I turned on my computer yesterday and it told me SMART Hard Drive detected imminent failure (bunch of random numbers). Please back up all files.

Is there any way of saving my current hard drive. This is a laptop so buying a new one would probably be cheaper than changing the hard drive.

No. The SMART system is an early alert system telling you that the hard drive will soon become corrupted and the data unrecoverable. It may be usable for now, but do not depend on it to work the next time you turn it on.

I recommend you do exactly as the message stated; back up the data and replace the unit. There's several places which offer data migration services that would be able to move/backup your current data and move it to a new drive, but this service typically comes with a cost per megabyte transferred.

What M said. My computer is crashing more frequently lately. I'm fearing my harddrive's health, last time it crashed. I have a backup now though :P

Speaking of computer problems, my computer has been running extremely slow. Taking up to three minutes just to open firefox. I've done multiple virus scans (new nortons Symantec Endpoint Protection, my dad got a huge new nortons package for ten bucks, some government deal or whatever), and spyware scans with SB Search and Destroy. If I can't figure out how to speed this shit up, I'm gonna be reformatting my computer this weekend. Any ideas?

How many plugins do you have installed? Have you tried emptying your private settings? Do you have Google Deskop or any other web crawling toolbar installed?

Try getting rid of Norton. It's shit.

dang...this laptop has served me well :cry: may it rest in piece :heh:.

yes norton is a bitch to run. it ate up my CPU like nuts when I got it. Is an AV program suppose to take so much? that program is flawed I swear! I've tried norton 3 times in my lifetime and every time it gave me problems shortly after installing it.

Firefox eats my computer :S

Eh, my computer was reinstalled twice already... after a month, I realized firefox was causing it for some strange reason... use opera...

Firefox likes to eat memory like crazy.

Opera <3

https://support.mozilla.com/en-US/forum/1/516683#threadId545761
^That.

Ridiculous. I hearts firefox, but its so crap -_-

Yeah....why hasn't Mozilla (or anybody else) fixed that yet? I've never had any problems with it (I shut down my computer once a year, at least), but people who need to leave their computer and browser on are kind of screwed...

That was after like, five minutes of having turned it on -_-

Firefox is actually the best browser I've come across but.....what version are you guys using to take up that much memory!? It only uses like 40,000-50,000k of memory for me.

It really does depend on plugins, with the ones that cause the largest amount of resource hog being noscript and adblock. The problem I've had with firefox recently is that it locks at 100% CPU usage (actually 25% effectively over all of my computer cores), without a real reason (no flash playing, no excessive number of tabs, and lack of absurd javascript pages. That's why I have alternate browsers such as Opera (http://www.opera.com/) and Midori (http://www.twotoasts.de/index.php?/pages/midori_summary.html) to browse the web.

I really do suggest trying out a firefox alternative, as even though firefox rules the market, many of the other browers are actually better (even IE, which was long defined as the proprietary browser, now renders things properly and to standards).

Firefox is actually the best browser I've come across but.....what version are you guys using to take up that much memory!? It only uses like 40,000-50,000k of memory for me.

The very latest one, at all times.


The problem I've had with firefox recently is that it locks at 100% CPU usage (actually 25% effectively over all of my computer cores), without a real reason (no flash playing, no excessive number of tabs, and lack of absurd javascript pages.

That too.

i guess i've just been lucky with firefox @__@

google chrome anyone? :)

I use Chrome, for a few reasons that aren't necessarily tech related.

I really like the interface and ease of use. Out of all the browsers I've tried (Safari, Opera, FF, IE), Chrome also uses screen space the best without loosing a lot of non-hotkey functionality. I also like supporting Google because of how they run their company, the kinds of products and software they release, and how forward they are as a whole.

yeah i think chrome isnt as heavy duty as firefox, its real spiffy and swift too.
Plus they have really cool skins/ themes haha (shallow)

I think people who use Chrome are morons. Why you ask? Because you willingly install Google's spyware on your computer. That's why.

Idiots.

What do you recommend then? >:

Midori (http://www.twotoasts.de/index.php?/pages/midori_summary.html) / Opera (http://opera.com) for low footprint, Luna (http://www.lunascape.tv/) / Maxthon (http://www.maxthon.com/) for several engine integrations (Luna does Webkit, Gecko, and Trident, where Maxthon does Trident and Geko).

It's actually cheaper to install a new hard drive instead of buying a new one unless you want a new one. A 250GB Notebook hard drive costs under $70 these days.

I love Mozilla. Never crashed on me or anything and it doesn't really slow down my computer, maybe it's because I have over 4GB of RAM but yeah. It takes up about 120,000K of memory for me.

I think people who use Chrome are morons. Why you ask? Because you willingly install Google's spyware on your computer. That's why.

Idiots.

OMG NO WAY!

I'm ok with consciously installing "spyware" from companies that I trust. It's different if it was installed clandestine and without my knowledge or consent. And if it ever became a bother, I can always choose to disable the function. And to call it spyware is a stretch anyways, well, it is taking into the consideration the general connotation to spyware and what it is usually used for. I don't have a problem if all it's doing is auto-updates and retrieving search bar information.

Chrome is fail, it won't let me download anything over 2gb:\

But however I have a new problem, my main computer crashed on me the other day but I cannot fix it at all.

I get this error message when I try to start it up.

"Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key"

So I inserted the Windows XP install disk and I went to the recovery option, however it says that it cannot detect any hard drive on my computer. I am using a SATA hard drive. My PC was working fine the day before, but it just won't work today.

If it helps I have windows XP service pack 3 and an asus P5Q mother board. Any help appreciated greatly.


(and I'd rather not have to use a PDA to type the rest of my messages for however long it takes for me to save up for a new HDD)

I like how I was like CHROME IS SO SPIFFY and angelics like Chromes for morons lol.
ah typical ichigos life haha <3

I remember now that angelic worked for windows? yeah
haha I've been hearing that I should get a mac book for college instead of a PC laptop cos they're easier to work with? and easier to fix???

idk after college app season I never want to touch internet explorer ever again...

Google has always been known for collecting all sorts of data from users and for bad security practices on this data. I mean, gmail scans through all of your email to provide relevant advertisements. This is similar to the all-too-familiar credit card companies selling your information to other companies without consent. It's not really a bad thing, but at the same time, the privacy factor is lacking quite a bit.


Chrome is fail, it won't let me download anything over 2gb:\

But however I have a new problem, my main computer crashed on me the other day but I cannot fix it at all.

I get this error message when I try to start it up.

"Reboot and select proper boot device or insert boot media in selected boot device and press a key"

So I inserted the Windows XP install disk and I went to the recovery option, however it says that it cannot detect any hard drive on my computer. I am using a SATA hard drive. My PC was working fine the day before, but it just won't work today.

If it helps I have windows XP service pack 3 and an asus P5Q mother board. Any help appreciated greatly.


(and I'd rather not have to use a PDA to type the rest of my messages for however long it takes for me to save up for a new HDD)

By any chance do you have a flash drive / external hard drive plugged into your computer while it's booting? Try unplugging it if you do, as some computers boot USB devices before internal devices, which could be why you're getting that error.

By any chance do you have a flash drive / external hard drive plugged into your computer while it's booting? Try unplugging it if you do, as some computers boot USB devices before internal devices, which could be why you're getting that error.

I dont have any USB devices connected when I try to start it, i do however have an external hard drive. Maybe my pc is searching for that to boot frmom? Well, anything is worth a shot atm anbd if my pc works it;ll save me a 50km trip to the pc store

Midori (http://www.twotoasts.de/index.php?/pages/midori_summary.html) / Opera (http://opera.com) for low footprint, Luna (http://www.lunascape.tv/) / Maxthon (http://www.maxthon.com/) for several engine integrations (Luna does Webkit, Gecko, and Trident, where Maxthon does Trident and Geko).

I meant Angelic, but sure xD

What do you recommend then? >:

Opera is the best browser out there at the moment :P

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff20/rts_LA/wtfopera.jpg

Am i just doing something -really- wrong? :S

It isn't all about how little of a footprint it makes. There is more to a good web browser/program.

Well, it turns out that my hard drive has completely screwed itself over and then thrown itself off a cliff. Not even the data recovery people could get stuff off it. However..........no-one actually found out why it actually stopped working...........................:shifty: conspiracy I say...........

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff20/rts_LA/wtfopera.jpg

Am i just doing something -really- wrong? :S

Apparently :think:

:(

youre clever and meant to fix it for me :x

:(

youre clever and meant to fix it for me :x


It isn't all about how little of a footprint it makes. There is more to a good web browser/program.

Yes, but that just means its all unusable and really really slow D:

Opera takes 80 MB here.

edit: opening the happy aquarium thing on facebook made it rise to 160 MB, so there's your problem. Crappy facebook applets.

Imageshack must be leeching from your computer.

How if that's photobucket?

What, whyyyy did that double post. I edited it :S

ew.

How if that's photobucket?


....same thing, they're both... stuff.

^Why Computer Scientists exist.

Consider this: Try running Microsoft Word, and launch, say, Wordpad. Now check how much RAM they use. Word will obviously use more RAM than Wordpad. But they essentially do the same thing, right?

It's all about the functionality. A website with a hell of a lot of flash or other wacky javascript will force your browser to eat more ram than visiting google.