Topic: No, I will not fix your computer. (Read 65406 times)

Thad · « **Reply #320 on:** November 07, 2010, 11:49:46 AM »

SATA doesn't actually do master/slave; I assume you just mean it's a secondary drive and not your OS one.

Anyway, a chkdsk is probably a good idea; that'll sort whether there are physical errors or just filesystem corruption. In the latter case it should be able to fix; in the former it'll flag the bad sectors and won't write to them anymore. (If there's just minor physical damage then you should be okay, but if there's a lot then it's likely just going to get worse and you should look at replacing the drive.)

If no physical errors are found but the disk's still slow after a repair, it's worth trying a defrag. If it's still slow after that, then yeah, maybe give a shot at reformatting and see if that helps any.

Strictly speaking, disk size IS starting to outpace what common filesystems are designed for and on some level if you're running Windows you're going to have to deal with some issues on large drives. But the symptoms you're describing suggest more than just basic filesystem slowness.

Royal☭ · « **Reply #321 on:** November 08, 2010, 08:17:47 AM »

No sooner than I finish the scan of my extra drive, than windows starts warning me about catastrophic drive failures on my main drive. I'm going to perform some disk scans later tonight, after I finish backing up my photos and other information, but should the inevitable happen, I think it's high time I went out and picked up a new HD.

Given that HDs are incredibly cheap these days, I've been giving a lot of thought to a RAID 0 array, to increase disk load times for games and large files (particularly when editing photographs). Does anyone have thoughts on RAID 0, such as the increased chance of total data loss or other risks? Is the increase in speed worth it?

Ziiro · « **Reply #322 on:** November 08, 2010, 08:26:58 AM »

Funny you should mention it. I was considering using this newegg deal to buy two or three HDDs for RAID 0/RAID 5. From the way it was explained to me, however, RAID 5 would be impossible with these drives because of the 2TB limit on MBR's it seems. I could still do it with RAID 0, but I'd prefer RAID 5 because it allows one of the drives to fail and be replaced without losing any data. Whereas with 0, if a drive fails, your data is gone.

Büge · « **Reply #323 on:** November 08, 2010, 09:10:42 AM »

I'm having an odd problem. My computer is set up with two HDs, one with all the system software on it and a larger one with everything else on it. Sometimes when I boot up my computer, it gives me an error saying that the larger one isn't present. I reboot and it's fine. I dunno what the problem is.

Niku · « **Reply #324 on:** November 08, 2010, 09:26:33 AM »

hard drives are made by wizards

out of scorpions

Friday · « **Reply #325 on:** November 08, 2010, 09:29:40 AM »

At a LAN party once, a friend's computer was having problems detecting the network. After fucking with it for almost an hour, someone accidently unplugged the speakers. The computer immediately recognized the network. We tested this by plugging in the speakers again, which would cause the computer to immediately drop. Mid-game, even. Unplugging them again would restore the detection.

Aintaer · « **Reply #326 on:** November 08, 2010, 10:03:04 AM »

Was it a wifi connection? Because it's probably caused by signal noise. EM band pollution ftw!

Classic · « **Reply #327 on:** November 08, 2010, 09:01:26 PM »

Wh-f-huuuh?

I knew cheap headphone/speaker lines picked up signals and noise really easily, but I didn't know there was enough juice through them to make noise (that anyone would care about).

McDohl · « **Reply #328 on:** November 08, 2010, 09:21:41 PM »

Same reason why if you have cell phones close to some speakers, they make that weird beepy-noise.

Great Flippin Question: Crazy Cell Phone Speaker Noise

Thad · « **Reply #329 on:** November 08, 2010, 10:02:26 PM »

You guys remember that time I was freaking out because my computer wouldn't stop playing Radio Disney and it turned out it was just somehow acting as an antenna and picking up the radio from nextdoor?

Niku · « **Reply #330 on:** November 08, 2010, 10:18:03 PM »

Nope.

Classic · « **Reply #331 on:** November 08, 2010, 10:30:35 PM »

But Aintaer's guess is that the noise from the audio wire was interfering with the wifi. I didn't know they were carrying enough juice to get a big EM signal around them.

Also, no, but I can see why that would freak you out. How did you solve that problem Thad?

Beat Bandit · « **Reply #332 on:** November 08, 2010, 10:46:23 PM »

I actually used to leave my phone next to my speakers whenever I wasn't really using them specifically for the interference. You'd be surprised how freaked out people get when you answer their call before they hear any ringing.

Friday · « **Reply #333 on:** November 09, 2010, 03:44:05 AM »

I actually don't remember if it was wifi or not. It was a while ago.

Royal☭ · « **Reply #334 on:** November 09, 2010, 07:55:36 AM »

So here's a new problem. Old HD crashed, bought a new one, now the windows xp install is telling me"can't access disk". It seems aware of the disk, I just can't format our partition. My current option seems to be to a small partition on my backup drive, then force it to recognize the new drive, then reinstall windows. Is this my only option?

Thad · « **Reply #335 on:** November 09, 2010, 08:30:15 AM »

My first guess is it's an issue with WinXP recognizing SATA out of the box, but if it can see both drives that's probably not it.

You say you can't format the partition -- does it partition and then fail on the format, or fail on the partitioning step? I remember I've gotten NTFS formatting errors before but don't think my solution applies as it was on a Mac.

Royal☭ · « **Reply #336 on:** November 09, 2010, 09:15:49 AM »

Well, it gives me the menu to pick a drive to partition. The backup drive I can select and use, but it shows the new drive with the "Can't access disk" error. I can't even format it. I thought it might be Sata, but both drives are Sata.

Royal☭ · « **Reply #337 on:** November 10, 2010, 08:52:19 PM »

Allright, my ~~battle station~~computer is now fully operational, running Windows 7 64. W64. So I what I'm looking for is good stuff to batten down the hatches and really make this thing secure. Got Chrome setup, looking to put Avast and Spybot on here, but if anyone has any other solid recommendations on that front I'd love to hear it. Also looking for any software that will make my life easier if you got it.

Thad · « **Reply #338 on:** November 11, 2010, 07:37:33 AM »

Create a separate, password-protected admin account and do all your general-use stuff as a standard user.

Kayma · « **Reply #339 on:** November 12, 2010, 05:27:31 PM »

I was recently referred to this website after fixing my girlfriend's parent's computer: http://ninite.com/

A nice all-in-one stop for software necessities. Beats navigating Adobe's website for downloads.

News:

Author Topic: No, I will not fix your computer. (Read 65406 times)