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Question

Failing hardware

by Oct 20, 2012 11:47AM PDT

I have an Asus netbook, Win XP, 3 years old.

The HDD is giving me the clicking sounds, and sometimes it stalls. I do daily back-ups of course.

The FAN comes on all the time and sometimes it gets very loud.

My question is, how do I prolong the life of the HDD till I get a replacement? I'm traveling now. I'd like to also see the benefits of SSD vs HDD, since I'm running XP.

Specifically, should I avoid booting off (just close the lid, hibernate?). I also limit the programs I'm running at the same time.

Lastly, "failing" software, programs etc is one thing, failing hardware after 3 years of standard usage is another. When are manufacturers going to realize that if my netbook hardware fails, I'll not get another by the same manufacturer, as THEY hope!

Discussion is locked

4 Posts
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Answer
SSD on XP? How would you get that to work?
by Former Forum moderator Oct 20, 2012 2:10PM PDT

SSD's life span and more depends on things like the TRIM command. Not to write a tutorial about that here but why would folk think an OS over a decade old would have support for SSD?

As to prolonging the life span of the HDD, it's too simple. Since it's mechanical and as it spins it's wearing out you'll want to not use it unless you have to.
Bob

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Another question - didn't mean to turn this into a SSD & XP
by Sunsetlover Oct 21, 2012 2:47AM PDT

Thank you both.

Bob, I didn't mean to turn this into a SSD in XP thread. I did some research and found out it "only" needs 5-6 tweaks! Happy so I'll probably stick with a good old HDD.

And yes, when I replace the drive, I should clean out the dust on the fan also.

I forgot to ask before, I have 50-50 partitions on my hard disk. Right now I'm only using the C: partition. Assuming the bad sectors are on the C drive, would transferring the OS/Windows files to the D drive, and booting off the D drive, would that work? How would I do that? Just looking for a temporary solution.

Thanks again!

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When you install XP,
by r. proffitt Former Forum moderator Oct 21, 2012 3:17AM PDT

It asks where to install it to. Isn't that the point where you decide?
Bob

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Answer
SSD and XP
by Oct 20, 2012 5:29PM PDT

Problem is, as Bob noted above, is that XP came out long before anyone knew/heard about SSD's. So, there is no built-in support for SSD's to operate and run in XP. Are you ready to try to make a 10-year old system run with a hard drive device it was never designed for?

Loud fan, btw, indicates no little/no maintenance was ever done for your system.

Ever use canned air to blow the accumulated dust out?

Once the dust is cleaned out, the system will not run as hot or overheat, and the fan will not have to work as hard to keep it as cool as it should be.

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