Hello General,

I didn't want bother the hard at work on other forums,

and I'm not sure if I should finish this first cup of coffee before asking, . . .

I've been working late lately, . .

am I thinking straight, . . .

Can I put a HD in the DELL 2350 wipe it, load Windows on it from a DELL disk,

then put the HD in the Toshiba 7160 ?

Go finish your cup of coffee

sorry. it slipped out

All kidding aside, while it might work between different models of Dells, I sincerely doubt it would work on a different brand altogether

I kept thinking of reading the testing HD's by switching them to different PC's, but forgetting the details but in the back of my mind I was thinking about two different Motherboards. No Brains !!

You seem like the Poms' answer to Drovers Dog, Mate!

Although I would like to know more about what the, "Poms' answer to Drovers Dog" is,

I can only say on my behalf that, I should have known better but somehow have not accumulated enough experience or knowledge to have done so.

I think it is more or less my thoughts on Branded mother boards being in some way programmed to the manufacturers directories contained within the Upgrades in the CD, I guess in truth I simply forgot all about drivers making the operating system work.

It all boils down to wishful thinking, but that one went up the chimney, Myght!

On the same token, if I knew more about Flash Mirrors and that stuff, I could mirror the HD image onto a CD of the one Pc, then Wipe the HD, and then install it to the other PC, load a system onto it and still have the other PC sit there without a HD till I get one for it.

That must be what I meant !! Yeah, Now that I am thinking of it, It Is what I meant !!

Sounds like a Plan, but the "Mirrored HDD" will only really work on the exact Machine that it came from, Mate. Every Machine has it's own Fingerprints, making it unique.

Try using a Free Program like Belarc to find out? Just run it on several seemingly identical Machines to see how they ALL differ slightly? That is one of the ways M$ know how Genuine a version of Windows is on any Machine, slight changes are allowed, major ones get rejected, even though it is a Legal Install that has upgrades done. In that case a simple Phone call can fix it.

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

Oh, I was pretty much kidding but I can see your the one with the plan details, and it sounds like a start.

I am not positive when I can get to it but for sure I will look into it.

and for certain let you know how it proceeds, . I say Myght, many thanks !

Wait a minute, . . let me see if were on the same page here, . .

For the moment, forget taking a HDD out of one PC and putting oit into another, . .

I am suggesting simply the act of copying the OS onto a CD, . .

without googleing, let me ask, is that not what, "mirror imaging ", is ?

In a word. NO!

You can take an Image by using ISO, totally different.

But then you need to Burn that ISO, after conversion onto a Disk.

You could read up on this reputable Site, to my knowledge?

http://www.imgburn.com/

After reading the post on this page;

http://club.myce.com/f138/copy-os-new-hard...-please-143732/

I realize how much I don't know and how difficult it can get, . .

I'd like to learn this but for the time and efforts it sounds as if the fresh install would be a preference.

Of course there are success stories for the technical wizards.

BTW, Thanks for your input its all good to know and I am sure this will make some good reference material for myself and those who may encounter it.

You and all others are Welcomed to the Information, Mate, it is just Common Sense in quite a Mad World, as today is.

It looks like in MHO is all you are doing is creating a lot of MAYBE WORK for your self. Crashing more than one computer and breaking the law. I have read this three times and I could be confused. Yes I know I am.

Yep, your right, this thread started with what turned out to be a pretty dumb question on my part.

I have embarked on a subject that would make a lot of work for me, . .

and am not vigorously pursuing the mirroring of images at this time, . .

I guess the only constructive question that has come out of this is that,

Previously using an external drive, at time I would like to have a peek at Hard drives that may be from brands of PC's that are not the same as the one I have with a slave drive, .

and would there be any harm in disconnecting the slave drive and connecting the foreign Hard drive to peer at it,

my original dumb question was can I crank it up. Obviously a conversation ensued,

and began to get a little abstract.

What do you mean MHO ?

That can be done and should not cause any problems.

Thanks ThunderZ,
Main reason I asked was I did that about a week and a half ago, with the Toshiba Hard drive and stuck it where my slave was, as I recall I did not learn a lot it wasn't a smooth process,
and I quickly backed out, . . since that time I have had a seemingly sensitive relationship with my E: drive, a couple of crashes or freezes when absolutely nothing is active or can be activated, I even get a little clicking and it goes away, I have to restart a time or two then,
Windows opens as if nothing has happened.

I think I discussed this in another thread, but I am getting ready for the worst.

It seems to occur when I access the drive randomly.

I do know that I am about maxed-out on RAM and need and upgrade.

BTW Layback Bear,
I originally posted this in General discussions and did not intend on having this posted in the, "worker bees hive", so I hope you aren't getting impatient with me.
Ain't my doing !

Seems I remember the post and you mentioning the clicking. That sound is generally the sound of a pending mechanical failure. The read\write head(s) that is\are mounted to an arm(s) and rides over the top of the platter(s) is wearing out. Think of an old record player. This could be the reason for the erratic behavior and need for restarts. The drive is working just well enough that the computer BIOS and Windows knows the drive is there but is having a hard time getting it to function. Spin-up, read\write from and to it.

I recall your previous comment in that post, . .

Curiously enough, it would be nice to know how long the Hard drive has been functioning, . my own personal records lack that information, I don't expect that there is a record anywhere, especially when you have an HHD laying around and you reformat it, as this probably is.

Nor is there a PC built in software to give details on your prognosis, but thanks, I'll get ready for the inevitable.

I guess it is possible I open the slave drive more that the C: drive gets opened, since I usually leave the PC on or on stand by, or is there another wear and tear factor ?

Even if the slave drive is not being accessed it is still spinning.

I do know some drives actually do record up time. It is kept on a chip on the drive board. All part of the Smart technology I believe.
My bench machine has a program that can read that info. Do not have access to that machine probably until Tuesday. Will find out the name of the program as soon as I can.

On the Desktop there is a Power Options Property, that turns off the Hard drive or Hard Disks,

I am guessing that means one or both ?

I also wonder will that mean it is totally inactive, . . does this not happen when the PC is in the
standby mode ?

I do believe that power option does turn them off.

But there has been an ongoing discussion for many years which is better. Turning the hard drives or even the entire PC of or leaving it run and just allowing the monitor to turn off.

One side claims that shutting it\them off saves wear and tear. The other side claims that the jolt of electricity at start up as well as the initial spin up of the drive(s) will shorten the life.

Now if I'd have read this a couple of months ago, would you guys, (Garmaman), be saying the same things ?


BleepingComputer.com > Security > Am I infected? What do I do? > Computer constantly restarts

To answer the original question, I think your only answer will come from trying it out. Try to run the OS recovery onto the hard drive, and as long as it is newer than Windows XP SP-less, it might work (Windows XP, before SP1 was released, would Blue Screen whenever it was attached to a different motherboard. SP1 fixed that). Keep in mind, though, that since it is a Dell recovery disk, they are typically associated with a family of motherboards in Dell's lineup, and will probably not work when attached to another motherboard. I have, however, been able to run a Gateway-issued Vista Upgrade CD on an HP and it worked, so there doesn't seem to be a firm Yes or No answer here. Try it out, and let us all know what happens.

Can not be done because that Hard Drive went by-by a little while back,
Hi Eric,

I asking this in reference to the Quote posted, and is from another forum here within BC, . . however, I previously did try that and as stated I backed out when things did not look right, . . I did have a little trouble with the E: Slave after wards but it seems to have recovered, . .

In any case a Hard drive can be used like a Floppy or CD, if I am not mistaken, for example in a external drive, so that again for example, I were to store files and data directly to a Hard Drive in the External drive case, I could then pretty much use it to be opened by any PC generally, as long as it did not have a OS installed on it, my External drive Mad Dog hasn't been used for so long I can hardly remember, but at the time I was using it I had two Compaq so I was used to plugging into either PC.

Also, It's impossible to tell if that previous switch did the HHD damage, but I don't think I will experiment like that for a while.

Of course there is still the guy in the quote ?

Thanks for your take on it.