Windows 7 BSOD - Unmountable Boot Volume

[Guest 2]

Have googled this and done the recommendations ie into Recovery and use the Command Prompt to run chkdsk /r c:

Check Disk starts, but finds 3 errors at 12% on stage 2, I left it to do its thing last night and when I came back to it this morning, it was still at 12%.

Running out of ideas, using a measely Windows XP machine atm, computer was running fine up until yesterday.

Ta.

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz90/57_audi/iPhone%20Uploads/DAD94C48-C6CE-4B06-A4A7-9C835BE09E1D_zpsa3yflprd.jpg~original

[kite]

Have you tried turning it off and back on again :p:p:p:p:D:D:D;);)

bloody smart phones....

[Sam]

Are you using Avast! by any chance?

Does it boot normally and then crash, or does not even boot at all?

[Guest 2]

Are you using Avast! by any chance?

Does it boot normally and then crash, or does not even boot at all?

No, AVG.

Its getting to the 'Starting Windows' screen then blue screens, now when I go into recovery it hangs at the Microsoft Corporation screen.

Will try the HDD in a caddy and see if it can be picked up.

[Guest 2]

Just tried it in a caddy and although its picked up, its displaying this error message along with a write error message (xp style).

Also I assume these 2 red dots are bad?

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz90/57_audi/ForumContent/Misc%20Content/driveerror_zps32fd3cff.png

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz90/57_audi/ForumContent/Misc%20Content/58FACC66-1B95-43D0-91B7-BCC24A45D8EB_zps92pppfbs.jpg

[Sam]

I had an issue with all the machines blue screening here, same stop error and I couldn't believe 20+ HDDs had just died at the same time. That turned out to be Avast! which has now been removed and we have been refunded - cost me hours though :(

Caddy is a good idea, but don't run any tests, just get your data off ASAP.

Once you've got what you want off it, then you can run HDTune from here (http://www.hdtune.com/download.html) (scroll down to HD Tune, ignore HD Tune Pro) and see what it says - chances are it's on its way out.

Edit: I type slow.

What's the HDD model number?

[Guest 2]

No idea but here's a pic, sodding thing is just out of warranty.

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz90/57_audi/ForumContent/Misc%20Content/FA3BF04B-5624-4BA9-9BDF-DE546D55FBAB_zpsowd9un7a.jpg (http://s816.photobucket.com/user/57_audi/media/ForumContent/Misc%20Content/FA3BF04B-5624-4BA9-9BDF-DE546D55FBAB_zpsowd9un7a.jpg.html)


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[Sam]

...and the drive wasn't offered with a warranty because it was resold as part of the laptop, so if your Dell warranty is out, you're SOL sadly.

I'd do the following;

Download and boot from a Linux Live CD, mount the drive and copy the data off onto a working PC.

Download Ubuntu Desktop | Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop)
burn it to a CD
boot from it, making sure you select "try from cd" or "try without making changes" or anything similar
Go to Places > Computer and find the drive - it'll have a USB symbol on it
Click it and if you're lucky it'll open and away you go.
If it says it can't mount, let me know and we'll go from there.

However, if the data isn't worth anything, don't waste your time, grab another drive and start again ;)

[Guest 2]

Yeah meant laptop warranty, sorry.

Will try that this evening and report back, data isn't anything important as it's all backed up but I'd like my browser favourites back at least ;)

Thanks again :)


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[Sam]

Yeah meant laptop warranty, sorry.

Will try that this evening and report back, data isn't anything important as it's all backed up but I'd like my browser favourites back at least ;)

Thanks again :)

It was my fault, I worded my reply wrongly. Normally a HDD has a warranty, 1 > 5 years depending on the manufacturer, but when they're sold in a device, that warranty gets overruled by whatever the device manufacturer offers.

XMarks (http://www.xmarks.com/) is handy for saving cross browser bookmarks but it's a bit late for that now :(

[Guest 2]

Ubuntu running off the DVD, seems to access the HDD fine via a caddy, no errors like XP which is odd.

Need to find where my favourites are stored and try and recover emails from Outlook which may prove difficult.

What do you suggest now Sam? :)

[ragebe]

Could be a virus. Will Win7 boot in Safe Mode? If so:

> start in Safe Mode
> get Microsoft Security Essentials http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows/security-essentials-download
> download CCleaner CCleaner - Download (http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download)
> download Super Antispyware Search & Destroy http://download.cnet.com/SuperAntiSpyware-Free-Edition/3000-8022_4-10523889.html
> download Winpatrol http://www.winpatrol.com/download.html

Run Ccleaner (2 or 3 times)
Run Spyobt S&D
Run a full scan with MSSE
Run Winpatrol

Reboot in normal mode

.........................................

[Guest 2]

Just tried safe mode and it's still blue screening, it was working fine all day yesterday then started playing up (slowing right down, programs freezing and took 30 mins to shut down) yesterday evening.

If there were any viruses surely my AVG would've picked it up?

[ragebe]

I gave up with AVG in place of MSSE years ago. Avast and Norton are bloatware. Are you able to boot from CD in safe-mode?

[Sam]

If it were my drive, knowing Linux can read it, I'd save what I wanted to save, and then go on a crusade to cure the issues.

There's a minute chance malware has removed the boot sector but this is exceedingly rare - IMNSHO it's not a virus, it's a borked disk and/or boot sector.

Making 100% sure you've backed up your files. Double check again, make sure you can access and read the backup. And once more, check again.

I know you've already done some of this, but humour me.

Boot into Recovery Console, press R to repair, then on the command line type chkdsk /r and let it run.

If it completes, try and boot, if it doesn't and it BSODs again get your Dell CD, press F12 (I think) to open the boot options, boot from the CD and go through the above process to run chkdsk /r again.

Let me know what happens.

[Guest 2]

Ill it run this afternoon and report back. Got my favourites back and any emails I thought I needed are on an Exhange account so they're still there.

Thanks for your help, I was gonna give up after it not booting the first time:)

[Guest 2]

Hanging in recovery mode again, is there anything I can do within Ubuntu?

23550


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[Sam]

Is that running off the CD or by hammering F8 and going in that way?

[Guest 2]

Cd, thankfully it's just responded. Will run chkdsk and let it run through.

And it was F12 for boot options so good guess ;)


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[Sam]

Good news. I've known it to take a few days to complete a full chkdsk before, that took a special kind of patience(!)

As for Ubuntu and tools, there are a few things you could do but I recommended you use Windows tools to fix Windows problems - bit like cleaning your MAF, you just introduce another possible source of errors.

If this doesn't work, there are more things we can do, don't panic yet ;)

[utensil999]

Sorry to here about your busted drive. First off western digital have a great warrenty service, just go online and enter serial and it will tell you straight away if its in warranty. They will even send you a replacement before u send them the dud. I have used this service a few times and was very impressed no need for receipt or proof of purchase. Might be worth a try. On another note I have been using avast for 10 years or so and have never had problems with it. Currently on 5 pcs at home with no issues. A few years back I had raptor installed which is a chat program combining all the common ones such as msn icq etc etc. This was blue screening my pc all the time. Uninstalled and never blue screened again. So i guess software conflict somewhere. Maybe with avast.... Anyway good luck get the data off and re install.

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[Sam]

Sorry to here about your busted drive. First off western digital have a great warrenty service, just go online and enter serial and it will tell you straight away if its in warranty. They will even send you a replacement before u send them the dud. I have used this service a few times and was very impressed no need for receipt or proof of purchase. Might be worth a try.

There is no warranty with WD, the HDD is effectively an OEM drive as it was part of a Dell laptop. The warranty is with Dell and has, as per Chris's posts above, expired.

[SammoVWT]

Sounds like the drive is dying, chkdsk my falsely report bad sectors if the motor is failing. The drive motors and or reading heads can fail early from time to time and cause a de-sync/corruption of info hence the bluescreens.

It will run ok in a caddy. Alternatively if your motherboard can disable the SMART error report feature then this may be you some more hours of non-caddy use. Also from experience, if you keep trying to boot a dying drive, it may corrupt the boot sector and then eventually stop responding completely. I've had it happen to about 3 HDD's over the years. My best advice would be to get a new drive, caddy this one and back up what you can before the drive goes poof.

You can send it off for 'repair/recovery' but do you have anything worth saving on it that will cost that amount is the question. In the mean time you will still need a new drive anyway.

[Guest 2]

Right ok, been out all day and left the laptop to run. Something must've happened/restarted as it's back hanging at the recovery screen.

Not sure if the chkdsk ran or not. Everything valuable is backed up in 2 places, emails are fine and got my Firefox bookmarks back so that's all I'm really worried about.

[Sam]

Find(;)) and download a copy of Hiren's Boot CD , burn it to a CD and boot from it, up to you which machine you use but I'd go with the Dell laptop just in case you select the wrong drive in the next few stages ;)

Again, don't do anything unless you're 100% sure - you could potentially kill the drive completely.

Find the HDD Diagnostics menu and do the following;

DLGDIAG will verify the HDD's status and WDDLGT will hopefully scan and fix any errors - if it can't it'll let you know why.

If they don't work, you can move on to the harder stuff.

MHDD and DRevitalize will both attempt to locate and fix any mechanical defects.

[Guest 2]

Find(;)) and download a copy of Hiren's Boot CD , burn it to a CD and boot from it, up to you which machine you use but I'd go with the Dell laptop just in case you select the wrong drive in the next few stages ;)

Again, don't do anything unless you're 100% sure - you could potentially kill the drive completely.

Find the HDD Diagnostics menu and do the following;

DLGDIAG will verify the HDD's status and WDDLGT will hopefully scan and fix any errors - if it can't it'll let you know why.

If they don't work, you can move on to the harder stuff.

MHDD and DRevitalize will both attempt to locate and fix any mechanical defects.

DLGDIAG froze and didn't finish. Said it would take 5 mins, got dinner, came back after 30 mins and the Abort function didn't work.

Couldn't see anything inside the WDDLGT which would scan, only setting up a new drive and view info.

DRevitalize is currently running, albeit slowly.

[ragebe]

If you've got everything you need off the drive, why not format the disc and re-install Windows?

[Guest 2]

Surely as it's a drive fault not OS the issue will still be there?

12 hrs in and were a 1/3 of the way through :o


http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz90/57_audi/iPhone%20Uploads/BF0FF472-4725-4614-AF4A-7CEEDB979CD5_zpstak7kxqf.jpg


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[ragebe]

Not if the bad sectors are maked as such and therefore marked not for use.

[Guest 2]

Not if the bad sectors are maked as such and therefore marked not for use.

I'll probably just end up keeping it in the caddy to be honest after the test finally finishes and get another. Don't think I could trust it again.

However, Sam's test has proven useful and at 24hrs were 2/3 of the way through and found some(!) bad sectors. I assume since it's 'recovered' them they've been fixed? Hopefully this lets me boot up.

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz90/57_audi/ForumContent/Misc%20Content/4442C69C-7900-4514-B396-2E96D54AA25A_zpsqtt3les7.jpg


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[Guest 2]

Status update:

Scan has finished, found and recovered 3444 bad sectors. Rebooted and Windows has started doing a chkdsk :rolleyes:

Could someone tell me what's going on in pic 3? I know it's replacing security id's but why? Seems to be going through every file on the HDD.

If I can get it to boot, I'll just use it till it dies and get another hard drive, infact I might go Mac, would be nice but doubt it.

Edit - pic 4, really?

I appreciate everyone's time :)

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz90/57_audi/iPhone%20Uploads/5E067A52-7231-4CB0-B25D-DB9DBA06BC7B_zps1wcg6qd6.jpg

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz90/57_audi/iPhone%20Uploads/862AB080-9724-4EFD-A51B-C1533FBE8845_zpsgeedyhft.jpg

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz90/57_audi/iPhone%20Uploads/88D441AF-6327-48A3-A3F3-1C0BBA55EA1D_zpsb0slmsqs.jpg

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz90/57_audi/iPhone%20Uploads/B16D7386-6973-4C96-9B8F-634E54BB86A4_zpsbo5zkrll.jpg


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[Sam]

Looks good so far Chris.

What you're seeing is the result of a chkdsk /f and all the files are, I hope, being 'fixed'.

When you do eventually get to log in you'll probably notice that most things don't work, but we can fix that too ;)

[Guest 2]

Yeah it finished last night sometime and shut down.

Turned it on this morning and although it boots (you probably know whats coming!) it doesn't get to the login screen and displays a black screen with just the cursor. Ctrl alt del doesn't do anything.

[Sam]

Fun innit ;)

You now need to repair/restore the Boot Config Data

Rather than me type it all out have a look here (http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ht/rebuild-bcd-store-windows.htm) and follow the instructions.

If that doesn't work, there's more than can be done. No need to go over to a fruit based device...ever(!)

In response to those asking why not reformat and start again - where's the fun in that? Being able to fix something in return for a little bit of invested time and hopefully learning a few tricks to share with someone else in the future far outweighs 'giving up' and starting over.

[Guest 2]

This is definitely a learning curve for me! Will follow that guide now and report back as always ;)



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[Guest 2]

Followed it to the letter and can't get past step 6

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz90/57_audi/iPhone%20Uploads/E0FC8AFB-CB81-44B5-ADB4-2B996120543B_zpsnv1x3kkg.jpg


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[JustHarry]

It is possible that it placed the BCD file in X:\Windows\System32?

or it might have placed it in root of X
try this attrib X:\boot\bcd -h -r -s

Although the command was bcdedit /export c:\bcdbackupwhich is strange as sometimes refers to D (where it found windows and yours is X) but then shows the commands should be C:

[Guest 2]

Not working for X: either



http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz90/57_audi/ForumContent/Misc%20Content/9E1F2733-D54E-4D15-858A-1B275DBDB72B_zpsd5usnzuv.jpg


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[Sam]

Sorry Chris, completely missed your reply to this one :(

If you type C:\ does the prompt change to C:\>?

If it does, type in dir​, what do you see?

[Guest 2]

Yeah changes fine to C, dir lists all files on C as normal.

Tried X, D and C, none work! :(

[Sam]

Ok, try dir /adh do you see $Recycle.bin, boot, etc?

[Guest 2]

Starting from the top

$AVG
$Recycle.Bin
$Windows.~BT
Boot
Docs & Settings
Found.000
IORRT
MSOCache
ProgramData
System Volume Info

Boot was created 10/02/2014 @ 12.40PM

[Kar Krazy]

If you can't get it working, I'd replace it with a solid state drive, something like this:

http://www.ebuyer.com/390150-corsair-180gb-force-series-gs-ssd-cssd-f180gbgs-bk

You have to set it up in a mode called AHCI so that it enables the "TRIM" command that recovers space on the drive after you delete files.

SSD's are so much faster than hard drives, although you do lose out on space.

Good luck Chris!

[Sam]

Bingo!

We've proved the boot folder is there by listing the directories.

The error you're seeing is because you're attempting to rename a file (bcd) but it doesn't exist - this is what I was hoping to see and why you're getting the black screen.

From the command prompt type;

copy e:\boot\* c:\boot\ [enter] - e being the drive where your W7 DVD is.
c: [enter]
cd boot [enter]
bootsect /nt60 c: /force /mbr [enter]
bootrec /rebuildbcd [enter]

This will copy the default boot folder from the DVD to your HDD and then force a rebuild of the mbr (master boot record) and the bcd.

Let me know what happens.

[Guest 2]

Ok so everything copied fine, rebuildbcd found the windows installation, pressed Y to 'include', restarted and loaded normally but still at the black screen with cursor? Seems to be HDD activity but nothing on the screen. :(

Krazy, a bit steep for me!

[Sam]

Next step is to boot from the CD again, back to recovery again, back to prompt again and type;

cd recovery [enter]
run startrep.exe [enter]

This will scan and check for any issues and hopefully fix them all.

[Guest 2]

Not working for me, probably some n00b error :p

http://i816.photobucket.com/albums/zz90/57_audi/iPhone%20Uploads/E215EB49-082D-4288-8F49-9DB534305303_zpso5cdmu04.jpg


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[Sam]

Oops, sorry, I'm the noob here.

I missed the part about running the commands from your DVD drive :(

e:\ [enter] - where E is your DVD drive
cd sources [enter]
cd recovery [enter]
run startrep.exe [enter]

Sorry!

[Guest 2]

Oops, sorry, I'm the noob here.

I missed the part about running the commands from your DVD drive :(

e:\ (where E is your DVD drive)
then the commands above again.

Sorry!

:biglaugh:

No folder on the DVD called recover!

[Sam]

See my edit, sorry - trying to do too many things at once and failing miserably!

[Guest 2]

See my edit, sorry - trying to do too many things at once and failing miserably!

Hate to tell you but there's no folder called recovery insides sources :p

No need to apologise, I'd be lost without your knowledge!

[Sam]

Guess which noob has his Server 2008 R2 DVD in the DVD drive - so sorry Chris.

Do it the old fashioned way instead;

Boot from the DVD
Recovery Console
Top option is Startup Repair

[Guest 2]

Haha no worries ;)

Startup repair can't find any problems :D

[Sam]

Drive is fixed, MBR is fixed, BCD is fixed, no startup errors at all, just a black screen which suggests your video driver needs updating/fixing

Download your video drivers from Dell's site using your functioning PC and stick them on a flash drive/CD.

Boot into safe mode (keep on hitting F8) and install the drivers, reboot and see what you get.

EDIT: I'm purposely avoiding suggesting you reinstall Windows - I feel it's coming, but I want to see if it can be fixed first ;)

[Guest 2]

I can still see the cursor on the black screen but I'll try reinstalling them anyway and let you know.

We'll fix this somehow!! Thnx for your help!

Edit - where would the fun be in reinstalling Windows? :p

[Guest 2]

Temporarily installed Ubuntu dual boot so I can at least use the damn thing. It ran another chkdsk with no errors found.

Still can't get past the black screen and cursor! :(

EDIT - even Ubuntu has given up on me! Decided to update itself now won't boot :( aghhh

[Sam]

Temporarily installed Ubuntu dual boot so I can at least use the damn thing. It ran another chkdsk with no errors found.

Still can't get past the black screen and cursor! :(

EDIT - even Ubuntu has given up on me! Decided to update itself now won't boot :( aghhh

If this were a car, you've just cleaned AND unplugged your MAF :(

Installing Ubuntu will have rewritten the MBR and resized the disk partition. With it already being in a bit of a state who knows what's happened.

There are a few ways of removing Ubuntu completely but most involve a working Windows installation.

So!

Back into recovery console, command line, type;

bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixboot

This will restore/fix the old MBR. You'll still need to remove the Linux partitions/data but we'll get to that later.

Were you able to install video drivers at all? Does safe mode work?

I thought the black screen would have been a missing video driver but if that doesn't work then it sounds like various startup processes are missing.

Before our little interruption above, my next stage was to go back into recovery console, command line, type;

sfc /scannow

This will check and restore/fix all system files that aren't functioning.

[Guest 2]

Oops :(

Just got impatient and should've just ran it off the disc :(

Ill do those commands later, out at the minute.


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[Guest 2]

fixmbr and fixboot completed successfully, can't get into safe mode, hangs at the black screen with the cursor.

Couldn't install drivers as per above, sfc /scannow now running ;)

Edit - sfc not running, says another one was due to start and asked me to restart and run the command again.

[Sam]

The sfc error is common.

You need to know the location of your pending.xml file which should be in c:\windows\winsxs but the drive letter may be altered due to you being in the Recovery Console.

Type in diskpart and then type list volume which will show you all drives in the system. You're looking for a drive flagged with System or with whatever you've called your main drive, this is where you'll find the Windows folder. Type in exit to leave diskpart.

Double check you're in the right place by typing;

c:\
cd windows - where c:\ is the drive you found above

If the prompt changes to C:\Windows> you're in the right place

Now you can run sfc in offline mode;

sfc /SCANNOW /OFFBOOTDIR=c:\ /OFFWINDIR=c:\windows

where c:\ is the location of the Windows folder you found above.

[Guest 2]

Thanks, that's doing it's thing now. How come the drive letters change when in recovery?

My OS is/was stored on C but diskpart was listing it as being on D.

Should that last command take a while?


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[Sam]

I always assumed it was because the DVD/CD drive took the first logical drive letter and forced everything one letter forward.

How long it takes depends on how badly your file system is borked.

30 minutes isn't uncommon, I've waited an hour or so before too.

[Guest 2]

Finished a bit quicker than I had expected :o

Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them. Details are included in the CBS.log windir\logs\cbs\cbs.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBs.log

[Sam]

Good news, now to see if it boots.

[Guest 2]

It booted yes, but still on the black screen with cursor. This is before login.

23599


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[Sam]

Does it do the same thing in Safe Mode?

How long have you left it on the black screen before giving up - if you can, leave it 5/10 minutes to see if anything happens.

I assume the HDD LED is still blinking away while you see the black screen/cursor too? We already know the drive is on its last legs, this is just confirming it (in my opinion of course)

[Guest 2]

Just been down for dinner so 10 mins, same in safe mode.

HDD activity is going rightly, there seems to be a pattern/timings of the light blinking, not sure if thats helpful or not.

[Sam]

If you can afford to, leave it going, I'm not hopeful but it may surprise you.

Or you can try a System Restore (via Recovery Console) to a point as far back in time as possible.

Or, and I hate giving up, buy a new HDD and start over knowing your data is still on that HDD and is still accessible should you ever need anything.

[Guest 2]

Yeah leaving it on isn't a problem.

One step ahead of you, System Restore in recovery doesn't show any checkpoints, although I'm pretty sure I did at least one sometime.

I'll not give up just yet, I'll let it run until the morning and see how things go. Then if its nothing better I can pick your brain about sourcing a replacement ;)

[Guest 2]

Left on last night, still hanging at that black screen, hard drive must be passed it.

Sam, which would you recommend for a replacement? ie something with a good warranty and not £100+.

[Sam]

:( ah well, it was worth a try.

I'll always replace like for like if I can, Western Digital haven't let me down so far and those that have failed have all been replaced without any issues.

You'll struggle to find the same drive (SATA II) on sale now though as newer tech all uses SATA III. There's no issue with using a SATA III drive as it's all backward compatible, you just won't see the drive's full potential, which, to the casual user makes no difference whatsoever.

If you want to stick with SATA II then this will be fine - Seagate 500Gb @ Scan (http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500gb-seagate-st500lm012-spinpoint-m8-25-hdd-95-mm-sata-ii-3gb-s-5400rpm-8mb-cache-12ms). If you'd prefer to stick with WD then this will be fine - WD Blue 500Gb @ Scan (http://www.scan.co.uk/products/500gb-western-digital-wd5000lpvx-blue-25-hdd-7-mm-sata-iii-6gb-s-5400rpm-8mb-cache-55ms)

No idea what you're using the laptop for but if you can get by with a smaller capacity drive an SSD isn't out of reach. I paid £65 for a 120Gb SSD in June 2012 and it was heavily discounted. Now they're only a few quid cheaper - my home PC cold boots in 13 seconds too, but I'm the only person who is remotely impressed with that :D

I have the model that preceded this one - Kingston ssdNow 120Gb @ Scan (http://www.scan.co.uk/products/120gb-kingston-ssdnow-v300-25-slim-7mm-ssd-sata-6gb-s-mlc-flash-read-450mb-s-write-450mb-s-85000-iop) - but there are plenty of others around that price point.

As a very rough idea, W7 64bit needs 20Gb of space, Office 2007 needs 3.5Gb+, say 40Gb for Windows/Office leaves you 80Gb to go nuts with whatever else you can fit on there. If you can see how much space you had left on your current drive you'll get an idea of whether it'll work for you or not.

There are a lot of other suppliers out there too (Misco, Ebuyer, Amazon at a push) so don't take Scan's pricing as gospel, have a hunt about for yourself and see what you can find - I'm always happy to help if I can.

Edit: Forgot warranties - most manufacturers have cut their warranties from 5 to 1 or 2 years to save money. 2 years is standard for HDDs and you'll get 3 years on an SSD.

[Guest 2]

SSDs certainly look appealing, I'm only using about 100gb of the 500gb so could well use a smaller one if it brought more speed.

I just browse, type and email, nothing too heavy. All photos etc are in the cloud and external HDD.

I'll have look tonight and post my findings tomorrow, thanks for all your help I would've given up ages ago :p

[Guest 2]

Does this look fine? 59 quid.

Kingsfield Computer Products Ltd, SV300S37A/120G, 3429995 (http://www.kingsfieldcomputers.co.uk/pgProduct.cfm?Product=19001_156_1722301-3429995-SV300S37A-120G-Kingston-SSDNow-V300-120-Internal-Solid-State-Drive-SATA-450-MBps)

What will happen with regard to my license key for windows?

Office isn't a bother as its 365 and I just de-authorise the old system and it'll allow me to download and use again.

Edit - forget that, coming out to over 70 with delivery! :rolleyes:

Edit - this looks more appealing Kingston 120GB SSDNow V300 SSD SATA Rev. 3.0 / 2.5 | Ebuyer.com (http://www.ebuyer.com/411692-kingston-120gb-ssdnow-v300-ssd-sv300s37a-120g?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products&gclid=CKmxjJT4yLwCFbLJtAodQHAAKw)

[Sam]

SSD is perfect, yup.

The only time the key can be reused is when the drive fails, so you'll be fine. If activation doesn't work, a quick phone call will sort it out.

[Guest 2]

Great thanks, just ordered it.

Appreciate your help! :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Guest 2]

SSD arrived this evening, Windows installed and back to normal! Activation happened during installation from the Dell CD.

Cold boot from pressing power button and pressing Firefox 16.93 seconds ;)

Seems to run alot cooler aswell, usually the fan would've kicked in but been using/transferring/installing and it hasn't came on once.

[Sam]

Welcome to the club :)

Shame it wasn't possible to rescue the old drive though.

[Guest 2]

Everybody loves an update, so here's one :)

No problems with the SSD at all, the speed of the laptop has increased noticeably, runs much cooler and the battery life has even improved since installing it.

No issues with space either, still have 70gb free space and I'm using OneDrive even more than I used to incase of any more failures.