Hard drive won't power up

Here's another picture of two hard drives:

http://zone.ni.com/cms/images/devzon...%20Desktop.png

The one on the left (3.5") is one you would find in a desktop PC (or a
tower, if it stands upright). The one on the right (2.5") is one you
would find in a laptop.

If I read the advice correctly, you were advised to remove the hard
drive from the laptop (Shenan believed there was something wrong with it
and figured you might as well save the data before it's too late) and
place it inside an external case like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182145

But Shenan may have reached this conclusion (that your hard drive was
dying) based on your statement (using the incorrect terminolgy) "I
pushed the power button on the hard drive it turned itself off after a
minute." You later indicated you meant the laptop and not the hard
drive!

This statement:

"Saturday when I pushed the power button it would shut off as soon as my
finger left the button. I could hear the fan turn on and off."

.... indicates a hardware problem to me. And if you don't want to lose
the stuff on your computer, you should certainly follow Shenan's advice
(of find someone competent who can do that for you).

You say you have the laptop connected to an external hard drive. But
this won't help you if you can't run the laptop (if your immediate goal
is to save all your important data).

Then again, if you had been using a good backup strategy (you never did
tell us if you did or didn't), then all your data would be on that
external hard drive. But based on your worried statement, I doubt this
is the case. :-(


jemster wrote:
Thanks Daave I needed that! :-) Also I was advised to get a case for
my external hard drive to use it with my laptop. Why do I need a case?


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Ah. :-)

This is what a hard drive looks like:

http://rjmcomputersboise.files.wordp.../hardrive2.jpg

(opened up)
http://learnthat.com/files/2010/03/hard-drive.jpg

If your PC (personal computer) is a desktop, you can probably call
it a tower. :-)

The hard drive, by the way, contains data (operating system,
programs, and all your many files like documents, photos, etc.).


jemster wrote:
Power button on the computer. Sorry, I thought it was called the
hard drive-the tower or whatever.


"thecreator" wrote in message
...
Hi Joni,

Power Button on the computer or Power Button on the External
Hard Drive are you talking about?

How old is the computer in question?


--
thecreator



"jemster" wrote in message
...
I have a Gateway desktop (Win XP Home w/sp3 IE 7) and lately it
has been slowing down painfully slow despite running Avira
anti-virus, Spybot,, PConPoint, doing disk cleanup, defrag, etc.
Last Thursday I turned on the monitor and when I pushed the power
button on the hard drive it turned itself off after a minute so I
kept doing it and each time it would load a little further before
it shut off. It finally stayed on until I finished with email and
shut it down. Friday went thru the same thing praying all the
time it would let me do a system restore. I was able to do that to
a week prior .and thought it would be ok...ha...doing my own
thinking again. Saturday when I pushed the power button it would
shut off as soon as my finger left the button. I could hear the
fan turn on and off. I have so much
stuff on that computer that I sure don't want to lose...oh I also
have had a
external hard drive connected to it. What do I do/try now?
Thanks
Joni

Ok, let me attempt to explain better (if I can..:-))T

The desktop has the problem. It has had a external hard drive connected to
it for about two years but due to my ignorance and no instructions...I just
connected it to a port on the tower....didn't know about drag & drop. :-p
The laptop is fine...just using it to yell for help.



"Daave" wrote in message
...
Here's another picture of two hard drives:

http://zone.ni.com/cms/images/devzon...%20Desktop.png

The one on the left (3.5") is one you would find in a desktop PC (or a
tower, if it stands upright). The one on the right (2.5") is one you
would find in a laptop.

If I read the advice correctly, you were advised to remove the hard
drive from the laptop (Shenan believed there was something wrong with it
and figured you might as well save the data before it's too late) and
place it inside an external case like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182145

But Shenan may have reached this conclusion (that your hard drive was
dying) based on your statement (using the incorrect terminolgy) "I
pushed the power button on the hard drive it turned itself off after a
minute." You later indicated you meant the laptop and not the hard
drive!

This statement:

"Saturday when I pushed the power button it would shut off as soon as my
finger left the button. I could hear the fan turn on and off."

... indicates a hardware problem to me. And if you don't want to lose
the stuff on your computer, you should certainly follow Shenan's advice
(of find someone competent who can do that for you).

You say you have the laptop connected to an external hard drive. But
this won't help you if you can't run the laptop (if your immediate goal
is to save all your important data).

Then again, if you had been using a good backup strategy (you never did
tell us if you did or didn't), then all your data would be on that
external hard drive. But based on your worried statement, I doubt this
is the case. :-(


jemster wrote:
Thanks Daave I needed that! :-) Also I was advised to get a case for
my external hard drive to use it with my laptop. Why do I need a case?


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Ah. :-)

This is what a hard drive looks like:

http://rjmcomputersboise.files.wordp.../hardrive2.jpg

(opened up)
http://learnthat.com/files/2010/03/hard-drive.jpg

If your PC (personal computer) is a desktop, you can probably call
it a tower. :-)

The hard drive, by the way, contains data (operating system,
programs, and all your many files like documents, photos, etc.).


jemster wrote:
Power button on the computer. Sorry, I thought it was called the
hard drive-the tower or whatever.


"thecreator" wrote in message
...
Hi Joni,

Power Button on the computer or Power Button on the External
Hard Drive are you talking about?

How old is the computer in question?


--
thecreator



"jemster" wrote in message
...
I have a Gateway desktop (Win XP Home w/sp3 IE 7) and lately it
has been slowing down painfully slow despite running Avira
anti-virus, Spybot,, PConPoint, doing disk cleanup, defrag, etc.
Last Thursday I turned on the monitor and when I pushed the power
button on the hard drive it turned itself off after a minute so I
kept doing it and each time it would load a little further before
it shut off. It finally stayed on until I finished with email and
shut it down. Friday went thru the same thing praying all the
time it would let me do a system restore. I was able to do that to
a week prior .and thought it would be ok...ha...doing my own
thinking again. Saturday when I pushed the power button it would
shut off as soon as my finger left the button. I could hear the
fan turn on and off. I have so much
stuff on that computer that I sure don't want to lose...oh I also
have had a
external hard drive connected to it. What do I do/try now?
Thanks
Joni

Ok, let me attempt to explain better (if I can..:-))T

The desktop has the problem. It has had a external hard drive connected to
it for about two years but due to my ignorance and no instructions...I just
connected it to a port on the tower....didn't know about drag & drop. :-p
The laptop is fine...just using it to yell for help.



"Daave" wrote in message
...
Here's another picture of two hard drives:

http://zone.ni.com/cms/images/devzon...%20Desktop.png

The one on the left (3.5") is one you would find in a desktop PC (or a
tower, if it stands upright). The one on the right (2.5") is one you
would find in a laptop.

If I read the advice correctly, you were advised to remove the hard
drive from the laptop (Shenan believed there was something wrong with it
and figured you might as well save the data before it's too late) and
place it inside an external case like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182145

But Shenan may have reached this conclusion (that your hard drive was
dying) based on your statement (using the incorrect terminolgy) "I
pushed the power button on the hard drive it turned itself off after a
minute." You later indicated you meant the laptop and not the hard
drive!

This statement:

"Saturday when I pushed the power button it would shut off as soon as my
finger left the button. I could hear the fan turn on and off."

... indicates a hardware problem to me. And if you don't want to lose
the stuff on your computer, you should certainly follow Shenan's advice
(of find someone competent who can do that for you).

You say you have the laptop connected to an external hard drive. But
this won't help you if you can't run the laptop (if your immediate goal
is to save all your important data).

Then again, if you had been using a good backup strategy (you never did
tell us if you did or didn't), then all your data would be on that
external hard drive. But based on your worried statement, I doubt this
is the case. :-(


jemster wrote:
Thanks Daave I needed that! :-) Also I was advised to get a case for
my external hard drive to use it with my laptop. Why do I need a case?


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Ah. :-)

This is what a hard drive looks like:

http://rjmcomputersboise.files.wordp.../hardrive2.jpg

(opened up)
http://learnthat.com/files/2010/03/hard-drive.jpg

If your PC (personal computer) is a desktop, you can probably call
it a tower. :-)

The hard drive, by the way, contains data (operating system,
programs, and all your many files like documents, photos, etc.).


jemster wrote:
Power button on the computer. Sorry, I thought it was called the
hard drive-the tower or whatever.


"thecreator" wrote in message
...
Hi Joni,

Power Button on the computer or Power Button on the External
Hard Drive are you talking about?

How old is the computer in question?


--
thecreator



"jemster" wrote in message
...
I have a Gateway desktop (Win XP Home w/sp3 IE 7) and lately it
has been slowing down painfully slow despite running Avira
anti-virus, Spybot,, PConPoint, doing disk cleanup, defrag, etc.
Last Thursday I turned on the monitor and when I pushed the power
button on the hard drive it turned itself off after a minute so I
kept doing it and each time it would load a little further before
it shut off. It finally stayed on until I finished with email and
shut it down. Friday went thru the same thing praying all the
time it would let me do a system restore. I was able to do that to
a week prior .and thought it would be ok...ha...doing my own
thinking again. Saturday when I pushed the power button it would
shut off as soon as my finger left the button. I could hear the
fan turn on and off. I have so much
stuff on that computer that I sure don't want to lose...oh I also
have had a
external hard drive connected to it. What do I do/try now?
Thanks
Joni

Then Shenan's advice is still sound. It would be wise to copy the data
off the drive. Another option (instead of an enclosure) is to use an
adapter like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16812161002

Then determine the specific hardware problem. My guess is you need to
replace the power supply.

jemster wrote:
Ok, let me attempt to explain better (if I can..:-))T

The desktop has the problem. It has had a external hard drive
connected to it for about two years but due to my ignorance and no
instructions...I just connected it to a port on the tower....didn't
know about drag & drop. :-p The laptop is fine...just using it to
yell for help.



"Daave" wrote in message
...
Here's another picture of two hard drives:

http://zone.ni.com/cms/images/devzon...%20Desktop.png

The one on the left (3.5") is one you would find in a desktop PC (or
a tower, if it stands upright). The one on the right (2.5") is one
you would find in a laptop.

If I read the advice correctly, you were advised to remove the hard
drive from the laptop (Shenan believed there was something wrong
with it and figured you might as well save the data before it's too
late) and place it inside an external case like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182145

But Shenan may have reached this conclusion (that your hard drive was
dying) based on your statement (using the incorrect terminolgy) "I
pushed the power button on the hard drive it turned itself off after
a minute." You later indicated you meant the laptop and not the hard
drive!

This statement:

"Saturday when I pushed the power button it would shut off as soon
as my finger left the button. I could hear the fan turn on and off."

... indicates a hardware problem to me. And if you don't want to lose
the stuff on your computer, you should certainly follow Shenan's
advice (of find someone competent who can do that for you).

You say you have the laptop connected to an external hard drive. But
this won't help you if you can't run the laptop (if your immediate
goal is to save all your important data).

Then again, if you had been using a good backup strategy (you never
did tell us if you did or didn't), then all your data would be on
that external hard drive. But based on your worried statement, I
doubt this is the case. :-(


jemster wrote:
Thanks Daave I needed that! :-) Also I was advised to get a case for
my external hard drive to use it with my laptop. Why do I need a
case?


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Ah. :-)

This is what a hard drive looks like:

http://rjmcomputersboise.files.wordp.../hardrive2.jpg

(opened up)
http://learnthat.com/files/2010/03/hard-drive.jpg

If your PC (personal computer) is a desktop, you can probably call
it a tower. :-)

The hard drive, by the way, contains data (operating system,
programs, and all your many files like documents, photos, etc.).


jemster wrote:
Power button on the computer. Sorry, I thought it was called the
hard drive-the tower or whatever.


"thecreator" wrote in message
...
Hi Joni,

Power Button on the computer or Power Button on the External
Hard Drive are you talking about?

How old is the computer in question?


--
thecreator



"jemster" wrote in message
...
I have a Gateway desktop (Win XP Home w/sp3 IE 7) and lately it
has been slowing down painfully slow despite running Avira
anti-virus, Spybot,, PConPoint, doing disk cleanup, defrag, etc.
Last Thursday I turned on the monitor and when I pushed the
power button on the hard drive it turned itself off after a
minute so I kept doing it and each time it would load a little
further before it shut off. It finally stayed on until I
finished with email and shut it down. Friday went thru the same
thing praying all the time it would let me do a system restore.
I was able to do that to a week prior .and thought it would be
ok...ha...doing my own thinking again. Saturday when I pushed
the power button it would shut off as soon as my finger left
the button. I could hear the fan turn on and off. I have so much
stuff on that computer that I sure don't want to lose...oh I
also have had a
external hard drive connected to it. What do I do/try now?
Thanks
Joni

Then Shenan's advice is still sound. It would be wise to copy the data
off the drive. Another option (instead of an enclosure) is to use an
adapter like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16812161002

Then determine the specific hardware problem. My guess is you need to
replace the power supply.

jemster wrote:
Ok, let me attempt to explain better (if I can..:-))T

The desktop has the problem. It has had a external hard drive
connected to it for about two years but due to my ignorance and no
instructions...I just connected it to a port on the tower....didn't
know about drag & drop. :-p The laptop is fine...just using it to
yell for help.



"Daave" wrote in message
...
Here's another picture of two hard drives:

http://zone.ni.com/cms/images/devzon...%20Desktop.png

The one on the left (3.5") is one you would find in a desktop PC (or
a tower, if it stands upright). The one on the right (2.5") is one
you would find in a laptop.

If I read the advice correctly, you were advised to remove the hard
drive from the laptop (Shenan believed there was something wrong
with it and figured you might as well save the data before it's too
late) and place it inside an external case like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182145

But Shenan may have reached this conclusion (that your hard drive was
dying) based on your statement (using the incorrect terminolgy) "I
pushed the power button on the hard drive it turned itself off after
a minute." You later indicated you meant the laptop and not the hard
drive!

This statement:

"Saturday when I pushed the power button it would shut off as soon
as my finger left the button. I could hear the fan turn on and off."

... indicates a hardware problem to me. And if you don't want to lose
the stuff on your computer, you should certainly follow Shenan's
advice (of find someone competent who can do that for you).

You say you have the laptop connected to an external hard drive. But
this won't help you if you can't run the laptop (if your immediate
goal is to save all your important data).

Then again, if you had been using a good backup strategy (you never
did tell us if you did or didn't), then all your data would be on
that external hard drive. But based on your worried statement, I
doubt this is the case. :-(


jemster wrote:
Thanks Daave I needed that! :-) Also I was advised to get a case for
my external hard drive to use it with my laptop. Why do I need a
case?


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Ah. :-)

This is what a hard drive looks like:

http://rjmcomputersboise.files.wordp.../hardrive2.jpg

(opened up)
http://learnthat.com/files/2010/03/hard-drive.jpg

If your PC (personal computer) is a desktop, you can probably call
it a tower. :-)

The hard drive, by the way, contains data (operating system,
programs, and all your many files like documents, photos, etc.).


jemster wrote:
Power button on the computer. Sorry, I thought it was called the
hard drive-the tower or whatever.


"thecreator" wrote in message
...
Hi Joni,

Power Button on the computer or Power Button on the External
Hard Drive are you talking about?

How old is the computer in question?


--
thecreator



"jemster" wrote in message
...
I have a Gateway desktop (Win XP Home w/sp3 IE 7) and lately it
has been slowing down painfully slow despite running Avira
anti-virus, Spybot,, PConPoint, doing disk cleanup, defrag, etc.
Last Thursday I turned on the monitor and when I pushed the
power button on the hard drive it turned itself off after a
minute so I kept doing it and each time it would load a little
further before it shut off. It finally stayed on until I
finished with email and shut it down. Friday went thru the same
thing praying all the time it would let me do a system restore.
I was able to do that to a week prior .and thought it would be
ok...ha...doing my own thinking again. Saturday when I pushed
the power button it would shut off as soon as my finger left
the button. I could hear the fan turn on and off. I have so much
stuff on that computer that I sure don't want to lose...oh I
also have had a
external hard drive connected to it. What do I do/try now?
Thanks
Joni

OK, it's getting a little clearer, (I think) this would allow transfer of
data even tho I can't power up my desktop?? and it is like a hard drive??
Since mine is useless since I neglected to copy any data to it??


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Then Shenan's advice is still sound. It would be wise to copy the data
off the drive. Another option (instead of an enclosure) is to use an
adapter like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16812161002

Then determine the specific hardware problem. My guess is you need to
replace the power supply.

jemster wrote:
Ok, let me attempt to explain better (if I can..:-))T

The desktop has the problem. It has had a external hard drive
connected to it for about two years but due to my ignorance and no
instructions...I just connected it to a port on the tower....didn't
know about drag & drop. :-p The laptop is fine...just using it to
yell for help.



"Daave" wrote in message
...
Here's another picture of two hard drives:

http://zone.ni.com/cms/images/devzon...%20Desktop.png

The one on the left (3.5") is one you would find in a desktop PC (or
a tower, if it stands upright). The one on the right (2.5") is one
you would find in a laptop.

If I read the advice correctly, you were advised to remove the hard
drive from the laptop (Shenan believed there was something wrong
with it and figured you might as well save the data before it's too
late) and place it inside an external case like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182145

But Shenan may have reached this conclusion (that your hard drive was
dying) based on your statement (using the incorrect terminolgy) "I
pushed the power button on the hard drive it turned itself off after
a minute." You later indicated you meant the laptop and not the hard
drive!

This statement:

"Saturday when I pushed the power button it would shut off as soon
as my finger left the button. I could hear the fan turn on and off."

... indicates a hardware problem to me. And if you don't want to lose
the stuff on your computer, you should certainly follow Shenan's
advice (of find someone competent who can do that for you).

You say you have the laptop connected to an external hard drive. But
this won't help you if you can't run the laptop (if your immediate
goal is to save all your important data).

Then again, if you had been using a good backup strategy (you never
did tell us if you did or didn't), then all your data would be on
that external hard drive. But based on your worried statement, I
doubt this is the case. :-(


jemster wrote:
Thanks Daave I needed that! :-) Also I was advised to get a case for
my external hard drive to use it with my laptop. Why do I need a
case?


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Ah. :-)

This is what a hard drive looks like:

http://rjmcomputersboise.files.wordp.../hardrive2.jpg

(opened up)
http://learnthat.com/files/2010/03/hard-drive.jpg

If your PC (personal computer) is a desktop, you can probably call
it a tower. :-)

The hard drive, by the way, contains data (operating system,
programs, and all your many files like documents, photos, etc.).


jemster wrote:
Power button on the computer. Sorry, I thought it was called the
hard drive-the tower or whatever.


"thecreator" wrote in message
...
Hi Joni,

Power Button on the computer or Power Button on the External
Hard Drive are you talking about?

How old is the computer in question?


--
thecreator



"jemster" wrote in message
...
I have a Gateway desktop (Win XP Home w/sp3 IE 7) and lately it
has been slowing down painfully slow despite running Avira
anti-virus, Spybot,, PConPoint, doing disk cleanup, defrag, etc.
Last Thursday I turned on the monitor and when I pushed the
power button on the hard drive it turned itself off after a
minute so I kept doing it and each time it would load a little
further before it shut off. It finally stayed on until I
finished with email and shut it down. Friday went thru the same
thing praying all the time it would let me do a system restore.
I was able to do that to a week prior .and thought it would be
ok...ha...doing my own thinking again. Saturday when I pushed
the power button it would shut off as soon as my finger left
the button. I could hear the fan turn on and off. I have so much
stuff on that computer that I sure don't want to lose...oh I
also have had a
external hard drive connected to it. What do I do/try now?
Thanks
Joni

OK, it's getting a little clearer, (I think) this would allow transfer of
data even tho I can't power up my desktop?? and it is like a hard drive??
Since mine is useless since I neglected to copy any data to it??


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Then Shenan's advice is still sound. It would be wise to copy the data
off the drive. Another option (instead of an enclosure) is to use an
adapter like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16812161002

Then determine the specific hardware problem. My guess is you need to
replace the power supply.

jemster wrote:
Ok, let me attempt to explain better (if I can..:-))T

The desktop has the problem. It has had a external hard drive
connected to it for about two years but due to my ignorance and no
instructions...I just connected it to a port on the tower....didn't
know about drag & drop. :-p The laptop is fine...just using it to
yell for help.



"Daave" wrote in message
...
Here's another picture of two hard drives:

http://zone.ni.com/cms/images/devzon...%20Desktop.png

The one on the left (3.5") is one you would find in a desktop PC (or
a tower, if it stands upright). The one on the right (2.5") is one
you would find in a laptop.

If I read the advice correctly, you were advised to remove the hard
drive from the laptop (Shenan believed there was something wrong
with it and figured you might as well save the data before it's too
late) and place it inside an external case like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182145

But Shenan may have reached this conclusion (that your hard drive was
dying) based on your statement (using the incorrect terminolgy) "I
pushed the power button on the hard drive it turned itself off after
a minute." You later indicated you meant the laptop and not the hard
drive!

This statement:

"Saturday when I pushed the power button it would shut off as soon
as my finger left the button. I could hear the fan turn on and off."

... indicates a hardware problem to me. And if you don't want to lose
the stuff on your computer, you should certainly follow Shenan's
advice (of find someone competent who can do that for you).

You say you have the laptop connected to an external hard drive. But
this won't help you if you can't run the laptop (if your immediate
goal is to save all your important data).

Then again, if you had been using a good backup strategy (you never
did tell us if you did or didn't), then all your data would be on
that external hard drive. But based on your worried statement, I
doubt this is the case. :-(


jemster wrote:
Thanks Daave I needed that! :-) Also I was advised to get a case for
my external hard drive to use it with my laptop. Why do I need a
case?


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Ah. :-)

This is what a hard drive looks like:

http://rjmcomputersboise.files.wordp.../hardrive2.jpg

(opened up)
http://learnthat.com/files/2010/03/hard-drive.jpg

If your PC (personal computer) is a desktop, you can probably call
it a tower. :-)

The hard drive, by the way, contains data (operating system,
programs, and all your many files like documents, photos, etc.).


jemster wrote:
Power button on the computer. Sorry, I thought it was called the
hard drive-the tower or whatever.


"thecreator" wrote in message
...
Hi Joni,

Power Button on the computer or Power Button on the External
Hard Drive are you talking about?

How old is the computer in question?


--
thecreator



"jemster" wrote in message
...
I have a Gateway desktop (Win XP Home w/sp3 IE 7) and lately it
has been slowing down painfully slow despite running Avira
anti-virus, Spybot,, PConPoint, doing disk cleanup, defrag, etc.
Last Thursday I turned on the monitor and when I pushed the
power button on the hard drive it turned itself off after a
minute so I kept doing it and each time it would load a little
further before it shut off. It finally stayed on until I
finished with email and shut it down. Friday went thru the same
thing praying all the time it would let me do a system restore.
I was able to do that to a week prior .and thought it would be
ok...ha...doing my own thinking again. Saturday when I pushed
the power button it would shut off as soon as my finger left
the button. I could hear the fan turn on and off. I have so much
stuff on that computer that I sure don't want to lose...oh I
also have had a
external hard drive connected to it. What do I do/try now?
Thanks
Joni

The method suggested by Shenan was to remove the internal hard drive
from your PC and place it in an external enclosure. This would make it
an external drive. While in this state, you could copy the data residing
on it yet once again -- to another hard drive, to a laptop or other
desktop (actually, to the hard drives that would be inside a laptop or
desktop) Of course you could alwasy reverse the process! So, for
instance, if you needed to wipe the hard drive (after you copied the
data a second time and placed it back inside the tower) to perform a
Clean Install of Windows XP, all your data will have been saved.

The option I offered allows you to keep the hard drive in the tower and
still transfer the data on it to another source (e.g., a laptop or
another desktop or even an external hard drive). This eliminates the
need to physically remove the internal drive from your tower and place
it in an external enclosure.

I see from your other post that you were somehow able to copy the data
to an external hard drive. I hope this was successful and you were able
to transfer *all* of it.

I was hoping someone else would have chimed in before you ordered the
power supply. Although this is what I suspect the problem to be, it
could still be something else!

So now that you have placed the order, let's hope that's what you need!

jemster wrote:
OK, it's getting a little clearer, (I think) this would allow
transfer of data even tho I can't power up my desktop?? and it is
like a hard drive?? Since mine is useless since I neglected to copy
any data to it??


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Then Shenan's advice is still sound. It would be wise to copy the
data off the drive. Another option (instead of an enclosure) is to
use an adapter like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16812161002

Then determine the specific hardware problem. My guess is you need to
replace the power supply.

jemster wrote:
Ok, let me attempt to explain better (if I can..:-))T

The desktop has the problem. It has had a external hard drive
connected to it for about two years but due to my ignorance and no
instructions...I just connected it to a port on the tower....didn't
know about drag & drop. :-p The laptop is fine...just using it to
yell for help.



"Daave" wrote in message
...
Here's another picture of two hard drives:

http://zone.ni.com/cms/images/devzon...%20Desktop.png

The one on the left (3.5") is one you would find in a desktop PC
(or a tower, if it stands upright). The one on the right (2.5") is
one you would find in a laptop.

If I read the advice correctly, you were advised to remove the hard
drive from the laptop (Shenan believed there was something wrong
with it and figured you might as well save the data before it's too
late) and place it inside an external case like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182145

But Shenan may have reached this conclusion (that your hard drive
was dying) based on your statement (using the incorrect
terminolgy) "I pushed the power button on the hard drive it turned
itself off after a minute." You later indicated you meant the
laptop and not the hard drive!

This statement:

"Saturday when I pushed the power button it would shut off as soon
as my finger left the button. I could hear the fan turn on and
off."

... indicates a hardware problem to me. And if you don't want to
lose the stuff on your computer, you should certainly follow
Shenan's advice (of find someone competent who can do that for
you).

You say you have the laptop connected to an external hard drive.
But this won't help you if you can't run the laptop (if your
immediate goal is to save all your important data).

Then again, if you had been using a good backup strategy (you never
did tell us if you did or didn't), then all your data would be on
that external hard drive. But based on your worried statement, I
doubt this is the case. :-(


jemster wrote:
Thanks Daave I needed that! :-) Also I was advised to get a case
for my external hard drive to use it with my laptop. Why do I
need a case?


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Ah. :-)

This is what a hard drive looks like:

http://rjmcomputersboise.files.wordp.../hardrive2.jpg

(opened up)
http://learnthat.com/files/2010/03/hard-drive.jpg

If your PC (personal computer) is a desktop, you can probably
call it a tower. :-)

The hard drive, by the way, contains data (operating system,
programs, and all your many files like documents, photos, etc.).


jemster wrote:
Power button on the computer. Sorry, I thought it was called the
hard drive-the tower or whatever.


"thecreator" wrote in message
...
Hi Joni,

Power Button on the computer or Power Button on the
External Hard Drive are you talking about?

How old is the computer in question?


--
thecreator



"jemster" wrote in message
...
I have a Gateway desktop (Win XP Home w/sp3 IE 7) and lately
it has been slowing down painfully slow despite running Avira
anti-virus, Spybot,, PConPoint, doing disk cleanup, defrag,
etc. Last Thursday I turned on the monitor and when I pushed
the power button on the hard drive it turned itself off after
a minute so I kept doing it and each time it would load a
little further before it shut off. It finally stayed on until
I finished with email and shut it down. Friday went thru the
same thing praying all the time it would let me do a system
restore. I was able to do that to a week prior .and thought
it would be ok...ha...doing my own thinking again. Saturday
when I pushed the power button it would shut off as soon as
my finger left the button. I could hear the fan turn on and
off. I have so much stuff on that computer that I sure don't
want to lose...oh I also have had a
external hard drive connected to it. What do I do/try now?
Thanks
Joni

The method suggested by Shenan was to remove the internal hard drive
from your PC and place it in an external enclosure. This would make it
an external drive. While in this state, you could copy the data residing
on it yet once again -- to another hard drive, to a laptop or other
desktop (actually, to the hard drives that would be inside a laptop or
desktop) Of course you could alwasy reverse the process! So, for
instance, if you needed to wipe the hard drive (after you copied the
data a second time and placed it back inside the tower) to perform a
Clean Install of Windows XP, all your data will have been saved.

The option I offered allows you to keep the hard drive in the tower and
still transfer the data on it to another source (e.g., a laptop or
another desktop or even an external hard drive). This eliminates the
need to physically remove the internal drive from your tower and place
it in an external enclosure.

I see from your other post that you were somehow able to copy the data
to an external hard drive. I hope this was successful and you were able
to transfer *all* of it.

I was hoping someone else would have chimed in before you ordered the
power supply. Although this is what I suspect the problem to be, it
could still be something else!

So now that you have placed the order, let's hope that's what you need!

jemster wrote:
OK, it's getting a little clearer, (I think) this would allow
transfer of data even tho I can't power up my desktop?? and it is
like a hard drive?? Since mine is useless since I neglected to copy
any data to it??


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Then Shenan's advice is still sound. It would be wise to copy the
data off the drive. Another option (instead of an enclosure) is to
use an adapter like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16812161002

Then determine the specific hardware problem. My guess is you need to
replace the power supply.

jemster wrote:
Ok, let me attempt to explain better (if I can..:-))T

The desktop has the problem. It has had a external hard drive
connected to it for about two years but due to my ignorance and no
instructions...I just connected it to a port on the tower....didn't
know about drag & drop. :-p The laptop is fine...just using it to
yell for help.



"Daave" wrote in message
...
Here's another picture of two hard drives:

http://zone.ni.com/cms/images/devzon...%20Desktop.png

The one on the left (3.5") is one you would find in a desktop PC
(or a tower, if it stands upright). The one on the right (2.5") is
one you would find in a laptop.

If I read the advice correctly, you were advised to remove the hard
drive from the laptop (Shenan believed there was something wrong
with it and figured you might as well save the data before it's too
late) and place it inside an external case like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182145

But Shenan may have reached this conclusion (that your hard drive
was dying) based on your statement (using the incorrect
terminolgy) "I pushed the power button on the hard drive it turned
itself off after a minute." You later indicated you meant the
laptop and not the hard drive!

This statement:

"Saturday when I pushed the power button it would shut off as soon
as my finger left the button. I could hear the fan turn on and
off."

... indicates a hardware problem to me. And if you don't want to
lose the stuff on your computer, you should certainly follow
Shenan's advice (of find someone competent who can do that for
you).

You say you have the laptop connected to an external hard drive.
But this won't help you if you can't run the laptop (if your
immediate goal is to save all your important data).

Then again, if you had been using a good backup strategy (you never
did tell us if you did or didn't), then all your data would be on
that external hard drive. But based on your worried statement, I
doubt this is the case. :-(


jemster wrote:
Thanks Daave I needed that! :-) Also I was advised to get a case
for my external hard drive to use it with my laptop. Why do I
need a case?


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Ah. :-)

This is what a hard drive looks like:

http://rjmcomputersboise.files.wordp.../hardrive2.jpg

(opened up)
http://learnthat.com/files/2010/03/hard-drive.jpg

If your PC (personal computer) is a desktop, you can probably
call it a tower. :-)

The hard drive, by the way, contains data (operating system,
programs, and all your many files like documents, photos, etc.).


jemster wrote:
Power button on the computer. Sorry, I thought it was called the
hard drive-the tower or whatever.


"thecreator" wrote in message
...
Hi Joni,

Power Button on the computer or Power Button on the
External Hard Drive are you talking about?

How old is the computer in question?


--
thecreator



"jemster" wrote in message
...
I have a Gateway desktop (Win XP Home w/sp3 IE 7) and lately
it has been slowing down painfully slow despite running Avira
anti-virus, Spybot,, PConPoint, doing disk cleanup, defrag,
etc. Last Thursday I turned on the monitor and when I pushed
the power button on the hard drive it turned itself off after
a minute so I kept doing it and each time it would load a
little further before it shut off. It finally stayed on until
I finished with email and shut it down. Friday went thru the
same thing praying all the time it would let me do a system
restore. I was able to do that to a week prior .and thought
it would be ok...ha...doing my own thinking again. Saturday
when I pushed the power button it would shut off as soon as
my finger left the button. I could hear the fan turn on and
off. I have so much stuff on that computer that I sure don't
want to lose...oh I also have had a
external hard drive connected to it. What do I do/try now?
Thanks
Joni

Sir,
based on you initial report and following the group comments (a partially
mean spirited group) I think what you need is as follows

1; AN EXTERNAL CASE FOR YOUR HARD DRIVE THAT IS CURRENTLY IN YOUR
TOWER
This will allow you to attempt to read it from a USB port on
your laptop and possibly recover your data
2; A REPLACEMENT TO YOUR INTERNAL HARD DRIVE, THE SYMPTOMS YOU
DESCRIBED ARE THOSE
USUALLY ASSOCIATED WITH A DYING HARD DRIVE.
3; A COPY OF YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM, USUALLY SUPPLIED BY THE SYSTEM
MANUFACTURER

So after installing the rplacement drive and re-installing windows, wth
any luck youll be able to get your old drive (Now in an external case) to
spin up and let you read it so you can recover your data from it
I seriously doubt it's a power supply problem but, I am a bit concerned by
the fact the computer kept turning off in a few moments so if it were me Id
replace that as well it is realitively in expensive and if it is failing it
too can cause hard drive failure sooo... hope that was helpfull

"jemster" wrote in message
...
OK, it's getting a little clearer, (I think) this would allow transfer of
data even tho I can't power up my desktop?? and it is like a hard drive??
Since mine is useless since I neglected to copy any data to it??


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Then Shenan's advice is still sound. It would be wise to copy the data
off the drive. Another option (instead of an enclosure) is to use an
adapter like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16812161002

Then determine the specific hardware problem. My guess is you need to
replace the power supply.

jemster wrote:
Ok, let me attempt to explain better (if I can..:-))T

The desktop has the problem. It has had a external hard drive
connected to it for about two years but due to my ignorance and no
instructions...I just connected it to a port on the tower....didn't
know about drag & drop. :-p The laptop is fine...just using it to
yell for help.



"Daave" wrote in message
...
Here's another picture of two hard drives:

http://zone.ni.com/cms/images/devzon...%20Desktop.png

The one on the left (3.5") is one you would find in a desktop PC (or
a tower, if it stands upright). The one on the right (2.5") is one
you would find in a laptop.

If I read the advice correctly, you were advised to remove the hard
drive from the laptop (Shenan believed there was something wrong
with it and figured you might as well save the data before it's too
late) and place it inside an external case like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182145

But Shenan may have reached this conclusion (that your hard drive was
dying) based on your statement (using the incorrect terminolgy) "I
pushed the power button on the hard drive it turned itself off after
a minute." You later indicated you meant the laptop and not the hard
drive!

This statement:

"Saturday when I pushed the power button it would shut off as soon
as my finger left the button. I could hear the fan turn on and off."

... indicates a hardware problem to me. And if you don't want to lose
the stuff on your computer, you should certainly follow Shenan's
advice (of find someone competent who can do that for you).

You say you have the laptop connected to an external hard drive. But
this won't help you if you can't run the laptop (if your immediate
goal is to save all your important data).

Then again, if you had been using a good backup strategy (you never
did tell us if you did or didn't), then all your data would be on
that external hard drive. But based on your worried statement, I
doubt this is the case. :-(


jemster wrote:
Thanks Daave I needed that! :-) Also I was advised to get a case for
my external hard drive to use it with my laptop. Why do I need a
case?


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Ah. :-)

This is what a hard drive looks like:

http://rjmcomputersboise.files.wordp.../hardrive2.jpg

(opened up)
http://learnthat.com/files/2010/03/hard-drive.jpg

If your PC (personal computer) is a desktop, you can probably call
it a tower. :-)

The hard drive, by the way, contains data (operating system,
programs, and all your many files like documents, photos, etc.).


jemster wrote:
Power button on the computer. Sorry, I thought it was called the
hard drive-the tower or whatever.


"thecreator" wrote in message
...
Hi Joni,

Power Button on the computer or Power Button on the External
Hard Drive are you talking about?

How old is the computer in question?


--
thecreator



"jemster" wrote in message
...
I have a Gateway desktop (Win XP Home w/sp3 IE 7) and lately it
has been slowing down painfully slow despite running Avira
anti-virus, Spybot,, PConPoint, doing disk cleanup, defrag, etc.
Last Thursday I turned on the monitor and when I pushed the
power button on the hard drive it turned itself off after a
minute so I kept doing it and each time it would load a little
further before it shut off. It finally stayed on until I
finished with email and shut it down. Friday went thru the same
thing praying all the time it would let me do a system restore.
I was able to do that to a week prior .and thought it would be
ok...ha...doing my own thinking again. Saturday when I pushed
the power button it would shut off as soon as my finger left
the button. I could hear the fan turn on and off. I have so much
stuff on that computer that I sure don't want to lose...oh I
also have had a
external hard drive connected to it. What do I do/try now?
Thanks
Joni

Sir,
based on you initial report and following the group comments (a partially
mean spirited group) I think what you need is as follows

1; AN EXTERNAL CASE FOR YOUR HARD DRIVE THAT IS CURRENTLY IN YOUR
TOWER
This will allow you to attempt to read it from a USB port on
your laptop and possibly recover your data
2; A REPLACEMENT TO YOUR INTERNAL HARD DRIVE, THE SYMPTOMS YOU
DESCRIBED ARE THOSE
USUALLY ASSOCIATED WITH A DYING HARD DRIVE.
3; A COPY OF YOUR OPERATING SYSTEM, USUALLY SUPPLIED BY THE SYSTEM
MANUFACTURER

So after installing the rplacement drive and re-installing windows, wth
any luck youll be able to get your old drive (Now in an external case) to
spin up and let you read it so you can recover your data from it
I seriously doubt it's a power supply problem but, I am a bit concerned by
the fact the computer kept turning off in a few moments so if it were me Id
replace that as well it is realitively in expensive and if it is failing it
too can cause hard drive failure sooo... hope that was helpfull

"jemster" wrote in message
...
OK, it's getting a little clearer, (I think) this would allow transfer of
data even tho I can't power up my desktop?? and it is like a hard drive??
Since mine is useless since I neglected to copy any data to it??


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Then Shenan's advice is still sound. It would be wise to copy the data
off the drive. Another option (instead of an enclosure) is to use an
adapter like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16812161002

Then determine the specific hardware problem. My guess is you need to
replace the power supply.

jemster wrote:
Ok, let me attempt to explain better (if I can..:-))T

The desktop has the problem. It has had a external hard drive
connected to it for about two years but due to my ignorance and no
instructions...I just connected it to a port on the tower....didn't
know about drag & drop. :-p The laptop is fine...just using it to
yell for help.



"Daave" wrote in message
...
Here's another picture of two hard drives:

http://zone.ni.com/cms/images/devzon...%20Desktop.png

The one on the left (3.5") is one you would find in a desktop PC (or
a tower, if it stands upright). The one on the right (2.5") is one
you would find in a laptop.

If I read the advice correctly, you were advised to remove the hard
drive from the laptop (Shenan believed there was something wrong
with it and figured you might as well save the data before it's too
late) and place it inside an external case like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182145

But Shenan may have reached this conclusion (that your hard drive was
dying) based on your statement (using the incorrect terminolgy) "I
pushed the power button on the hard drive it turned itself off after
a minute." You later indicated you meant the laptop and not the hard
drive!

This statement:

"Saturday when I pushed the power button it would shut off as soon
as my finger left the button. I could hear the fan turn on and off."

... indicates a hardware problem to me. And if you don't want to lose
the stuff on your computer, you should certainly follow Shenan's
advice (of find someone competent who can do that for you).

You say you have the laptop connected to an external hard drive. But
this won't help you if you can't run the laptop (if your immediate
goal is to save all your important data).

Then again, if you had been using a good backup strategy (you never
did tell us if you did or didn't), then all your data would be on
that external hard drive. But based on your worried statement, I
doubt this is the case. :-(


jemster wrote:
Thanks Daave I needed that! :-) Also I was advised to get a case for
my external hard drive to use it with my laptop. Why do I need a
case?


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Ah. :-)

This is what a hard drive looks like:

http://rjmcomputersboise.files.wordp.../hardrive2.jpg

(opened up)
http://learnthat.com/files/2010/03/hard-drive.jpg

If your PC (personal computer) is a desktop, you can probably call
it a tower. :-)

The hard drive, by the way, contains data (operating system,
programs, and all your many files like documents, photos, etc.).


jemster wrote:
Power button on the computer. Sorry, I thought it was called the
hard drive-the tower or whatever.


"thecreator" wrote in message
...
Hi Joni,

Power Button on the computer or Power Button on the External
Hard Drive are you talking about?

How old is the computer in question?


--
thecreator



"jemster" wrote in message
...
I have a Gateway desktop (Win XP Home w/sp3 IE 7) and lately it
has been slowing down painfully slow despite running Avira
anti-virus, Spybot,, PConPoint, doing disk cleanup, defrag, etc.
Last Thursday I turned on the monitor and when I pushed the
power button on the hard drive it turned itself off after a
minute so I kept doing it and each time it would load a little
further before it shut off. It finally stayed on until I
finished with email and shut it down. Friday went thru the same
thing praying all the time it would let me do a system restore.
I was able to do that to a week prior .and thought it would be
ok...ha...doing my own thinking again. Saturday when I pushed
the power button it would shut off as soon as my finger left
the button. I could hear the fan turn on and off. I have so much
stuff on that computer that I sure don't want to lose...oh I
also have had a
external hard drive connected to it. What do I do/try now?
Thanks
Joni

Don't worry Daave....if it's not the power supply then I will go on to the
next thing. I just thought it made the most sense to me and was at least not
terribly expensive (I'm retired)
I won't come TP your house if it's not that :-)



"Daave" wrote in message
...
The method suggested by Shenan was to remove the internal hard drive
from your PC and place it in an external enclosure. This would make it
an external drive. While in this state, you could copy the data residing
on it yet once again -- to another hard drive, to a laptop or other
desktop (actually, to the hard drives that would be inside a laptop or
desktop) Of course you could alwasy reverse the process! So, for
instance, if you needed to wipe the hard drive (after you copied the
data a second time and placed it back inside the tower) to perform a
Clean Install of Windows XP, all your data will have been saved.

The option I offered allows you to keep the hard drive in the tower and
still transfer the data on it to another source (e.g., a laptop or
another desktop or even an external hard drive). This eliminates the
need to physically remove the internal drive from your tower and place
it in an external enclosure.

I see from your other post that you were somehow able to copy the data
to an external hard drive. I hope this was successful and you were able
to transfer *all* of it.

I was hoping someone else would have chimed in before you ordered the
power supply. Although this is what I suspect the problem to be, it
could still be something else!

So now that you have placed the order, let's hope that's what you need!

jemster wrote:
OK, it's getting a little clearer, (I think) this would allow
transfer of data even tho I can't power up my desktop?? and it is
like a hard drive?? Since mine is useless since I neglected to copy
any data to it??


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Then Shenan's advice is still sound. It would be wise to copy the
data off the drive. Another option (instead of an enclosure) is to
use an adapter like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16812161002

Then determine the specific hardware problem. My guess is you need to
replace the power supply.

jemster wrote:
Ok, let me attempt to explain better (if I can..:-))T

The desktop has the problem. It has had a external hard drive
connected to it for about two years but due to my ignorance and no
instructions...I just connected it to a port on the tower....didn't
know about drag & drop. :-p The laptop is fine...just using it to
yell for help.



"Daave" wrote in message
...
Here's another picture of two hard drives:

http://zone.ni.com/cms/images/devzon...%20Desktop.png

The one on the left (3.5") is one you would find in a desktop PC
(or a tower, if it stands upright). The one on the right (2.5") is
one you would find in a laptop.

If I read the advice correctly, you were advised to remove the hard
drive from the laptop (Shenan believed there was something wrong
with it and figured you might as well save the data before it's too
late) and place it inside an external case like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182145

But Shenan may have reached this conclusion (that your hard drive
was dying) based on your statement (using the incorrect
terminolgy) "I pushed the power button on the hard drive it turned
itself off after a minute." You later indicated you meant the
laptop and not the hard drive!

This statement:

"Saturday when I pushed the power button it would shut off as soon
as my finger left the button. I could hear the fan turn on and
off."

... indicates a hardware problem to me. And if you don't want to
lose the stuff on your computer, you should certainly follow
Shenan's advice (of find someone competent who can do that for
you).

You say you have the laptop connected to an external hard drive.
But this won't help you if you can't run the laptop (if your
immediate goal is to save all your important data).

Then again, if you had been using a good backup strategy (you never
did tell us if you did or didn't), then all your data would be on
that external hard drive. But based on your worried statement, I
doubt this is the case. :-(


jemster wrote:
Thanks Daave I needed that! :-) Also I was advised to get a case
for my external hard drive to use it with my laptop. Why do I
need a case?


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Ah. :-)

This is what a hard drive looks like:

http://rjmcomputersboise.files.wordp.../hardrive2.jpg

(opened up)
http://learnthat.com/files/2010/03/hard-drive.jpg

If your PC (personal computer) is a desktop, you can probably
call it a tower. :-)

The hard drive, by the way, contains data (operating system,
programs, and all your many files like documents, photos, etc.).


jemster wrote:
Power button on the computer. Sorry, I thought it was called the
hard drive-the tower or whatever.


"thecreator" wrote in message
...
Hi Joni,

Power Button on the computer or Power Button on the
External Hard Drive are you talking about?

How old is the computer in question?


--
thecreator



"jemster" wrote in message
...
I have a Gateway desktop (Win XP Home w/sp3 IE 7) and lately
it has been slowing down painfully slow despite running Avira
anti-virus, Spybot,, PConPoint, doing disk cleanup, defrag,
etc. Last Thursday I turned on the monitor and when I pushed
the power button on the hard drive it turned itself off after
a minute so I kept doing it and each time it would load a
little further before it shut off. It finally stayed on until
I finished with email and shut it down. Friday went thru the
same thing praying all the time it would let me do a system
restore. I was able to do that to a week prior .and thought
it would be ok...ha...doing my own thinking again. Saturday
when I pushed the power button it would shut off as soon as
my finger left the button. I could hear the fan turn on and
off. I have so much stuff on that computer that I sure don't
want to lose...oh I also have had a
external hard drive connected to it. What do I do/try now?
Thanks
Joni

Don't worry Daave....if it's not the power supply then I will go on to the
next thing. I just thought it made the most sense to me and was at least not
terribly expensive (I'm retired)
I won't come TP your house if it's not that :-)



"Daave" wrote in message
...
The method suggested by Shenan was to remove the internal hard drive
from your PC and place it in an external enclosure. This would make it
an external drive. While in this state, you could copy the data residing
on it yet once again -- to another hard drive, to a laptop or other
desktop (actually, to the hard drives that would be inside a laptop or
desktop) Of course you could alwasy reverse the process! So, for
instance, if you needed to wipe the hard drive (after you copied the
data a second time and placed it back inside the tower) to perform a
Clean Install of Windows XP, all your data will have been saved.

The option I offered allows you to keep the hard drive in the tower and
still transfer the data on it to another source (e.g., a laptop or
another desktop or even an external hard drive). This eliminates the
need to physically remove the internal drive from your tower and place
it in an external enclosure.

I see from your other post that you were somehow able to copy the data
to an external hard drive. I hope this was successful and you were able
to transfer *all* of it.

I was hoping someone else would have chimed in before you ordered the
power supply. Although this is what I suspect the problem to be, it
could still be something else!

So now that you have placed the order, let's hope that's what you need!

jemster wrote:
OK, it's getting a little clearer, (I think) this would allow
transfer of data even tho I can't power up my desktop?? and it is
like a hard drive?? Since mine is useless since I neglected to copy
any data to it??


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Then Shenan's advice is still sound. It would be wise to copy the
data off the drive. Another option (instead of an enclosure) is to
use an adapter like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16812161002

Then determine the specific hardware problem. My guess is you need to
replace the power supply.

jemster wrote:
Ok, let me attempt to explain better (if I can..:-))T

The desktop has the problem. It has had a external hard drive
connected to it for about two years but due to my ignorance and no
instructions...I just connected it to a port on the tower....didn't
know about drag & drop. :-p The laptop is fine...just using it to
yell for help.



"Daave" wrote in message
...
Here's another picture of two hard drives:

http://zone.ni.com/cms/images/devzon...%20Desktop.png

The one on the left (3.5") is one you would find in a desktop PC
(or a tower, if it stands upright). The one on the right (2.5") is
one you would find in a laptop.

If I read the advice correctly, you were advised to remove the hard
drive from the laptop (Shenan believed there was something wrong
with it and figured you might as well save the data before it's too
late) and place it inside an external case like this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817182145

But Shenan may have reached this conclusion (that your hard drive
was dying) based on your statement (using the incorrect
terminolgy) "I pushed the power button on the hard drive it turned
itself off after a minute." You later indicated you meant the
laptop and not the hard drive!

This statement:

"Saturday when I pushed the power button it would shut off as soon
as my finger left the button. I could hear the fan turn on and
off."

... indicates a hardware problem to me. And if you don't want to
lose the stuff on your computer, you should certainly follow
Shenan's advice (of find someone competent who can do that for
you).

You say you have the laptop connected to an external hard drive.
But this won't help you if you can't run the laptop (if your
immediate goal is to save all your important data).

Then again, if you had been using a good backup strategy (you never
did tell us if you did or didn't), then all your data would be on
that external hard drive. But based on your worried statement, I
doubt this is the case. :-(


jemster wrote:
Thanks Daave I needed that! :-) Also I was advised to get a case
for my external hard drive to use it with my laptop. Why do I
need a case?


"Daave" wrote in message
...
Ah. :-)

This is what a hard drive looks like:

http://rjmcomputersboise.files.wordp.../hardrive2.jpg

(opened up)
http://learnthat.com/files/2010/03/hard-drive.jpg

If your PC (personal computer) is a desktop, you can probably
call it a tower. :-)

The hard drive, by the way, contains data (operating system,
programs, and all your many files like documents, photos, etc.).


jemster wrote:
Power button on the computer. Sorry, I thought it was called the
hard drive-the tower or whatever.


"thecreator" wrote in message
...
Hi Joni,

Power Button on the computer or Power Button on the
External Hard Drive are you talking about?

How old is the computer in question?


--
thecreator



"jemster" wrote in message
...
I have a Gateway desktop (Win XP Home w/sp3 IE 7) and lately
it has been slowing down painfully slow despite running Avira
anti-virus, Spybot,, PConPoint, doing disk cleanup, defrag,
etc. Last Thursday I turned on the monitor and when I pushed
the power button on the hard drive it turned itself off after
a minute so I kept doing it and each time it would load a
little further before it shut off. It finally stayed on until
I finished with email and shut it down. Friday went thru the
same thing praying all the time it would let me do a system
restore. I was able to do that to a week prior .and thought
it would be ok...ha...doing my own thinking again. Saturday
when I pushed the power button it would shut off as soon as
my finger left the button. I could hear the fan turn on and
off. I have so much stuff on that computer that I sure don't
want to lose...oh I also have had a
external hard drive connected to it. What do I do/try now?
Thanks
Joni