Expert: Gregory Donner - 1/31/2010

Question
Hi Greg, I bought a 2gb toshiba hdd and cradle off ebay and put it in my A600.  It worked fine but now comes up with an error. I then put it in my a1200, but I just get a blank screen.  It doesn't have a power socket, just the ribbon socket. Does it need a power socket to work in an a1200, if not, can it be reformatted for the a600, or has it had its day?

Answer
Hi Stuart,

I sent a reply the same day you asked this question, but for some reason, it was not delivered by allexperts.com. I apologize for this. :( I was just notified today (Feb. 3rd) that your question was still pending.

The power socket should be fine, but it sounds like your 2GB hard drive has errors that need checking/repairing with a tool like DiskSalv--this will scan your drive for errors and inform you of its status:

http://aminet.net/package/disk/salv/DiskSalv11_32

If you've noticed a high-pitched whining noise or "clicking" coming from the drive, then I would suggest backup of the data and replacement with a new hard drive. You should be able to find a similar hard drive to what you have with a simple Google search for the model number or size/type of the drive that you have.

I hope this helps!

Greg