1.DIDN'T BACKUP INFORMATION AND HARD DRIVE CRASHED.
1.Backup your information so this type of problem won't have devastating consequences.
2.Some service organizations specializing in retrieving information from a defective hard drive.
3.Place the hard drive in the freezer for an hour and then replace in the computer. This works less than 10% of the time.

2.CHKDSK or SCANDISK PROGRAMS REPORTS BAD SECTORS.
a.Run the SCANDISK program. Select the THOROUGH option. Rerun the program again after it finishes the first time.
b.May want to run the hard drive manufacturer's software that will perform repairs (if the software is available).

3.Hard drive becomes unreadable or has many bad sectors.
a.If the hard drive is under warranty, get it replaced.
b.If the hard drive is not under warranty, try the following:
Scandisk the drive 3 consecutive times.
Bootup using Windows startup diskette.
Reformat the drive.
Reinstall the operating system software.

4.Computer won’t start up and cannot hear the hard drive SPINNING.
a. Drive is probably bad.
b. Check cabling and power.

5.Running out of free hard drive space.
a.Delete unnecessary files.
b.Backup seldom used files to floppy disk, zip drive or tape and then remove from harddrive.
c.Get a larger hard drive or add a 2nd hard drive to the system. Run file compression. (NOT RECOMMENDED)

6.CMOS, FDISK and Windows File Manager report less than the capacity of the drive, but CHKDSK reports the correct number of bytes.
a.CMOS and FDISK used 1,048,256 bytes / megabyte while the drive manufacturers and CHKDSK use 1,000,000 bytes / megabyte.

7.Hard drive seems to run slow.
a.Run the SCANDISK and DEFRAG programs.
b.A drive on the same channel with a 2nd slower drive or CD-ROM could affect Performance.
c.Check IDE I/O controller settings. May have different jumper settings for different hard drives.
d.Make sure 32-bit disk access is turned on.

8.Can only read 530 mb Of space on a larger hard drive.
a.Enable the LBA mode in the CMOS utility.
b.Some BIOSs will not support larger than a 2.1 gig or 4-gig drive even with LBA mode enabled.

9.GET "OUT OF DRIVE SPACE ERROR" MESSAGE AFTER LOADING 800MB ON A 1 GIG DRIVE.
a.Every file stored gets an allocation unit (cluster) no matter how large the file is. The size of the cluster grows  with the size of the partition. The partition must be reduced to reduce the cluster size.

10.DATA FROM OLD SMALLER DRIVE TAKES UP MORE SPACE THAN ON A NEWER LARGER HARD DRIVE.
a.Limitation of older operating system. REFER TO ABOVE PROBLEM.

11.SYSTEM REPORTS IT IS USING MSDOS COMPATIBILITY MODE.
a.Check if loading a Windows 3.1 32 bit driver or non-Windows 95 compatible driver for some type of hardware. If so, it needs  to be edited out of SYSTEM.INI file. To edit:
1.Click RUN from the START BUTTON.
2.Type SYSTEM.INI and click on O.K.
3.SYSTEM.INI will open in NOTEPAD. Place a semicolon (;) in front of any lines to eliminate that line from executing from the startup process. This is advisable because if you decide to add the lines back in later, simply remove the semicolon.
4.Select EXIT from the FILE menu. Select YES to save changes.
5.Restart the computer for the changes to take effect.
b.Check CONFIG.SYS file and REM out any lines that end in SYS (except HIMEM.SYS). Next restart the computer.
c.Add back in lines one at a time and restart each time in order to find out what line is causing the problem.

12.CANNOT get 32 bit disk access running a 1-GIGABYTE hard drive.
a.The Logical Block addressing option in CMOS is being used.

13.HARD DRIVE MAINTENANCE
a.Run the Scandisk program once every two weeks. Select THOROUGH option.
b.Run the Defrag program once a month.
c.Delete unused files.
d.When turning off the computer, wait at least 10 seconds before turning the computer back on.