I have noticed a small but disturbing trend recently. Some of my clients have had to reinstall MS Windows on their PCs. The reasons are varied, and usually seem to be failing hard drives. Let's take a column to discuss some of the issues involved in hard drive failures and reinstalling Windows.
Hard drives are mechanical devices; they have rotating platters of magnetic material and read/write heads that move over them. There is also a small board of electronics inside of them. As such, hard drives are more prone to failure than any other part in the PC. In general, electronic components (including RAM memory) tend to work forever after burn-in and fail most often due to external factors, such as excessive heat, static electricity, or lightning hits.
Bad connections (cable connections or plug-in card connections) are also mechanical in nature and are also prone to failure. However, fixing these is often as simple as un-plugging and re-plugging the failing connection.
Hard drives tend to not fail catastrophically - they don't usually just stop running entirely, although this can happen. Most often, failures begin to manifest themselves as random data errors causing files to be corrupted. Since your PC uses the files that compose Windows most often, this is a prime area for data failures. When you lose an important Windows file, your PC may not boot or run properly.
If you get one of these errors, you generally have to reload Windows. This means taking out the Windows CD and following the reinstallation instructions. The first question you need to ask is whether to replace the hard drive or not? To go through the effort to reload Windows and then have the drive fail again can be very aggravating. On the other hand, to pay for a new hard drive and have to reinstall Windows plus all of your data is a high cost if in fact the original error was only a transient error and will probably not re-occur. It's a tough question, but I usually recommend going ahead with the reinstall on the current hard drive. If failures occur during the reinstallation, it's time to get a new hard drive.
Now we come to the question of how to reinstall Windows. Back in the old days, you got a real MS Windows CD with your new computer. You could perform two kinds of reinstalls - a warm reinstall would just refresh the Windows files and was actually fairly painless to do. A cold reinstall would completely reset Windows, forcing you to reload device drives and all your applications. A warm reinstall would not always fix problems, but a cold one almost certainly would. Neither technique required reformatting the hard drive and losing your data.
Today, however, almost no PC manufacturer distributes real Windows CDs. What is included with your PC is a Restore CD, which comes from the manufacturer, not from MS. Restore CDs come in many different varieties and no two that I have ever seen work exactly the same.
The problem is that some Restore CDs are able to just refresh Windows and leave the rest of your files alone. The majority, however, will completely reformat your hard drive, causing you to have to reload all your data from backups, to reinstall all your applications, and to reinstall drives for devices that were added after you purchased the PC. You need to read the Restore CD directions carefully or to consult with your PC manufacturer before proceeding.
If you have no data backups, and if your old hard drive can still be read, you might consider getting a new hard drive, reinstalling Windows on that, and then copying the data from your old hard drive by installing it as a second hard drive or using an external USB attached hard drive enclosure.
The bottom line here is that the process or restoring Windows can be daunting, especially if the potential to lose your data is there. As always, consult your manufacturer or a professional if you are at all unsure about taking this step. And, of course, ALWAYS keep good backups.
Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport / Oak Island area. You can visit his web site at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail questions or column ideas to him at bsc@bobseidel.com. For specific inquiries, please call Bob Seidel Consulting, LLC at 278-1007.