Transfer Hard Drive Image

There was a similar posting about a week ago. http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/71302#comment763633.

Norton Ghost, Acronis...I think we just covered this in the thread listed above, yah?

We beat that issue to little pieces a few days ago in another thread so I won't go into that one.

However, unless I'm misunderstanding you, there are a couple of things to be concerned with. First, can you define "abnormally" a little better? And have you isolated the problem to your drive? Regardless of the answers to these questions, I'm a big fan of making backups, so making a ghost image or clone of your drive is a good idea in any event.

Second, I'm understanding that you plan to pull the drive out of your laptop, install it either directly or through USB on the second computer, then run clone software on the second PC. Assuming that my understanding is correct (and it may not be), it might be easier to just install the ghosting/cloning software on the laptop and make your backup to an external USB drive and not worry about the second PC. This is assuming the operation of and files stored on the drive haven't already been compromised.

Lastly, if you have the restore disks from the manufacturer, you're in better shape than a lot of people! These should contain all the drivers, the OS, and everything to make your laptop back to as-new condition. The big caveat here is to note that I said "as-new"; everything on the drive will be written over by the restore process and the laptop will be just like when it was first unwrapped. This is a whole 'nother can of worms, as you will lose all your programs and data. It's so drastic that I wouldn't do it on a working-but-possibly-flakey drive anyway, only on a brand new one. That way, if anything goes wrong, you've still got your data intact on the old drive to fall back on. This is usually the absolute last resort, just one step shy of going out and pricing new laptops.

Good luck & keep us posted!

Yah, so I noticed a little too late :). Has anyone used the Easeus disk copy program? It's free and I do not think it has a trial limit and can create bootable CD's as well. i am thinking of trying it, just wondered if someone else already has.

Mainly overheating and I have System Mechanic which keeps reporting warnings on heat issues on the hard drive. Have cleaned all the fans, etc, even have an aux cooler underneath. Most times It works fine, but now and then loads are slow and the temperature skyrockets. Sometimes my system mechanic reports hard drive errors, but usually when i run a deep check it then reports none, but usually it has cooled back down then. I have checked the fan, it does not slow down, is clean and has never made noise. I thought it might be the integrated graphics going out as it goes up to 100+C on idle at times, but that is also when SM detects hard drive errors. Hard drives are cheap enough and I want to get a faster one anyways. This is my wife's computer so is basically only used for web browsing and simple arcade style games.

Although the Hard Drive generates heat, the computer's logic board (motherboard) produces more. If you plan to take this computer apart to replace the HD anyway, a service manual would be a wise investment. Laptops are often put together using strange fasteners and hidden attachment points.

From your description, it sounds like your main problem is cooling failure, which is causing errors in the drive. Is there more than one fan? Something inside the case may be intermittently obstructing the airflow. Laptops tend to run on the warm side anyway. They need all the help they can get.

Check the other thread (http://cr4.globalspec.com/thread/71302#comment763633) for backup suggestions. You should do this right away, before the drive decides not to make nice anymore. Good luck.

I unscrewed the hard drive and then blew out the connector and replaced it. As of yet I have had no heat spikes, and the temperature even under load as gone no higher than what would be considered normal. Perhaps it was nothing more than a faulty connection causing feedback or dust causing a bad connection? Before I did this the graphic card would report temperatures of close to 100+C, just from web page browsing. Now it barely goes over 75C. Before I did this it would sometimes be close to 100C at idle, now at idle it stays around 67C. All I did was remove the keyboard to check for dust and replace it, then take out the hard drive and clean the connectors. All I can think is that perhaps there was a feedback effect causing the extra heat problem? Is this possible? My knowledge of electricity is basic.

It sounds like the temperature sensing circuitry was using a simple thermistor. As temps increased the resistance would increase and would be sensed by the software as increased temps. Reseating or cleaning the connection would reduce resistance and show actual temperatures.

Good job.

First rule of computer repair: reseat before replace. Well, maybe it's not first but it ranks up there.

I thought of that but during the heat spikes the actual case over the hard drive area would be very hot to the touch, now it barely gets warm. Could it have caused the spin to exceed specs and cause it to overheat? I do not know what else could have caused such overheating, but I know it was an actual increase in temperature as sometimes I would shut it down as the case was becoming so hot you could hardly put your hand on top to type. I just hope I caught whatever the problem was in time not to have caused further damage to other components. I am still going to replace the HD as I plan to put a faster one in. Is there any risk in replacing a 5200 RPM drive with a 7200 RPM drive, additional heat disipitation for example? Should I also put in a more powerful fan when I upgrade the HD?

And thank you all so much for for taking the time to help!

Interesting observations.

As far as the additional heat; not necessarily. I have replaced 7200 drives with 10k drives that ran cooler. They were just much more efficient drives. With new technology comes more efficiency.

Depending on how many drives you are actually talking about you may not need to worry about fans yet. By clearing the path for air flow through your box you may get the extra cooling efficiency you need, i.e., cable management, ducting, and dusting regularly.

It wouldn't hurt to put in a more efficient fan though, since their cost is negligible for peace of mind.

Hi there, sjw! Glad to hear you got things under control. Those kinds of problems are the trickiest ones to troubleshoot and fix.

Yes, it had me worried for awhile, but the last few days I have seen no repeat of the problem. I just ordered me an Alienware which will arrive on the 30th, so won't have to use the wife's tiny laptop anymore. The things I do tend to work it to the limit anyways :), plus it won't run half the things that are essential to life itself, like good computer games, lmao.