If i disappear for a while...

[Fairportfan]

As soon as i finish posting this, i am going to begin disassembling the computer.

I've got a drive that appears to be failing, so i'm replacing that.

And as long as i was going to Micro Center anyway, i got a new motherboard, new processor, new case and new graphics card, since i've been meaning to upgrade the box anyway. (I didn't originally INTEND to by a new graphics card, but the mobo i got an irresistibly good deal on doesn't have on-board graphics. But i got a decent deal on the card, too.)

Barring Horrible Misfortune, i should have the project done in a few hours and be up and running again.

But Murphy has me on speed dial, i think, based on previous experiences...

So, if you don't see me for a while, you'll know why.

=====================

As soon as i can afford another power supply, drive and some RAM, i'm going to build a frankenclone with the leftovers so the girls can have two computers instead of fighting over the one they have.

[Jabberwonky]

Sacrifices a couple of old graphic cards and a hard drive to bless your endeavor...

[Fairportfan]

It's running. 600+ gig are transferring to the new drive. Looks like about 4+ hours.

Now i just have to figure out why it refuses to allow me to assign the drive letter D.

And how the drive i want to assign it to turned into a GPT volume...

===============

Then i have to go buy a new DVD drive - the old one is IDE and the new board doesn't have IDE.

Then i have to finish assembling the fershlugginer thing.

I may get some sleep around noon.

[Grantwhy]

Good luck with your new PC and wish me some.

In the last few weeks my (10+ year old) XP computer is starting to crash/bluescreen/freeze several times a day - time to do my once a decade thing and buy a new computer and then work out how to move stuff from the old to the new

Fortunately the hard drive on the current computer is small so I've taken to using external drives and my 'main' web browser is a portable version - but it's still not going to be fun

[Atomic]

Good luck with all that!

I've made a point to label my gear with the purchase date and stick a note somewhere to start shopping at the 4 year point, especially for hard drives. Mobos, RAM, and video cards last longer, but by then they're usually way underpowered for the latest and greatest. Hooray for 1TB external drives -- got several layers of backup, plus mirrors on my other boxen.

Plus, if the new box crumps, you've got a spare (or two) handy for must-have processing in the mean time. 4-way KVM switches are dandy!

[DinkyInky]

It's running. 600+ gig are transferring to the new drive. Looks like about 4+ hours.

Now i just have to figure out why it refuses to allow me to assign the drive letter D.

And how the drive i want to assign it to turned into a GPT volume...

===============

Then i have to go buy a new DVD drive - the old one is IDE and the new board doesn't have IDE.

Then i have to finish assembling the fershlugginer thing.

I may get some sleep around noon.

If the drive is in good shape, get a IDE to SATA adapter card thingy(not sure of technical term. I got one for my machine because my burner went out and I could not afford another as of yet, and the adapter card was cheap). Otherwise, Newegg has SATA burners for like $20.

Luck to ya. Murphy took out two laptops and two towers in my house, and seeing as how I cannot touch the guts of the machine, my Father is going to be doing the transfers for me later in the week.

[Fairportfan]

Last time i used an IDE-to-SATA adapter, the system refused to boot off it.

I'm gonna hit WalMart (and/or Best Buy, which i despise with a deep and abiding despise) for a new drive and an additional SATA power connector splitter, since my PSU is old enough that it doesn't have enough SATA power plugs.

Other than that, the disk is copied, the machine is running satisfactorily, and all i have to do is install the new drive, install the new DVD and close it up.