My internal hard drive is knackered, I need a new one

Saturlight

Hi, guys, I have a three year old Q-Tech pc, with Windows ME. It's been brilliant until today, when it crashed and I discovered the hard drive is DEAD, it makes a ticking sound, like a big clock.

I need to replace it as soon as possible. I don't want to pay over the odds and I need something compatible with my pc.

The original hard drive was made by Western Digital (based in the USA); it's a 20GB hard drive, with drive parameters LBA 39102336. And this: 5VDC - 0.6BA.........12DC - 0.16A.

IF THAT HELPS.

I'd appreciate any assistance in connecting me to a British online store that sells compatible internal drives for my pc. Thanks in advance for your help.

rolfw

I think that you'll find pretty much any drive will fit and work. The good thing is that you can buy one four times the size for not very much money. Try somewhere like redstore.com. Or in fact, click on one of the links above this thread, there are some good prices there.

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wod

also make sure you buy the right one for your pc as there is two types of hard drives ide and sata, well not two types its just the interface used is different

PoloMint

Any IDE one should work, buy depending on the computer's exact age you might have problems installing one bigger than 138GB, or even have problems installing one bigger than 40ish GB if it used an old motherboard. Do you know what the motherboard model is?

'All you need is duck tape and WD40; if it moves and it shouldn't, use duck tape - if it should move and it doesn't, use WD40'

Saturlight

Thanks for the replies. First, I don't know anything about the mother board, I suppose I should go to the links ROFL suggested, and others did. I might pick an internal drive, ring the company and ask whether it'll work, before buying. 40GB is enough for me...

Thanks again, I'll keep ya informed...cheers again.

2cvbloke

As a computer repair technician myself, a computer store can't tell you if a larger hard drive would work on your motherboard without knowing the model number of the board, you need to check this before you buy a hard drive, otherwise you could end up with a big drive and only use, say, 20% of the space due to the incompatibility...

Channel Hopper

NURSE .......

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"

Saturlight

So I need to find out from Q-Tech what the mother board is like...

THANKS, m8, for your grateful advice. Ta again.

Saturlight

Just ordered an internal hard drive today online. Cost £22, that plus £5 VAT, and £5 post and packing (has to be signed for).

I spoke the company's techno bloke, and I described to him my pc, what cables I had to fit into the drive, and he said it would work. It's only 40GB, but that'll do me for the price.

Fingers crossed it works.

spiney

Er, won't the computer's ROM BIOS tell you what types of drive it can use? Goto setup .....

PoloMint

Yea, but BIOSes don't like admitting their limitations, and so probably wouldn't say if it can or can't support above 40 / 140GB.

Anyway I'd be surprised if it can't handle 40GB, and even if it can’t then the drive will probably have a "force 38 GB" setting on it somewhere and it should work fine like that (as any BIOS from the mid 90s should recognise that!), meaning you won’t loose much at all.

'All you need is duck tape and WD40; if it moves and it shouldn't, use duck tape - if it should move and it doesn't, use WD40'

spiney

Well, you can always go to www.pcworld.co.uk , click on data storage, and then either their standard Hitachi range, or the cheaper OEM (various older type) ones.

If unsure about connector cables, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integra...ve_Electronics .

Good luck.

Saturlight

Like I said, I am more a EXTERNAL computer USER, burning CDS and DVDs, processing digital pics, etc, rather than knowing what the BIOs is, and other techno facts.

Anyway, the hard drive was delievered today; I fitted it in ten minutes, restalled Windows ME and all my programs and back-up material, and it works a treat!

One problem, the 3.5 floppy disk drive I had previously, has suddenly turned into a 5.7 floppy disk drive!

Now my drive won't accept 3.5 floppy disks. Never mind, I am sure there is a solution. The floppy doesn't bother me at the moment, I'm just glad the pc is working, as is all my programs - and I now have a doubled hard drive! .

PHEW. If anyone has an answer to the floppy disk puzzle, please tell. Ta, and thanks for all your support and advice, it's much appreciated.

Topper

First port of call is to check the bios and see what it has decided you have Floppy or other. It is probably the jumper on the new HD that is not set correctly. Did you set it for CS or Master???

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Saturlight

Err, master I think. I'll check. Thanks.

Saturlight

Phew, it's 2.05am in the morning, and I've finally sorted my pc out!

I eventually found the trouble. On the first row of the bios thingy, it mentions the A drive floppy disk thingy. It said "disabled", so I "enabled" it, and guess what, I saved it with F10, then rebooted the pc, and I now have my A drive back!

Thanks to all who followed this "saga" - if anything, I think this sort of discussion can be of help to others, so if my "agony" assists someone else, then fine.

Thanks again to all the members who gave advice, and read the thread.

2cvbloke

Well done!!! It's always good to know that even the most "external" users are willing to have a go at repairing their PC's, less work for me you see...

And yes CH, I do build and repair PCs and Laptops (well, refurbish and repair laptops mostly)...

Saturlight

2cvbloke, sorry if I did one of your guys out of a job, but I really couldn't afford to get an engineer out, the cheapest was gonna charge a £35 call out - that's before he started. Not including his labour.

But then again, I suppose there are some things our mere mortals cannot fix. So, good luck in your job. There are plenty of people with money who cannot be bothered to take the time out to fix a pc themselves.

And in so doing, not only did I fix mine, with the help of the guys on here, I've learned something too.

NOT TO BE AFRAID TO TAKE THE PC'S TOWER APART!

2cvbloke

£35's cheaper than where I do part time work at the moment, but anyway, that's how we get paid!!

Saturlight

Ever considered, going it alone?