HD Giving SMART Warning At Boot

[FloatingBrick]

The Segate drive in the Compaq I bought just over 1 year ago is giving the error. The drive has not caused any data loss or even crashed - but I continue to get the warning at boot up.

I have several questions, as I weigh my options. 1) I bought a new 1 TB Samsung to replace the drive, but the Compaq only has 1 SATA connector - any thoughts on how to copy my data once I install the new drive?

2) I seem to remember reading somewhere that the restore CD that I burned off the D:/ partition when I first got the comptuer will only work with the original drive. Is this correct?

3) If I go and buy Win7 is Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit - OEM the one I want? I want to be able to run some of my XP programs. I can't do this on the Home version installed at the factory, so I might as well upgrade now.

Any thoughts deeply appreciated.

 

[spackard]

Use a USB docking bay if you want to see both drives at the same time.

I don't know about the restore CD. One I used (not from Compaq) didn't need the original drive. It would build a system onto another drive, that had partitions laid out the same way as the original drive had, and had the original, need-to-be-upgraded-right-away drivers and OS.

Download from MS the Windows 7 compatibility tool to see if your computer is going to work well with Windows 7. The "Professional" one is the one with virtual XP mode. But, your hardware may not support it. Here's a Register article talking about it: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/01/windows_7_xp_mode_review/

 

[Rand]

I've never seen one with just one connector? is the dvd/cd drive sata? you could unplug that and image your current hdd over if you arent having issues with it yet.

 

[PandaBear]

Seagate has a tool call DiskWizard free as long as it detects a Seagate drive when using the software. It is great for cloning the drive from old to new.

Get a USB to SATA connector / adapter that you can use to transfer the drive over. If you don't need it afterward you can always return it (make sure you buy it somewhere that is easy to return). Or just disconnect your CD/DVD drive and use it to connect to your old drive while cloning.

 

[javacontour]

How is the DVD connected? Maybe you could borrow the DVD connection to connect the 2nd drive while you migrate the data?

 

[buickman50401]

Originally Posted By: javacontour
How is the DVD connected? Maybe you could borrow the DVD connection to connect the 2nd drive while you migrate the data?

Might be SATA, but not knowing the specs and considering its a Compaq its probably still an IDE/PATA connection.

 

[PandaBear]

1 year ago means it is most likely SATA. I think the PATA / IDE interface is obsoleted by 2008/2009

 

[FloatingBrick]

Thanks to all for the helpful replies.

And D'oh! Yeah, the DVD is SATA. Thanks for pointing that out.

As for cloning - I think I have the Seagate software somewhere, but I didn't think it would clone to a non Seagate drive. Guess I'll give it a try.

If that doesn't work - will hickery still work in Win7 using the command prompt?

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: FloatingBrick
As for cloning - I think I have the Seagate software somewhere, but I didn't think it would clone to a non Seagate drive. Guess I'll give it a try.


I've tried, as long as you have at least 1 Seagate / Maxtor drive in your computer it will work.

 

[FloatingBrick]

Finally got around to working on swapping the drives last night. Since I couldn't run the Seagate CD and both HDs, I put the Samsung in and ran the restore DVDs. It ran without any issues - I was glad that the new drive didn't cause a problem.

Spending today reloading all the software and copying my backup files.