Faulty hard drives and recovery sets

Regarding having a faulty hard drive (no recovery partition), if you and a friend have the same computer model you could buy a new hard drive (maybe 120GB) and clone the good one from one computer to use in the one that had a bad hard drive then make a recovery set from the clone as well as the original, I did this and it's worked.
I have two HP HDX9000 laptops of which one is slightly cosmetically damaged and its original hard drive died so Windows Vista was put on an unpartitioned 500GB hard drive which will go with the unit. I took the OS drive from the 'new' laptop and cloned it so the old one would once again have a recovery partition and created recovery discs from both.

Similar Messages

Windows 7 won't load after installing new Hard Drive and Recovery software

HP G72 Notebook PC
xz218UAR
I guess a virus crashed my hard drive so I bought a new one. I installed the new drive and loaded the recovery disks that I also bought from HP. Apparently Windows didn't load properly and it keeps telling me to RELOAD WINDOWS. I've tried starting over from Disk 1 but it's not doing anything different to fix it.
I removed the new hard drive and reinstalled it but it's still doing the same thing.
What am I doing wrong and HOW DO I FIX IT?

Hi,
Before trying the following, make sure you can still read the 25 Character Product Activation key on your Windows COA label ( 5 blocks of 5 alpha/numeric sets ).
Assuming that this is just a problem with the Recovery process, there is a straight forward work around if you have ( or can borrow ) a retail Windows 7 installation disc that is exactly the same version as your OEM installation - ie if your notebook came with Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit this is the exact retail version you would need.
If you don't have access to a retail disc, you can create an installation disc yourself using another PC - just download the correct Disc Image from the link below and use an application such as ImgBurn to burn the ISO correctly to a blank DVD - a guide on using ImgBurn to write an ISO to a disc is Here. These Images are clean and from a well-respected source, however there are only limited versions available.
Windows-7 sp1-iso-official-32-bit-and-64-bit
Use the disc to perform the installation, enter the Windows activation key found on the COA Label when requested and when the installation has completed, use the 'Phone Method' detailed in the link below to activate the OS - this method supported by Microsoft and is popular with people who just want a clean installation of Windows 7 without the additional software load normally bundled with OEM installations.
http://www.kodyaz.com/articles/how-to-activate-windows-7-by-phone.aspx
Any additional drivers you may need can be found Here.
Regards,
DP-K
****Click the White thumb to say thanks****
****Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem****
****I don't work for HP****
Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience

Drive Partition causing issues after new hard drive and recovery disks installed

I have an HP Pavilion Media Center PC m7640n running Windows XP Media Center Edition.
My hard drive failed and I had a computer guy install a 1 TB Hard drive as well as additional memory. I purchased the recovery disks and he installed everything for me. I have two issues:
1. After updating to XP Service Pack 3 and all other Windows recommended upgrades the computer deleted all my drivers and would not "plug and play" install anything. I had the computer guy back to fix this--he did get all my drivers to work, but when I plug in anything new for the first time (such as my iPad), I have to go into the device manager and manually update the drivers. The computer doesn't recognize it and automatically prompt me to install it.
2. The hard drive partition defaulted to my C drive being very small and my D drive being large. Since software usually defaults to the C drive for installation, I quickly ran out of space. I had the computer guy back and he programmed something so that everything now defaults to the D drive. Unfortunately all my program files (including Microsoft Office) are still on my C drive including everything I put on my desktop. My C drive is now full.
Here is an example: iTunes shows that it is defaulting to the D drive for anything I load into it. Yet I tried to download the new operating system for my iPad and it said my hard drive was full. When I did a file search to see what files had changed in the last week, it shows iTunes on my C drive (and my D drive). Yet all the files that were "changed" due to my upgrade were defaulting to the C drive, even though in the setting in iTunes it shows it should be saving to the D drive.
D:\Documents and Settings\My Music\iTunes\iTunes Media
Is there an easy way to fix these issues? I've already spent more than I anticipated when I chose to rebuild this computer vs buying a new one. Now I'm regretting the decision and I'd like to try and fix this myself and not pay my computer guy to come back at $90/hour.
Thanks!

Here are the original specs of your computer. The specs state that the original hard drive was 320GB. You have since replaced the factory drive with a 1TB (1000GB) hard drive. The HP recovery routine seems to have issues with hard drives that deviate from the original size. The partition issues you are experiencing may be a result of this. As for the rest of your issues, it sounds like the SP3 install went bad.
If I were you, I would consider reinstalling the OS using your recovery discs by doing a complete "destructive" reinstall/recovery. Afterward, I would post the size of both the c: and d: partitions... and go from there.
Frank
Frank
{------------ Please click the "White Kudos" Thumbs Up to say THANKS for helping.
Please click the "Accept As Solution" on my post, if my assistance has solved your issue. ------------V
This is a user supported forum. I am a volunteer and I don't work for HP.
HP 15t-j100 (on loan from HP)
HP 13 Split x2 (on loan from HP)
HP Slate8 Pro (on loan from HP)
HP a1632x - Windows 7, 4GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6450
HP p6130y - Windows 7, 8GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6450
HP p6320y - Windows 7, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GT 240
HP p7-1026 - Windows 7, 6GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6450
HP p6787c - Windows 7, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GT 240

Pavilion dv4405nr laptop hard drive and recovery

Hi,
My daughter's Pavilion dv4405nr laptop's HDD (Samsung MP0804H Spinpoint M Series 80GB) is dead. It doesn't boot, and BOIS HDD test gives error 7. I took the HDD out, and connected it to several PCs (home, work) using two HDD universal adapters (like a BYTECC, and a NewTech) I left it spinning for about 6 hours. The PC sees the mass storage device, but it never shows up in MyComputer with a letter assigned. By right-clicking the working HDD and checking its properties, it lists all HDDs and I can see the damaged one listed w/o a letter assigned. I click to load volume information but all displays zeroes. I downloaded a Seagate-Samung utility to test the drive, and got the same error I had gotten with the laptop's BIOS utility.
Can this HDD be recovered? Is there a utility that can recover it?
If the answer is no: I connected the HDD back into the laptop, and set the boot sequence to DVD drive. I inserted the "All-In-One Recovery DVDs" for this laptop, but they didn't boot. Aren't the recovery DVDs bootable?
Your help and suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Sincerely,
Richard

It looks like this unit came with Windows XP. It really depends on when in XP's production cycle the unit was released on how recovery works.
I am afraid the HDD is beyond salavaging at this point and the hard drive will need to be replaced. The recovery more than likely will fail on the bad HDD.
Early units came with recovery disks, one of which was labeled Operating System, and some used the F10 recovery and required making the recovery disks using a program (these units did not come with disks).
Is there a disk labeled as Operating System or Disk 1 of X?
If it is Disk 1 of X, then you would start with it, but start with Operating System if there is one labeled that.
↙-----------How do I give Kudos?| How do I mark a post as Solved? ----------------↓

New hard drive and recovery files

i have a hp pavilion dv6 notebook
i replaced my hard drive beacuse it is broken
but i made a copy of the recovery files in a flash drive
i made a new partition and copied the recovery files in it to make a factory restore but i can't

When requesting assistance, please provide the complete model name and product number of the HP computer in question. HP/Compaq makes thousands of models of computers. Without this information it may be difficult or impossible to assist you in resolving your issue.
The above requested information can be found on the bottom of your computer or inside the battery compartment. Please do not include your serial number. Please enter the model/product information into HP's Online Consumer Support page and post it here for our review.
Copying the "recovery files" to a flash drive and then a new hard drive partition isn't the proper way of using the HP Recovery files. You needed to create your personal HP Recovery Discs or USB Flash media using the HP Recovery Manager when you first setup your computer. If you didn't create your personal HP Recovery Media, you will need to contact HP in your region / country via the HP Worldwide Support Portal to check on the availability of HP Recovery Discs for your computer.
If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.
Please click the white KUDOS star to show your appreciation
Frank
{------------ Please click the "White Kudos" Thumbs Up to say THANKS for helping.
Please click the "Accept As Solution" on my post, if my assistance has solved your issue. ------------V
This is a user supported forum. I am a volunteer and I don't work for HP.
HP 15t-j100 (on loan from HP)
HP 13 Split x2 (on loan from HP)
HP Slate8 Pro (on loan from HP)
HP a1632x - Windows 7, 4GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6450
HP p6130y - Windows 7, 8GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6450
HP p6320y - Windows 7, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GT 240
HP p7-1026 - Windows 7, 6GB RAM, AMD Radeon HD 6450
HP p6787c - Windows 7, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GT 240

Hard disk drives and recovery systems

I have a Hp Pavilion g4-1016dx system, I have ran the system check and get a quick check Hard Disk 1 303 message. I realize my hard disk is going out, my system did not come with a recovery disk upon purchase. Is there any way of downloading the recovery system to disk or a USB drive from a different computer? Also, I was told the hard disk is not completely shot, I had just downloaded pictures and other items the day before the HDD failure, is there any way to salvage these myself without having to pay someone $$$ to recover these items?
Any help is greatly appreciated as I am technology challenged.
Thanks

Hi,
First, regarding your existing files, try the following.
One possible way to try and retrieve your files from a non-booting drive is to follow the process detailed in the link below. The Ubuntu operating system CD you create can run from the CD alone ( ie it doesn't have to install on the Hard Drive ) and I've often found it to be successful in retrieving data even from a failing Hard Drive. When you've created the CD, follow the instructions and see if you can back up your existing files.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/use-ubuntu-live-cd-to-backup-files-from-your-dead-windo...
Another option would be to remove the HDD, place it in an external caddy - an example is on the link below - connect this to another PC and see if you can access your files.
External HDD Caddy 2.5".
Secondly, regarding reinstalling Windows 7 on a replacement HDD, there are Two options available.
1. You can order a replacement set of Recovery Discs using the link below - these will reinstall the operating system, all required drivers and nearly all of the original software ( the exception often being trials of MS Office ). They will also re-create all the original partitions, including the Recovery Partition.
Order HP Recovery Discs.
2. Another option you could consider is to create your own Windows 7 installation disc.
Before trying the following, make sure you can still read the 25 Character Product Activation key on your Windows COA label ( 5 blocks of 5 alpha/numeric sets ).
An example of a COA Label can be seen Here.
Also, if possible, back-up the swsetup folder that can be found at the root of your C drive on your failing HDD.
You can create a Windows 7 installation disc yourself using another PC - just download the correct Disc Image ( this must be the same version that originally came with your notebook - this is listed as Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit ) from the link below and use an application such as ImgBurn to burn the ISO correctly to a blank DVD - a guide on using ImgBurn to write an ISO to a disc is Here. These Images are clean and from a well-respected source ( Digital River ).
Windows-7 sp1-iso-official-32-bit-and-64-bit
Use the disc to perform the installation, enter the Windows activation key found on the COA Label when requested and when the installation has completed, use the 'Phone Method' detailed in the link below to activate the OS - this method supported by Microsoft and is popular with people who just want a clean installation of Windows 7 without the additional software load normally bundled with OEM installations.
http://www.kodyaz.com/articles/how-to-activate-windows-7-by-phone.aspx
Regarding the drivers etc you need, if you were able to back-up the swsetup this will contain all the software and driver installers for your notebook - if you weren't able to, drivers and software you may need can also be found Here.
Best regards,
DP-K
****Click the White thumb to say thanks****
****Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem****
****I don't work for HP****
Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience

I have an external hard drive set up as a Time Machine backup on my IMac. I want to add a second external hard drive and put my Aperture Photo Library on it. Is there a way to have the photos on this second hard drive automatically back up to the Time Mac

I have an IMac with an external hard drive set up as a Time Machine for automatic backups. I want to add a second external hard drive and load my Aperture Photo Library on to it so that the library can be shared by both me and my wife. Is there a way to automatically backup the photo library that will be on the second hard drive to the Time Machine hard drive?

Open System Preference > Time Machine
Click Options....
Ckick on external disk in list and hit the - button below the list to remove from the Exclusion list
Allan

How do I set the HELP menu to use Indesign's local HELP files on the hard drive and not the web?

How do I set the HELP menu to use Indesign's local HELP files on the hard drive and not the web?
CS 5.0 launches the internet browser. > TO SLOW I DONT WANT THIS.
CS 3.0 uses the local help files > I WANT THIS FOR 5.0.

You're not speaking to the right forum for your request. Help is a Suite-wide feature and here is the forum where the Help application is discussed, and where the proper Adobe people hang out:
Community Help Application

HT201250 I have two external hard drives. One is my Time Machine backup drive. The other I use for external storage of files (documents, photos, movies, etc). Can I set Time Machine to backup BOTH my Mac hard drive and my other external hard drive?

I have two external hard drives. One is my Time Machine backup drive. The other I use for external storage of files (documents, photos, movies, etc). Can I set Time Machine to backup BOTH my Mac hard drive and my other external hard drive?

Yes you can make multiple backups on one hard drive, for example if you’ve 1TB hard drive installed in your PC and you’ve two Mac Machines with 500GB drive each then you just make two backup images with size of 500GB each.
http://www.halfspot.com/use-your-pc-hard-drive-for-time-machine-backup/

What is the Best way to set up Photoshop on a new PC with multiple Hard drives and SSD?

Hi hope someone can help.
I am considering buying a new PC (see below). We want to run both Photoshop and Lightroom on the PC. We will also be using it as a Media centre – that’s why I have two big hard drives.
I would like to know the best way to install both Photoshop and Lightroom on the storage devices. As you can see I will have two 3TB hard drives and one 250G SSD card.
For Photoshop I have read that it can be advantages to have the program on one drive the photos on another drive and the “scratch file’ on a third drive. It was even suggested that the PCs Operating system could be on a different drive than the program. Is this correct and if
so what is best to go on the SSD card? I will be partitioning the Hard Drives and I could even partition the SSD drive if that could help. In this case what size partitions are recommended?
If you can see a component below that you think would be an issue with running Photoshop and Lightroom, could you also let me know what you would recommend?
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790 CPU. LGA1150
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97M Micro-ATX Motherboard LGA1150
RAM: TWO (2) x Kingston 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz Desktop Memory
HDD: TWO (2) x Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM 64 MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 250GB Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Graphics card: Leadtek nVidia Quadro K2200 4GB Graphic Card
Optical drive: LG Blu-Ray Combo Drive. BH16NS40
Power supply unit: Cooler Master V750S ATX Power Supply 750W, 80Plus Gold Certified
Case: Cooler Master Centurion 6Mid Tower Case
Operating system: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit
Wireless / WiFi: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 900Mbps Wireless-N Dual Band PCI-E Adapter
BTW I would have liked to email this to Adobe support but could not find an email address to send it to. I hope this way works.

That's a nice system Kevin, and it will work very nicely with Photoshop. I do take it that you have 16Gb RAM in Total?
250Gb SSD is a good size, but you can still run short, and that will affect Windows performance. When you get your system, instal WinDirStat which gives you a graphic display of everything on your drive, like below. Clicking on any of the large areas will tell you what and where they are, so you can think about moving cache folders etc. to one of the HDDs.
Leave the Pagefile.sys on the boot drive. Think about disabling Hyphenate as it takes a ton of space, and too often crashes on wake up.
My Documents
Desktop
Downloads
Look at Bridge cache
iTunes backup
Other stuff like that.
Think about another 500Gb drive just for Photoshop Scratch. Drives are cheap as chips nowadays
Do yourself a favour, and invest $100 in Shadow Protect (or similar if there is such a thing) SP saves incremental backups every 15 minutes (you can set the interval, but it has no impact on performance with a system like yours). If you have a problem you can mount the back up at any of those 15 minute points, and open files from it. You can also make a bootable DVD image of your C drive, and be back up and running five minutes after disaster strikes.
Optimize Performance in Photoshop
Photoshop CC and CC 2014 GPU FAQ
For more ideas, swing by the Premiere Pro Hardware forum. Those guys are serious good at this stuff, and you'll find links tips and ideas.
Happy computing, and have fun with your Creative Cloud® apps.

HT1553 I did the back up as instructed... Installed a larger hard drive and followed the restore instructions... Now I get a white screen with a folder icon and blinking question mark. When trying to set startup with new drive I get a bless tool error...

I did the back up as instructed... Installed a larger hard drive and followed the restore instructions... Now I get a white screen with a folder icon and blinking question mark. When trying to set startup with new drive I get a bless tool error... Help!!

If you have installed a new hard drive , you will need to have formatted it in Disk Utility correctly. This may explain your problem.
Boot into your 10.6 Install disk again at the top menubar > Utilities > select Disk utility and in there select your new hard drive, and select the tab Erase and choose to make the format as Mac OS Extended Journaled. When that is finished look in the main window to make sure that the partition map scheme says GUID Partition Table.
Now go to the Restore tab and reinstall from your backup.

Hard drive and system recovery question - "No boot device"

I replaced a 320Gb - 5400 rpm drive that failed with a 750Gb - 7200 rpm drive. Using the HP System Recovery disks to reload the OS, once it goes through the restoration process the mb doesn't seem to recognize the hard drive and I get the "No Boot device" message upon rebbot. Unfortunately, the BIOS is not the best and it won't allow me to see if it actually recognizes the new hdd, which I suspect it doesn't - even though the Recovery Manager seems to . Either that or I have a bad MB.
Sytem information - HP G71-340US
Processor - 2.20 GHz Intel Core2 Duo Processor T6600
BIOS - InsydeH20 3.5
So even though Recovery manager *appears* to be installing W7 just fine, but it's a no go when it's time to actually boot to it, what is the problem? Is this a mb issue or did I just buy the wrong hd?

Well, a few reboots later and it seems the issue is no longer the mb or the hd. W7 is having a tough time though, and am now working on the second system restore, this time from the recovery partition, to try and get it to load fully. When I reinstalled from the System Recovery DVD the second time through, I skipped installing the third (driver) disk and that appeared to help. Just wish I could get the OS to comply. Maybe the third time will be a charm?

How can i restore from Recovery Disk if my notebook's hard drive and dvd drives are dead.

Hi. Good day. My hard drive just crashed and im trying to restore from my restore disks. Unfortunately, my dvd is dead too. I copied the recovery disks to a new hard drive and tried booting from a flash drive but the noteebook is still giving me the SMART hd error message. Please help. Thanks.

Hi,
If you have, or can borrow an external CD/DVD drive it would be worth trying this although I'm not certain your notebook will support booting from a drive connected via USB.
Another option may be to see if you can find a second hand optical drive on somewhere like Ebay - the drives compatible with your notebook can be found on Page 59 of your Maintenance & Service Guide. It may even be worth removing a re-seating your existing drive just in case this helps as described in this section.
Does the drive show up in Device Manager? If it does, right click it and select Properties. Select the driver tab and see if there is an error code in the status box.
Regards,
DP-K
****Click the White thumb to say thanks****
****Please mark Accept As Solution if it solves your problem****
****I don't work for HP****
Microsoft MVP - Windows Experience

Can I set Time Machine to backup both my hard drive and an external hard drive?

Hi. I've been working with a lot of family video lately and my internal hard drive has filled up significantly. iMovie doesn't seem to have a good archiving facility like Adobe InDesign which I use at work were all the relevant files are gathered together into one folder. Apple advised me to relocate my movie files to an external hard drive and herein lies my query.
Is there a way for me to set Time Machine to backup both my iMac's internal drive and the external hard drive that would contain my movie files? I've been using Time Machine for my backups for a few years now, but backing up the external as well has me stumped. If Time Machine could be used then all the necessary file accociations etc would be safely backed up as well - that's why I don't want to have to manually backup the external.
Anyone have any ideas? Thanks!

7string48 wrote:
Thanks so much Pondini!! You just quickly answered a question that none of the Mac people in 3 stores or Apple Care have been able to answer.If you can format it HFS+ (any variation of Mac OS Extended), it will work. If not, it won't.
I'm not too surprised about the Apple Stores, as they don't get much training on Time Machine. But AppleCare sure ought to know.
Oh...what about if the external drive is an array...like a Drobo with it's own proprietary formatting...I guess that would not work...??
I've never used a Drobo. A number of folks here have used them as their Time Machine drives, but I don't recall seeing anyone try to back one up with TM, so can't say for sure. But if you can format it as HFS+ (any variation of Mac OS Extended), it will work. If not, it won't.
At least part of the reason is, Time Machine uses the File System Event Store, a hidden log of changes that OSX keeps on each Mac-formatted disk/partition, to figure out what's changed and needs to be backed-up. See How Time Machine works its Magic for details.
See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #32 for details and considerations of backing-up multiple volumes with Time Machine.
However, even if it will work, that may not be your best strategy, depending on your circumstances:
Since Time Machine keeps copies of things you've changed or deleted, the destination needs to be considerably larger than the data being backed-up. How much larger varies widely depending on how you use your Mac, but a general "rule of thumb" is, it needs at least twice the space to be able to keep a reasonable "depth" of backups for you.
If you have a large internal HD, fairly full, plus a large external HD, and the files on the external don't change frequently, you might want to use Time Machine for the internal, and a different app to a different disk or partition, on a different schedule, for the external. Especially if space is a consideration, you might not need to keep previous versions of files on the externals. See Time Machine - Frequently Asked Question #27 for some alternatives.

I have replaced my faulty hard drive on my macbook air 1.1 and need to reinstall the original software where can in find this on the apple web site?

I have replaced my faulty hard drive on my macbook air 1.1 with a new ssd, I need to reinstall the original software,where can I find this on the apple site?

There is no download for the software. The factory software that you are looking for is called ilife. It is all of the software that would have came preinstalled with your mac on your original hard drive when you first bought it. You will have to get new software on your computer. This might actually be a great opurtunity to upgrade to Lions. Search the Lions software in the mac store and it will come up. Click add to cart and check out. The price for it is $20. I defientely recomend Lions, it has alot of new great features. Then wate for the install disk to come in the mail. when it come just pop it in and follow the step by step instructions. If you dont want to upgrade to lions however you can download the ilife package from apple.com for a small price. Hope this helps.

Faulty hard drives and recovery sets

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for