Recovery disk question

Sorry I skipped your question, I guess you could try the HD from the other laptop and the restore discs to see if you get further into the formatting.

 

Okay, I am missing something here, I have the flash drive in, it says it is a FAT32, I selected it but cant find where you mean to choose ISO

 

You are running the program.
You chose the drive.
Step 2 should be Choose a Source. You have an icon for three options
choose the first one for ISO/IMG/Zip that will open an explorer window to find your partedmagic.iso on your computer.

 

Okay, obviously I am a computer idiot, when I try to open pmagic it opens a program called nero express, so I am downloading the 5.10 and will burn that to see if that works

 

Are you running the Lili program?

Here is the picture:http://www.linuxliveusb.com/images/stories/screenshots/2.jpg

 

No I am not, never have seen that program.

 

My bad, downloading it now

 

We probably cross posted, here is the link: http://www.linuxliveusb.com/en/download

 

Okay, got it, created the USB and it is did a little more but still gave me the same error as the CD did......

When I double click on pmagic on this computer it opens something called nero express, is that normal?

 

You probably have ISO files associated with Nero Express. It is probably your default burning software, much like imgburn.

As far as the Parted Magic not running, I would try the older version. I like parted magic but i find different versions work better on some computers than others. I've had boot problems with various versions but it is the best tool because it contains all three programs I wanted to have available.

If the older version doesn't work you could get a gparted ISO and put it on the USB. (I have all these ISOs on HD already so it is very simple for me to just put a different version on USB. I realize you have to actually download them so I'm not expecting you to get a bunch of different ones.) Gparted would have testdisk which can do everything except test the SMART status of the HD.

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And of course, your idea of using the old HD from the other laptop is a good one. If the problem with the old laptop was not caused by a faulty HD it would be a good test to see if the recovery discs will work to install the OS.

 

Okay the older version worked....not sure what it is doing, but it had a list of options up and then as I was typing this it put two penguins on my screen... kinda strange, maybe

 

now it says searching for pmagic-5.10.sqfs

 

Okay, now it looks like a windows screen with all kinds of writing to the right side

 

It is getting late for me so I will be going to bed in a few minutes.

There is an icon for Smart Control. Click that and it should open a window with a few icons for HD. Click the one you think is you HD and in the results see if it says passed.

 

Okay, and I understand, late for me too

 

It says no drive detected and then unknown model twice

 

actually sorry it says no drive SELECTED

two drives listed say unknown model

 

Close that window and click the icon I believe it says Partition Editor. Give it a minute and see if sees your HD. It would say /dev/sda in the top left with the size of your HD.

http://gparted.sourceforge.net/screens/gparted_1_big.png

Edit: I will load parted magic up tomorrow and be more specific. I had loaded it on this machine but for some reason the internet was redirecting me and I couldn't get to this site from it. I think it had to do with the clock being wrong and security certificates. Never had that problem before but i am tired.

 

scanning now...sorry to keep you up so late, didnt mean for it to take this long.....

 

Not a problem, just too late nights in a row for me. I'm getting old.

Let me know if you see any partitions in the graph section such as /dev/sda1, /dev/sda2 and if anything shows up with NTFS in the bottom section. Probably not but worth a try.

And you can run the Smart Control again and click on the unknown devices to see if it gives any information about them. One is your USB, the other may be the HD.

 

Its still scanning and nothing yet....

Under smart control they both say device open failed

 

One last thing real quick.
Click the black tv/monitor icon at the bottom of the screen.
Type in testdisk and hit <enter>
Create is highlighted so hit <enter>
Does it list your HD? It would be /dev/sda and the proper size (500gb?)

 

It looks like the only one it listed was the USB drive I have in

 

I'd say that HD is done.

If you try booting to Parted Magic in the morning and none of those three programs can see the HD it is time to write it off.

I think swapping the HD from the old notebook and trying the recovery CDs is a good plan.

Let me know how things look tomorrow.

Have a good night.

 

Thanks for you help, I will swap them and let you know f it works, have a good night, whats left of it anyways

 

Got another question for you.......the other Toshiba laptop is really old, like so old it need a card slid in the side to have wireless. Is the hard drive in that different than the HD's today? Also, if I just buy a new hard drive do I have to buy an operating system too, or is that on the recovery discs?

 

Okay, the HD from the old computer wont work, the connection is totally different. I did find my exact HD on Ebay, brand new for $125, not bad for a 500GB. My question is though, am I also going to have to buy windows or is it on the recovery discs?

 

The recovery discs should have your original Vista on them. The only problem would be if the Recovery partition files were already damaged when you created the DVD. The burning program is supposed to have internal checks to make sure that doesn't happen but I've read plenty of posts where people have problems running the recover discs. You won't really know until you try.

How old is that laptop? If the discs won't work Toshiba may sell the discs.
BTW, what is the speed of the current HD 5400 or 7200 RPM? (I was just looking around Newegg and there are a few in that price range that may have a better diagnostic utility then the Toshibas but you probably want to keep the same speed as faster means more heat and less battery life. An exact replacement is fine too since you may never need a HD diagnostic.)

 

The laptop is pretty old, at leaste in computer terms. It was right when they were switching from Vista to Windows 7, because I had the option of the free upgrade since it was so close. I would say 5 years old? Just guessing. Here is the listing title for the HD:

TOSHIBA MK5055GSX HDD2H21 500 GB 5400RPM 8MB 2.5" SATA LAPTOP HARD DRIVE

So I am guessing the 7200RPM may be too high? I guess I could call Toshiba and see if they have the recovery discs. So if the discs I have dont work it wont hurt the hard drive right? I could try the ones I have first then call Toshiba.

 

You can definitely try your recovery discs which technically should work fine.
If they don't work a couple of things you can try:

1) copy the current discs to new blank discs, using burning software like imgburn, to rule out a problem with reading the disc rather than bad data on the discs. (This just cost the price of the couple of blank discs.)

Check Toshiba for availability of recovery discs. Manufacturer's used to sell them for the cost of shipping and handling under $20 but some charge closer to $45 now. Give the model number of the Toshiba laptop from the white label on the bottom and I'll see if I can find anything out about recovery discs availability. You didn't get the upgrade discs?

On the HD I don't know enough to rule out a 7200RPM but I see most people opt for the same speed. The reason I mentioned it was that one of the guys here tends to recommend Western Digital Black versions for laptops because they are more durable. But with the HD shortage I don't see much available. I'm sure the Toshiba replacement will be fine. Your original gave you at least 3-4 years of service.

 

I will send you the model number tonight when I get home. No I didnt get the upgrade discs, I figured I would check out Vista, if i liked it I would keep it if not I would get the discs.

 

That's fine on the upgrade discs, just thought there might be a way to get them to allow a fresh install of Win7 even with a bad Vista install.

I just searched for the posts about the Western Digital Black HDs and he always recommended the 7200RPM 320gb drive which used to be about $60-70. If you don't need maximum battery life, then the 7200 RPM might be an option (the 500mb model is now about $140). The WD blue models are less and probably as good as Toshiba. I'll PM and ask him his opinion. He isn't on the forum everyday but he might reply in time for you to consider your options. Or post in Hardware and ask for opinions if there are any potential/actual problems with going from 5200 RMP to 7200 RPM in a laptop. I just don't know enough regarding the heat issue but suspect it is more theoretical than actual.

 

A quick FYI > The heat and power consumption differences between 5,400 and 7,200 laptop HDD's is normally pretty small, after all, the 7,200 does the same job but in a shorter time frame. I would advise giving the laptop a frequent internal clean though, it's amazing how fast the felt can build up sometimes and if you do have a few extra degrees of heat to shift, you want a clean path for the air.

(I've used the same 1st gen. 7,200 IDE in my old Dell(s) for some 8+ years now - for 2 of those, it was running very hard indeed!)

 

Here is the model number A505D-56958. I would have got you this last night but walked into a mess. Washer is dead now too and sick kids....wow. Anyways, I may call Toshiba today to see if they have the discs, just to see how much they are since the ones I have may or may not work. May just go ahead and order them anyways just to have them. I did post in Hardware and someone else mentioned the Western Digital Black also, as well as the other post on here. the only thing is, I almost always run my computer while plugged in, so I am not worried about battery life, just the heat, but it sounds like that may not be a big issue as mentioned by satrow on here.

I just hope that is all that is wrong with this computer, would hate to buy a HD and find out something else is wrong with it also.

 

Okay, going to show my total computer ignorance here, but I guess that is why I am here asking questions huh? If I go with the western Digital how do I know that it will have the same connection as the Toshiba HD? Only reason I ask this is when I pulled out the HD out of my much older Toshiba the connections were completely different. And also, are all HD's for laptops the same size? What I mean is will it fit in the same slot as my previous one? I almost feel safer buting the exact one I had, but if the Western Digital is much better then I would rather get that. Also, would you recommend buying one off Ebay, found a Western Digital Scorpio Black 320GB on there for $85.99 brand new.

 

The internal connections will be the same - SATA is SATA when it comes to internal disks (this is not the case for some external drives). Laptop (or should I say 2.5") drives only vary by the height, 9.5mm is the maximum for many laptops, there may be a few that will accept the larger (12.5 - 15mm) drives that are intended for enterprise servers.

I can't say much about eBay, I don't use it.

Before you finalize your decision on what to buy, check the reviews from verified owners on NewEgg of the exact model you are intending to buy. Study the reviews carefully, many are marked down because of poor handling in transit, deficient packaging, etc. causing DOA or problems in the first few weeks - few of which are really valid comments on how good or reliable the drives are in use.

 

Found the exact same drive on Newegg for $99.99 plus $6.99 for shipping. I guess my concern would be with the warranty. Might be tough to use the warrany through Ebay, but it had good reviews overall.

 

I'm just going to post this link to the Toshiba forums for the recovery disc link. http://forums.toshiba.com/t5/System-Recovery-and-Recovery/Recovery-media/td-p/9148
Looks like it is $29.95 for U.S. delivery or $39.95 is you want it on USB. It is very possible that your current discs will work, so you may not need the replacements. It couldn't hurt to put your serial number in and see if they have discs available just so you know. Win7 came out in Sept. 2009 so I would think they should still have discs for that model.

Amazon, seems to have for similar price as Ebay. Most Ebay shops are real stores rather than individuals so you probably wouldn't have a problem with warranty but I can't really say. With the HD shortage I don't think you are going to find any great bargains. It is just bad timing.

 

Okay, on the actual Western Digital site I can get a 500GB for $94.99 plus shipping, so i think I may go with that. That way I know I have the warranty and I bought directly from the company, plus it is the best deal by far.

Sept of '09. Wow, I thought this computer was older than that. I know that the exact model I have some of them have Vista and some have Windows 7, at leaste I believe so. Wonder if they would send me Windows 7 instead, is it much better than Vista?

Oooops, sorry that $94.99 price was for the Western Digital BLUE 500GB drive, is the blue still good? They are out of stock in the Black.

Okay, sorry I am bombarding you here. Would you go with a Blue for 94.99 for a 500GB or wait until they get Bleack in stock for 94.99 for a 320GB? I believe you said the blue would be about the same as the Toshiba I currently had. Or I could go with the Blue 320GB for 79.99, I have a 1 TB external drive so I dont really need the 500GB drive, the big question is I guess Blue or Black.

 

I believe the black will take a few more shocks than a blue. For desktops, I usually buy blue because that is what most retail stores have and I usually just want a drive quick or on sale. They work fine.

Blue is a 3 year warranty and black is a 5 year. In reality you probably aren't keeping a laptop for an extended period of time. If you don't need the extra space, I'd get the black 320gb at Ebay or Amazon for $86.00. If you want the 500gb then I would get the blue for about $100.

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I was also curious about the Win7 recovery disc. I'm guessing they go by serial number and would ship out Vista because that was preloaded but I'd plug my serial number into the site to see what comes up. Win7 does run better than Vista. Just a bit more streamlined overall.

 

It looks like your HD may have a caddy/bracket attached that will have to be reused on the new drive. Just make sure you don't discard the old HD until you have the new one fitted. http://www.paulstravelpictures.com/Toshiba-Satellite-A505-Laptop-Hard-Drive-RAM-Upgrade-Guide/

 

Yes it does, thanks. I made sure I kept that and the screws to put it back in, figured I would probably need it. Thanks again for all your help, I will let you know how things go with the recovery.

 

Both are good; however I'd spend the few extra $$$ on the Black series. In addition to better reliability, I've found the 7200RPM drives are a bit faster when searching for files contained in large folders.

The impact on battery life using a 7200 versus a 5400 is minimal. Most things I've read put the decrease in battery time between 2-3%.

Sorry for the late response. Hope this helps.

 

Okay, up and running again, only thing is it is really slow, at leaste on the internet. Seems to open programs and stuff fast though. I went to one of those speed test sites and it says it is only averaging 1-3 mps...Before the HD crash I was easily getting 12.

Tried to update the sexplorer too but it keeps saying it does not have required service pack.

Any ideas why the internet is so slow????

 

Ooops, wow what was on my mind.......obviously I meant explorer, not sexplorer