Disk Drives (HDD, CD/DVD, Blu-ray)

My D Drive isn't working

lbisson — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 22:39:15 GMT

I have a 2005 Dimension 3000 desktop and I inserted a disc to download some software and the driver won't read the disc. I get an error that says there is no disc inserted. I have tried different types of discs and it won't read any of them. I use Windows XP. Should I try uninstalling the driver and re-installing? The only fear I have is when I go to the download page to try and download the updates (to BIOS and the CD/DVD driver) it tells me EVERY TIME that internet explorer cannot find the page! I am logged in to my Dell account. Device manager also tells me that the drive is "working properly". Any help?

Looking for an Internal Lightscribe DVD for my Dell XPS 9000 or 435

xatnam — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:32:42 GMT

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

Recently purchased an XPS 9000 and want to add an internal DVD drive with lightscribe. I am concerned about having the right connections inside - How can I be sure that I will get one that fits the existing connectors. I can't seem to find anything on the Dell website. The XPS 9000 dvd slot has a door which opens when you press along the right side of it. I would think that there is some special connector which operates this. The current internal dvd does not have the common button on it - rather you must use the button on the Dell chassis box. Hope I made myself clear. Thanks.

dvd drive lubricant?

jdbailey18 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 21:31:25 GMT

how's it going everyone, this is my first post here so ill do my best to not sound like too much of a noob. i purchased a xps m1530 this January and really love everything about it. however, ive tried burning a few dvd's for the first time recently and its not working out. after the disk is finalized i take it out and the visible area on the disk thats been burned has streaks through it like liquid was on it. like if you were to put a drop of water in the center of the disk and then spin it, the liquid would branch out from the center, thats what it looks like. from what it looks like the burn doesnt go through where the liquid is and therefore the disk wont play. my guess is that since the drive spins it probably had some kind of lube on it and its flying off when it spins. i would have thought that the excess lube would have come off and be done but its the same thing every time. any ideas of what is going on? ive burned cd's before with no problem.

HDD and BIOS problem

MinnesotaMike — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:05:26 GMT

I have installed a second hard drive in my Dimension 2300. BIOS will recognize the drive, but having it recognized will not allow me to boot into Windows. If I have BIOS auto detect the drive, I will get a "no system boot disk" error (or something similar). If I go in and change BIOS to show "none" for the 2nd drive, Windows will bott without a problem. I can still use the drive, but not at the speed it should be running. If I go into BIOS and change the setting to auto detect and LBA mode enabled, I can reboot and it will go into Windows. If I shut down and then restart, I get the error message again. I go into BIOS and the settings have not changed. I can just exit BIOS, without making any changes, and Windows will start normally. I don't see why I have to enter BIOS just to get Windows to boot normally and have the hard drive properly recognized so that I can use it's full speed. I have been through every jumper setting possible. I've run hard drive diagnostics and both drive pass no matter how they are detected in BIOS. Hopefully, you understand what I am trying to say. Basically, I want to get BIOS to recognize the drive and the system not force me into BIOS to get Windows to start. Any thoughts on this? Thanks.

Mike

CD/DVD Burner in XPS 1

harryb5749 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:36:54 GMT

I cannot burn a recorded TV show to a DVD-R (Maxell brand) with my fairly new XPS One. I can go through the entire process of burning the show, but when the burn indicator gets to about 3% I get an error message (of vague content) and the disc ejects. I can burn data CD's and DVDs (mostly MP3 files and photos) using Windows. Anybody have any ideas?

Firmware update for TSSTCorp TS-H653B DVD +/-RW drive

Jerethi99 — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:16:26 GMT

I have a Dell Inspiron 530s that came with a TSSTCorp TS-H653B DVD +/- RW drive. The firmware for the drive is D300. I am wondering if anyone has successfully updated the firmware for this device. The firmware posted on Dell's website is from 2007, and there appears to be at least one updated version of the firmware available on the internet: http://www.firmwarehq.com/download_1137-file_TS-H653B_D400.zip.html

I've read at various places that TSSTCorp drives are basically Samsung drives with a different brand, so I suspect this firmware will work. I wanted to see though if anyone else has updated the firmware on this drive.

CD/DVD ROM Combo.....

ypdave08 — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:38:18 GMT

So I insert a CD in the CD-ROM, and the window pops up saying please instill the correct CD-ROM. above that it says, "Cannot fine CD-ROM".

Anyone have any ideas how to fix this???

Thanks for any help.

Studio XPS 8000 does not play Blu-Ray movies

powerchilango — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:33:16 GMT

Hi,

I received my XPS 8000 two days ago, but it does not play blu-ray movies with the software that comes with it. I have downloaded the trial version of PowerDVD 9, and it does play the them, but that is just a TRIAL. After 30 days, I will not be able to play them anymore. Does anybody know If there is a setting in PowerDVD DX, which came installed on the computer, that I have to channge in order to play blu-ray movies?

Thanks

Hard drive not recognised

paulocon — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 19:41:30 GMT

Hello there, hoping someone here might help solve my problem. I've had a dell dimension in storage for a few months and when I hooked it back up the HD is not being recognised. Was working just fine before storage so I can't understand what's gone wrong. It's not being recognised in BIOS so there really is a problem. I get two beeps during POST and it just says 'no boot device available'. I restored BIOS to factory settings and checked all the inner connections, reseated the memory, was going to try to run dell diagnostics from CD but my cd drive won't open either! Any suggestions what could be wrong?

TSST corp DVD+-RW TS-H653G ATA Device (Code 19)

Fieldgate — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 14:37:59 GMT

Have a brand new Studio 540 and get the following error from the device manager

Windows cannot start this hardware device because its configuration information (in the registry) is incomplete or damaged. (Code 19)

Click 'Check for solutions' to send data about this device to Microsoft and to see if there is a solution available.

Have checked for solutions, Have tried the Microsoft fixit solutions and still nothing helps.

Grateful for any guidance

Blu-Ray won't play on PowerDVD DX

dcmark — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:38:03 GMT

I just got a studio XPS 8000 with a BH20N Blu-ray writer. It came with PowerDVD DX. When I insert a Blu-ray movie, PowerDVD gives an error message: incorrect or unsupported format.

I went to the Cyberlink website and found out that PowerDVD DX only plays back DVDs not Blu-rays. The Ultra version, however, plays Blu-ray. I downloaded the 30 day trial of PowerDVD Ultra 9 from the website and now all my Blu-ray movies play fine.

I then called Dell support and asked them to send me a PowerDVD Ultra 8 or 9 disc. They said all they have is the DX version and that is what they bundle with their Blu-ray drives.

Some people in the forums seem to be able play Blu-ray with the DX version. Anybody else have the same problem? Any solutions?

Thanks.

Cannot view photo thumbnails in folders on CDs or DVDs

Stelvia — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:36:53 GMT

I have Vista Home Premium on a desktop Inspiron 530s. Within the past month or two, when I read picture CDs and picture DVDs burned on this computer, the folder content shows the thumbnail picture images only for a brief period, and then icon images replace the thumbnails. I can open individual pictures normally, and play movie DVDs normally. I have tried different Views. A Best Buy Geek Squad tech worked on this for about an hour and gave up, stating he thought it was a problem in the OS. I wonder if it can be a driver of the drive device. I can read pictures normally from the hard drive and from a flash drive device. The disks can be read properly on other computers, showing the thumbnails. Pictures copied from the disks to the hard drive open normally.

Any solution or suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

Problem reading data DVDs after Windows 7 upgrade

robert450 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:12:08 GMT

I know my DVD drive is functioning properly because I used it to do the install of Windows 7. Since the install I can only (1) read CDs (not DVDs) and (2) view DVD movies. I cannot either burn data CDs or DVDs and I cannot read DVDs any longer. I tried the registry fix and I have nother UpperLimit or LowerLimit in my key. I also updated the firmware for my device. I uninstalled and reinstalled the driver. I should mention that the upgrade advisor reports this as a supported device for Win 7.

Someone please help - I don't want to buy another DVD drive if I can avoid it.

I have device HL-DT-ST DVD+-RW GSA-H31N on firmware B110.

thanks

DVD Drive sounds like it's reading disc once a minute.

brophs — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:45:13 GMT

Hi all,

I have an Inspiron 1545 with Windows 7 running, a Pentium Dual core 2.1 processor, integrated graphics and 4gb RAM.

My issue is that when I have a dics inserted in my dvd drive which is not playing, the drive makes the noise a drive makes when you first insert a disc (ie reading it for a second approx) every minute or so. When there is no disc inserted, or the disc is being played, the drive does not make this noise. Does anyone know why the drive would makes this 'disc reading' sound every minute, and if there is a way to stop it?

Thanks in advance.

CD / DVD drive is not being recognized

busymom1107 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:31:11 GMT

When I click on "my computer" there is no icon for that drive. When I put a cd or dvd disk in nothing happens either. Could it have somehow disabled? If not what do I need to do?

AutoPlay issue with PowerDVD

lehinger — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:48:27 GMT

How can I make my PC autoplay DVD videos with something (Windows Media Player) besides PowerDVD? FYI... I bought a JVC camcorder and their Everio MediaBrowser software disables autoplay on dvd video and cd audio disks. Their tech support says there are known conflicts with PowerDVD but they couldn't fix it. They said to go to a computer technician. Any help would be appreciated.

Cant Burn / Write C.D But can watch a Dvd

brodeane — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:36:04 GMT

Hey All, I have A OptiPlex SX270N (HL-DT-ST-RW/DVD GCC-4241N) and using Windows XP, I cant burn/write/rip or listen to a audio cd, but i can watch Dvd's. Unsure what to do from here. Can anyone help me please? I Would be greatly appreciated thanks ...

Problems in reading DVDs

Sunday Driver — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:58:23 GMT

My Inspiron 1525 has worked perfectly for over a year but has now started having problems in reading DVDs.

Now when I insert a commercial DVD (eg movie) the drive whirrs and groans, but mostly fails to read the DVD. I've tried various disks, cleaned them all, even tried a brand new disk which arrived by post this morning. Sometimes it will eventually recognise the DVD and load it, but only after about 4-5 minutes of the drive churning

On the other hand, if I insert a data CD, then it finds it straight away.

Device Manager states the DVD is working properly. I've uninstalled the driver then rebooted and the driver has automatically reinstalled.

Windows Explorer shows the device as being present - drive E.

I've downloaded and reinstalled the Dell firmware for the drive and it makes no difference.

I've disabled CD burning in Explorer in case there is a conflict but no difference.

I've ran Microsoft Fix-it a few times and whilst it recognised the presence of the DVD in the drive on one occasion, it mostly doesn't.

I'm on Vista Home Premium.

Any ideas would be really appreciated.

NEC 6500A DVDR/RW on XP question about eject and drivers

airtas — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:21:39 GMT

On my Dell Inspiron 700m I have the NEC 6500A DVDRW Drive. You can pull it out unlike most computers. A few questions I have.....

1. If it uses standard Windows Drivers how does it know the Brand, Specs of it? From the Firmware?

2. Is it connected to the Pc differently since you can pull it out? Reason I ask is it shows up as EJECTABLE MEDIA, Like a Thumbdrive, external hard drive, etc but other Pc's with Drives do not show up as ejectable

Studio 1535 DVD/CD eject sticks on during start up from hibernate/sleep

wmj450 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:05:20 GMT

I have read through this forum and other on-line forums about this problem with the Studio laptops...seems to be fairly common problem..when computer starts up the eject button lights up, within a few minutes the optical drive eject motor activates 4 or 5 times before stopping. Has Dell issued a fix for this. Seems the techical support offers: updated BIOS(I did) and re-seat the center console panel(i did), both did not correct the issue. Has anyone had luck finding a fix for this?

I need a CD/DVD Driver for Samsung sw-252s drive for Dimension 3000

pblanchet — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:23:48 GMT

Would appreciate getting this - can't find it on the driver download page. THANKS VERY MUCH!

Choppy BLU RAY Playback - Dell Studio 1557

sendandreturn — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:42:18 GMT

Hi,

I have a week old new Studio 15, with a ca10n hl-dt-st Blu Ray Drive, 512mb ati 4570 and the new i7 processor, win7 64

Sat down to watch my first Blu Ray in Power DVD 8.x BD, REALLY DISAPPOINTED. Every minute the laptop accesses the drive and the playback ends up being really choppy, then settles down, until the next time..

Expected better for a £1000 laptop, $1600

Can anyone help please. Even as I write the PC is hell bent on accessing the drive, every minute, even though I dont have PowerDVD on

Thanks

Recovering the RECOVERY partition

RonnieSP — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:02:37 GMT

A friend of mine has an interesting problem with his Inspiron 1721 laptop:

The hard drive has an unrecoverable error that prevents the system from booting into Vista. While the RECOVERY partition seems to be ok, I can't really "recover" the system to the bad partition, so I picked up a new drive (320GB vs 120GB on the original drive).

So here is the question - How can I "recover" the system onto the new drive?

I would certainly like to preserve the DIAG and RECOVERY partitions on the new drive so that they are available if this happens again - I tried backing up those partitions from the old drive and restoring them to the new one, but the F8 boot into the RECOVERY partition doesn't work (I have the partition named "RECOVERY" and it is NTFS formatted - am I missing something?)

If I were able to boot into the RECOVERY partition on the old drive and restore to the new one, would it install the DIAG and RECOVERY partitions there?

This machine had 2 HD bays, so I would assume that it would be easier to do if I had both drives installed, but Dell has this HD adapter to hook it in (does anyone know the part number so I could order it?) - right now I am hooked up through a SATA <--> USB adapter and I can see both drives without any problems.

Any ideas? I would appreciate any help I can get.

Thanx
-Ronnie

Problem with my two phsical discs

EstelleD — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:24:18 GMT

I have two physical discs on my Dell XPS 420 each 500 gb. MY problem started when Windows 7 came out and I decided to put it operating system on the D drive to try it out thereby creating a dual boot system (Vista and Windows 7) After trying Windows 7 for a few weeks and ensuring that everything I wanted worked with it I decided to install it on my C drive as my main operating system. Fine so far - however when I tried to format the D Drive to return it to a data drive Computer Management would not allow me to do this. I managed to format the D drive using the Partition Wizard program but then my computer would not boot up and gave me an error message saying NTLD was missing. (I may have these letters quite right as I was a bit panicked at this stage and did not write them down.)

I then reinstalled WIndows 7 on the D drive so was back to a dual boot machine although I used DualBootPro to only boot from the C drive. Why when I have a complete system and all my programs on the C drive can I not wipe the D drive completely clean as I want to and make it a Data drive?.

On Computer Management/Storage/Disk Management my C drive is shown as

Healthy (Boot,PageFile,Active,CrashDump,Primary Partition) and my D drive is shown as

Healthy (System, Active, Primary Partition)

Can anyone help me?

EstelleD

Issue: TEAC DV-W28SLC Slim Slot-Load - Will no longer retain a CD/DVD

aar1 — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:02:33 GMT

I have the above-captioned drive installed on a Dell XPS One. When inserting a disc that previously worked, the drive ejects it after a second. I have updated the drivers, bios, reinstalled the software, however the discs still disc eject . The Device Manager indicates the drive is operating as advertised. Am at a lost - is there any action I can take to resolved the issue.

TEAC DV-W28SLC Slim Slot-Load DVD±RW Drive

XPS 8000: Stuck Blu-ray disc

drorpockard — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 21:18:54 GMT

I got a new XPS 8000 and inserted for the first time a Blu-ray disc. This crashed the computer. I can't operate the computer (when open I get a black screen), can't open the drive to take the Blu-ray disc out, all is stuck. Any idea what to do?

Brand new Dell Studio XPS not reading Blu-Ray movies

drrich2 — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 03:50:01 GMT

Just got my Dad a new Dell running Vista Home Premium for Christmas; some pertinent info.:

Studio XPS 435MT, Intel Core i7-920 processor(8MB L2 Cache 2.66GHz)

Dell 24 inch UltraSharp 2408WFP Flat Panel,w/ Adjustable Stand

256MB ATI Radeon HD 3650

Blu-ray 6X BD-R, DVD+/-RW Drive and 16X DVD+/-RW w/double layer write capability

Roxio Creator 10.2 Premium Blu-Ray

Power DVD 8.1, Blu-ray Disk Playback

I was eagerly awaiting to hear how Blu-Ray movies would look on it. So Dad rents a couple & e-mails me this:

--------------------------------------

I got a couple of blu-ray movies but they wouldn't work, the program that they ran on said it had to be upgraded in order to run so I clicked on upgrade and when the installer started it said it could only be installed on a dell computer system and stopped. I went to the manufactures sight and didn't find any help but I did get a response and they sent me an email wanting the serial number and they would get back to me. I then called Dell and they sent me on to the second stage to the expert and he had me download a program so he could see what was going on, on this computer. After about two hours he gave up and said he was sending me to step three with the problem and they would call me or email with the fix. He said he had never ran into this before and could be a system wide problem. He said the computer for some reason doesn't recognize that it's a dell system. He updated the bio's and tried several things but nothing worked. That was Thursday night and I haven't heard anything yet, If I don't hear anything by tomorrow I'm going to call them back and see what they say.

--------------------------------------

I think Dell may've tried to contact me by mistake (I was named after Dad, and I ordered the system for him), so I let Dad know Dell tried to contact me and suggested he call them. He did. He then e-mailed me this:

--------------------------------------

I called Dell again and they tried several things again but they finally said it was a known issue that they didn't' t as of yet have a fix for and they would contact me as soon as they do.

--------------------------------------

Somehow, I'm not feeling reassured. Sounds like 'it'll get fixed when & if we ever get to it.'

Anybody else having this problem? Any thoughts?

I'm thinking the public ought to know brand-new systems being sold as having Blu-Ray ROM capability can't even play a movie.

Rentals aren't free. That's money down the toilet.

Richard.

Dimension 2400 second drive - teething problems

pete_in_sverige — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:09:18 GMT

Hi,

I recently added a second ide drive to my Dim 2400. I configured it as a slave drive on the primary IDE channel. I can see the drive ok in My Computer, and have copied data to and from it.

When I play a video from the new drive the delivery is jurky and the sound is a bit garbled. When I copy the same video to my original C drive it plays fine. any ideas?

when I look on the Bios I cannot see the new drive (I dont know if this is relevant!)

thanks for any advise, Pete

Recovery Partition on Dell Inspiron 1440

04cjm — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:48:31 GMT

Question,

I recently installed Windows 7 on my laptop but I see that the D: Drive which is the recovery partition remained intact, what im wondering though is if something is automatically being stored/backed up there or is it something that I have re-setup since I installed Windows 7, the current partition says its 14.6GB and 7.99GB free right now. I only have one single drive on this laptop, no external connected the total HD size is 320GB.

Thanks

Why won't my DVD drive see the Windows 7 Installation Disk?

jwynne — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:22:27 GMT

The TEAC DV-W58E DVD drive on my Dimension PC will play videos and games, and will read and write data onto DVDs.

Why won't it see the Windows 7 Installation Disk that got delivered today? This is the only disk it has ever failed to read. It doesn't think the drive is empty, just sees 0 bytes used, 0 bytes free.

The disk is recognized by two other PCs, but not the one I want to install W7 on.

My PC runs XP Professional, and passed the Windows 7 Upgrade Adviser test, and is up to date with Windows Update, and has the latest driver for the DVD drive.

I can't install the new operating system unless I can get the PC to read the disk.

Installing hard drive Inspiron Desktop 531S

malcom5 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 01:22:41 GMT

Needing to help replacing the hard drive in my computer. The old one failed a few days ago so I have to replace it. There's 2 clips on the side, but they don't do anything to help hold it in place. Can anyone help me please?

HDD fails a day after warranty expires

bbsu — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:42:43 GMT

The HDD on my inspiron 1525 failed the day my warranty expired. It used to make some strange scratching noises from the day I bought it, which evidently had something to do with the drive. The tech support guys refuse to take the call, do I have any means of redressal ?

Laptop Hard Drive

SonicPet07 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:37:08 GMT

A friend of mine has a Studio laptop that has decided to stop booting up. Not sure why, haven't gotten to take a look at it. If it’s something major and the computer truly won't boot at all then it gets me to my point.

If I remove her hard drive in order to back up the data on it, will it void her hardware warranty? She's a college student and needs a fair number of papers off it ASAP. She plans on sending it in for repair or whatever it may need but the data on the drive is the priority with the end of the Semester only about 2 weeks away.

Blue ray trouble

audunsanda — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:09:27 GMT

I just bought a brand new dell studio 15 model 1555 with the Slot Load Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo. I then tried to play the blue ray of transformers 2 and in it went great at the beginning, but then it started to go bad. The video is not smooth, jittery and the sound do not sync. It happens with a period of 3-4 min. It sounds like the blue ray player start spinning fast and trying to keep up with the movie.

I have good spec on my computer and when I check the drivers for the video card, audio and the dvd player(power DVD DX) it says that they have the newest driver.

I got a p8700 core duo and 6 gb ram. Tried many different things, but no works. Also I have windows 7.

Sorry for bad English, I am not from the US.

Thanks for all answers

HELP! My CD-RW drive is not working

DC2424 — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:57:39 GMT

I have unistalled the device and reinstalled and it still doesn't work. I also checked for updates...nothing.

This is the message I get when I check under properties in Device Manager: Windows cannot load the device driver for this hardware. The driver may be corrupted or missing. (Code 39)

I have HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8162B. Sony CD-RW CRX216E installed on my Dell Dimension 4600 w/ Windows XP Home Edition

If anybody has a suggestion, I would GREATLY appreciate it.

Thanks!

dimension 9200 second hard drive installation help

dazk — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:23:31 GMT

hi, i have a Dimension 9200, i have tried installing a second HD. on start up i get a screen detailing the raid set up and im asked to hit F1 to continue boot or F2 to enter set up. i want to stop this screen from appearing as i have children that could make changes. i have looked at the bios and raid is set to On, i tried setting to auto detect but PC will not boot up which it did warn about. is there any way round this or will i have to re install the OS with bios set to auo detect. i want to use the drive to store a back up image created by Acronis type softaredone on a weekly schedule. any help would be appreciated, thanks

dvd rom wont boot

minigamer — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:59:59 GMT

I'm trying to reformat my L866r (i no it's old but, the kids use it for learning games) My problem is that the dvd rom wont boot at start up it goes start to the hard drive. The dvd rom is good I checked with another comp. but, it's not workng in the original machine. Could some1 help me plzz.

HELP - CD/DVD not reading in d: drive but works in Dell Media Direct only.

SE165 — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 20:00:07 GMT

Hi All

This is my first time posting to any forum so I'm hoping for a positive response. I'm not the most tech savvy so as simple as poss would be great.

I have Dell XPS M1330 operating on Vista. For some reason my D drive will not read any discs. It makes a sound, picks it up but does then shows as 'folder empty' when I go into the drive.

However when I start dell media direct its right there!

Obviously my D drive pathway is all routed to Mediadirect so how do I stop this and get it back to normal in windows?

Hope im making sense

Thanks

upgrading my hard drive (Inspiron 6400)

sarisaber — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:03:19 GMT

Hello everybody,

I have a Dell Inspiron 6400/e1505 with a Hitachi 160GB hard drive (model: HTS541616J9SA00 ATA)

with a simple search, this is the exact one http://www.hitachigst.com/portal/site/en/menuitem.dac393208bfae6f199558fe7eac4f0a0/

I would like to upgrade my HDD to a new, larger and faster HDD so I can perfectly replace the original one and I'm concerned about the size, the shape and compatibility of the new HDD with my machine! thats why I'm here

I'm looking to buy a 320 to 500GB drive but I don't know which brand/model will be the best in terms of quality, price and performance.

As you all know Data is important

and I would like to ask if having a large HDD like 500GB is a good choice for notebooks or if its too much risk in any way?!

This is where I'm going to order my new HDD from >> http://www.newegg.ca/Store/SubCategory.aspx?SubCategory=380&name=Laptop-Hard-Drives

Thanks in advance

Studio 1535 - No Hard Drive Detected?

Phillips126 — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 00:47:40 GMT

Hey all,

About a week ago, I woke up, turning my Laptop on to hear an odd clicking sound and the message: "No hard drive detected."

I figured (judging by the clicking sound) that the hard drive somehow decided to not work anymore, bummer....

I ordered a 2nd hard drive, came in this morning. Exact same model, etc...

I installed it, made sure all of the cables were firmly in place, turned my laptop on and.... Still, No hard drive detected.

The BIOS isnt detecting the Hard Drive, and when I run the Dell startup diagnostic, only error that comes up is "No Hard Drive Detected."

Any ideas on what could be wrong, or what I can do to fix it?

Thanks,

Phillips126

*EDIT*

I wanted to mention my warrenty has expired, and I'd rather not spend $50.00 to talk to someone I dont understand.

SATA 3.0GB DATAT TRANSFER RATE

LESJMC — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:35:57 GMT

Does anybody know if my Dimension XPS 600 with the Nforce 4 chipset supports 3.0gb HD transfer rate? Or do I have to set the HD to 1.5gb HD transfer rate?

I am thinking of install a WD500 Black #1AALS

Thanks

LES

How to play content from a computer burned DVD on a home entertainment DVD player

mrpop151 — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:47:41 GMT

"I have a "tsst corp dvd+- RW TS-H653B ATA" dvd drive and when I burn a movie, it can only be played on my Dell computer where the DVD writer is installed. When I try to play it on my home entertainment system, it says "error, no content". I know that when I record a movie on the home ent. system, I have to "finalize" the data so it can be played elsewhere. How can I "finalize" the data on the computer so it can be played on my DVD player in my home entertainment system? (BTW, the DVD type IS compatible with both systems)"

TEAC CA200 HH 13-1 Card Reader with Windows 7

Marlem46 — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:08:46 GMT

Hello,

I have a dell Dimension 9200 and I have installed Windows 7 32 bits on it.
It works perfectly but... the only device which I have problem is the TEAC CA200 HH 13-1 Card Reader.

II don't found any suitable drivers for Windows 7 and this Card Reader.
I have tried to install the Windows Vista Driver but it doesn't work... included in Compatibility mode.

Could you tell me where I can found drivers for this Card Reader ?

Thanks in advance,

CDRW/DVD ROM Combo drive doesn't read anything!

P-Kay — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 06:40:12 GMT

So basically as the topic says, I insert the disc, (DVD, CD-R, CD, DVD-R, Music CD, Data Disc, any disk I insert.) the light blinks two times, and nothing happens, the disc doesn't even attempt to read. Windows says the device is working properly.

Even when in the BIOS and whatnot, if I insert a Windows Disc into the drive and try to boot from the disc, it will not read it. I'm not exactly sure how to classify this issue, is my hardware broken?

Specs: (Straight from DxDiag)

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
System Model: Latitude 110L
BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A05
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.70GHz
Memory: 504MB RAM
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

Drive: D:
      Model: HL-DT-ST CDRW/DVD GCC4244
     Driver: c:\windows\system32\drivers\cdrom.sys, 5.01.2600.5512 (English), 4/13/2008 10:40:46, 62976 bytes

If you need any more information, let me know.

I've tried everything on this page: (If it helps)
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314060
Although I may have gotten something wrong, I'm not entirely sure.

Any help is appreciated, thank you!

studio 1 eject control

thewrits — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:01:39 GMT

i've a studio 1 19. had to reinstall but now suddenly eject control for cds doesn't work. using eject on hard drive but no got acceptable. dell teckies are u.s. 1/2 hour to get on and they want £80+vat to solve even though it's only 4 months old. any solutions for the problem?

New Hard Drive failure on Precision M20

Digigaps — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:35:56 GMT

Brand new replacement Hard Drive fails with read error after only 1-week of usage. Precision M20 no longer under warranty. How do I report & return drive?

TSSTcorp DVD+-RW TS-H553A Windows 7

stigadam — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:39:06 GMT

I installed Windows 7 (I had XP before) at my Dimension 9200, everything went OK - but after a automatic Windows update the driver for TSSTcorp DVD+-RW TS-H553A did not work anymore. I tried installing a new driver from Dell as well as from Samsung - didn't work. I installed a new BIOS from Dell, no problem with except that my DVD stil do not work.

I think I need a new driver for Win 7? Or could it be other solutions?

XPS Disk Drive Failures

jbrandenburg — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:31:35 GMT

I have had two 1TB disk drives fail in 2 weeks on my new XPS (purchased 09/2009) system. Has anyone else experienced this problem?

How do I Totally Eliminate Dell Restore Partition and Use that Space?

Rayny2e — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 20:25:59 GMT

I Have an older Dell E1705 that Came with Win XP Media Center. I Upgraded Ram,Processor to Core 2 Duo,Hard Drive to 320 GB and Recently Installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit. I No longer Want the Dell Restore Partition on my PC as it serves no purpose. I'd like to know How to get rid of it and reclaim that space. I Have an extra hard drive that I've cloned,soo I Can experiment with that without worry. Can i use a utility to write Zero's to the Drive? Will that Eliminate the Restore Partition or just Zero out the C Drive? Darn Dell Partitions are a Pain in the Butt. I Know all about the Media Direct issue and worked that out Long ago. I Have no issues with that only Getting rid of the Restore Partition. Remember I'm using 64 Bit Windows 7 Ultimate now BUT i also have a Perfect Win XP hard drive I Can put back in IF i need it. Please be specifice as you can with suggestions. Thank you in Advance..

Dell Optiplex 740 Windows Vista not playing audio CDs correctly, it stops after 1min.

easye35 — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:19:14 GMT

Can someone please suggest why this is happen with our Dell Optiplex 740 computers. We have over 200 of these computers and the audio CDs worked fine in Windows 2000, but now we run into issues with vista. Any help will be great.

Thanks