Computer runnung slow and erratic

I am having to write this on another computer because mine will not get past the ROM BIOS page no matter what I do. I am not even able to do a manual shut down, only a manual reboot. I am hoping that I can recover at least part of the info off the hard drive such as my music and video files. Do you think that I will be able to recover anything? If I was to plug in the new hard drive into the master slot and the bad one into the slave would I be able to click and drag some files? Is there any method for any recovery? Any help or info on this would be greatly appreciated. I am able to go into F2 and F12 if that is of any significance. Is there a link or any info that you can tell me regarding the proper steps and the best procedures when starting with a new hard drive? I believe I still have all the cd's that came with my computer. I am hoping that is what you were referring to when you mentioned a recovery cd from the manufacturer in your earlier post. Where would you suggest I go if I was to go to a store and purchase a new hard drive as oppose to buying one online. Was that hard drive that I posted as a link earlier any good (if it is I might just buy that and pay extra for faster shipping)? This really sucks so if you can get back to me at your earliest convieniance I would appreciate it. Thanx Steve

Manufacturer: Western Digital
Condition: White Label
Packaging: OEM / Bulk
3B Tech Warranty: 6 months

I don't know what White Label means, but Western Digital make decent drives and this one, at 7200RPM with 8MG buffer should be nice and quick. You have a 6 month warranty with the site you are buying from, but I don't know what additional warranty you will have with Western Digital, but at $29, that's almost a "Who cares".

It sounds like your current hard drive has died, but you may get lucky. The steps I would take are as follows:

• Remove the old drive, change it's jumper setting to Slave if it's now set to Master. If it's set to Cable Select (CS) then leave it.
• Check the jumper on the new drive. Make it master if the old one is now slave, otherwise make them both Cable Select.
• Install the new drive where the old one was. Hopefully there are two connectors on the large IDE cable. If so, put the old drive in next to the new one or wherever you can stick it, it can even be hanging vertically, doesn't matter, as long as you can connect a power and IDE connector to it. You connect the last connector on the cable to the new, Master drive and the 2nd IDE connector to the old drive.

There will be nothing on the new drive so you have two options.

• 1st choice: boot a diskette or CD that has HD Clone on it. Select the source as the old drive and the target as the new drive. If you are real lucky, HD Clone will be able to sync the new drive from the old and you will have everything there, including all your data and Operating System.
• 2nd choice: Use your Operating System Restore CD to setup the new drive. If you chose this route, disconnect the old drive until after you have the new drive loaded and working, to prevent any accidental loss of files on the old drive. Once the new drive is working and boots XP, then shutdown, connect up the old drive again and boot. If you can see the old drive (it will be D: or E: or F:, something other than C:), then you should be able to copy your data form the old to the new.

Once you have everything, I would remove th old drive and toss it.