Dimension 8100 hd

I have a 8100 with a 40 GB drive that needs to be replaced. It is
still working but when the computer is started I get the Dell warning
message that the drive is operating out of spec and that I should
immediately back up all data.

The hard drive is a Maxtor. I have a Maxtor Basics ATA Hard Drive Kit
160 GB on order now.

It appears that the new hard drive can be connected to my computer
using an adapter. Vantec SATA/IDE to USB Adapter . Does the Maxtor
Basics Kit include imaging software or do I need Acronis or another
software package.

I do not want to manhandle the computer until I copy the entire HD
without opening the case.

Is there an on line tutorial that would lead me through the process?

Russ

Hi!

It is still working but when the computer is started I get
the Dell warning message that the drive is operating out
of spec and that I should immediately back up all data.

You may want to stop using the computer. When this message comes up,
the hard drive is usually very close to total failure.

If you have important data on the computer, burn it to a CD or DVD,
put it on an external hard disk or even another computer. I would
strongly recommend doing this on the chance that the drive would
totally stop working.

I have a Maxtor Basics ATA Hard Drive Kit 160 GB on order
now.

Although it would appear that you got good service out of your current
Maxtor HDD, you might want to know that they have a long standing
reputation for drives that fail much sooner than they should.

It appears that the new hard drive can be connected to my
computer using an adapter. Vantec SATA/IDE to USB
Adapter .

I would not use this.

Does the Maxtor Basics Kit include imaging software or do I
need Acronis or another software package.

It used to be that pretty much every hard disk manufacturer provided a
set of basic drive configuration and data copy tools from a company
like Ontrack. This came on a diskette or CD and it would help you copy
all the data from the old drive to the new one. There might be
something like that in the box, if you ordered a hard drive that comes
with a complete installation kit.

The last I knew, Seagate (the owners of the Maxtor name) was no longer
providing this software. It wouldn't hurt to check their support web
site to be sure, or to see if they have another solution. The software
you might be able to get is not particularly fancy, but it will do the
job.

I do not want to manhandle the computer until I copy the entire
HD without opening the case.

You may want to rethink that. If you need to copy data now, the
fastest way will be to connect it to another working computer
(internally) and transfer the data. This will be the fastest and most
reliable thing to do.

Is there an on line tutorial that would lead me through the
process?

I'm not aware of one, but the procedure would go something like this:

1. Remove the bad drive from the computer it is in.
2. Put the bad drive in a working computer. If it is a PATA drive
(there will be a wide ribbon cable and a typically white power cable
with four power wires coming out of it), check the jumpers. If you are
connecting it on the same cable as a currently installed drive in the
healthy computer, you will need to set the drive to SLAVE or CABLE
SELECT. A SATA drive has thin and short power and data cables. You can
connect one drive to one SATA port--there is no concept of "master" or
"slave".
3. Copy all your important data. For Windows 2000 and newer, this is
located in the "Documents and Settings" folder. Some programs may save
data outside of that folder, so check around.

(Note that if your current computer will start and has access to
another computer over the network, or a CD/DVD burner, you can skip
the first three steps. Just be sure you copy your data.)

4. Once you have your data, or if you skipped the steps above because
you were able to copy your data in some other way, unpack the new
drive.

5. Install the new drive in your computer.

6. If you got software with the drive to help transfer the data, put
the media into your computer and start it up.

7. Follow the directions that appear on-screen.

8. When the process completes, remove your old drive, set the new one
as the master (for PATA) or connect it to the first/topmost connector
(for SATA).

9. Turn on your computer and it should start up like it always has.

William

On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 07:10:03 -0700 (PDT), "William R. Walsh"
wrote:


You may want to stop using the computer. When this message comes up,
the hard drive is usually very close to total failure.

If you have important data on the computer, burn it to a CD or DVD,
put it on an external hard disk or even another computer. I would
strongly recommend doing this on the chance that the drive would
totally stop working.

I saved data on cd's. Installation software is in the kit with
instructions. I will try to image the HDD in the 8100.

Thanks for your help.

Russ