Any help would be hugely appreciated.
I am a computer novice but I have been getting a warning for the last few days when I am powering up that my SAFE system has detected that my Hard Drive is likely to fail. After checking out the code on Google and tech sites it seems genuine.
This has also coincided with the fact that my computer seems to now only run for 10-15 minutes before the whole thing freezes. All this coincided with starting to receive the SAFE message upon start up.
Long story short, I am now trying to clone my hard drive using Maxtor Maxblast BUT WHEN I BEGIN TO START THE CLONING OPERATION IT ONLY GETS A FEW MINUTES IN BEFORE THE WHOLE THING FREEZES.
Any thoughts on how I could get through the cloning operation? Alternative methods? Or how I could keep the laptop running long enough so that I can clone and then switch out the hard drive?
“I’ll send an update when the new drive arrives and I try to fit it. (due March 8th at the latest)”
You ordered a drive ? You can get them locally unless you live in a small community or you are a long way from a larger community otherwise.
A drive of a particular size may cost less online but when you take into account the shipping charge you usually have to pay, you may pay less locally if you look around. Local places usually have a web site.If you don’t know which ones do, the URL is in their ad in the Yellow pages, or you can do a search on the web for computer parts in your local area to find web site listings.
“I do have the MS Windows XP Operating System Disc Media Center Edition 2005 and it says on the front that it erases all files from the hard drive.”
XP MCE versions are a different situation.
XP MCE 2005 doesn’t fit on one CD. There is no retail version of MCE 2005, or of any XP MCE version. There is an official Microsoft OEM MCE 2005 2 CD set that can be bought, it has the Microsoft holograms on both CDs, I’ve got that, but I’ve never heard of it, or have come across it, being sold on a DVD.
Both CDs in the official Microsoft OEM MCE 2005 2 CD set have “For distribution with a new PC only.” printed on them, the same as the official Microsoft OEM XP Home and Pro CDs do.
The first disk has 580mb of data, the second disk has 258mb of data = 838mb total.
(RIGHT click on the drive the disk is in, select Properties)
In my case they are (untarnished) copper colored, but they could be another color such as silver.
If there were such a thing as an official Microsoft OEM XP MCE 2005 DVD, or an equivalent made by a brand name system builder, it would probably have 838mb of data or close to that, and it would have the Microsoft holograms on it.
If you do have the two CD set, and if the amount of data on them is the same or very similar (there may be a little less data on the first disk), then
– if they don’t have the Microsoft holograms on them, it was probably provided by the brand name builder as an XP MCE Re-installation set, and it probably has some OEM.* files on it that have the internal contents modified so that you can’t install Windows unless you use them with the brand name model you got them with, or that they were intended for if you ordered a Recovery disk set.
If you have a MCE 2005 DVD,
– if the total amount of data on the DVD is 858mb or a bit less, then it’s equivalent to the two CD set
– if it doesn’t have the Microsoft holograms on it, it was probably provided by the brand name builder as an XP MCE Re-installation disk, and it probably has some OEM.* files on it that have the internal contents modified so that you can’t install Windows unless you use them with the brand name model you got them with, or that they were intended for if you ordered a Recovery disk set.
– if the total amount of data on the MCE 2005 DVD is a lot more than 858mb, then it’s probably equivalent to a multi-disk set of CDs and is one huge archive that was custom made by the brand name system builder and it will probably install the entire original contents of the entire hard drive, including that of a second smaller partition brand name system drives often have on the original drive, if that applies.
– it probably has some OEM.* files on it that have the internal contents modified so that you can’t install the software unless you use them with the brand name model you got them with, or that they were intended for if you ordered a Recovery disk or disk set.