Expert: Karl Zick - 7/14/2008

Question
QUESTION: I have a hp pavilion dv8000.
I want to take the hard drive out and back up the data to my desktop.
what kind of connection the hp has has so what kind of cable do I need?
thank you

ANSWER: Hi Evrim,

I'm not sure I am following you.  In the first place, your desktop is part of Windows and Windows is on your hard drive and if you remove your hard drive EVERYTHING STOPS.

If you want to back up your system, I suggest you buy an external USB hard drive and backup everything to it from Windows.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: I was gonna take the hard drive from the laptop and back up the data to the desktop.
But now I don't need the data on the laptop.I am trying to format the laptop.
1.used the recovery disk came with the system,it doesnt do through.
2.I have an retail version of windows xp, same story. some point it gave me the same error.
in both situation some how it screen said  " some of the files cannot copy"
so here is what I want to do.
Laptop has a 2 hard drives. I took one of them out.
can I use my desktop to format and install a windows xp on it?
like,taking the laptops hard drive out.
connecting a ide-laptop cable , other end goes to the my desktops USB port.
and formating the laptop's hard drive and installing a windows xp.
I AM SORRY FOR THE LONG TEXT.
thank you.

ANSWER: Hi again Evrim,

I have a better idea now of what you are trying to do.

First, your installation problem could just be a dirty optical reader in your CD player.  Try using a laser lens cleaner CD before installing.  Also, wipe the installation CD with a damp cloth.

It is possible to install XP on one of your laptop hard drives but I have never seen an IDE cable with a USB connector on one end.  If the laptop hard drive has a standard IDE input, unplug the hard drive in your desktop PC and plug the notebook drive in its place.  Then install XP the normal way and move the hard drive back to the laptop.

Problems you may have are repartitioning the laptop hard drive and installing the correct video, audio, network, etc. drivers for the laptop:  
If you have a Win 98SE startup disk, you can use it to boot up the desktop and, using fdisk, repartition the notebook drive before you install windows.  If you don't have a startup disk, it could be a little tricky.
The manufacturer of your laptop should have drivers available for download on their website.  If the laptop will boot up with the XP hard drive, you will be able to install them from a flash drive or something.



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: you are the star sir.
You understood the problem better then anybody than I asked the question.thanks a lot.

I was gonna do what you said , but I wanted to do one more thing before that.
Because I used another retail cd and middle of the process it gave me blue screen with white text, like you see when there is a memory failure.saying that  BIOS cache and something like update the BIOS  and something about memory.Like memory conflict failure.

So I decided to run a memory test.
Right now I am running a test called " Windows Memory Diagnostic". And it results are FAIL. there are test called LRAND, Stride6, WMATS+, WINVC they all failed.


So what do you think I should do?
I have a different laptop up and running I am gonna take the memory from there and try it on this  Hp machine see what happens.


Answer
Hey Evrim,

Changing the RAM boards may help.  Make sure they are the same type of RAM sticks though.  If one is DDR and the other DDR2 they will not interchange.  You will know when you try to install it because they are a different size.

Just for your information, about 95% of all laptop problem questions I get are concerning either a Compaq or a HP.  I hate to say it, but maybe you have one of their many lemons.