Hi Timeliner

The first thing I would do is disconect the old hard disk to make sure that nothing happens to your old system.

If you can't boot from the hard disk, you will have to boot from the instalation CD (which must be SP2 if your new disk is over 120GB) then either use the repair facility to completely restore Win XP but keep most of your settings or use the recovery console to try and correct things. You will need to spend some time browsing the Microsoft site to sort that.

If your new disk is only 2 weeks old, you could consider booting from the old disk, copying any changed data from the new disk, then erase the new disk and re clone it.

Timeliner

I may be stating the obvious to you, but have you changed the jumper settings on your two hard drives so that one is master and one is slave?

You don't have those jumper settings on a SATA drive.

Well that puts paid to that suggestion!

skuttles back to corner with tail between legs. whimper....

LOL

Optimist

I have booted from the original drive - and using a program called "Hard Drive Inspector" it shows the new drive as "0mb" free space - which is clearly wrong. It is a 500gb drive and at least 50% free space.

But can't see a way of copying any data because I cannot "see" the new drive.

If I can access the drive I will transfer the data which has accumulated since it was installed before reformatting it (assuming this is necessary) - in other words iI hope there is a way of saving the contents of this drive.

Has anyone around here used Compuserve recently?

I won't bore you with the problem if the answer to the above is NO.

TP

Help please,just had a power cut and the pc went down,powered it back up again,it works fine but i am getting a little yellow popup window when i log into OE saying DDE Server Window:OUTLOOK.EXE-Corrupt file........Please run the Chkdsk utility.
It all works fine in OE but what does the message mean and how can i delete the message.
Any ideas please.

Mega.........

Sorted,just found the way to switch it off :-)

Well, I went ahead and bought a Belkin (Universal it says on the box) wireless range extender. Needless to say it won't work with my Netgear router :-(

After speaking to the Belkin techies they say that my Netgear router has an 8 character network key and I need to contact Netgear to get it changed to a 10 or (I think) a 26 digit one.

Personally I don't feel inclined to do this as I'm wondering if I'm just opening up a can of worms.

Anyone know if these network keys on routers are changeable and if so is it easily done?

Apologies if this has already been asked on this board:

Does anyone know if an internal ADSL (Broadband) modem is available for laptop computers, please? I know that external USB connection modems are available, but would prefer to install internally if possible. Thanks in advance. (Don't really want to go the WiFi route at the moment).

Timeliner

Your new disk must have at least some, most probably all, of the data intact because it goes through the initial boot sequence.

I'm not familiar with Hard Drive Inspector but are you certain that it can handle such large disks? What does the Win XP disk manager utility say about the disk? Whoch program did you use to clone the disk?

If you cant access it from within windows, you should be able to run the repair console to get the data off it. Make sure you use the SP2 repair console.

Harrycat

I've not heard of such a device, but why would you want one? Broadband can only be used from one location so there is no downside in using an ADSL Router/Firewall.

You could use a USB ADSL modem but these tend to be harder to setup and keep going and anyway IMO should be banned as they are not secure enough.

Thanks, Optimist.
What I am trying to do is use a PC & a laptop in the house. PC is upstairs, laptop is downstairs, so if both have an ADSL modem I thought that, so long as one of them is switched off, the other would work (connected to a BT Line box via ADSL filter & telephone cable).
I still believe, rightly or wrongly, that hardwire is much more secure than WiFi, so prefer to connect to broadband via ADSL modem plugged in to the computer.
I have learnt this morning however, from Maplins, that two modems can't be plugged in the same BT line (even if one is switched off).
I also believe a router requires different cables from the usual telephone ones, so that is going to complicate things a bit.
Question is then, how to get two computers to work in the same house using cables? Presumably via router?

HarryCat

Since they are perfect for your needs, you really ought to look into using the Devolo Adapters, which I mention above.

You need three adapters:-

One for the modem - to put the broadband signal into the 240v mains supply wiring system.

One for your PC - to take a broadband signal out of the 240v mains and into your PC.

One for your laptop in the bedroom - to take a broadband signal out of the 240v mains and into your laptop.

Note how you only need one modem but you do need three adapters.

They are absolute simplicity itself to install. They are secure and there is no configuring to be done as all of this stuff is automatic. You don't even have to tell the modem how to dial out if you use an Ethernet cabled rather than a USB cabled modem.

Here's one type of installation:



Here's another. Note this is more 'wireless' than the first but still utilises the 240v mains supply to get the broadband round the house:



(I went for the 200Av adapters myself so as to get some high data transfer rate futureproofing)

This Devolo stuff is also called 'Homeplug'. I suppose one can see why, eh?

Harry

You are correct that hardwire is more secure (and more reliable) than WiFi, unless you use a standalone ADSL modem. What you need is an ADSL Roter/Firewall - make sure you get one with 4 ethenet ports.

If possible, plug the ADSL side of the router into the phone socket nearest to your incoming line. The router will probably come with a short network cable, but I bought a 60ft one from Maplins sometime ago for arounf 15. You can then lay the cable round the house or if your clever feed it through the cavity wall. Make sure you don't put any tight bends in the cable.

As reards the router, many models now come with WiFi as well. These are easier to get and thre price premium is not very much. If you get one of these and don't use the WiFi, you should change the default settings, set a security key and/or dissable the WiFi.

Harry

I have in the past looked at the adaptors that Doc mentions. They will work, but for the price you could probably get a tame BT engineer to run the CAT 5 network cables round for you.

Also, their security is questionable. It may be that no one has a similar system near you so it would be safe but it would be like broadcasting a WiFi signal over the power system, and I bet the security has not been thought through as well? as with WiFi.

Edit Should you pay to get network cables installed, go for CAT6, they would be more futureproof.

Cheers guys. Food for thought.
CAT 5 is the cabling that was mentioned by Maplins.
Having just renovated the house, replastered, redecorated, recarpeted, rewired etc etc, I am not too keen to start pulling it all about again.
Re WiFi, although people keep talking to me about safe encryption now, I still hear of people's bandwidth being hijacked, so I am still reluctant to go that route.

If you use the WPA security option on WiFi it is fairly secure so long as you use a strong key, but it is not as good or as fast as a wired connection.

If you use WEP security, that is possible to crack fairly quickly, and anyone who bothers to do it, is unlikely to be after your internet bandwidth.

HARRYCAT:

I don't think that you should be a scaredycat about wireless. The obvious solution to what you need is simply an ADSL wireless router. Typically, these have four wired Ethernet ports and an 802.11b/g wireless connection which is quite capable of being made adequately secure. They also have a builtin firewall capabiltity in that they perform NAT (network address translation) which effectively hides your computers from the outside world.

Securing the wireless connection requires a little bit of reading the instructions, and perhaps a little help from your friends -- which you will readily get here.

Yes, routers use standard Ethernet 'drop' cables (called CAT 5 in the trade) and are not the same as telephone cables but that doesn't complicate anything, they're just different.

I agree with Optimist about USB ADSL modems. Nasty little things, best avoided.

MM

Harrycat

About 3 or 4 years ago I went to 2 computers. To do this I bought a
Netgear RP1114 router(modem in, 4 outputs).Prior to this I was using
the free version of Zone Labs Zone Alarm, so did not need to buy a
router with firewall.Installed the same on the second computer and
on testing with a security site, both seem safe.
A must,I think, are SpywareBlaster(passive nasty stopper) Spybot S&D
(active scanner) and Adaware. Also I use Grisoft AVG.
Update and scan every weekend.Since then I've had 2 nasties removed
by Spybot and 2 or 3 tracker cookies each week removed by Adaware.
Mind you, I use Win2000 so am probably below the radar of hackers:)
Also the input to my modem is cable.

mac
mac