Hard-drive death imminent?

[DAve]

I've just had a heart in mouth type moment.

Playing Diablo II last night, the machine crashed; on the restart the BIOS helpfully started to say "Hard drive not found". AGH! HELP!

Let it cool down, open the side and check the connections. Everything where it should be. Shit.
The hard drive seems warm. Very warm. Shit. I had to put this in the 5 1/2 inch bay because the case isn't big enough to get the hard drive into the 3 1/2 inch slot and connect the IDE cable to the mobo. I think it's getting quite warm because of this.

So, because a 45 degree hard drive isn't the best of things to have for any time, I'm going to have to upgrade the case, I think. I've been swithering for a month to get a bigger case, either the P180 or the PhongII - See other thread (http://www.pausegaming.com/forum/showthread.php?t=677). I've come to the conclusion that the Antec Nine-hundred is too garish for the living room.

It's probably going to be the P180. A few quiet fans in there, it'll be nice and silent. Mmm, silent.

(I've backed everything up last month, and I'm busily getting everything sorted for a immediate backup now, thankfully it's offsite and secure too. First time I've not completely shat myself from potential data loss. Best £15 I ever spent getting the backup program from http://www.zip-backup.com/)

[Fyndir]

I've only ever used 3 PC cases in my house, the first two were fairly standard midi-towers with absolutely nothing special about them, but the Lian Li has served me most well and I don't regret the investment in the slightest. =)

Good luck.

[DAve]

I've only ever used 3 PC cases in my house, the first two were fairly standard midi-towers with absolutely nothing special about them, but the Lian Li has served me most well and I don't regret the investment in the slightest. =)

Good luck.
Cheers :)
It's definitely an investment. The case I have now is an old bugger that's lasted three moves and about 8 years. It's the first case I ever bought ;)

On the plus side, it might free it to certain advanced mods...
I do have an athlon 2200+ just lying about, it might be the time for a dedicated server box.

EDIT: sodit, I've ordered the P180 in Black, plus two sharkfin fans for the PSU to quiet things down a bit. Looking forward to near-silent computing again.

[YegaDoyai]

Dave, that is pretty dissapointing, now my once shiny and fantabulas case was the becon of light and hope for all those beige box users, now it's going to look like it's a 'popular' case. :(

Anyway, why not just replace your PSU if you are worried about noise, chances are if you spent the money now you won't be crying in the future when it dies taking out the rest of your system

[DAve]

Dave, that is pretty dissapointing, now my once shiny and fantabulas case was the becon of light and hope for all those beige box users, now it's going to look like it's a 'popular' case. :(

Anyway, why not just replace your PSU if you are worried about noise, chances are if you spent the money now you won't be crying in the future when it dies taking out the rest of your system
The black will be different enough I hope. :)
You could look at it this way: I once was a beige box user [1], now I have seen the light.

The PSU isn't noisy by any stretch of the imagination, but I do hear the damn thing when the room is quiet. It's a bit annoying hearing the fan going when I'm watching the TV. Besides, £5 on a fan is better spent than £50 on a PSU, especially when I spent £50 on a PSU last year.

---------------
[1] in my defence, I did mod it to get an extra bit of airflow. I'm quite proud of that.

[YegaDoyai]

I'd be surprised if a £5 fan makes any difference, I've looked at quiet fans, for an 80mm with resonable CFM they are min £10, 120s start at £15.

[DAve]

I'd be surprised if a £5 fan makes any difference, I've looked at quiet fans, for an 80mm with resonable CFM they are min £10, 120s start at £15.
Frankly, for £5, I think it's worth a shot. They got a good review from CustomPC (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/custompc/labs/36/fans/products.html) fan labs anyway (I sound like a marketing whore now).

Sharkoon claim they have a 22.7cfm at 17.8dBA (http://www.pcpro.co.uk/custompc/labs/92620/sharkoon.html). Basically, I like to tinker, so the fitting will provide at least £5 worth of pleasure :D

[YegaDoyai]

never underestimate a mans need to fettle.

[--Mogwai--]

Playing Diablo II last night...

excellent choice ! i need help getting through Hell with my sorc ( everything is immune to fire and ice magic... not cool) if youre up for some coop next LAN?
im sure there are a few others who would be interested..

[DAve]

excellent choice ! i need help getting through Hell with my sorc ( everything is immune to fire and ice magic... not cool) if youre up for some coop next LAN?
im sure there are a few others who would be interested..
maybe not at the lan, Diablo games (in my experience) tend to last for hours. Maybe online?

[GingerPrinz]

Diablo me up, hose me down and mail me home to Momma!!

[DAve]

Diablo sounds good, I'll post a date in the appropriate forum if I can get a game organised.

The P180 case came today, it should have come yesterday, but some idiot at city-link couriers couldn't tell the time. To add insult to injury, they posted a note saying they came to the door at 11.45 and no-one was in. I know they are lying because I phoned the company at 12.05 to see where they were. Bastards.
Which means I had to carry a 20kg package home on the bus. In rush hour. Bastards. They're going to get one angry complaint on Monday.

On a more positive note, the case looks a bit like this. But larger.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/c/c1/Apemen.JPG/350px-Apemen.JPG
Really looking forward to installing the machine in it tomorrow.

[YegaDoyai]

Please post your uber spoooge build story, I know you are going to enjoy building your computer into that case.

[CaNNoN_FoDDa]

city-link.. are lying... Bastards.

Yup


They did that to me too. It's a shame that Scan (who are otherwise usually decent) insist on using a fucking useless bunch of twats to deliver their stuff.