Dell Desktop Died Last Week - What To Do Next?

Yes, my 1 year old Dell desktop gave me a bad image checksum prompt last Monday, right before my trip to UT. I called up Dell Support and they said it sounded like I need to do a Windows reinstall, which means I lose all my data on the C drive.

I have been saving onto my external hard drive since I bought it, but there are some files on my C drive I don't want to lose. So, I called Dell again and they didn't have an answer for me except to send it to Data Recovery in CA. They charge $3500 to get my data out. AHHHHH!

So, I spoke to another Dell tech and came up with the following:

Order a new hard drive
Take out the old hard drive
Install the new one and reinstall Windows
Save the old drive until I have time to look into it. The tests I did says the hard drive is fine.

The new drive costs $80 for 160 gb. I ordered it today and it will be here in a few days. Did I do the right thing?

To retrieve data, try this program. I used it when my HD crashed. Well worth the money.

Good luck.

If the old drive is fine then you should be able to hook it up to the machine once your other drive gets installed and Windows put back on it. Then you can recover the files you want.

That is what I thought. Dell wanted me to just say by by to the old drive. Like that's going to happen? I am putting the old drive back in. Thanks. I just wanted to know I did the right thing. I've never had a computer do this before.

You done exactly the right thing.

I would have ordered a new hard drive cable too, incase the issue is there.

Oooo, I didn't even think of that one.

My solution...


Buy a new hard drive.
Take the old one out.
Put the new one in.
Buy a USB enclosure or cable for the old hard drive.
Connect the old hard drive.
Copy the documents and settings folder. That should get most things back for you. You could try using the import facility.

SuzyView wrote in post #3555495
Yes, my 1 year old Dell desktop gave me a bad image checksum prompt last Monday, right before my trip to UT. I called up Dell Support and they said it sounded like I need to do a Windows reinstall, which means I lose all my data on the C drive.

I have been saving onto my external hard drive since I bought it, but there are some files on my C drive I don't want to lose. So, I called Dell again and they didn't have an answer for me except to send it to Data Recovery in CA. They charge $3500 to get my data out. AHHHHH!

So, I spoke to another Dell tech and came up with the following:

Order a new hard drive
Take out the old hard drive
Install the new one and reinstall Windows
Save the old drive until I have time to look into it. The tests I did says the hard drive is fine.

The new drive costs $80 for 160 gb. I ordered it today and it will be here in a few days. Did I do the right thing?

Suzie,

Microcenter will sell you an external case for you old HD with a USB interface. After you get Dell back up and running you can try the old HD as an internal.

If you will PM me with specs on the old HD I may have an external enclosure at work that may fit it...that way you can test it out.

BTW...my Dell PC died from HD failure two years in a row...I bought an external HD, backup s/w and I back up the entire C drive weekly now.

I was grateful I joined the forum because someone here recommended I get the external and make sure I have back up. Never had trouble before. With 8-12 GB of pictures every time I do anything, I was getting pretty nervous. Now I am truly grateful I joined this forum. I've learned so much.

Suzy the main problem is a flood of cheap hard drives.
Buy yourself a western digital raptor for your most valuable stuff, they are not cheap but I have yet to see a dead one. I use 2, for my operating system and important files.
You get what you pay for.

You can help prolong the life of cheaper drives by ensuring they have adequate space to breathe inside the case. Don't fit them close together and leave a good gap around them from the case/mounts. A cooling bay is worth the money if you live in a medium/hot climate. Keep the PC away from heating vents or radiators.
Dust off fans with a clean paintbrush and vacuum once a month.

Thanks. I just bought a WD 500 My Book and I have 3 other hard drives, 2 Passports. I need to get backup on all the files I already have on my 4 computers. I finally put all the data on DVD's and CD, as extra backup. I don't want to lose anything again.