Advice need for Internal Hard Drive

[Dew]

Budman was correct and my HD is starting to fail. I need to purchase a new one then my neighbor will help me install it and use Norton Ghost to get everything off my old drive and onto the new drive.

I am looking for a Parallel ATA internal drive of 100-160GB. I found one on newegg.com. It is a Western Digital Caviar 160G 7200 RPM IDE Ultra ATA 100 for $44.99. I currently have an 80G 7200 IDE Ultra ATA.

I prefer to have a quality drive and not too large because I cannot sacrifice performance on this 4 year old PC. I can always get a large external HD and use that for strictly storage.

I would like advice on brands and sites. Anything that anyone can provide is appreciated. I need to replace this one pronto. I am using up all my blank DVDs backing up all my pictures, data, mailboxes and d/l'd apps in the mean time.

Thanks a bunch. :)

[MinaKitty]

Husband shops on New Egg all the time.

There has been a rash of problems recently with Seagate drives, so you might want to steer clear of those if you need one right away.

It looke like the one you mentioned is about the average price and seems ok.

[John]

Western Digital and Seagate are the only drives I will buy.

[LostEmissary]

I think most of the drives I've purchased over the years have been Western Digital (my current main drive and backup/data drive are both WD, but I do also have an exernal Hitachi that's been reliable). I'm not really brand loyal, but those are the ones I seem to have used the most. I've found that going on about 3-4 years is when my drives start to kick the bucket, but I tend to use my computer a lot. Look for a drive that has a 5 egg rating on newegg with lots of reviews and you'll likely be in good shape.

I highly recommend having a second hard drive and a backup program (like Ghost) that lets you do a full disk image every so often. It will let you completely recover your entire OS with everything the way you had it in the event of a crash. It's saved my life a few times.

[Dew]

I ordered the 160G Western Digital from newegg. When I get my tax refund I plan on buying a 320 External HD. I will run Ghost to that every so often. I just finished copying all my data and d/l applications to 2 DVDs. When the HD arrives we will install it then Ghost it and then remove the failing drive. Hopefully this will solve my haunted PC issue. :pray1:

[ZIA]

Dew, newegg is awesome! I just bought my laptop from them. :)

[ISLANDLEA]

hi, worth a try :rolleyez: ... lea :)

Crashed Hard Drive
If — no, make that when — your PC’s hard drive crashes and can’t be read, don’t be too quick to throw it out. Stick it in the freezer overnight.
“The trick is a real and proven, albeit last resort, recovery technique for some kinds of otherwise-fatal hard-drive problems,” writes Fred Langa on his Windows Secrets Web site. Many hard drive failures are caused by worn parts that no longer align properly, making it impossible to read data from the drive. Lowering the drive’s temperature causes its metal and plastic internals to contract ever so slightly. Taking the drive out of the freezer, and returning it to room temperature can cause those parts to expand again.
That may help free up binding parts, Mr. Langa explains, or at least let a failing electrical component remain within specs long enough for you to recover your essential data.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/technology/personaltech/19basics.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&no_interstitial