# "used" hard drive to replace ours??



## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

Repairman told us our hard drive had gone bad. It was purchased new in 2007 or 2008. We tried to re-install Windows XP and lost all our files. Repairman worked for hours using several programs but could not find the files. He said a "new" hard drive would be costly; so I let him put in a "used" one. Now we cannot even download or get the different programs we had on the old one to work on this one...like Microsoft Word and even Outlook Express. We use Windows XP.

Any advice and/or suggestions would be appreciated.


----------



## bignugly (Jul 13, 2011)

You can get a new hard drive for about 55.00 and up(plus shipping) depending on size of hard drive you get. You can install it yourself too. Just go online and google on " how to install a hard drive". Not as hard as you might think to do. www.tigerdirect.com is a good source for parts and I think they have some instructional videos.


----------



## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

Yes please go with new they way way down in price, even at Best Buy a Seagate HD at 500 Gig is 50 bucks. 1 Terra Byte is around a 100.


----------



## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Being from 2007-2008 it's most likely an IDE hard drive. This one should do fine for you at $16.

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=ST3120025ACE-NDW-R&cat=HDD


----------



## backwoodsman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

Nevada said:


> http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=ST3120025ACE-NDW-R&cat=HDD


That one has only a 2MB buffer, and is reconditioned, not new.

With a 2MB buffer the drive will have to grind away a lot more trying to find files every time it's accessed. That makes noise, slows it down, and wears it out. It's worth paying a little more for at least an 8MB buffer.

Reconditioned is fine for a lot of things, but with a fragile mechanical device like a hard drive, you never know if it was dropped and damaged enough to shorten its lifespan, but not enough to be picked up by diagnostics. So it's worth paying a little more for a new drive.

Here's a new, factory sealed 160GB IDE drive with 8MB buffer for $25:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/130822446682


----------



## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

He's only got about a year left before April 2014, when update support ends for XP. Unless he goes to Linux that will mean end of life for that machine.


----------



## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

motdaugrnds said:


> He said a "new" hard drive would be costly;


Then he has no clue what he is doing, hard drives are cheap.


----------



## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

Nevada said:


> He's only got about a year left before April 2014, when update support ends for XP. Unless he goes to Linux that will mean end of life for that machine.


That just ends Microsoft's support, it doesn't mean the computer will stop working.


----------



## backwoodsman7 (Mar 22, 2007)

mnn2501 said:


> Then he has no clue what he is doing, hard drives are cheap.


Probably; or maybe he had a used drive he wanted to get rid of it, and wanted to get more than it's worth for it. Either way, the OP should be looking for a new computer guy.


----------



## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

mnn2501 said:


> That just ends Microsoft's support, it doesn't mean the computer will stop working.


That true, but without MS updates the system will become exposed to newly discovered vulnerabilities. That means using an XP machine online after April 2014 is going to be risky.


----------



## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

Took it back this morning as PC still wasn't working right. He has ordered us a new hard drive and is going to take the price of this used one off it. (This repair man has served us well for over 10 yrs without obvious concerns; so I trust him. Seems what he was calling expensive was even less than what we were willing to pay. Thus, we will be getting that new one next week.)

I'm so ignorant about computers. Ours was purchased new way back when the XP first came out. Guessing the new hard drive will be ok to use with this XP programming.

We are going to have to download all our programs all over again, i.e. even Outlook Express and Microsoft Word, which we used a lot. 

David had his coin list (collectors) and his book (published by Trafford) all on the old hard drive. He is heart broken about losing it. (Guess that will teach us to back up our files!) We had "Scotty" as a watchdog and I don't even remember where we got that program; so will need to do some googling just to find some of what we took for granted on the old hard drive. "Notetab Light" was another program I used a lot.....grrrrrrrr


----------



## WhyNot (Jun 21, 2011)

motdaugrnds said:


> Any advice and/or suggestions would be appreciated.


 
I'm sorry.

My advice:

Fire the "repairman" and get yourself an on sale computer for about 130.00 to 175.00 "reconditioned"...Tigerdirect.com or walmart.com come to mind.

*Outlook Express is a serious security concern....just fyi.


----------



## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

I'm thinking now maybe it would be more cost effective just to purchase a new computer, going with something newer/better than Windows XP.

Any suggestions with information as to what brand/type/model/? would be better to purchase?

Is there a better/safer/more secure email program than Outlook Express? (Is it costly?)


----------



## larryfoster (May 15, 2009)

I just got my wife a refurb HP from Tiger Direct for $149
Windows 7.
In their ad today they had them for $179


----------



## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

motdaugrnds said:


> I'm thinking now maybe it would be more cost effective just to purchase a new computer, going with something newer/better than Windows XP.
> 
> Any suggestions with information as to what brand/type/model/? would be better to purchase?
> 
> Is there a better/safer/more secure email program than Outlook Express? (Is it costly?)


How much are you looking to spend? You can get a decent new one for around $400, a refurb (which I recommend against) for $200

For email http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows/outlook


----------



## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

Well, $400 seems like a little; however, would it actually do what we need it to do!

What would be the gigabyts, memory, graphics card, etc. We use the PC for Paint Shop Pro, Microsoft Word, a couple of multiplayer games (RuneScape & Armies of Gielinor) & multi-tabs on a couple of forums. The computer we had handled all this well for over ten years; so I wouldn't want to spend even $400 on something that would not do what we wanted....It isn't just the amount of money. It is also the quality of the machine that is important to us.


----------



## mnn2501 (Apr 2, 2008)

For what you do $600 - $700 would give you more than you need. Basic system with enhanced graphics card and extra RAM 
My personal preference would be to stick with Win7 and not go for Win8.


----------



## arabian knight (Dec 19, 2005)

mnn2501 said:


> For what you do $600 - $700 would give you more than you need. Basic system with enhanced graphics card and extra RAM
> My personal preference would be to stick with Win7 and not go for Win8.


Ya for sure. And a computer that is over 10 years old, most ANY new one these days have more then enough of everything that person would need even if that machine was maxed out, with todays copious amounts of hard drive space, way more Ram, and faster chips, even a fairly low end one would be more then a machine from over 10 years ago would have. And should not need to add anything to it.


----------



## motdaugrnds (Jul 3, 2002)

Will be looking at new computers this year! Thanks everyone....


----------

