Getting rid of this PC would be sort of like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. And suggesting you have someone do it for you is just going by your own assessment that you are not the most computer literate! It's not difficult to clone a new drive and then be sure it's bootable, but you really need to know what you're doing.

Simply copying the files to the new drive used to be something that you could do, but to copy files on a modern Windows machine will run into problems with permissions and the symbolic links. And if you are copying it from the PC that that you are replacing the drive you will encounter locked files that you cannot copy. If Windows sees the new drive and enters the mount point for it in the registry you can encounter boot problems. Also there may be a hidden recovery partition that you cannot copy if you cannot see it. Cloning the drive avoids all of these problems as it is simply copying bytes, not files. Another possibility is to image each partition of the drive you are replacing. These images can then be written to the new drive.

This might sound complicated, but with a little research it is not that hard. If you still don't feel up to it, take it in to someone to do it for you, but once you have done it yourself you will know you can do it again if the need arises.

Thanks Collector for the info and sure enough I have no idea what you said. I guess the first issue at hand is to order the new HD, so will do that and then go from there.
Thanks all you fellow Boomer's for your input I appreciate it, may not have a clue what you said but still appreciate it.

My Cyberpower PC has an Intel B75 chipset/motherboard. Exactly what is that and can I replace the HD with a WD 2TB hard drive or just go back with a 1TB ?

I can't find anything that says there are size limits for a hard drive, so I'm going to assume you can use a 2 GB drive on this motherboard. This is also a question you could ask the repair shop you've found.

Cool, thanks Drac. I had planned on purchasing rhe HD before I took it to the shop, is that not a good idea?
Also, what I was saying in one of the other post about getting rid of the PC was that I do not want to put a lot of money in the PC and if I had to I'd just as soon replace it. That computer was not very expensive.

No, that's a good idea.

I guess I'm never willing to give up on a computer without a fight - especially when the rest of the computer is working just fine. Worked on a 5 year-old laptop with Vista on it for a couple of days last weekend, but could only get it running well enough to get all the data off it. Made sure the hardware was OK with chkdsk, crystalmark and memtest86 and finally blew away the Vista installation and put Windows 8.1 on it. It runs like a finely tuned and oiled sewing machine now... and the fix only cost $90 for the OS and a bottle of wine for me! And the owners have gotten a reprieve from having to come up with the money for a new computer for a while at a time when they can least afford it.

I am a bit surprised. I got the offer to upgrade my Vista PC to Win 7 and by the time I decided I'd try it, it was too late.
I would think that the computer, laptop or desktop would need more than just the new OS installed. Apparently it had more going for it than mine.

Do you think it would be a problem to purchase the HD and take it to the shop? Would it be better to purchase one there? (probably more expensive though)

Drive size limitations have not been a problem for a while now, at least until recently. We have reached a limit with sizes over 2TB with the Windows file system, NTFS. There are relatively easy workarounds, but it should not be an issue if your drive is no larger than 2TB

Got in touch with the computer shop and was told they can't move the programs, only the data and that's $189.00 with me bringing in the HD. Does this sound about right? If they provide the new HD that's an additional $100.00.

$189 is a bargain from their end, not so much from yours.
Also it's obvious they're not making a drive image if they aren't keeping your programs.
They'd probably be giving you a fresh install of Windows and copying certain files over from the bad drive, which is something you can do yourself.

Did you tell them you would like to have the old drive cloned, NOT a new installation? Cloning or making a drive image copies programs, the OS etc. from one drive to the other.

Yup, all you need is your drive cloned. A good 2TB replacement drive can be had for less than 100 dollars these days.

And you also might consider calling around and asking other computer repair shops what they would charge to clone a drive for you.

I agree, tomorrow I will call other shops to check prices. I did tell the man on the phone I wanted to cloned, perhaps he didn't understand me but don't think I;m going to call him back.
I used to have the business card of a young man that worked at Office Depot that did computer work on the side. I need to find that card.

I would like to add my 2 cents. First,this is not a Cyberpower problem it is a Hitachi problem.Second, unless you have something very valuable on this computer why try to do all this cloning stuff and just do a new install on a new drive. You can copy all your documents,pictures,and favorites on a flash drive then do a new install.Since Cyberpower includes the windows disk,the drivers disk, and the video card disk,a new install is fairly easy although a bit time consuming.

Good point, Geo.

If you have nothing on the PC that requires re-activation, and there's no fear of exceeding the limit, you should be able to do that one. I've lost several games doing just that though, so make sure your games have plenty of re-activations.

Too funny, I had thought about that myself. (of course I don't know how to do that either) As to what I would lose I have no idea. I did find the Windows 8 disk from Cyberpower and two MS. Works 8 & money disks that I never opened. As for other disks I don't have them, but will keep looking.

Correct Geo, it's a Hitachi problem and it seems that I'm not the only one that has had problem with the HD, I just waited too long to notify them. I did take an extended warranty and actually that's through NewEgg. So, no worry, it will all come out in the wash!

Inland, would this one work?
WD Caviar Black high performance 3.5- Inch SATA hard drive combines 7200 RPM, 64 MB cache, and SATA 6 Gb/s interface for the ultimate in power computing.
High performance electronics architecture features dual processors and bigger, faster caches for maximum read and write speeds.
StableTrac The motor shaft is secured at both ends to reduce system-induced vibration and stabilize platters for accurate tracking, during read and write operations.

What's the exact model number for that drive?

WD 1002 FAEX or WD 1003 FZEX. These area actually the two I'm looking at. Both are 1TB. If you think you can find something better feel free to look.
(Sata 3 vs 6, what is the difference? I'm using Win 8.1)
If this doesn't make sense let me know.
Thanks!

Either would do fine, the performance difference between to two is so small I'd probably opt for which ever drive has the better price.

I'm not aware of an SATA revision 6, I believe you're referring to the transfer rate. SATA III has a transfer rate of 6 GBPS - maybe that's it?

I pretty much always use WD Caviar Black drives - stable, fast and they come with a great warranty.

Thanks everyone for your help, I really appreciate it. I miss using my computer so better get in gear and order the HD.
Inland, my daughter had me ask about the Sata 6 vs 3, I should have looked at it better before I posted.


Drac, I decided to stay away from the open box, since I wasn't sure exactly what condition the item was in.