Windows 7 BSOD - Unmountable Boot Volume

[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. If you'd prefer to stick with WD then this will be fine - WD Blue 500Gb @ Scan

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

I have the model that preceded this one - Kingston ssdNow 120Gb @ Scan - 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

[Guest 2]

Does this look fine? 59 quid.

Kingsfield Computer Products Ltd, SV300S37A/120G, 3429995

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!

Edit - this looks more appealing Kingston 120GB SSDNow V300 SSD SATA Rev. 3.0 / 2.5 | Ebuyer.com

[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.