worth it to replace hard drive on an old desktop system?

[oldapeman]

I have an old (9 years?) E-machines system with an Athelon processor and Windows XP that I use for my home office use (email, word processing, web-surfing, etc.) My main computer is at my SF work office, and everything I need stored is on the work system, so I do not need to recover any data from the home system. The home computer died recently and everything points to it being a disc drive failure.

I could buy a replacement disc drive for under $200, and install it myself, then restore the software (I still have the software discs from E-Machines -- this is all I need, right?). Is this even worth it? I could probably buy a decent new CPU with updated software for around $600-700, or a laptop for around $800. I do not need it to do anything fancy or performance hungry, and it has served my needs for a long time. However, I do not know if I would be buying something that will not work on the internet of the present millenium, nor if my Windows XP is a relic of the past that will soon become too antiquated to run today's word processing, eamil and calendaring systems.

Waddayathink, O Sages of the bits and bites?

I will leave the site and check back in a day or two to find your cogent analysis and advice.

$20 to your favorite charity if you provide the most intelligent and useful response.

 

[dwarf]

How big is the drive that was in it?

Do you still have the Microsoft sticker with the CD key for Windows Xp on the case?

If you dont want a new drive I could put one of the old ones I have install windows onto it. (I'd ensure all drivers and software you want are installed as well)

Also, You could pick a new one up from Frys for under 60 and we can install windows on that drive.

Even with buying a brand new hard drive we can get you up and running for way under $200.

I've been doing tech work for years, including working for tickets.com, mlb.com, AT&T, etc and am positive I could help you get your computer running.

Also, depending on the specs of your current computer I may be able to sell you one of the older ones that I have, they work perfect for web browsing, multimedia, office documents. I have some from around 50-100 for a complete computer.

 

[gnahc79]

Get a new desktop or laptop for under $500 and you should be fine. XP is being phased out. Check out slickdeals.net, there's always a bunch of deals for decent laptops and desktops.

 

[fromeast2west]

Both of the previous posters are right.

If you want to get the old machine up and running it should be pretty cheap to do.

Windows XP is being phased out, and Windows 7 is pretty nice, so this is a good excuse to upgrade.

That being said, do not go hog wild updating the old PC. You can e-cycle it or donate it to a local charity.

 

[mike23w]

hard drives are super cheap. $50+tax for 1TB at newegg (assuming your computer uses SATA drives).

if all you need are these things:
- web browser
- email
- office suite
buy the cheapie drive and keep it running. you'll be fine.

i use XP at work. i prefer it to vista (haven't tried windows 7.)

if you want a really cheap option, just buy a used drive from craigslist for $20 or less and install it.
even if the drive dies, you're only out $20, and most of the times it works fine.
just verify the drive can read/write data before you pay the guy.

 

[gnahc79]

One thing to note is that the thermal paste on the motherboard can start to fail after several years. Other components could also fail as well, e.g. CPU fan. The thermal paste failure happened to my old Thinkpad A21p and our old Pentium 4 desktop after 5 yrs or so. Reapplying thermal paste is tricky and if you don't do it right you can toast your CPU instantly. Even if you do get it right there's a chance it might not take properly and fail a week or so later. IMO you're better off just buying a new computer for <$500.

 

[mike23w]

if you want a really cheap option, just buy a used drive from craigslist for $20 or less and install it.
even if the drive dies, you're only out $20, and most of the times it works fine.
just verify the drive can read/write data before you pay the guy.

or buy it from a barfer: http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=371352

Also have Barracuda 7200.10 320G hard drive - Qty = 2 = 25$ / drive

$25, can't go wrong.

 

[NUIpIsqo]

Can make three suggestions for you:
1) Dell Vostro 230 Mini Tower Desktop
Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 (CPU Benchmark: 2012)
2GB Ram / 250GB Hard drive
$319 - $50 coupon code 7ZX?88TBH3BB21 = $269 with $8 shipping
link: http://www.fatwallet.com/redirect/bounce.php?afsrc=1&mid=16032828&url=http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?cs=04&dgvcode=ss&c=US&l=EN&oc=bv1cs3a8


2) Toshiba Satellite C655D-S5120 15.6" Laptop
AMD Athlon™ II Dual-Core Mobile Processor P340 (CPU Benchmark: 1307)
4GB Ram / 320GB hard drive
$349 @ Staples starting 6/19

3) Sylvania 10-Inch Magni Android Tablet (refurb)
$99.99 + $5.99 s/h
link:

I recommend the tablet because you may only need a tablet to do most of your work. It can read e-mails, PDFs, pictures, websites, and you could hook up a keyboard to it.

In my past experience, spending money on a computer that's 10 years old that you no longer need, has diminishing returns. :2cents

Good luck.

 

[Sane_Man]

A 9 y.o. computer probably doesn't have a SATA port so you would have to add $30 for a SATA contoller and a SATA power adapter. Those cards are PCI, so you would to check if your MB has the newer PCI slots. But as others have said, this is the perfect opportunity to upgrade to a new box that is faster.

 

[afm199]

That being said, do not go hog wild updating the old PC. You can e-cycle it or donate it to a local charity.

Please don't donate to charity, unless they actually deal with old comps. I ran a non profit that people "donated" old comps to and took writeoffs for. The first thing I did was shitcan a whole bin of them. The office staff said: "O, so an so's FEELINGS will be hurt." My response was a blanket policy to accept NO computer donations unless approved by the office manager as a machine that we would actually USE. We never got one. People just wanted to dump off shit that was obsolete or did not work. Honest to god there were five or six old shit machines there with no value to anyone other than as recycle.