to follow
the instructions from your dealer step by step
– also feel free to give us a call at
Witzend Computing if you need a hand) Or…
just turn the computer on if you bought a new
one. |
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Once your operating system is up and running again, turn the computer off (this is very important). Open the computer case and find the connector for the CD-Rom or DVD, or CD-RW/DVD or any of these combinations. Notice once more that the same type of cable with the red line running along it is plugged into this device. Remember how it’s plugged it.
Unplug it once and plug it back in again. (Just
for a little practice.) Unplug the CD-Rom (if
you have more than one unplug all of them) and
plug that cable and power cord into your old
Hard Drive. Once you’re sure everything
is plugged in correctly turn on the computer.
It's okay to leave the computer case open throughout
all of this.
After Windows boots up, open My Computer and you should now see two hard drives. Copy the files that you want off of your old hard drive onto the new one. When you’ve finished, turn off your computer. Unplug the old hard drive and donate it to the recycle bin and make sure to plug the CD-Rom(s) back in exactly the same as before. Zip up the computer and you’re done!
A word to the Wise: Say a virus took down your original hard drive. Make sure you have virus protection installed and updated on your new hard drive before connecting up the old! Also, scan that old drive before you take any files off of it.
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