Replace Hard Drive

[Shaw520]

The old HP Pavilion (desk top) 6000 series,.. its getting more bogged down than a lapped-out RM125.. I've never replaced a HD before. I have recovery and start-up disc,.... what else do I need to know.

The machine still works good, just getting full and I dont really have the $$ right now for a new rig,.. any help appreciated!

 

[Chili]

Do you need more space or is it just running poorly? Adding another drive won't speed up the pc it likely needs a going over looking for spyware/malware etc and other issues that are slowing it down.

 

[Patman]

Get an external drive and dump all the crap you think you really need on to it to free up space if your drive is really getting full. Delete or archive old email, remove old programs you don't use, make sure you have the latest patches and drivers. Then scan for spyware, etc..., defrag / optimize the drive and reboot. You might just be suprised.

 

[Shaw520]

Hmm,.. Ive got an updated AVG 8.0 , went allthrough it and came back clean, to be honest Im not sure whats bogging it down,.. its 4-5 yrs old, Im assuming hard drive is getting full, doesnt seem to multi-task like it used to. Got a crap load of img's and doc's stored, .. Ive deleted all temp files and cookies. Tried removing old unused programs,.. Hmmm My knowledge is limited when it comes to checking the perfomance.

Thank you Chilli

 

[Patman]

Right click on the drive.
Properties.
Tools.
Defrag.

This will show you graphically if the drive is filled up or in need of defragmentation.

 

[Shaw520]

patman, that sounds pretty good, will the new external drive come with hardware to transfer,.. and I know how to scan and defrag,.. but what is optimize?

 

[Shaw520]

Right click on the drive.
Properties.
Tools.
Defrag.

This will show you graphically if the drive is filled up or in need of defragmentation.

did that,.. it's showing that Ive used 23gb of 86,.. says I have 63 gb free space.

 

[Chili]

So you've got plenty of free space. What are the system specs and are you running any system intensive apps like photoshop?

I'd still be looking for spyware/malware or preloading too many apps on boot up, eating away at your system resources.

For starters install Spybot Search and Destroy and see what it finds ( http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html ).

 

[Asrith]

you know sometimes because it is windows, it is better to back up all your important stuff and reinstall windows. there should be some recovery partition to boot from and reinstall instal windows, also format the drive. you can do all this other stuff but the time your done you better off starting new. you may want to consider an apple computer in the future. i like filehippo.com to gather diff apps.

 

[m4i2k2e2]

Get an external drive and dump all the crap you think you really need on to it to free up space if your drive is really getting full. Delete or archive old email, remove old programs you don't use, make sure you have the latest patches and drivers. Then scan for spyware, etc..., defrag / optimize the drive and reboot. You might just be suprised.

dont just dump any old software or programs onto a new external harddrive, it may be corrupt from spyware. if you do that it will just mess up the new hard drive. if you can the best thing to do would be to reformat the drive. that will remove everything and you will start with a clean slate. make sure you have your drivers downloaded and burnt onto a a few cd's for your hardware before you reformat. otherwise you wont be able to do much with the computer. go on hp's website for the lasted drivers for your hardware.


press control alt delete to bring up windows task manager. at the top switch to processes. in the bottom left it says how many you have running and what your cpu usage is. right now i have 34 running with 0-1% cpu usage. when i first build my computers they have around 27 or 28 processes running. how many are running right now?

and to check the specs of your computer go to start then run, type in dxdiag it may take a bit to get it to boot up. then go down the list and tell us your processor type and what amount of memory your have. that is diagnostic and tells your all about your software and hardware on or in your computer.

also, go to start then run again. type in msconfig one word just like that. then go to the startup tab and click disable all then make sure you hit apply and then ok. then it will asl you to restart just click restart.

-mike.

 

[Patman]

dont just dump any old software or programs onto a new external harddrive, it may be corrupt from spyware. if you do that it will just mess up the new hard drive.

Actually I was suggesting he remove files he thought he couldn't live without not programs as people tend to not be inclined to just move programs since they really need to be uninstalled and reinstalled. Leaving the OS and program files on the same drive and data on another is a clear method, perhaps that wasn't clear.

Anyway sine space is not the issue I think Chili gave some simple and solid advice. We have a clutter coollector at our office that pulls down ever "neat" program he sees, saves every evertyhing and has the largest PST file on the face of the earth and his box gets progressivly slower until we go in and strip junk out under his watchful eye or the hard drive happens to crash and we get to start over fresh. Since he's the President of the company not much else to do :)

 

[Shaw520]

right now i have 34 running with 0-1% cpu usage. when i first build my computers they have around 27 or 28 processes running. how many are running right now?



-mike.

Mike,.. I have 47 running, with cpu usage bouncing from 4% to 20%, with nothing else running the cpu usage is bouncing from 4% to 20%, that means somethings going on right?

Thanks! Shaw

 

[m4i2k2e2]

Actually I was suggesting he remove files he thought he couldn't live without not programs as people tend to not be inclined to just move programs since they really need to be uninstalled and reinstalled. Leaving the OS and program files on the same drive and data on another is a clear method, perhaps that wasn't clear.QUOTE]

yea, if you think you have a virus you should never put anything on a new hard drive. you will run the risk of corrupting the new one. viruses will corrupt many different programs and software. that is a good non clear method of getting yourself back in the same jam you were in. like i said a virus can corrupt anything the creator intended it to attack.
for instance if he feels like he cant live without music. one of the files he downloaded had a virus on it. hes put them on the new one. it would be junk. that is not a clear method.

and lke you said space inst the issue here, that would be correct. but, all the processes he is running is make that cpu process more then it has to.

shaw, did you do the last part of my post, with the msconfig.
when you do that stay still with your mouse and dont have any music or any videos in the backround. so we can get a good base reading.

-mike.

 

[Shaw520]

also, go to start then run again. type in msconfig one word just like that. then go to the startup tab and click disable all then make sure you hit apply and then ok. then it will asl you to restart just click restart.

-mike.

Ok Mike,... I did this and now I have 27 processes running and cpu is holding steady @ 0-2%, I watched the cpu for a bout a minute with no mouse movement, there was two very brief spikes to 11%, but other than, it held steady at 0-2%.

 

[Patman]

... like i said a virus can corrupt anything the creator intended it to attack.

No kidding? :laugh:
Silly me for even thinking somebody would have current virus protection in this day and age. :laugh:

 

[m4i2k2e2]

Ok Mike,... I did this and now I have 27 processes running and cpu is holding steady @ 0-2%, I watched the cpu for a bout a minute with no mouse movement, there was two very brief spikes to 11%, but other than, it held steady at 0-2%.

thats good. thats where you want to be. now on the post were i gave you that info on msconfig look about that and you will see the dxdiag. there is a list of info that will come up. will you tell me your processor type and the amount of memory you have?

 

[m4i2k2e2]

No kidding? :laugh:
Silly me for even thinking somebody would have current virus protection in this day and age. :laugh:

im just trying to help the guy. you really know your stuff about dirtbikes and you have alot of good info and i can take away from that to help myself. but, when someone tells your your wrong you cant take the info that i have given and maybe use that info to help yourself out in the future. i do build computers and have been tinkerings with them for years. however your acting like you know alot about computers so let me ask you this, if you know so much how come you didnt just give him the simple advice that i gave him? i dont know what you mean by your comment but id like you to explain.

-mike.

 

[Shaw520]

ok mike I got it,..

Manuf - HP Pavilion 061
BIOS - Phoenix - award BIOS v6.00pg
Processor - intel(r) Celerion (r) 2.93GHz
Memory - 504 MB RAM
page face - 303mb used - 926mb avail
Direct X version 9.0c

 

[m4i2k2e2]

ok mike I got it,..

Manuf - HP Pavilion 061
BIOS - Phoenix - award BIOS v6.00pg
Processor - intel(r) Celerion (r) 2.93GHz
Memory - 504 MB RAM
page face - 303mb used - 926mb avail
Direct X version 9.0c

hm, like you said the computer is about 5-6 years old? now thats ancient in terms of technology. but if it ran fine then, then it should still run the same. what programs do you have on it? what do you use this computer for? games, movie editing? you could use a bit more ram witch is the memory but hm. after you disabled all in the ms config you hit apply and then you hit ok then a restart window came up and you hit restart right? if so did you notice a difference? is everything you do on the computer slow? or just a few certain programs?
did you put vista on this when it came out did you use your windows version that came with it?

-mike.

 

[Patman]

im just trying to help the guy. you really know your stuff about dirtbikes and you have alot of good info and i can take away from that to help myself. but, when someone tells your your wrong you cant take the info that i have given and maybe use that info to help yourself out in the future. i do build computers and have been tinkerings with them for years. however your acting like you know alot about computers so let me ask you this, if you know so much how come you didnt just give him the simple advice that i gave him? i dont know what you mean by your comment but id like you to explain.

-mike.

I'm glad you are trying to help that's great. I don't take well to being told I'm wrong when I am not. Perhaps there is a lack of info being posted by people and that causes the different interpretation, perhaps there is a higher level of knowledge being assumed, who knows. I do tend to give most people the benefit of the doubt until they show they are totally ignorant on the topic being discussed, maybe that's the problem, I don't assume everybody is an idiot. I hate to burst your bubble but most anybody can build a computer, it's not hardly rocket surgery and might explain why most prebuilt units are assembled by people making a couple bucks a day in a far away land. Please don't make the assumption that I know nothing of the dusty insides of a computer, it would be a very wrong one. The reason I didn't give the advice you did is because you read something different in to the post than either Chili or I did, pretty simple huh? I'll leave you to your work Mr. Wizard, it appears you have in under control ;)

 

[Shaw520]

hm, like you said the computer is about 5-6 years old? now thats ancient in terms of technology. but if it ran fine then, then it should still run the same. what programs do you have on it? what do you use this computer for? games, movie editing? you could use a bit more ram witch is the memory but hm. after you disabled all in the ms config you hit apply and then you hit ok then a restart window came up and you hit restart right? if so did you notice a difference? is everything you do on the computer slow? or just a few certain programs?
did you put vista on this when it came out did you use your windows version that came with it?

-mike.

I have MS Office, Publisher, photo shop, imaging... I did notice a big difference after I did the disable. No vista, running XP that came with it.
Every things seems good (alot better than it was), except when multi tasking with media player or limewire. Maybe Im just asking too much from this dinosour!

Patman,... call off the hounds Dude.,..the guys helping me out here,..

 

[flyingfuzzball]

i would look at limewire. or the programs downloaded by limewire if your looking for viruses.

and to help w/ multitasking adding RAM would help.

 

[Shaw520]

Good point,.. Im gonna scan limewire library see what happens,... adding RAM, is that easy to do ??

 

[Patman]

Are you fully patched up? in XP? What about on your MS Office products? Running PS on that box is going to be a bit of a challenge.

Adding RAM is about as hard as changing an air filter just make sure it matches up with your mother board requirements. It will help but you really need more computer, they don't age as well as a KTM.

I might play rough but that's the way I am.

 

[Shaw520]

they don't age as well as a KTM.

You got that right! ... thats the only thing that seems to get faster with age,... or Im getting slower, (thats possible,.. I guess :whoa: )

My xp has had all the patches and updates, ... what is PS ?