Help: Possible Hardware Failure

[Abaddon_ire]

Okay, so I found a solid state external hard drive. Does anyone have any recommendations for software to do the copying? It seems like I can just do that with software that already exists on my computer. Like, I remember doing this years and years ago and not needing software.

Should I do that or get software?

Depends on how far you want to go. At the low end, you could simply manually copy the files you want to an external drive, same as copying any file from any device to another. At the high end, you could spend thousands for software with every bell and whistle possible. And anything in between.

I currently own three external USB drives. All of them came with basic backup software that would be sufficient to most home users needs.

Regarding the graphics card, it needs to be fully connected to get the full benefit.

Regarding the hard drive, is it really grinding, or is some wire or other component touching a fan in the system? It is always worth checking. If it turns out that it really is coming from the HDD, then it is about to fail catastrophically. Motor failure, bearing failure or the heads are resting on the disc surface or similar. In any event I would be making sure to backup my stuff ASAP, because when that baby dies, it will die in spades.

[AFTT47]

Windows Explorer can copy files. You already have it.

Cool. 

I guess my next question is, let's say I use Windows explorer to copy my entire C drive to this new drive. If my current hard drive fails, can I just plug in my new one and have it boot up and everything and use it until I get a replacement internal drive?

No, it isn't that simple. You shouldn't back up the whole drive; only your documents, pictures, music, videos - that kind of thing. Make sure you have your license codes written down for any software you own that is not included with Windows.

[Angrboda]

Remove the graphics card and put the old one in. See if the problem goes away. If not, the problem isn't the graphics card. (Though you might have borked the PSU trying to run it.)

Okay, so I found a solid state external hard drive. Does anyone have any recommendations for software to do the copying? It seems like I can just do that with software that already exists on my computer. Like, I remember doing this years and years ago and not needing software.

Should I do that or get software?

If your old drive is smaller than the new drive, you can clone it. Otherwise you'll need to backup your files to an extra disk (external or internal), and reinstall windows and programs on the SSD. I'd recommend getting an external drive regardless.

Acronis, Easeus, and Macrium make software that can do it. I use Acronis, but I don't think the trial version will do it. The free versions of the others may have limits.

What you want is "disk cloning" software. Clonezilla will do it if the target disk is larger than the source, but you end up with a one-for-one copy the same size as the old disk.

If you want to get by on the cheap, you would need an external disk or something to backup your system to first. (Backup os & files -> spare; install windows to new disk; restore backup over new windows install; restore other files)

Speedfan is a good free utility for monitoring temperatures of the mainboard components.

Crystaldisk is a good tool for monitoring disk condition.

WD and Seagate make free tools for checking your disk condition, and may work on other brand disk.

I'll follow up with more later.

[arewethereyet]

^^^There's your expert!

[emjay]

Okay, so I found a solid state external hard drive. Does anyone have any recommendations for software to do the copying? It seems like I can just do that with software that already exists on my computer. Like, I remember doing this years and years ago and not needing software.

Should I do that or get software?

I have never been quite sure about this but I have looked into it before... because I've got an SSD as well for my laptop so since they don't last forever the need to replace them is going to come up sooner or later. Granted that would be many years from now, but still in principle I want to know how it's done. Basically it seems to come down to whether you want to clone the drive or not. I don't think Windows 10 can fully clone drives, but it does have some sort of backup/recovery solution. I think you'd have to look to third party backup software if you want to go the cloning route... I did find some that offered it but I can't remember their names I'm afraid... the difference being that that would make a byte for byte copy of your drive, so that you would not need to reinstall any software or data, whereas I'm not sure how much you'd have to reinstall if you went another route. Wish I could be more specific but that's at least the gist of what I understand the issues to be.

[Angrboda]

My monitor blinks off, and my computer makes this two-note tone (sometimes it just blinks off with no tone).

Check your manual for the maker of your BIOS (Award, Phoenix, AMI [American Megatrends Inc]). Then google "BIOS beep codes" corresponding to your bios.

Two possibilities come to mind: memory and graphics beep codes. Given what you've said, it's probably a "no video" beep code.

[vulcanlogician]

Noice! This was exactly the type of help I needed/wanted. Looking into disk cloning. I lost my code that I had when I purchased windows 10. I don't know if I can recover it somehow. But it's looking like if I have to buy software to clone the drive, I may as well try to just nab the important files off it and reinstall windows on a new drive (as some recommended).

As for the "grinding"... it might just be the fan. But there are worrying sounds coming from it, especially when I boot up. And I know the drive didn't always make those sounds. My computer is old. I recently added 12 GB of Ram and a graphics card (well... 5-6 months ago). I did see that my power supply was less than recommended when I put in the video card, but everything else was up to par as far as I could see. My processor barely made it iirc. Until now, the thing purred like a kitten. I made doubly sure everything was compatible when I purchased the new hardware. The only oops was the power supply.

Having just done the water heater thing and with holidays on the horizon, I don't have the dough for a new system. But I'm willing to get a new hard drive and power supply if that will fix things temporarily.

Like, I'm trying to fix this for under $100. And hopefully make my current setup last another year or two.

edit: I installed 12 GB of Ram, not MB as I said pre-edit.

[Angrboda]

Noice! This was exactly the type of help I needed/wanted. Looking into disk cloning. I lost my code that I had when I purchased windows 10. I don't know if I can recover it somehow. But it's looking like if I have to buy software to clone the drive, I may as well try to just nab the important files off it and reinstall windows on a new drive (as some recommended).

As for the "grinding"... it might just be the fan. But there are worrying sounds coming from it, especially when I boot up. And I know the drive didn't always make those sounds. My computer is old. I recently added 12 MB of Ram and a graphics card (well... 5-6 months ago). I did see that my power supply was less than recommended when I put in the video card, but everything else was up to par as far as I could see. My processor barely made it iirc. Until now, the thing purred like a kitten. I made doubly sure everything was compatible when I purchased the new hardware. The only oops was the power supply.

Having just done the water heater thing and with holidays on the horizon, I don't have the dough for a new system. But I'm willing to get a new hard drive and power supply if that will fix things temporarily.

Like, I'm trying to fix this for under $100. And hopefully make my current setup last another year or two.

Remember: In most cases, the target drive must be larger than the source drive for cloning. (Which may suggest getting another standard hard disk rather than an SSD; if your computer is old, the difference between HDD and SSD will likely be modest.) Otherwise you'd go a different route.

[AFTT47]

I did see that my power supply was less than recommended when I put in the video card, but everything else was up to par as far as I could see.

That will definitely be an issue then. A PSU will gradually lose capability as it ages because of capacitor degradation. If it's rating when new was less then what your graphics card manufacturer suggested, it will definitely struggle now that it's older. My guess is that the 12V rail dips under load to the point where the computer becomes unstable.

[Angrboda]

Like, I'm trying to fix this for under $100. And hopefully make my current setup last another year or two.

I wouldn't recommend an SSD then. You'll get more value out of another traditional hard disk, and mostly not lose any substantial benefits that an SSD would provide.

The speed difference for an old computer might or might not be noticeable. I don't think you'd gain enough with an SSD to justify it, given your budget constraints.

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Noice! This was exactly the type of help I needed/wanted. Looking into disk cloning. I lost my code that I had when I purchased windows 10. I don't know if I can recover it somehow.

Magic Jellybean can recover your Windows code from a running system. It's triggered some antivirus scans with me, but I think it's safe; I just can't guarantee it.

https://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/