hardcoreforthekidz@yahoo.com wrote:
> i have a question, my original hard drive crashed, and wont load.. so
> i bought a new one, that is 320 i believe. ive tried to install it
> several different ways and wondering if i needed a new os installed on
> it as well in order for it to work correctly.? thanks

That depends entirely on what kind of computer it is, and
what you mean by a "new os".

To start, if I look at my computer right now, it has one
hard drive. It has one partition, the "C:" partition.
My operating system is on there. If that partition were
to be corrupted, or if my single hard drive broke, I've
lost two things. I lost my user data. I also lost my
OS, so I won't be able to boot.

Because I bought a retail version of OS from a local
store, I have an OS installer CD. By installing a
single, brand new hard drive, I can use the installer CD
to do a fresh install of the OS. That will then allow
me to boot. But it won't bring back my user data,
which would be lost if I did not have a backup for it.

On computers like Dell/HP/Acer/Gateway/Emachines or the
like, they may not come with media (installer CD). There
could be a recovery partition on the hard drive. When the
computer is new, the customer is supposed to burn
"recovery CDs", which copy some portion of the
recovery partition onto one or more CDs. If you
forgot to do that, that puts you in more of a bind.

On such a computer, if the OS on the C: drive becomes
corrupted, you can press a key when the computer is
starting, and software on the computer, will copy the
recovery partition on the hard drive, such that it
replaces C: . That destroys the user's data, and returns
the hard drive to virtually the same state it was in from
the factory.

If the hard drive dies in the Dell/HP/etc computer, then
that recovery partition is also lost. So you cannot press
the "magic key" at startup, to make the hard drive like
it was when it came from the factory. And that is why
they want you to burn recovery CDs when you first
get the computer, so that if the hard drive needs to be
replaced, you'll have a way to get things back to the
factory state.

If you take the computer, the old hard drive and the new
hard drive, to a computer repair, they may be able to
fix the old hard drive information, so that it can boot.
That is, if the hard drive is still working. If so, they
may be able to copy verbatim, the info from the old drive
to the new. So there are some options, if you can find
a skilled and caring repair person. But if the hard
drive is mechanically broken, there is little they can
do, that you cannot do for yourself.

A data recovery firm, can also be used, to recover
the files from the old drive. They charge a lot of
money, but can do things like open up the HDA in a
clean room, and make repairs. But if the platters
were scratched, or if the coating on the platter
is scraped off (as sometimes happens), again, there
might be nothing they can reasonably do for you.

Data recovery firms generally don't charge, if they
don't get any of your data back.

Once you see the prices that data recovery firms
charge, that is when you realize how cheap it is
to make backup copies of your hard drive. Restoring
a drive from a backup, is also a way to make the
new hard drive, the same as the old one.

HTH,
Paul