Ask A Geek

Q: My old Emachines T2984 PSU crapped out and took the motherboard with it so I bought a Dell Optiplex GX620. What is the best way to transfer the data from the old EIDA hard drive to the new one in the Dell?

The Emachines had XP Home (cira ‘04) while the Dell has XP Pro (service pack 3). I also have a running Compaq S5100NX w/ CDR & DVD drives available. If I try to install the Emachines hard drive into the Compaq, what kind of conflicts will I be facing? I was hoping to transfer the data from the slave hard drive to the new Dell using a cable of some kind.

Q: Can I replace the hard drive from my Gateway 4530GZ with the hard drive from my Gateway 4542 without losing any of the data? The 4530 is physically in much better condition except for a recent media failure (hard drive and or Ethernet Controller failure)? Also can I use other parts to upgrade the 4530 such as the RAM? I tried switching out the hard drives but the intended laptop reports “No Operating System” It seems this should be so simple being basically the same laptops?

Q: I have a computer running Windows Vista home 32bit. I have a extra hard drive in my computer I would like to use for my gaming and pictures/music. I have downloaded a program to F: drive and adjusted the software to only save its music to F: Drive. It all worked great.

Now I want to know how to get my games to play on it. I have tried to download my “sims” game to F: drive, but the game always stores a folder in “my documents” on C: drive. I understand that is a default folder for installations etc. That prevents me from being able to get required downloads etc.

How can I get my game to properly install on F: Drive without it creating a folder on C: drive. I have heard of moving the entire documents folder to F drive, but I am intimidated about that out of fear I’ll screw up my computer. I really would like to just download my games to F: drive, and leave c: drive for windows software.

Q: I have a Toshiba e105-1602s Laptop and want to know if it’s possible to install a 2nd Hard Drive. I can’t seem to figure out if there is another bay inside this model.

Q: My hard drive has crashed. Should I replace it or can I just hook up an external drive and continue using the PC?

Q: I have an Asus Eee Box B202, 80 gig hard drive, 2 gig of ram running Windows XP Home. The hard drive is 5400rpm and I am wondering if changing the hard drive to a solid state would my computer run a lot faster?

Q: Is there a way to add a third SATA drive to my computer even though it only has connections for two?

A: If you have an extra expansion slot on your mother board then yes you can add an extra SATA drive. You will have to have an SATA controller card installed it in your computer to support the third drive. The process is pretty simple but some people might find it easier to bring it to a computer shop and just have them do it.

Q: My motherboard has only 2 SATA points. Is it possible to add a third hard drive?

Q: I have Gateway mx6448 and I think the charger port went bad. It has a new battery/charger and doesn’t charge. I put a seagate momentus 5400 hard drive in it a few weeks ago and would like to know if there other laptops that this will work in.

Q: Can I format my hard drive without loosing my operating system and data?

A: Some people truly don’t understand what it means to format a hard drive so I would like to take this opportunity to make sure we cover all the bases when it comes to formatting a hard drive.

Some reasons people might format a hard drive would be because their computer was hacked, had spyware installed, or had a bad virus. Formatting your hard drive in these cases allows you to erase everything. It is almost like throwing your computer away and buying a new one. If you went to the store and bought a new computer you would not have any of your pictures, documents, or anything else that you might have created on it anymore. Read the rest of this entry »