Computer Questions Not Worth Their Own Thread

[aimeeandbeatles]

Thank you.

Unfortunatly, I don't remember it.

 

[lndm]

Anything is possible, however computer power supplies are normally regulated (voltage is controlled so it shouldn't hurt the drive) and are commonly also current limited (so the drive won't hurt the supply).

So...is it possible that the power supply blew, then took out the drive? or Blew silently, took out the drive, then exploded?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I'm not really sure -- I was 5 at the time. All of those are possible.

There's also another theory, which my mom denies: After the HDD failed, she opened it up to try to fix it and plugged in something that she wasn't supposed to.

 

[Genocidicbunny]

Knowing as much about your mom as I do ( What I gathered from your posts ) its the latter.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

She doesn't even know what the PSU is -- she thought the hard drive exploded. I asked a little more -- she said there was an error in the BIOS about the HDD, so she went to reboot to try again and there was a flash and a bang and a funny smell. Something like that.

 

[Cutlass]

If, on a computer, an HDD dies, could that cause a power supply to explode?

This happened nearly 11 years ago with an old computer with Windows 95. The hard drive died then the power supply exploded.

I would bet it was the other way around. That the power supply blew the HDD on it's way to blowing itself up.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I'm not sure -- I'm relying on what my mom said. She probably forgot a few things.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Another question: Suppose I install another hard drive, which I want as D (for obvious reasons.) However, my optical drives take up D and E. How exactly do you shift them? (I know there's a way to, just can't remember it.)

p.s. I have two optical drives because one is for reading and the other for writing.

 

[Cutlass]

Start => Control Panel => Administrative Tools => Computer Management => Disk Management => Right click on the drive whose name you want to change and choose "Change drive letter and paths" from the menu.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Thank you. I knew it was somewhere, I couldn't remember where.

 

[Turner]

Slightly easier path is Start -> Right click on My Computer -> Manage -> Disk Management.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Thank you again.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

If an HDD is noiser than usual (no strange noises, just more of the regular "grinding"), could that be a sign it's on its way out?

Either ways, I'm backing up my data to be safe.

 

[lndm]

Normally I'd say it's either fragmented or handling many small files from various locations on the drive or something like that.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Yes, but I defragged two days ago!

I did some research -- I have a Maxtor drive, average lifespan would be 4-5 years. I use mine heavily, and the computer is from 2006.

Well, if it does crap out, I can use the Windows 98 until I get the HDD replaced.

 

[lndm]

Yes, but I defragged two days ago!

Yes, I remember that. My sentence had two parts.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Many small files. The only thing I've been really working with is videos, and they aren't that small. A few gigabytes each.

Maybe I've just been reading too much about HDD failure....lol.

 

[Cutlass]

An HDD can last a very long time. Or not If one sounds different than it used to, backup files on it and be careful with it.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I use mine heavily.

 

[Cutlass]

Can you switch it around so that that drive is a backup? If a drive mechanically fails, it is simply too expensive for most people to retrieve anything on it. So if the behavior of a drive starts to change, stop relying on it. HDDs are not that expensive these days.