Need some help quick, backups, vista etc.

Well my HDD is fried… nuff said. I need to get a new one and those bastards at HP failed to give me a disk for Vista. I use Vista because I do a lot of gaming, and well.. can't afford XP… Now, I still have an old Vista BETA DVD, I have a few backup DVD's from my old HDD and I am wondering something…

1. Could I run the backups and install the OS through that?
2. If not, could I install the BETA on the computer, and use that to load off the backup?
3. Is there ANY other way? This box IS new, only about a year old, and yet the hard drive is already dead and the warranty void. Now, I COULD send it into HP and get a hard drive with Vista on it, but I need this running quickly, and that would take a "about" of 90 days. If you think there is any hope I could fix the current HDD… Here is the issue.

I load up the PC and it runs through the slaves list, finds my hitatchi hard drive and I get a message saying "Hard Disk Failure: Backup And Replace Hard Drive Immediately - Press Any Key To Continue" So I press the almighty any key. "Ctrl+Alt+Del To Reboot" sigh So I thought maybe I could get one last good backup and run a Live CD… well… the CD can't even FIND the hard drive. The cable isn't loose, I checked AND the motherboard still picks it up. So I don't know, I think it is just fried. PLEASE help, I know I haven't been around very much lately but with web design, school, gaming clans etc. to take care of, I don't have much time to stick to my roots :-/

tyvm in advance

if you're running a linux live cd you have to have certain permissions with different distro's in order to view the HDD. You might want to make sure you're on the right groups (nano /etc/group). If that doesn't work, "search" for a copy of XP.

My HP laptop (HP Pavilion DV2000) Came with a bad HDD, Then It totally fucked up and couldn't even start, HP supposedly replaced it, but it sill was failing. Then each time the Microsoft updates were installed, the laptop would crash. It got to the point where it wouldn't even let me reinstall the OS after formatting the hard drive. It would not let me run system restore, or system recovery either…

I sent it back to HP to fix it, I imagine they will fix it temporarily and then send it back right before the warranty expires to get me to leave them alone, so it'll mess up when the warranty is no longer protecting it…

HP sucks dick…. I am going to call them and cuss them out until they cry next time it messes up…

TheSilentDrifter wrote: if you're running a linux live cd you have to have certain permissions with different distro's in order to view the HDD. You might want to make sure you're on the right groups (nano /etc/group). If that doesn't work, "search" for a copy of XP.

Use a Knoppix live CD to mount the C drive and transfer some of your files to a flsh drive/external HDD…

Well, Knoppix is just what I would most likely use for this situation, but pretty much any live Linux CD should work…

That's what it did to me too, and I'm sure if I was given access to system restore I could get the backup running, but I can't, which is why I was wondering… what if I put the BETA on the new hdd, if that would give me enough system restore to do it… I still haven't bought the hard drive, because of this one little thing preventing me. Thanks for the answers, still haven't gotten it yet though. My real question is basically how can I get it running with what I have, a backup, a beta and a fresh hard drive.

EDIT: I've tried knoppix, DSL-N, ubuntu, redhat… nothing picks it up. It picked it up before though, again, making me think it is fried. I still have those backup DVD's, so backing up isn't the problem, it's the OS

Flaming_figures wrote: That's what it did to me too, and I'm sure if I was given access to system restore I could get the backup running, but I can't, which is why I was wondering… what if I put the BETA on the new hdd, if that would give me enough system restore to do it… I still haven't bought the hard drive, because of this one little thing preventing me. Thanks for the answers, still haven't gotten it yet though. My real question is basically how can I get it running with what I have, a backup, a beta and a fresh hard drive.

My question to HP is, "When the hell are you going to permanently fix this annoying problem??!!!"

I think you'd know how to mount it and get files from your C:\ drive to a flash drive, but just to make sure, do you know how?

Yeah, but it can't find it to mount it… and all I want to do is install the OS, not retrieve the files

Flaming_figures wrote: Yeah, but it can't find it to mount it… and all I want to do is install the OS, not retrieve the files

I'm not sure how you would do that, I'll ask google…

:D

I've been googling for about a week now with no results for what I want exactly, which is why I came here. Trying to see if A. It was possible to run and install vista from a backup DVD and B. If not, if I could use the vista beta for the system restore…. I think it might boil down to buying the hard drive, trying it, and if it fails hurry up and finish this web design job…

Flaming_figures wrote:

1. Could I run the backups and install the OS through that?

Umm… no.

2. If not, could I install the BETA on the computer, and use that to load off the backup?

You could try… if nothing else, it will just either fail to install the Beta at all, or it might fail to recover your backups post-install. Either way, nothing lost in trying.

3. Is there ANY other way? This box IS new, only about a year old, and yet the hard drive is already dead and the warranty void.

Question… how did you manage to void the warranty? Did it run out, or did you do anything in particular to void it?

I load up the PC and it runs through the slaves list, finds my hitatchi hard drive and I get a message saying "Hard Disk Failure: Backup And Replace Hard Drive Immediately - Press Any Key To Continue" So I press the almighty any key. "Ctrl+Alt+Del To Reboot" sigh So I thought maybe I could get one last good backup and run a Live CD… well… the CD can't even FIND the hard drive. By "the LiveCD can't find the hard drive", what exactly do you mean? Does it not show up in the output of "fdisk -l" in a terminal? If the drive itself shows, how do the partitions show up for that drive?

You could try to find a copy of WinPE (bootable CD), which would have tools for file recovery off of a damaged / dying HDD. I've used it before to recover critical files before a HDD died. Also, everyone will say that a LiveCD is a LiveCD… but, for troubleshooting, I use the Gentoo Minimal Install CD (which is a CLI-only LiveCD), and it works like a charm. I'd at least use that to see if you could see the HDD (using the fdisk command above), if you're going to bother with anything before WinPE.

Once you've figured out how to get your file backups, go ahead and swap your SATA cable to another slot on the board. If that doesn't work, see if the DVD drive (if you have one) is using one, and try using that one.

Otherwise… if WinPE can't find your disk, Gentoo LiveCD can't find your disk, and SATA cable swapping doesn't work… your HDD is a goner.

Night_Stalker wrote: HP sucks dick….

Nah… you got unlucky. I've seen and used many / various HPs in the past few years, and they are actually some of the more reliable systems. In fact, I'm on one right now that has served me well for 3 years with no problem.

Night_Stalker wrote: I'm not sure how you would do that, I'll ask google…

Then, why even fucking post?

Flaming_figures stated:
I load up the PC and it runs through the slaves list, finds my "HITACHI" hard drive

All hope is not lost. Go to hitachi's hard drive tools download page, And use the drive fitness test or the diagnostic tool which ever applies to your drive. It should repair any bad sectors and allow you to boot. I have these utilities and have worked great in the past. If not post back I have more to try.

Just to add:

Night_Stalker wrote:
My HP laptop (HP Pavilion DV2000) Came with a bad HDD

Yeah, I'm not believing that. That and other dv**** series had problems with heat from the bios not allowing the fans to run, Hp has released an updated version of the bios and anyone using those series should upgrade their bios now.(People never seem to update the bios) I've used Hp for years with no problems, Sounds like user misuse to me.

Had to post that for hp users.

<OT>korg is the man when it comes to hardware issues. Period.</OT>

Thanks Zephyr, I enjoy helping people.

I just wanted to add my input about HP. I cant stand their software. It seems to me that they use a lot of software that takes too much control of your machine, doesnt allow for much user modification, bloats the system resources etc. I also have had nothing but problems keeping HP software working after windows updates. I have not experienced this problem with HP computers (because I simply would never buy one) but have on various peripherals such as a scanner and printer. My opinions only.

/not impressed with HP