BoricuaLink33
February 5th, 2003, 07:39 AM
Ok i want to know if i buy a new hardrive would i be able to run my win98se recovery disc on it cause my hardrive is about to die.
Induna
February 5th, 2003, 09:49 AM
A recovery disk - as far as I know - isn't the same as a full installation disk. It was for the orginal system you bought and only used for recovery purposes. Your system would have had (Win98 pre-installed).
BoricuaLink33
February 5th, 2003, 09:53 AM
its the same system but i need to change the hardrive cause its gonna die soon. so would there be conflicts if i use the recovery disc it would be the same system just a different hardrive.
Krell
February 5th, 2003, 10:06 AM
Thats very "iffy". A Recovery disk has an image on it, a poloroid sort of snapshot of what is supposed to be on the hard drive. Files on the restore CD paint that image back to the hard drive, exactly the way they are supposed to be. That snapshot, takes some very essential low level in formation for granted, the partition volume size, first sector starting points, etc.
Seeing as you have W98, your original drive is probably quite small, and I doubt you will find an exact replacement. The next question is this, will your BIOS support a larger drive? Just as likely it will not. And If not, you must stick with finding a smaller driver, less than 8GB, or just consider getting a complete new system, that is the case, and all the guts, for around $300 that will still stomp circles around your old PC!
SO buy a new hard drive, install it, and see if the BIOS will recognize it. Then, see if the restore CD will play nice. If either are a no go, then you already have the hard drive for your new system. Thats what I would do.
BoricuaLink33
February 5th, 2003, 10:16 AM
thanks krell i appreciate it.
Induna
February 5th, 2003, 10:21 AM
There is a way around the BIOS limitation.
I bought a IBM 80GB hard drive but my BIOS couldn't see it. Apparently it has a limitation of 32MB. You can set the jumper on the back of the hard drive so it's set at 32, but I wanted 80.
I tried to update the BIOS by flashing it but it didn't work properly, so...
I went to the IBM support website and donwloaded a handy little program called Disk Overlay, which you put on a floppy, then install on the drive. When you boot up, this Disk Overlay program starts and tells the BIOS it's a 80GB drive, the BIOS recognises this then carries on Booting your OS.
Very handy indeed if you have a large drive and an old motherboard.