Hard Disk Drive Problems: Fixing Computer Hard Disk Drive (HDD) Problems - Page 2

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HARD DISK DRIVE PROBLEMS - PAGE 2

MHDD is the most popular freeware program for low-level hard-disk-drive diagnostics. - http://hddguru.com/content/en/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/

Visit the Disk Drives section of this site for information on internal and external hard disk drives and CD/DVD drives/writers.

Click the relevant link below to go to that Q&A article. Use your browser's Back button to backtrack.

1. - What is RAID that is used with hard disks and how can I use it to improve my computer's performance and the security of its data?

2. - Windows XP won't install because it can't set up the motherboard's RAID Controller

3. - Why can a gigabyte be different in size?

4. - How can I use an old internal laptop hard disk drive as an external drive for use with my laptop and desktop computers?

5. - I only have one computer, so how can I find out if the backups of my hard drive can be restored successfully?

6. - After using Norton Ghost 10 to restore my computer, this sporadic message comes up: Corrupt File The file or directory C: is corrupt an Unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utility

7. - Why has Windows XP made my boot SATA hard drive the H: drive after a clean install, and how can I change it back to the C: drive?

8. - My PC keeps freezing? Is the hard drive or some other vital component about to fail for good?

9. - How can I change the file sytem on my PC's hard drive from FAT32 to NTFS and then tweak it to increase its performance?

10. - How can I restore Windows XP to a serial ATA (SATA) hard disk drive? AND How to slipstream Windows XP and create a customised boot CD

11. - Windows XP: Problems running the CHKDSK disk-checking utility

12. - Is my clicking hard disk drive faulty and heading for terminal failure?

13. - Why won't my Defrag program defragment the Windows XP Hibernation file?

14. - How to slipstream Windows XP (merge it with its Service Packs) and create a customised boot CD

15. - The overheating alarm on my computer's motherboard goes off and, if left running, the computer crashes

16. - How to make an ordinary internal IDE hard disk drive into an external drive

17. - Can I install a standard laptop hard disk drive in my Dell Inspiron laptop computer?

18. - How can I remove a hidden partition on a computer from Time Computers?

19. - How can I transfer Windows XP to a new Serial ATA (SATA) hard disk drive?

20. - Are vibrations harmful to the components of my computer, such as its hard disk drive?

21. - A 250GB SATA hard drive installed on a SATA adapter card disappears in Windows XP intermittently

22. - Can I use a password to protect an entire second hard drive or at least its folders in Windows XP Professional?

What is RAID that is used with hard disks and how can I use it to improve my computer's performance and the security of its data?

Question

I have a Dell Dimension PC, purchased in 2005, that runs Windows XP Home Edition. I have read that if you install a second hard disk drive, you can use something called RAID to back up the contents of the main drive to the second drive automatically so that if the main drive fails, RAID recovers the situation automatically when you replace the failed drive. Is that true, and, if so, how can I install RAID after I have installed a second hard disk drive?

Answer

Click here! to go to the information provided on this site on RAID. It should answer all of your questions.

Windows XP won't install because it can't set up the motherboard's RAID Controller

Problem

I am trying to install Windows XP Home edition, but it doesn't seem to have the drivers for the motherboard's RAID Controller, which are required if the system's two hard disk drives are to function in order that Windows can install on the boot drive.

Answer

When trying to install Windows XP or Windows NT or Windows 2000 on a RAID controller, you need to transfer the RAID drivers to a floppy disk. Then, at the appropriate moment during the setup process, press the F6 key and use the floppy disk as instructed. The reason Windows XP won't install is that the NT kernel (which Windows NT, 2000, and XP all have), doesn't have the RAID drivers, and therefore doesn't know how to access the motherboard's RAID Controller - unless it can load the Controller's drivers from an external source such as a floppy disk or CD.

1. - If necessary, implement your backup strategy. Visit the Software page on this site if you need to develop one.

2. - Obtain the RAID driver file from the motherboard's site, and copy it on to a floppy disk or CD-R/RW disk.

3. - Set the boot order in the BIOS to boot from CD, then RAID, then other drives.

4. - Insert the Windows XP CD, and restart the computer. Press the F6 key to install an additional or third party driver when prompted, and follow the instructions to do so.

It would be a good idea to download all of the latest device drivers for the motherboard from its site, and copy them on a CD-R so that you can install them imediately after Windows XP has been installed. This is a good idea because Windows can load its own standard device drivers, or outdated drivers made by the motherboard chipset and HDD manufacturers.

Why can a gigabyte be different in size?

Problem

When you received your new computer, you noticed that the hard disk drive's capacity was only reported as 149GB on startup when the computer manufacturer's advertisement said that it was 164GB. The company said that the difference was accounted for by a hidden partition of 5GB for the System Recovery files, and that there is a difference between what the hard drive manufacturer's and the software developers consider to be a gigabyte. Is this true?

Answer

Unfortunately, there are two definitions of a gigabyte.

Traditionally software developers and programmers have defined a kilobyte as 1,024 bytes (its translation from a binary to a decimal number) rather than 1,000 bytes (as it would be as a purely decimal number). Therefore, a megabyte is 1,024 kilobytes (1024KB) or 1,048,576 bytes, and a gigabyte is 1,024 megabytes, which is 1,073,741,824 bytes. But hard drive manufacturers have always used the term gigabyte to mean a thousand million bytes - 1,000,000,000 - over 7% less.

To make matters worse, not all of the space on a hard drive can be used for data. Space has to be used for the file system that contains the partition information and where the data is stored on the drive. Without a file system none of the data could be accessed. The two main file systems in use are called FAT32 (Windows 9.x) and NTFS (Windows NT/2000/XP). This accounts for the difference between the size of a formatted and an unformatted hard drive. An unformatted hard drive doesn't contain a file system.

According to the hard drive manufacturer you have a drive with 164GB of unformatted capacity, but according to the programmers' definition of a gigabyte, which is the definition used by Windows, this is only 152.67GB. And your computer has a hidden 5GB partition that is used by many computer manufacturers for the System Recovery files that are accessed when the System Recovery CD or floppy disk is run. According to Windows, this leaves approximately 148GB drive space available for data.

I surmise that the 149GB figure you quoted was reported as 149,000 megabytes, so the missing 1,000 megabytes must be due to the difference between the formatted and the unformatted capacities.

The ISO, the body that governs standards, states that the prefixes kilo, mega, and giga must denote units of 1,000 not 1,024, so the software developers and programmers are out of order by using their definition. They should state that they are talking about binary gigabytes, the official abbreviation for which is GiB. - GB represents the drive manufacturers' 1,000,000,000 bytes in a gigabyte.

How can I use an old internal laptop hard disk drive as an external drive for use with my laptop and desktop computers?

Question

In order to be able to store more TV programmes, I have upgraded my laptop PC's SATA hard disk drive from 80GB to 150GB. I would like to use it as an external hard disk drive for use in transferring files between my laptop and desktop computers, but I don't know how to connect it.

Answer

You can buy an inexpensive USB 2.0 disk caddy that transforms an internal hard disk drive into and external hard drive that can be used for backup purposes or to transfer files between computers. There are many makes/models available. The Raidsonic Icy Box IB-266StUSD-B disk caddy is ideal. It is a nicely designed metal case that is a docking station providing provides both USB and eSATA connections. You install it in a spare 3.5" bay in a desktop computer. You plug the caddy into it when you want to access files and eject it when you want to take it away or connect it to your laptop. Fitting the internal hard drive into the caddy is merely a matter of opening it, connecting the USB/eSata data cable and the power cable to the drive, and closing it. You can find vendors for it in the UK by entering "Raidsonic Icy Box IB-266StUSD-B" + uk (as is) into the Google search box at the top of this page (with its Web Radio button enabled). You can find other makes/models by entering a search term such as usb2 + disk caddy + uk.

If your desktop and laptop PCs both have an Ethernet networking port, you can buy a crossover cable that networks the computers, thereby allowing the transfer of files between them. You could then just use the laptop's caddied hard drive for backups.

I only have one computer, so how can I find out if backups of my hard drive can be restored successfully?

Question

I have only one computer that is running Windows XP SP2. I make a full backup of the whole system once a month and incremental backups every day, which I burn to CD-R discs. I am thinking of buying Norton Ghost 10 in order to be able to create master images of the system. Thankfully, up to now, I have always been able to recover the system by using other methods of recovery. I haven't tried to restore a full backup and the incremental backups. It occurred to me that I have no idea if my backups can actually be restored successfully. I can't risk trying to restore them on my only computer, because if the restoration process goes wrong I could loose all of my files. Is there a way of verifying backups and master images without having to restore them?

Answer

When you create a backup or a master image, how can you be sure that it can be restored successfully?

This is a vital question, because you can't be sure that the backup or image you created can be restored unless you actually restore it, which is impractical due to the time doing so would take even if you have a test computer available, and especially so if you only have one computer at your disposal. To be absolutely sure that they will work, you could have a test computer that you use only to verify that your backups and images can be restored, but you should never attempt to restore a backup if you only have one computer, because if it goes wrong, you will probably have wiped out the data on your computer that you backed up.

That said, there are methods which allow you to be reasonably sure that your backups can be restored when you need them. Most CD/DVD burning and imaging and backup software provides a data verification option that you can run when a CD or DVD is burned or an image or backup is first created.

For example, the Nero Express the CD/DVD burning program provides an option that checks the validity of data that has been burned to disc, and the NTbackup backup program that can be installed in Windows XP (there is more information on it further down this page), provides a Verify data after backup option under its Advanced menu.

However, with regard to backups and images, such verification can double the time the whole process takes, and so may not be worth doing every time. It is advisable to use a verification option when you first set a computer up, or when you change brands or types of CDs or DVDs in order to make sure that the new media is working properly, because some brands of CD and DVD don't work properly on some makes and models of CD/DVD drives. You should also always make a backup or master image of the system before you make major software changes, such as the installation of a Service Pack, such as Windows XP SP2, and it is advisable to verify it.

Since most backup and imaging software allows you to extract single or multiple files from it, you can use it to read files from the beginning, middle, and end of a backup/image. If the files restore properly, you can be reasonably sure the entire backup is valid, especially if you have also verified the integrity of the data.

After using Norton Ghost 10 to restore my computer, this sporadic message comes up: "Corrupt File The file or directory C: is corrupt and Unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utility"

Problem

I recently had to recover my computer system that is running Windows XP Home Edition by restoring recovery points created by Norton Ghost 10. Now the following warning message comes up sporadically when I'm using various applications: <Application filename> Corrupt File The file or directory C: is corrupt and Unreadable. Please run the Chkdsk utility. A particular application is always named in the message. I've run Chkdsk, but it says that there is no problem. The system itself and the application software seems to be running properly. My research discovered that the problem is probably caused by a corrupt Master File Table (MFT). However, I haven't been able to find a remedy. Is the problem potentially serious, and can you suggest a solution?

Answer

Before you take any of the following advice, back up any files that you want to save. Not as an image, because imaging software copies everything, including disk errors, unless the imaging utility's internal checks discover them. You can use the Windows Backup utility or zip the files up and burn the zip files to a recordable CD/DVD.

Try using the Recovery Console. It is best to run it from the Windows XP CD because the hard drive installation of Windows XP isn't active and in use.

In the Recovery Console, enter the CHKDSK C: /R command, which runs a thorough test of the C: drive, repairs correctable data errors, and recovers bad sectors. It takes a while to run. If that command doesn't fix the problem, try using the FIXMBR command (the equivalent of fdisk /mbr command in Windows 95/98/Me systems - rewrites the code of the Master Boot Record of drive 0 - the primary master hard disk drive), and the FIXBOOT command, which rewrites the above-mentioned drive's boot sector. Fixing the Master Boot Record (MBR) should fix any problems with the Master File Table (MFT).

If you're running Windows 95/98/Me, reboot and press the F8 key before Windows starts to load to bring up the boot menu. Select the Command Prompt option and enter the SCANDISK C: /SURFACE command to run a thorough repair and recovery scan of the C: drive. If doing that doesn't fix the problem, try entering the FDISK /MBR command, which renews the Master Boot Record without destroying any data on the drive.

Why has Windows XP made my boot SATA hard drive the H: drive after a clean install, and how can I changed it back to the C: drive?

Problem

This is my setup with regard to the drives installed in my PC:

Primary Master IDE: N/A - Primary Slave IDE: Western Digital, 320GB - Secondary Master IDE: Plextor DVD-ROM - Secondary Slave IDE: NEC DVD-RW Third Master IDE: Western Digital Raptor 74GB, which is connected to a SATA connector on the motherboard.

When I formatted the Raptor and installed Windows XP, everything went as it should, but when I got into Windows, the SATA Raptor was the H: drive and can't be changed in Disk Management (enter diskmgmt.msc in the Start => Run box), because it is the boot drive. Why is that? Can I change it to the C: drive, and why is SATA Raptor shown as a Third Master IDE when it is an SATA drive?

Answer

When you installed Windows XP on the SATA drive, setup looks for all valid partitions. It will install Windows on the next available letter, which was H: in your case. In a different setup of drives it could have been another drive letter.

It is difficult to change the drive letter of the boot drive. Visit these pages for more information:

How to change [hard disk or CD/DVD] drive letter assignments in Windows XP - http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307844

Changing Drive Letters in Windows XP? - http://www.dougknox.com/tips/xp_drive_letters.htm

The easiest way to do it is to disconnect the IDE drives and only have your SATA drive connected. If you have a memory card reader installed, disconnect that as well, because drive letters are assigned to it. Run the Windows setup again. Windows will now be installed on the C: drive. Now you can reconnect the IDE drives and a memory card reader. Windows will assign drive letters to them.

How the drives are described depends on the motherboard's chipset. If it works, it doesn't make any difference if an SATA drive is wrongly described as an IDE drive. Some chipsets haven't been perfected to show SATA drives correctly.

If following that advice doesn't work, visit the PC's motherboard manufacturer's site for a BIOS update, because the BIOS might have a bug that affects booting from an SATA hard drive.

Read the information on the BIOS pages of this site if you don't know how to enter or update the BIOS.

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If you only have one SATA hard drive and one IDE hard drive installed on the motherboard and nothing you do will make the system boot from the SATA hard drive, you should be able to set the SATA hard drive as the boot device in the BIOS when the PATA hard drive is connected. Alternatively, you should be able to remove the PATA hard drive from the boot order of drives if an option is set to include it in the boot order.

Another option is to make use of the Recovery Console to delete and then reformat the active boot partition on the PATA hard drive. Doing that changes its serial number, which Windows generates when a partition is newly formatted. The new serial number won't be recognised by Windows, and it should then recognise the SATA hard drive as the C: drive. The newly formatted PATA partition will be allocated a different drive letter.

If you still can't get the BIOS to boot from an SATA drive when an IDE hard drive is also connected, try copying the Windows system files called NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM (usually located C:\, which can be viewed in My Computer or in Windows Explorer) to the PATA drive's partition. Then use the Recovery Console to run the BootCFG /rebuild command, which should locate the system files on the PATA drive and create the correct boot information in the boot.ini file.

Read this article on the Recovery Console on this site for information on how to use the BootCFG /rebuild command: The Recovery Console and information about the CHKDSK hard-drive diagnostic utility.

My PC keep freezing? Is the hard drive or some other vital component about to fail for good?

Problem

My elderly PC running Windows 98 SE has 512MB of RAM and an Intel Pentium III 1.4GHz processor. Of late, the PC keeps freezing regularly, about every 15 minutes, which requires a restart as the only method of recovery. Also, once, recently, it shut itself down. Just before it did so, a message came up saying that a disk error had occurred and that I must press the Ctrl + Alt + Del key combination to restart. Any ideas on what might be causing these occurrences?

Answer

There a several possible causes of problems of this kind. The most obvious causes are changes you made to the system just before the problems started occurring, and new software device drivers that have been installed. If you made any such changes, reverse them, by using the driver roll- back feature in Windows XP (visit the Recovering XP page on this site for more information on how to do that), or Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel. Windows 98 doesn't have such a feature, so you'll have to remove the device in the Device Manager.

The next most obvious cause is a failing hard drive. If the computer's BIOS setup program has a S.M.A.R.T. setting, enter the BIOS by pressing the entry key(s) at startup (pressing the Del key just after the memory count is the usual method of entry), and enable it if it isn't enabled. This makes software run that monitors the hard drive(s). If the hard drive is about to fail, the user should be informed by a message in advance of that happening so that the data on the drive can be saved. It is possible to run software that interprets the data produced by the S.M.A.R.T. software. Click here! to go to information on S.M.A.R.T. on this site. Use your browser's Back button to backtrack.

You should run the free hard drive diagnostic software that the major hard-drive manufacturers provide from their websites.

If you don't know the make of the PC's hard drive, open the Device Manager by right-clicking on My Computer and then click on Properties in the menu that comes up. In Windows XP, do all of that and then click on the Hardware tab, or enter devmgmt.msc in the Start => Run box. Click on the + beside Disk drives to reveal the hard drive(s) installed. If the manufacturer's device drivers are installed, the make and model of each drive listed there should be provided. If the standard Windows drivers are installed, the make and model won't be provided. In that case, try entering msinfo32 in the Start => Run box in Windows 98 and XP. Doing that brings up the System Information window. Look for the information provided on disk drives. In Windows XP, the information is under Components => Storage => Disks. Alternatively, download and use the free Belarc Advisor from http://www.belarc.com/. When you know the manufacturer of the drive, if you don't know the web address, enter the name (Maxtor, Hitachi, Seagate, Western Digital, Samsung, etc.) in a search engine such as Google.

Note well that you should back up any files that you don't want to lose, because running diagnostic software on a failing hard drive can make it fail completely and irrecoverably. Also note well that if such a utility is used on a faulty system (suffering from bad RAM, an inadequate power supply unit, a faulty motherboard, etc.) it could produce unreliable results.

If the hard drive passes the tests, you have to find out if the problems are caused by hardware or a software.

The first action I would take is this: boot the system into Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key before Windows 98/XP begins to load, and run a tool such as the Disk Defragmenter under Accessories => System Tools. If the problem doesn't occur, those problems are most probably being caused by software that loads with Windows, because faulty hardware won't work in Safe Mode.

Another method is to boot the system to something that is independent of Windows, such as a diagnostics CD, or a boot CD with Linux installed on it, or a BartPE rescue CD. Visit the Recovering XP page on this site for information on creating and using a BartPE CD and a Knoppix Linux CD. If you have a brand-name PC that came with diagnostic software, run it. If it doesn't provide RAM memory tests, you can download and install one of these free programs:

Microsoft Windows Memory Diagnostic utility -

"The Windows Memory Diagnostic tests the Random Access Memory (RAM) on your computer for errors. The diagnostic includes a comprehensive set of memory tests. If you are experiencing problems while running Windows, you can use the diagnostic to determine whether the problems are caused by failing hardware, such as RAM or the memory system of your motherboard. Windows Memory Diagnostic is designed to be easy and fast. On most configurations, you can download the diagnostic, read the documentation, run the test and complete the first test pass in less than 30 minutes." Obtain the full instructions and download from this page. - http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

Memtest86 - latest version - http://www.memtest.org/ and http://www.memtest86.com/.

If faulty hardware is not the cause, a virus, spyware, and the start-up programs are the most probable causes. You can run the virus and spyware scanners named and linked to in the Security pages on this site. Make sure that the have the latest updates installed. Windows 98 doesn't run services in the same way as Windows XP does. If you are using XP, enter xp + unecessary + services, as is, in the Google search box at the top of this page with its Web radio button enabled, to find information on how to disable unecessary services. In both versions of Windows, you can experiment by disabling all of the start-up programs by entering msconfig in the Start => Run box. (In Windows 98, don't disable the System Tray because that is where the icons for the start-up programs appear.) If the problem disappears, isolate the culprit by re-enabling them one at a time until the problem reoccurs.

If the problem still exists, the only other option in Windows 98 is to back up the system or the files you want to save, and then format the drive and reinstall Windows from scratch. Click here! to go to information on this site on how to partition and format a hard drive and install Windows. If you are using Windows XP, visit the Recovering XP page on this site for information on how to perform a repair install of XP.

How can I change the file system on my PC's hard drive from FAT32 to NTFS and then tweak it to increase its performance?

Problem

My computer runs Windows XP Home Edition. A young friend of mine advised me by e-mail to convert my FAT32 file system to NTFS and then tweak the Windows Registry to increase performance. He told me to enter xp + convert + ntfs and then tweak + ntfs + registry in Google in order to find out how to do it. Being 70 years old, I find the information on the web too geeky to understand properly. I'm hoping that you can tell me step-by-step in plain English what to do, if anything, because perhaps he doesn't know what he's talking about.

Answer

For anyone who doesn't know how to find out which file system a particular PC is using, in any version of Windows from Windows 95 to Windows XP, you can find out by opening My Computer and right-clicking with the mouse on the drive letter (say, C:), then click Properties on the menu that comes up. Look under File system on the General tab.

To convert a FAT32 hard drive or partition to NTFS you can enter a command in the Start => Run box. The syntax of the command is: convert drive_letter: /fs:ntfs. The boot drive is usually the C: drive, so to convert it enter convert C: /fs:ntfs.

From a security point of view, especially when used in Windows XP Professional Edition, NTFS is a superior file system to FAT32, but it has to do more record-keeping, which slows it down. For that reason, on relatively small hard drives of around 30GB and 40GB in size, FAT32 is significantly faster than NTFS. However, because NTFS has a superior indexing system, it is the best file system to use on drives that are 60GB in size and larger.

FAT32 drives become fragmented very easily, especially if the user visits many websites and then deletes the files in the Temporary Internet Files folder by making use of a file-cleaning utility, or via the General tab in Internet Options in the Control Panel. Internet files are small and when they're deleted the FAT32 system tries to fill the small gaps with much larger files, can't place the whole of a large file in a small space and therefore has to locate the rest of the file elsewhere on the drive. The small gaps therefore lead to rapid fragmentation of the drive, which slows access to files down the more markedly the more the drive is fragmented. In any case, the Windows Disk Defragmenter should be run frequently if FAT32 is the file system. NTFS spreads saved files over the entire storage space of the drive, and suffers much less from fragmentation because there is space to save entire files, even when they grow in size. However, when an NTFS drive is running out of space, that is no longer the case, and the drive will fragment much more than is usual. NTFS drives fragment severely when the drive is more than 75% full. To find out how fragmented a drive is, run the Windows XP Disk Defragmenter under Start => All Programs => Accessories => System Tools, click on its Analyze button and then when a window comes up, click on its View Report button.

If your PC already has an NTFS boot drive, there are a few Registry tweaks that can speed it up.

DO NOT APPLY THE FOLLOWING TWEAKS TO A SYSTEM WITH A FAT32 BOOT DRIVE!

Note well that editing the Registry incorrectly can lead to the system not booting the next time it starts up, so you are advised to back up you system or at least create a System Restore restore point before you make any changes. If the PC starts up in Safe Mode, or you can boot to the command prompt, you can restore the restore point, which will backdate the system to the state it was in before you made the change. Look it up in XP's Help and Support, or click here! to go directly to information on System Restore on this site.

The first Registry tweak involves disabling the last access time field, which can speed up file reading quite a bit. To open the Registry, enter regedit in the Start => Run box. Click on the + beside HKey_Local_Machine, then open System => CurrentControlSet => Control => and select FileSystem. Several entries (for this entry) should appear in the right-hand pane of the window. If there is an entry called DisableNTFSLastAccessUpdate and it has a value of (0), double-click on the entry and change the value from 0 to 1 in the Value data box. If there is no such entry you can create one by right-clicking with the mouse on an empty area in the right window pane. Then choose New => Dword Value. Enter DisableNTFSLastAccessUpdate, exactly as it is written here with regard to lower and upper-case letters, exit, double-click on the new entry, and enter 1 in the Value data box. When the PC is restarted, the Date Last Accessed field will no longer be modified every time a file is read, and scanning the drive with a virus or spyware scanner will be considerably faster.

The next Registry tweak can speed up a brand new system, or a newly partitioned and/or formatted drive.

As before, click on the + beside HKey_Local_Machine, then open System => CurrentControlSet => Control => and select FileSystem.

Right-click with the mouse on an empty area in the right window pane. Then choose New => Dword Value. Enter NtfsMftZoneReservation, exactly as it is written here with regard to lower and upper-case letters, exit, double-click on the new entry, and enter 2 in the Value data box. A value of 2 has been found to be the best setting in Windows XP, but you can try using 3 and 4.

An NTFS drive begins with a fairly few number of entries in its Master File Table (MFT), the system's file index, which should not be confused with the Master Boot Record (MBR). The Master Boot Record contains code that is loaded at startup. It selects the boot partition and transfers control to code in the boot sector of that partition. That code, in turn, loads the operating system or a loader program that loads the operating system, such as NTLDR, which loads Windows 2000 and Windows XP.

Additional space is reserved in the drive in order to allow the MFT to grow as more files are added and indexed. However, for technical reasons due mostly to the poor design of Internet Explorer, which creates tiny files for cookies, bookmarks, IE Favorites, etc., instead of storing the entries in a single database file, the MFT can become fragmented. The Disk Defragmenter in Windows XP doesn't defragment the MFT, so the fragmentation increases with time, slowing the system down significantly.

The above Registry tweak only works on a new drive volume. If you want to defragment the MFT on a used drive, the third-party utilities Diskeeper and Partition Commander can defragment it. You can make use of the Google search box at the top of this page, with its Web radio button selected, to find vendor/download sites.

This MS Knowledge Base article - 174619: How NTFS Reserves Space for its Master File Table (MFT) - provides information on MFT fragmentation, and this article provides general information on it - Master File Table (MFT) - http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/file/ntfs/archMFT-c.html.

The free Sysinternals PageDefrag utility defragments other system files, such as the Registry and the virtual memory swap file, which improves system performance.

Sysinternals was an independent organisation but it is now owned by Microsoft. Visit http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/default.mspx for the great free utilities.

How can I restore Windows XP to a serial ATA (SATA) hard disk drive?

Problem

I have a brand-name computer still under warranty that has Windows XP Home edition, an AMD Athlon 64 processor, and a Maxtor 250GB serial ATA hard disk drive. Due to a system failure, I had to reinstall Windows XP by making use of the Recovery CD that came with the computer. However, every time I attempted to do that the installation failed because the recovery process says that there is no hard disk drive installed, even though it is functioning perfectly well. The company took it back and reinstalled the system, but provided me with no explanation of what was wrong. However, the same problem returned, I had to use the Recovery CD again, but the same thing happened. This time the company told me that the installation process requires the use of a floppy disk drive, but, unfortunately, there is no such drive installed on this computer. Is there any way around this problem, or will I have to purchase a floppy disk drive? And if I have to do that, how will I use it to fix my problem?

Answer

Serial ATA hard disk drives have become available only fairly recently. Windows XP has to load device drivers that support the serial ATA hard disk drive in order to install itself. The newer OEM versions of the Windows XP CD should include the drivers for the SATA controllers, but if your version is too old to have them, you have to press the F6 key when the Windows installation setup procedure asks for the drivers, and provide it with the driver file on a floppy disk.

As you've discovered, Windows XP insists on looking at the A: floppy disk drive for this driver file and you only have a CD/DVD drive installed. It assumes that every computer must have a floppy disk drive, but many computers no longer come with one, because the manufacturers assume that they're redundant now that everything can be done with a CD/DVD drive.

Fortunately, it's very likely that a new computer that comes without a floppy disk drive has a setting in its BIOS setup program that allows it to boot from USB drives and devices. External and internal USB floppy disk drives are now available, as are USB Zip drives and USB flash (thumb) drives. When a USB drive or device (floppy, Zip, or flash) is made the first boot drive or device in the BIOS, then it will be allocated with the drive letter A. You should be able to obtain the driver files from the computer's maker, or from the site of the manufacturer of its motherboard. Copy the serial ATA driver file to a floppy disk, and Windows XP's setup procedure should then be able install the drivers from it.

Although it's possible to create a customised Windows XP CD that can install the device drivers (the details for which are provided at the end in this article), the brand-name company that sold the computer to you should have provided a Windows XP setup CD that contains the correct drivers for the SATA controller on the computer's motherboard.

When you've fixed the problem successfully by reinstalling Windows XP, and reinstalling all of your applications, and all of the numerous software updates, such as Service Pack 1 (SP1) and the security patches that were issued subsequent to its release, you should create a back-up of the whole system that can be restored in one easy step. There are several back-up programs that can create a bootable CD, which then restores the back-up. My current favourite is Norton Ghost (versions 2003 or 2004), which can create bootable CDs so that you can create a restorable master image without having to use a floppy disk that contains DOS CD-drive drivers.

Click here! to read about Service Pack 2 (SP2) on the first Software page of this site.

How to slipstream Windows XP and create a customised boot CD

1. - Create a folder in the root directory on the hard disk drive, such as C:\XPCD, and copy the entire contents of the Windows XP CD to it.

2. - Use Windows Explorer to locate the i386 folder that will have appeared under this new folder, then open Notepad and type in the following lines without any spaces between them:

[Unattended]

OemPreinstall=Yes

OemPnPDriverPath="Drivers\SATA\HD"

Then name the file Winnt.sif and save it to the i386 folder.

When it's on the bootable CD that will be created, the Winnt.sif file instructs the Windows setup process to load the drivers for the SATA controller so that it doesn't have to ask the user to press the F6 key and insert a floppy disk with the driver file on it.

Now Windows will expect to find the serial SATA driver file in a folder on the bootable CD called: \$OEM$\$1\Drivers\SATA\HD

The contents of the \$OEM$\$1\ folder on the bootable CD will be copied to C:\Drivers\SATA\HD on the hard disk drive during the file-copying stage of the Windows setup process.

3. - Download the driver file for the SATA controller from the computer's motherboard's site. Create the \$OEM$\$1\Drivers\SATA\HD folders in the copy of Windows in the C:\XPCD folder on the hard disk drive, and copy the driver file to the HD folder.

It is assumed that this new computer will have come with a version of Windows that includes the update Service Pack 1 (SP1). If not, and you want to add the SP1 files to the bootable CD, follow the instructions of Create A Bootable/Slipstreamed Windows XP Installation CD at http://www.theeldergeek.com/slipstream_01.htm. There is no need to do this but since you're creating a bootable XP CD, you might as well make it as up-to-date as possible.

Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) has been available for some time. (At the time of writing this (July, 2007), there were rumours that Microsoft plans to issue SP3 for Windows XP.)

For an illustrated tutorial on "Slipstreaming SP2 in a current Windows XP install share" see Slipstreaming Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Create Bootable CD - http://www.helpwithwindows.com/WindowsXP/winxp-sp2-bootcd.html.

If you have trouble making the instructions on the above links work, you can try using this utility: Flexbeta Slipstreamer XP 2.0 Beta 2 -

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/1049389892/1

4. - A bootable CD contains an image file of a bootable start-up floppy disk, which is used during the boot process but which doesn't appear on the list of files that can be found on the CD. It's necessary to extract this image file and place it in the C:\XPCD folder that contains the other Windows files that will be burned to the bootable CD.

Many CD-burning packages have a program that can extract this image file to the folder containing the files that will be burned to the bootable CD, but the easiest way to do this is to download and use IsoBuster from http://www.isobuster.com/. When using this program, highlight the "Bootable CD" image file and double-click it to extract it to the C:\XPCD folder you created on the hard disk drive.

5. - How you burn the contents of the C:\XPCD folder to a recordable CD-R or CD-RW disk so that a bootable CD is created depends on the CD-burning software that you're using. The cut-down CD-burning software that often comes with a CD writer may not allow this to be done. But the Nero software provided with many CD writers should be able to create bootable CDs very easily.

Is my clicking hard disk drive faulty and heading for terminal failure?

Problem

I have a 60GB Seagate ST360020A hard disk drive that makes annoying clicking sounds at random. It can work for hours without clicking, but for periods it can click several times a minute. When it clicks while reading or writing, the process freezes for a second or so, and it is prolonged. The clicks can also occur when the drive is inactive. I've tried the drive in different computers running three different operating systems, and the drive behaves in the same way. I downloaded the free drive diagnostic utility from Seagate's site and both the quick and the thorough tests give it a clean bill of health. Seagate support told me that if the drive passed the tests then it's not malfunctioning. I visited Western Digital's site where I found a page that said that clicking drives are usually faulty. Can you clarify the matter for me, please? I don't want to replace a perfectly good drive?

Answer

Even the quietest hard disk drive makes some noise, but some makes and/or models make more noise than others. That particular model from Seagate has been criticised for being noisy.

Unfortunately, from the symptoms it's difficult to say whether it's normal behaviour or a sign of imminent failure.

The most ominous clicking noises are loud clicks that occur when the computer is first switched on. In this case, the heads are searching the platter(s) until they hit the stops, and this is indeed a symptom of internal damage and imminent terminal failure. The next most ominous noises are scraping sounds that occur when the drive attempts to access particular areas of the platter(s). These noises usually indicate that there is damage to those areas of the platter(s) that have probably been caused by crashing of the search heads, and the damage will spread rapidly to other areas and therefore occur more often.

Fortunately, there is another kind of periodic clicking that is normal, which is caused by a process called thermal recalibration. The hard drive heats up as soon as the computer is turned on. It's bimetallic construction is designed (like a thermocouple) to compensate for any expansion of its components, but internal adjustments usually still have to be made to make sure that the read/write heads are in precisely the correct position over the platter(s). Normal clicking sounds are issued by the drive when it makes these adjustments. The noise is more obvious with some makes and/or models of drive than with others. Drives manufactured during the early to mid-1990s have to perform this recalibration frequently as the drive heats up. The process takes long enough to interrupt the real-time recording of sound or video streams, hence the later incorporation of data buffers on AV-rate drives that buffer that data stream during the thermal recalibration so that it can run smoothly during the interruptions. To some extent even the most modern servo drives still have to perform thermal recalibration. Occasional recalibration is normal, but if it is excessive, this is probably an indication of the imminent terminal failure of the drive.

Modern drives have data buffers that compensate for any interruption of reading and writing activities, therefore, if there is freezing, it is likely to be a faulty drive that requires its data to be backed up before it dies.

Hard disk drives dating from around 1995 are monitored by what is called SMART diagnostic software, which is activated at system start-up by the BIOS setup program. If it is enabled by a setting in the BIOS, it should issue a warning of imminent drive failure, so you should make sure that it is enabled.

Overheating could be the cause of the problem. - To make sure that such a drive isn't overheating, you should make sure that the drive is mounted in the case so that there is enough space around the top and the bottom of the drive to allow for the free flow of air. Moreover, a drive installed with its circuit board (on the bottom of the drive) in close proximity to part of the case, or another drive, can overheat.

A warning regarding the free diagnostic utilities that are provided by the major hard-drive manufacturers: I have often found them to be inadequate. I have come across faulty drives that freeze up constantly while reading or writing data, yet the diagnostic utility from a particular drive's maker has given it a clean bill of health.

Why won't my Defrag program defragment the Windows XP Hibernation file?

Problem

I have a Dell Inspiron 5100 notebook computer running Windows XP Professional. When I last used the Disk Defragmenter, it finished off with the message telling me that some files couldn't be defragmented. I read the report it provided, and one of the files called hiberfil.sys - the hibernation file - occupies a whopping 767MB. I tried to find the files mentioned in the report, but even after changing the file setting to show hidden files, I couldn't find them. I couldn't help noticing that the hiberfil.sys file is about the same size as the amount of RAM installed in my system. How can I defragment those unfragmented files?

Answer

When the system goes into hibernation, the entire contents of the RAM are written into the hiberfil.sys file. That is why it's only slightly larger than the amount of RAM installed. A small piece of program code that works without the hard disk drive being fully operational makes Windows resume after hibernation. That code has to know exactly where the hiberfil.sys file is, so it has to occupy the same disk sectors and can't be moved by the defragmentation process. After it comes out of hibernation, Windows should boot into exactly the same state it was in when the system was last used.

The other files that can't be defragmented are: the Registry hive files, the virtual memory swap file (also known as the paging file), memory.dmp, safeboot.fs, safeboot.csv, the NTFS Change journal, the FAT32 directories, and the NTFS Master File Table (MFT) in versions of Windows earlier than Windows 2003 Server. Files in use by the system and any files in the Recycle Bin also won't be defragmented.

Advance fragmentation of the Registry, swap files (which the Windows Disk Defragmenter won't tell you can't been defragmented), and the MFT will seriously impair the system's performance, but fragmentation of the other files that can't be defragmented, including the hiberfil.sys file, has little affect on the system's performance. However, the message saying that these files can't be defragmented is annoying. There are two ways to get rid of it. First, you can obtain the freeware Sysinternals program called PageDefrag that works with Windows 2000 and Windows XP (but not with Windows 9.x or Windows Me).

Sysinternals was an independent organisation but it is now owned by Microsoft. Visit http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/default.mspx for the great free utilities.

It defragments the hibernation file, the Registry files, and the virtual memory swap file. Defragmenting the Registry files and the swap file can increase the performance of Windows significantly.

The second option to use is the only official way Microsoft provides to address the problem. You have to disable hibernation, which deletes the hibernation file, then run the Disk Defragmenter, and then re-enable hibernation. A new defragmented hibernation file will be created, because it will be created over a defragmented part of the disk.

How do I disable Hibernation in Windows XP?

Open Control Panel. On the Windows XP default Start menu, click Control Panel. On the Windows XP classic Start menu, click Settings, and then click Control Panel. In the Control Panel, open Power Options. If the computer is in Category View, click Performance and Maintenance, and then click Power Options. If the computer is in Classic View, double-click the Power Options icon. In the Power Options Properties dialog box, click on the Hibernate tab. Under the Hibernate tab, clear the Enable hibernation check box, click Apply, and then click OK.

How do I enable Hibernation in Windows XP

For computers that support ACPI power management, and have it and Hibernation mode enabled in the BIOS, under Windows 98, Windows Me, or Windows 2000 an option appears in the Start => Shut Down dialog box that makes the computer enter hibernation mode, in which the contents of the RAM is copied into a hibernation file on the hard disk drive. However, the Shut Down dialog box in Windows XP no longer offers the Hibernation button. Therefore, some users may be confused about how to enable Hibernation mode in XP. If this mode and ACPI are supported by your computer's motherboard and are enabled in the BIOS, you have to do the following: click Start => Shut Down, click the Standby button while pressing one of the two Shift keys. A Hibernation button appears. Click it while pressing a Shift key, and your computer will go into hibernation.

Hibernation Problem on Computers with 1 GB of RAM

With regard to Hibernation in Windows XP, you might like to read this MS Knowledge Base article: Hibernation Problem on Computers with 1 GB of RAM: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=330909.

How to make an ordinary internal IDE hard disk drive into an external drive

Question

I've heard that it's possible to use an ordinary IDE hard disk drive as an external drive by installing it in a special enclosure designed for that purpose that uses a USB or FireWire port. If this is possible, I would like to install Windows XP and all of my applications on such an external drive so that if my system's boot drive goes wrong, I can then use it to restore the system. I have a new 80GB Western Digital drive that I can use for this purpose. Is it possible?

Answer

You heard correctly. You can locate information on and images of such enclosures by entering a search term such as external + "hard drive" + enclosure (as is) in the Google search box provided at the top of this page (with its Web radio button enabled).

There is no doubt that having a complete backup of a system of this kind is a very good idea, because reinstalling Windows, the programs it uses, and all of the updates and security patches from Microsoft Update is a very time-consuming (but very necessary) business.

You could use an internal IDE (or SATA) hard disk drive for that purpose, but that could easily be killed off in the same way as the main drive. E.g., a power surge could take both internal drives out, or a virus could infect and destroy the data on both of them. An external drive wouldn't be prone to this weakness, because it would only need to be connected when creating, updating, or restoring a backup.

If the computer only has USB 1.1 ports, these are very slow compared to the data transfer speeds of a new ATA 100 or ATA 133 hard drive, and using one to back up an entire system would be a very time-consuming operation. If this is the case, you should install a PCI USB 2.0 or FireWire adapter card that adds the much faster USB 2.0 or FireWire functionality. These PCI cards are relatively cheap and can be purchased from any major vendors of computer components.

You would obviously want just be able to plug in the external drive and have it load Windows automatically should the main boot drive fail for some reason. The problem here is that very few USB or FireWire devices can work without using Windows (few of them come with DOS device drivers that can be installed from a floppy disk at start-up), so you wouldn't be able to use one to restore the system without first reinstalling Windows, which would defeat the purpose you have in mind for such a drive.

However, backup software, such as Norton Ghost or the free XXCopy from http://www.xxcopy.com/, can create an exact bootable clone of the system, which means that you would be able to remove the drive from its enclosure and install it in the computer as a replacement for the main boot drive, and it will boot as usual.

If you used XXCopy, you install it and then enter the command xxcopy c:*.* d: /clone (where d: is the drive letter of the external drive) in the Start => Run box to clone the system. You wouldn't have to keep redoing the backup, because you could then make use of a free program such as the Replicator from http://www.karenware.com/ to update the cloned system.

You could also use the free copying/cloning utilities that most hard drive manufacturers supply from their sites. Western Digital's is called Data Lifeguard, and Maxtor's is called MaxBlast. There is also an excellent shareware program called FilebackPC that can be used.

In this regard, note that some of these external drive enclosures are very difficult to prise open after a hard drive has been placed in them.

Can I install a standard laptop hard disk drive in my Dell Inspiron laptop computer?

Question

I'd like to upgrade the hard disk drive in my Dell Inspiron laptop computer, but Dell charges an arm and a leg for them. I've seen the 2.5" drives advertised for sale by many vendors for much less. Is there any reason why I couldn't buy one and install it, or do I have to fit a Dell drive in a Dell laptop?

Answer

Good news! You can install any recent 2.5" notebook IDE drive in the Inspiron - or any other laptop computer for that matter. However, note that Dell sells a module bay that can hold a second hard disk drive - the Inspiron 8x00 Module Bay 2nd Hard Drive Module (Dell part 29MFN) for 9.5mm drives. It is described as a "carrier with cable and connector". The fixing screws for it have part number 53965. The bay allows the new drive to be fitted in the module bay that accommodates the CD-ROM or the floppy disk drive so that software can be copied from the existing hard disk drive.

Note that it's also possible to buy external USB hard disk drive enclosures (not fitted internally) that can house notebook/laptop hard disk drives. They cost about £40 more than a bare drive (in October 2004). A good example is made by Apricom called the EZGIG Notebook Hard Drive Upgrade kit. To find out more about it, enter the name enclosed within double quotation marks in the Google search box at the top of this page. The kit consists of a USB enclosure for the new IDE drive (that connects to a USB port on the laptop) and the software to transfer the installed software from the old to the new drive. If the laptop's BIOS setup program supports booting from a USB device, the new external drive can be made into the boot drive, and the old drive can be left where it is for use as a backup drive.

If you want to view some large images of laptop/notebook hard disk drives and find out what they cost in the UK, visit this site:

http://www.laptopshop.co.uk/.

To find out if the prices are competitive, visit one or more of the sites that provide comparative pricing information on computer hardware that appear as Google adverts at the top of this page, or on the Disk Drive pages of this site. If the Google adverts appear in your country they are specifically aimed at computer users in that country.

How can I remove a hidden partition on a computer from Time Computers?

Note that Granville Technology the holding company of Time Computers went into administration on July 27, 2005.

Problem

I bought a computer from Time Computers that has a 40GB Seagate hard disk drive, which has a hidden partition that contains the System Recovery files. I have installed a new hard drive as the primary master drive, and installed Windows XP Professional on it. I want to use the original Seagate drive for back-up purposes, The hidden partition amounts to only 1.5GB, but the space belongs to me not Time Computers, and I want to recover it. I've tried everything I can think of. I've used the Seagate Disk Tools, various MBR tools, etc., and have even zero-filled (low-level formatted) the drive as per the instructions. [Note that the tools are now called SeaTools, and they are being improved. This message was on the following page at the time of writing this on February 26, 2007: "SeaTools for Windows. - Please check back soon to download a copy of SeaTools for Windows." - http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/support/downloads/seatools

I can trick the BIOS, Windows XP and Linux into seeing the full capacity of the drive using the Seagate Disk Tools to write a new Master Boot Record (MBR) on the drive, but this only lasts until I switch the system off. When I start the computer up again, the space disappears. Time Computer's £1 a minute technical support say the only way to get it back is to send it to them and one of their technicians will restore the lost capacity... Now if they can do it, surely I can.

Answer

There's no need to make use of Time Computer's kind but expensive offer. If you have low-level formatted the drive, all of the data, including any hidden partition would have been destroyed, leaving an empty drive. It looks as if the drive has been set to have a capacity of 38.5GB so that older BIOSes that can't handle larger drives don't freeze the system at start-up.

Download the hard drive's user manual from Seagate's site and read it for information about how the capacity can be restricted. It's done by setting a jumper on the drive itself, or by using Seagate's DiscWizard utility.

All of the jumper settings I've seen restrict the drive to 32GB, but Time could have got Seagate to customise the drive for its purposes. Click here! to go to information on this site about hard-disk-drive user manuals. Use your browser's Back button to return to this point.

If there is no jumper setting, you should download the files and burn Seagate's latest DiscWizard boot CD that presents a user-friendly graphical user interface (GUI). You can also use DiscWizard from a floppy disk. See this page for more information:

http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/drivers/discwiz.html

Look into Utilities => Set Hard Drive Size. The Current Maximum LBA/Sector should be 1.5GB less than the Native Maximum LBA/Sector. If so, set the Current Maximum LBA/Sector to equal the Native Maximum LBA/Sector. After doing that, the hard disk drive should report its true capacity.

How can I transfer Windows XP to a new Serial ATA (SATA) hard disk drive?

Problem

My Asus A8V Deluxe motherboard running Windows XP supports Serial ATA (SATA) hard disk drives, so I want to buy one and transfer the files to it from my existing standard IDE ATA hard disk drive. I want to use the old drive as a back-up drive, but first I have to know how to go about transferring Windows and all of the other files to the new drive. The existing drive is divided into three partitions. Windows is on the C: drive, the CD/DVD drive uses the D: drive, the applications are on the E: drive, and my data files are on the F: drive.

Reply

Click here! to go to a section called Hard drive diagnostic utilities and tools on the first Disk Drives page on this site.

You have to use a tool that can copy the files to the new drive while Windows XP is in use, and the free utilities provided by the manufacturers of hard drives are designed to do that, but each tool can only be used on its manufacturer's drives. If the manufacturer of your new SATA drive doesn't provide a utility, you can use the one provided by the manufacturer of the old drive. You should also be able to use the free XXCopy from http://www.xxcopy.com/. The site provides extensive information on how to use it. Just make sure that it supports SATA drives.

You should use the latest versions of a particular tool because an old version that was created before SATA drives became available won't be able to recognise an SATA drive.

Only a very recent version of Windows XP such as SP2 might contain the SATA device drivers created by the drive's manufacturer. Therefore, if you install the new drive and transfer all of the files to it, when you replace the old drive with it, the version of Windows on the new drive (now the boot drive) won't have the device drivers it requires in order to be able to use the motherboard's SATA controller, and therefore won't be able to boot the system. In order to boot, Windows must have the boot hard disk drive's drivers installed.

To get around this, you should install the new SATA drive as a secondary drive. When you start up after the installation, Windows will detect new hardware and ask for a source of its drivers if it doesn't have the right drivers in its driver library. You should have its driver file in a folder that you can point Windows to when it wants to install its drivers. If you use an IDE ATA drive as the boot drive, an SATA drive will automatically be installed as a secondary drive. But if there are two SATA connectors on the motherboard and you were to install two SATA drives, the motherboard's manual should contain the information about how to install them as primary and secondary drives. If the motherboard has connectors for IDE ATA and SATA drives, you may also have to enable a jumper on the motherboard in order to be able to use its SATA controller. That information will also be provided by the manual. If you don't have a manual, download a copy from the motherboard manufacturer's site.

Click here! to go to information on SATA hard drives on this site.

After the SATA drive has been installed successfully, use the relevant disk-copy utility to copy the partition containing Windows to the new drive.

Shut the system down, and remove the old hard disk drive before rebooting the system. Doing that makes Windows allocate the same drive letter (C:) to the new drive, and also makes it give the new C: drive the same volume serial number that was created when the C: drive on the old drive was formatted. You should then boot the system and enter the BIOS setup program (by pressing the relevant Setup entry key) and set the SATA controller to be the first boot device. If there isn't an SATA option in the boot order, use the SCSI option.

Windows 95, 98, and Me automatically boot from the kind of drive that is set as the first boot device in the boot order in the BIOS. However, Windows 2000 and Windows XP require the boot manager to be set in order to load from a particular type of hard disk drive controller (IDE, SCSI, SATA). The boot manager is controller by a small hidden file called boot.ini. It can be edited manually, but the easiest method is to set the CD drive as the first boot device in the BIOS and then boot from the Windows 2000/XP CD.

During the boot process that follows, you are asked to press the F5 key and insert a floppy disk containing the driver file for the SATA controller. You should have the driver on a floppy disk ready for use unless you have a very recent version of Windows XP, such as version SP2, that has the driver file on the CD.

After doing that, the Windows Setup screen comes up and presents the user with these three options: 1. - "To set up Windows XP now, press Enter. 2. - "To repair a Windows XP installation using the Recovery Console, press R. 3. - To quit Setup without installing Windows XP, press F3.

Follow the instructions of the second option. (Press the R key.)

The Recovery Console is a special DOS-like environment. All you have to do is enter the command bootcfg at the Console's command prompt. The Console then locates the copy of Windows on the boot partition and creates the correct entry in the boot.ini file automatically. Windows should then be able to boot the system.

If none of the above does the trick, you will have to perform a repair installation of Windows XP. To do that, boot from the Windows CD, insert the , driver floppy disk when asked to, and choose the first option to run Setup. (Press Enter.) Choose the Repair option. A repair installation retains all of the applications, data, and user settings, but you have to reinstall the Windows updates that the system requires in order to have any security holes plugged and bugs fixed that aren't incorporated into that version of XP.

The new drive only contains one partition with Windows on it. To partition the new drive into the three partitions you were using on the old drive, you can boot from the Windows CD and make use of its partition and format options to split the rest of the drive volume into two additional partitions. You can format a new partition from within Windows by right-clicking on its drive letter in My Computer and then clicking the Format option. Alternatively, you can make use of a third-party partitioning utility, such as Partition Magic. After you have the required partitions set up and formatted, you can use the drive-copy utility to copy the applications and data files to them.

Note that a full Windows XP CD is required in order to run a repair installation; it can't be done from a System Recovery CD of the kind shipped with most brand-name computers instead of a Windows CD.

Are vibrations harmful to the components of my computer, such as its hard disk drive?

Problem

My desktop computer has a Logitech 2.1 speaker system. Since it is the most convenient place to put it, its sub-woofer is placed on top of the computer's midi-tower case, which is situated under my desk. I often have the volume turned up loud, so I can't help wondering if the vibrations from the sub-woofer could be damaging the computer's components; the hard disk drive in particular.

Answer

Yes, that set-up is likely to cause damage to the computer's hard drive. Hard drives can easily be damaged by shock and by vibrations. Shock occurs when the drive or the computer itself is dropped. Dropping a hard drive from a height of as little as an inch has been known to cause it damage. But a hard drive fitted to the drive bay in a PC case won't be subjected to as much shock if the computer is dropped compared to the shock that the drive itself would experience from being dropped, because the sudden deceleration of a small object results in much larger G forces than would occur if a much larger object (the PC case containing the drive) were dropped from the same height.

However, the rigid mounting of a hard drive that is required to reduce the affects of sudden shock make it more susceptible to damage from vibrations. Therefore, the manufacturers of notebook/laptop computers have invested plenty of research and development time into designing drive mounts that are rigid enough to protect against shock while being flexible enough to protect the disk drives from the affects of vibrations. The quality of the drive mountings is one of the reasons why brand-name notebook computers designed for business users constantly on the move are far more expensive than those aimed at the home-user market, which are fitted with less expensive mountings. For that reason, any user who intends to make use of a notebook computer mostly while on the move from place to place should invest in a business-class machine.

If you download the manual for a particular hard drive, you should be able to see that its maximum operating shock, measured in Gs, can be as high or higher than 160G, while the maximum allowable random vibration is less than 1G.

If the sub-woofer hits the same resonant frequency of the drive's head assembly, the impact will be far greater than vibrations at other frequencies. It would be much like placing a resounding tuning fork on the drive that is vibrating at the same frequency as the drive's head assembly, which would then vibrate at the same intensity and would no doubt be fatally damaged. The chances are high that sooner or later the frequency of the vibrations from the sub-woofer are going to coincide with the operating frequency of the drive. Therefore, you should find a better place to situate it.

A 300GB SATA hard disk drive installed on an SATA adapter card disappears in Windows XP intermittently

Problem

I have an problem that happens intermittently with my PC's SATA 300GB hard drive. The SATA adapter card drivers are installed, Windows XP recognises the 300GB drive and Windows installs itself all right. On reboot, after the installation, Windows XP loses the hard drive intermittently. I check in system BIOS and it has disappeared. I reboot again and check that the SATA BIOS [the BIOS on the SATA controller card] sees the drive, which it does; it is registered as the bootable device. Any ideas on what is causing the problem? I don't want to reflash the system BIOS if I can help it.

Answer

The cables for SATA drives are usually quite stiff and the standard connectors don't have any locking facility. I would guess that you may have a loose connection that the application of a little electrical tape should fix.

The following information isn't applicable to your case, because the drive is recognised and only disappears intermittently, but for other users planning on installing a large SATA drive, you need to be running Windows XP with at least SP1, preferably SP2, for hard drives larger than 137GB. If you also have an IDE PATA drive installed, make sure that its jumper is set to make it a master drive. If applicable to your setup, read: A problem with an old IDE hard drive and a new SATA drive running from a PCI SATA adapter card.

Some hard drive manufacturers, such as Western Digital, use a proprietary SATA cable that locks to the drive. Western Digital calls its SATA cable SecureConnect. The end of the cable that connects to the drive has a special secure connector. Read the following guide to see a drawing of the cable.

Western Digital Serial Hard Drive Installation Guide - http://www.wdc.com/en/library/sata/2779-001006.pdf

The download is in the form of a PDF file, which requires the free Adobe Acrobat PDF reader. Here is a useful extract from it:

"Q: Why does Windows recognize the drive as "SCSI" when it is Serial ATA? A: Most third party controller cards and RAID adapters are recognized as a SCSI device under Device Manager. This is normal and will not affect your drive or system performance. Q: How do I verify if my Serial ATA drive is recognized by my system? A: Right-click on the My Computer icon, select Properties, left-click on the Hardware tab, and click on Device Manager in the window. Double-click on Disk Drives. Your new Western Digital Serial ATA drive should be listed as a "SCSI Disk Device" or "Serial ATA Disk Device." If not, make sure that all cables are securely attached and that your system BIOS has been properly configured."

The guide provides information on the BIOS settings, and information on how to diagnose problems, partition and format the drive, and how to transfer data from an old drive to the new SATA drive.

Can I use a password to protect an entire second hard drive or at least its folders in Windows XP Professional?

Question

I am adding a second hard drive to my Windows XP Pro computer. It will be formatted as a NTFS drive and have no partitions. I intend to use it as a backup drive for data files. Is there is a simple way for Windows (not a third-party program) to password protect the entire second drive so that only I can access it? Even if I can only protect the folders with passwords would be helpful. I don't want to compress the files.

Answer

Windows XP, Home or Professional Editions, does not use passwords to protect anything other than logins; it uses permissions instead.

Here is information to help you with that:

HOW TO: Set, View, Change, or Remove File and Folder Permissions in Windows XP - http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=308418

How to Disable Simplified Sharing and Set Permissions on a shared folder in Windows XP (Professional Edition only) -

http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=307874

Note that the file system must be NTFS, not FAT32. The use of passwords to protect folders is not supported unless you zip them. You can do that by opening Windows Explorer (right-click Start => Explore). Click on a folder in the left window with the right mouse button. Click Send To => Compressed (zipped) Folder. Windows creates a zip file of the entire folder that you can see underneath the folder. Click on the zip file to open it. You will find an option under File => Add a password.

Otherwise, use third-party software. To find it, you can start off by entering "password protect folders", as is, in the Google search box at the top of this page, with it Web radio button selected.

If you have a third-party zip-file utility installed, such as WinZip, you can use it to password-protect zip files. If you have WinZip installed and you right-click on a zip file and click Open With, you'll have the options to open it with the WinZip Executable or with Compressed (zipped) Folder.