...what happens if my hard drive completely fails? How can I replace it and get my OS on the new one?
130894
The answer is really nothing if the hard drive fails completely.  Best solution is to call the manufacture and order the CD's it may cost you $30 but it is well worth it.  You can also clone the drive over to another drive but this would require some computer knowledge on what to do.
15352
if you don't want replace this hard drive, the best bet is - do a thorough disk check on it. this will mark all bad sectors and will take them out of use.\nafter you start that disk check you will be requested to reboot the system, do so and let it run.
551438
Yes, you can, and normally it works fine without the need to reinstall the operating system. However, partitioning a hard drive always carries a small risk, so I would NOT recommend doing this if you don't own the intallation disk for the operating system (presumably Windows XP). Otherwise, if something goes wrong and you need to format the hard disk, you'll be forced to buy Windows XP separately which could be expensive.
420964
Welcome your new friend the B.S.O.D (blue screen of death)\n\nIf the message is saying your HDD is corrupt, then your chances of it working normally is pretty much slim, Your best chance is to re-install your version of Windows...\n\nOr if your using XP, try using the repair function on the disc instead of a full re-install...\n\nhope this helps
612356
You need to reformat, if you loose any data it can be recovered with this\nhttp://www.ontrack.com/easyrecoveryprofessional/\n\nFirst put in your OS disk, load the OS by creating a new partition.
348461
just reformat everything.  the windows o/s you have should boot automatically from your CD-ROM.  there are free utilities from majorgeeks.com to retrieve your lost data, even if you've reformatted the drive(s).  good luck, you're NOT an idiot.  everyone has had their computer woes.  how'd your Vista go?
318774
if it doesn't recognize in the bios, the board is bad, probably overheating and causing the drive to shut down, you can send it in tpthe rpair station, and pay more than a new one, or just get a new one, if there is data on it you need, you can get a new drive and install your windows and programs on it as a master, put the other one in the freezer in a ziplock bag overnight, take it out, install it as a slave, and get as much off as you can beffore it fails again, maybe. If the bios doesn't recognize it all, you might could buy  a broken one o nebay to get the circuit card off of it, hust make sure it is a motor or disk problem on the one you get, that is has a good board, and the models numbers have to match
428271
Don't need to do anything hard. Insert your Windows Installation CD-Rom in the Drive, boot your system from CD-ROM, then go on installing windows, then Select " Repair Windows ", that's all you need to do,, nothings gonna change ...
536063
Can you add a little more info?\n\nIs D a CD&#92;DVD drive? Another partition on your hard drive partition?  Another hard drive itself?\n\nAs cliched as it sounds, if you are running a Windows system, rebooting may repair.
244060
I bet that you would only need to format your hard drive because it seems that only the OS is faulty. I trust that you know how to format the drive right. And I also expect you to be able to re-install windows. As a matter of fact, if you have an installation disk(Windows 2000), then insert it into the CD-drive and the computer should begin to load it. But first go to the CMOS settings and change the boot order to CD-ROM. Back to the Windows installation, now when the installation has completely loaded, you will be given three options: Install Windows 2000, Repair Windows 2000, and quit installation. If you have an emergency repair disk then select repair Windows 2000, if you don't then select install windows 2000. By selecting install Windows you will be given more options. I didn't install Windows in a while so my guess is install fresh copy, and re-install with current files. After that you can choose between either two it is your call. I hope this helped you.
13359
Assuming that you have nothing on the HD that you cannot replace, I would recommend that you reformat the drive and reinstall Win2K from scratch. Be sure to install all of the updates prior to installing any new software.\n\nMake sure to get a list of all hardware on your system and secure the proper drivers for them prior to reinstalling Win2K.\n\nYour problem appears to be related to the video, but that is just a guess. You could try updating to the newest version of the driver for your system prior to redoing it.\n\nGood Luck
225088
More likely than not, you need a new drive.
326133
The OS is your operating system, which is probably a version of windows.  Reinstalling it is often a last resort, as it will wipe out all of your stored files.  It is also an easy first solution if you don't care about anything on the computer.\n\nIt's hard to know how to fix your problem because it could be a number of different things.  When you first turn your comptuer on it should go through what is called a Power On Self Test (POST).  You should hear a beep and than see a screen pop up as the computer tests all of the devices.  If all you see is a screen with a logo, such as "DELL", than your computer is hiding this test from you, but will usually at least show you any errors that come up.  We'd need to see those errors to help figure out what is causing the problem.\n  Also does the computer start loading windows at all?  If you see windows start to load before it crashes and gives yo uteh blinking underscore you can try booting to safe mode.  To do so press F8 as soon as you see windows loading, and then select it from the menu.\n\nA few other things to try: check to make sure you don't have a floppy in the disk drive, or a cd.  Check to see if you have any hard drive activity.  There is a light that normally flashes on the front of your computer when your hard drive reads or writes.  If you don't see it than you might have to replace your hard drive.
356845
Do a complete uninstall in the Hardware window and re-install. If that still doesn't work, it is possible that either the drive has died and must be replaced. That would be more likely than that the port on the motherboard has died, but that is possible as well as the not-likely ribbon cable failure.\n\nOne thing you might look at before replacing it is an IRQ conflict if you've added any hardware lately.
67571
Well, you should be able to plug it in and be able to boot off your new drive. Even if you can't, it won't hurt the computer if it fails, so give it a shot.
92462
try to reinstall windows .. or format the hard disk and install a fresh copy
38047
you can reboot the machine all you want but it will not load what is not there. you will need to reinstall your os. did you  deleted the windows folder only??? if so reinstall with out formating the hard drive and everything should be there or least somethings.....