hard-drive help please

alright so i have the toshiba satellite a205-s5812 and the hard-drive is complete crap, theres nothing i or anybody else can do with it. its like messed up beyond belief. so im thinking about getting a new hard-drive, what kind of hard-drive would i need for this type of laptop? thanks in advanced

 

According to Toshiba you have a SATA (5400RPM) 160GB drive

http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/...BV_EngineID=ccceadeegfhlmdecgfkceghdgngdgnj.0

So any SATA 2.5" drive should work.

EDIT: I'm curious what exactly the problem with the current hard drive is... It is a nice drive in a relatively new notebook. If there is a physical problem with the drive your warranty should cover it.

 

its that bootmgr stuff, ive tried pretty much everything there is on the internet to try except completely erase the hard-drive which i cant figure out how to do. and thats the thing, my friend gave me this laptop with the cds but with no warranty cause he lost it so im trying to figure something else out. if you can help me with erasing the hard-drive that would be nice.

 

oh and so http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=MK1246GSX&cat=HDD that would do?

 

The first thing to do is try to fix the BOOTMGR with the Vista CD. Such as described here:

http://lifehacker.com/software/troubleshooting/vista-tip--repair-bootmgr-is-missing-error-251733.php

If that fails, then you can do a clean installation of Vista with the DVD that came with it.

If you want to reformat the drive prior to the Windows Vista installation, use a free tool called Gparted if you like to have a GUI interface:

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/

or just get into a DOS window and type format c: .

Yes the drive you linked to should work. If I were you I would pull out the drive and check to make sure it is a SATA interface before ordering the new one though. However, there is really no need to replace the drive because of this issue. Just reformat.

 

im not really great when it comes to computer stuff so do you have like an aim screen-name i can contact you on and you can possibly walk me through what to do

 

Sorry man I don't do that here. The process is really very simple. The Windows installation is designed to be very easy. Put the DVD in the drive and boot up the computer. The computer will likely start the installation itself. Look at all the options and you'll be fine. If the DVD doesn't load during bootup then you will need to change the boot priority in the BIOS. If that is necessary post back and I'll walk you through that here.

If you really feel that you are incapable of doing this yourself, bring it to a professional.

 

so i just downloaded gparted, unzipped it and now im transferring all the files to the usb (its the only thing i have at this moment that the computer will be able to boot) ive changed the order of the boot in the setup on the laptop so itsboots the usb drive when i stick it in. then from there it should be simple?

 

I've never used GParted via a USB drive. I've always used CD's, so I don't know if you will run into problems with that.

I believe GParted has a separate download for the LiveUSB here:

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/liveusb.php

Is that the one you downloaded?

 

nope but now it is

 

Nope that should do it fine. Just follow any instructions given on the page I linked to.

(I only mentioned it because there is a separate download if you wish to make a CD, which is what I had assumed you were doing.)

Try it out and post back if you have any problems.

 

alright i found a cd around the house so i burnt the iso file onto it, i then stuck it into my cd drive on the laptop booted the computer up and then clicked boot from cd. it when to a black screen with white text and this is exactly what it said...

Yukon PXE v5.16.1.3 (20060811)
(C)Copyright 2003-2006 Marvell(R). All rights reserved.
Pre-boot eXecution Environment (PXE) v2.1
(C)Copyright 1997-2000 Intel Corpotation
PXE-E61: Media test failure, check cable
PXE-MOF: Exiting PXE ROM.
Error loading operating system.

and thats it, what should i do? it was only one iso file i was to copy to the disk right?

 

also, would this one work too?

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...oductdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=19&sku=A1498003

 

Did you just burn the ISO file to the CD or did you burn it as an image?

Yes that drive should work. It doesn't mention using a specialized DELL connector so it should be standard SATA. I've never ordered a drive from DELL before, so I would call them to make sure it is a standard SATA connector.

 

oh woops, i did that and the screen comes up and stuff but when i get to the main gparted screen im confused as hell

 

If your at the screen with the big colored bar going across, right click on every different section of the bar and click delete. This will delete all the partitions. Then right click anywhere on the gray bar (which should span the entire length of the bar) and select to make a new partition. Right click "format to" NTFS.

Remember this will delete everything on the hard drive! Be sure there is nothing on there you want. (recovery partition or data).

 

nevermind, i see the bar and all i had to do was just click it and delete it. there wasn't any sections once i clicked delete the gray bar showed up. after that i did what you told me and now it says "New Partition #1 149.05 GiB" do i just turn off my computer and reinstall vista or what?

 

Make sure that the new bar is formated to NTFS. If you just create a new one the standard if EXT3.

In the upper left hand corner you will see options to closed the program. It will reboot the computer. Once rebooted, pop in the Windows CD.

 

alright i did that, when i go to install windows it copys the windows file but when it gets to expanding files and around like 30 or 40 percent it stops and says "windows cannot install required files. The file may be corrupt or missing. Error code: 0x80070570"

 

Check the hard drive for errors using this CD:

Ultimate Boot CD:

http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

The tools to use are located under : "Hard Drive Diagnostic Tools".

If it reports that there are unfixable errors on the drive, then you will need to replace it. Write down exactly what the diagnostic tools tell you and post it here.

 

can you tell me what exactly to download cause i have no clue. do you mean hard disk diagnostic tools? cause i dont see any hard drive diagnostic tools...

 

This is the UBCD download link: http://www.mordum.org/ubcd411.iso

When you are booted into the disk, the hard drive diagnostic tools are located under Hard Disk Tools >> Hard Disk Diagnostic Tools

 

alright and what do i choose once i get to the list after hard disk diagnostic tools?

 

If you know your hard drive manufacturer chose the tool for it. If you don't know the manufacturer chose HDAT2.