Any help is much appreciated!

OK -

I've got two hard drives - C is 200gb and that's my primary drive.
D is 250gb and that's the slave. I'm running XP.

This morning, I get a pop up that my WD drive (C) is in imminent failure and needs to be backed up and replaced.

funny thing is, I hit F2 to continue and it took me right into windows and it has been running just fine. Both PC Doctor and Active Smart are telling that "Reallocated sector count - FAIL". All other things read OK.

So - i am pretty good with software, and can even do bios stuff with very precise, step by step instructions. However, I am no good at the hardware end.

Is there any way to install XP using my restore CD's onto the D drive and boot windows using that and just let C drive die a peaceful death?

I need help - please!


Deb

 

System restore?

 

Well, system restore is what it's call on XP, so I might have to use the CD's - but I need to know if I can install them to the second drive (d) while XP is still installed on C and then, once installed, somehow tell XP to boot from D and not C (I really don't want to have to open up computer - Have no clue what I am doing there).

Deb

 

You're going to have to open the computer, and soon. If you have room on your D drive, copy all files, from the C drive, that you need to save.

Then, get a new hard drive to replace the C drive, pull out the C drive, and install Windows XP. You will have to install your programs again, but after you are up an running, you can copy the files that you needed to save, back to the C drive.

I would partition that C drive first, though, and make the XP partition about 40GB at the most. You could make the rest of the unallocated space, one partition, then copy the files that used to be on the C drive, back from your D drive.

Changing a hard drive and partitioning, is easy. If you feel uncomfortable doing it, find a friend who knows how to do it, and have them visit you and instruct you how to do it, while he/she looks on. If you let them do it, then you don't get the hands on experience.

And, after you do it once, you won't feel uncomfortable doing it the next time you have to replace a drive, or anything else in your computer.

 

Ok - I actually opened it up last night and saw the two hard drives with their cables - I can't buy a new hard drive yet so my plan is just to keep D drive on and take out C.

Now, I should only have to remove the cable from C drive right, and leave D drive's cable there - then do I have to go into the BIOS and tell it that the slave is now the primary and to boot from that?

And then once that is done, then install XP using my recovery CD's?

Sorry if this sounds screwed up - My ex was the hardware genius and there's no way I'm calling him. I want to be able to do this on my own.

All my files have been backed up to the other computer on the network, so I'm not worried about losing any files.

Thanks for any and all help.


deb