T42 HDD - another country heard from

[JimL]

While working on my shut down problem I got acquainted with Event Viewer and scores of listed system errors saying:

The device, \Device\Harddisk0\D, has a bad block.

I _think_ that refers to my D: partition? (FAT32) But if it's a disk problem it will probably spread outside that partition.

On the other hand, sometimes the errors just stop for several sessions. That sounds to my ancient ears as tho it could be a head alignment problem, altho I hear that is supposed to be self correcting.

Oh... I've gotten S.M.A.R.T readouts that show most conditions to be "very good," a few "good" a couple "normal." I'm not all that convinced that S.M.A.R.T would tell me about bad sectors and I haven't found a sector checking utility for the Hitachi (40gb).

(S.M.A.R.T tells me I have one fifth the over all sector capacity as I have actual addressable sectors!! Like having room for 250 gallons in a 50 gallon barrel?)

Again as much a software matter as hardware, is it possible to "clone" my system to a new, larger hard drive?

I've been told you can't copy your XP system to a new drive, but people on the windows basic NG say you can if you have a good imaging utility. (Differentiating between imaging and cloning gives me a headache.) If this is true, what is recommended?

Thanks

JimL

[Harryc]

Run chkdsk then use Acronis True Image and put the new drive in the Thinkpad HD bay, with the original drive in an external USB enclosure. Do a 'Clone' from old to new and Bob is your Uncle. I have done this dozens of times with no issues. If this is the same build with the shutdown issues in the other thread, it is likely you will carry the problem over to the new drive if you clone it.

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/docu ... x?mfr=true

[JimL]

Yeah I know I'll duplicate the issue if I haven't solved it. But I have years of blood sweat and tears in my software, configurations and a zillion kinds of data - not least being a bunch of DOS stuff. I seriously doubt I could bring myself to start from scratch. I've only got a few decades left to live!

As for Acronis, _everything_ about it goes exactly opposite my own thought processes. I bought it but never got spit out of it. The instructions always seemed to be ultra-abbreviated or missing or say, "do the exact opposite of what is intuitive." I have to admire anybody who can even use it, let alone recommend it. Have they figured a way to delete old files yet? I never got over the idea of having gigs and gigs of absolutely useless files.

I need to use an external USB big drive as a mid-point for imaging - no 2.5 inch external enclosure.

Thanks

JimL