Help with New Hard Drive

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Storm3

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I'm been reading through some of the forums, and it seems like this is a good place to ask this. I've been having computer problems of late: it started with the computer going to a blue screen every 10 minutes or so and me having to restart it. During all this, it would barely play music and video files- when you played them, it was like you were downloaded and unzipping 50 other things at the same time, just really drug the music out. I took it to my normal computer store, and they said that the cooling fan had stopped working so they replaced it.

I got the computer back and everything seemed all right but noticed that certain video and music files still wouldn't play right- they played better than before but still drug somewhat with distorted sound, almost like I was doing 50 other things at the same time. I took it back to the store, and they told me nothing was wrong with it, must just be those certain files. I told them to try those files on another computer, which they did, to only find out that they worked perfectly on another computer. Therefore, I asked them doesn't that mean it's not the file but the computer; they said yes and scanned my hard drive and didn't find any errors. They didn't know what else to do so I just picked it back up. Just certain high quality videos and music messes up; stuff like youtube videos, etc. play alright.

So, I just decided to totally reinstall windows xp pro myself and see what happens. Every time it restarts itself and starts the installation, a blue screen kicks up and stops it telling me "possible errors found, recommendations are to scan hard drive, etc." Now, like I said, the computer store with people who know more than I do said they didn't find any errors with the HD so I just don't know. I know this isn't the forum for this but it kind of leads to my main question, and if someone has an idea about my problem above, well 2 birds with one stone (just didn't want to created 2 separate topics).

I currently have a Seagate Barracuda 160GB Hard Drive (the ST3160815AS) and want to upgrade. What's a overall better drive than this? I would like some more space and for it to read faster but don't want to pay much more than $100 or so. I just don't want to replace my current HD with one that's not as good. Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks,
Justin
 
Thanks for the fast response. Yeah, I have SATA or at least that's what it says when it first boots up (right be the Windows XP loading screen).

This looks like a good deal. Should this be the same size (physical size, as will it just fit exactly where my current hard drive is located in my tower) as my current hard drive? I have never installed a new hard drive before so this will be a new experience for me. I would just take it to a local computer store, but I'm so fed up :freak: with the ones around my house, I just want to do it myself and not deal with them.
 
yep same size. You might need some help when it comes time to install xp on it so give us a buzz when that time comes up.
 
The western digital drive is the same physical size (3.5") as your seagate.

Installing a hard drive is an easy task which is good to learn how to do your self, it will save you money/time instead of taking it to a computer shop. IMO, if you know what you're doing you can install a hard drive in 1 minute.
 
I really appreciate the help. I live in a medium sized town so there only a select few computer repair stores and 2 of them are on my bad list.

Years ago, before I really knew anything about computers, my computer kept freezing constantly, and I took it to one shop. They charged me $100+ to remove spyware/viruses, which they said was the problem. I took it home, and it still did it so I took it to another. Place and come to find out a couple of months before when I took it to BestBuy to get Pinnacle Studio and a port to connect a VCR into it installed, they (BestBuy) put the cooling fan on backwards which was causing it to overheat.

So I've been loyal to the place that discovered it was the fan, and they have been good at helping me over the years but they've got some new people in there that don't really seem to A) Care or B) Really know what they're doing.

If I can solve this problem myself and learn something useful in the process, win-win.
 
My mom had those foam inserts. I hate 'em. I took them out of her PC, and after about a month, you could see a noticeable difference in performance. They just clogged all the time. If you keep your computer in a relatively clean area, and clean your computer out, you shouldn't even need those inserts.
 
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