ot hard drive replacement

So if your old drive is getting full, do a Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools->Disk Cleanup and then Disk Defragmenter (in the same menu folder).

But here's another trick you can try first to clean up a crowded drive: right click on the drive letter or a floder and bring up Search. Enter *.* for the name of the files to search for, then click on the Search Options link, select Size, and enter a size of at least 1000kb (one meg). You'll probably find a bunch of old and very big files you don't need and can delete to free up a bunch of space.

Hurst

First thing, that noise can be coming from one of the fans; ya wanna make darned sure you really have hard drive troubles because a hot machine will drag and talk to you also.

Then, if it is indeed the hard drive that is making the noise, here is a "painless" way to do it:

Click on start, programs, accessories, system tools and system information. Double click on componets, double click on storage, then double click on drives.

Under "Drive C", under "Drive Model", it will give you the manufacturer and the model number. Then go out and buy the exact replacement; that way you do not have to deal with the BIOS issue that others have mentioned.

When that new drive comes, all you have to do is take a picture of your old drive via the utility programs furnished by the manufacturer and you'll have to do a little dance as to the drives living arrangement in your computer.

Let us know when you're ready to swap and we can walk ya right thru it.

Allan

How big is the thing? (In My Computer, right click on the C-drive and choose properties).

If you're up around 60 gig or so, it would take a long time to fill that guy up. Besides, a 'bigger' drive isn't gonna improve performance anyway. But, a new drive that isn't draggin' will really speed things up compaired to what you have going on now.

And, if it is talking to ya, she is not long for this world, you wanna get it swapped out before it totally locks up on ya. At that point, you loose everything and have to do a system restore from the discs on your new drive.

Ya don't wanna do that on a Dell if you don't have to. It's a real pain.

Just tryin' to help,

Allan

How many miles on the girlfriend? LOL!

Allan

You've got the world by the tail. I'm so old that my trip-o-meter has stared turning yellow. :>)

Allan

I was just sittin' here thinkin' how far we have come in just the past few years.

Remember how shaky those old CMOS scripts were back in the days of the 386s and 486s? And, they would lose the drive's partition on a whim and it took a major undertakin' just to get 'em to run again. :>(

Nowadays, it is just a matter of takin' a snapshot and pluggin' the lil' devils in. :>)

Still think my favorite OS of all time is DOS 'cause it is so darned fast. Geeze, these machines now have more memory in their video buffer than those old hard drives used to carry total. :>)

Allan

I decided to add a second 80 gig, and another 256 RAM card. Second time in, took 30 minutes to do both.

Since this is an older P3 you're working on, what operating system do you have?

Allan

You might want to consider a total upgrade for about $400 with a Intel MB and chip with 256mb ram, 80gb HDD and a new V.92 modem if your dial-up, with XP home. Alot of the Intel MB's come with there own video card.

In the past 15yrs, XP Home is the best upgrade yet with the least amount of headaches and the new V.92 modem just smokes for a dial-up connection, amost twice as fast.

Try zipzoomfly.com or newegg.com for parts or systems. I done business with both companys with satisfaction and zero problems.

T_Bone

And to think that the first computer was the size of a building and took hours to count to ten, but it was accurate. And it's DVD was the size of a semi and only showed black and white silent movies if stared into the tubes at just the right angle (just joking).

Mark