JB COMP

I have a Acer Aspireone netbook that was thrown across the floor, and had sectors of the drive damaged (the OS sectors and partition) I've got the newbook to boot Ubuntu off a flash drive, but when I go to install Ubuntu on the hard drive it gets an error. (Drive error)

Is there anyway I can partition the drive so it can only use the good parts of the drive? (How would I check to find out which sectors are bad and which are good?) If not can I replace the drive on it? (and how)

Then if I can't do either of those, Would it be possible for me to buy a large flash drive (32-64gb) and just always run the netbook of that?

sheograth

Have you tried a hard format on the whole drive? Might fix the entire thing and then you can repartition it any way you want.

REVO_RACER

Try this

And on another note, in theory you could run it off of a flash drive but it would be slower than running it off an HDD.

On a note diffrent than ^^^ Sheo It takes me a sec to notice its you with out the snake avatar.

JB COMP

No I haven't. I thought about it, but this is the first time I've messed with Ubuntu and not sure how to do that yet.[&o]

JB COMP

I reformatted the drive (I think) I used GParted to delete all partitions on the drive. Just to let everyone know the drive has 1365 bad sectors.

I tried installing Unbuntu on the drive, and this time it actually started the install but an error stopped it.

Anymore ideas/suggestions on how to install Ubuntu on the drive?

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

We deal with kind of thing in our shop all of the time (my wife and I own and operate a computer shop). What has more than likely happened is the hard drive heads hit the surface of drive when it was thrown across the floor. This will create physical damage to those sections of the hard drive and they cannot be worked around. this is why you are getting errors when you try to install Ubuntu. More than likely the BIOS of the system will not be able to boot from an external hard drive.  you best option is to simply install a new internal hard drive in the system. Hard drives are cheap these days and it shouldn't take more than about 15 minutes for a shop to install a new one it they aren't reloading the operating system. It should be about an hour labor if they are reinstalling the OS.

JB COMP

Ken,

I'd be fine replacing the drive myself. I've installed a hard drive and a dvd drive in a desk top before. I've already tried to take the netbook apart, but I couldn't get it fully apart. Is there something else than the 9 screws around the edge that's holding this thing together?

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Taking apart laptops/netbooks should be something left to a tech if you haven't done it before. Normally most laptop/netbooks have an easy access panel on the bottom of the system to get to the harddrive. If not, the system needs to be taken apart by somebody that knows what they are doing. There are a lot of small wire connections and fragile ribbon cables that can easily be damaged if pull on the wrong way. If you've never done it before I would take it to a shop and let them do it.

Ken

DaveG55

I believed from the first time I read this that your hard drive was physically damaged and is toast.
That leaves you with a few options.
First off, with the hard drive bad the computer is essentially useless. That means that you have two catagories of possable solutions.

Catagory 1. Have a pro repair it. That leaves you letting a pro buy and install a new HD - most shops don't really like simply installing a drive you bring to them. They will put a lot of restrictions on the repair - like zero guarentee on the parts and you pay labor no matter what. That's only fair as they put thier time into it w/o any control over parts quality or fitness for the job. At this point you have to ask how much parts and labor will be and if they come with any kind of guarentee. Now compare those costs with the cost of a new netbook - it's the holiday season and I've already seen them for as little as $180 brand new with warrenty.
So, for Cat. 1 you have two options. Let a pro fix it or buy a new one.

Catagory 2. Do it your self, and this is what I'd do. First off, understand that this way ALWAYS poses the posibility that you will damage it so badly that the only really viable option will be to replace it with a new one. Having said that, I enjoy learning how things work and they are usually not as hard as people think. Just work very slowly and carefully and you are usually OK. The internet is a great source of information for repairing small electronics and one that I use alot.
Before you buy any parts take the machine apart. It does you no good to buy parts and then break it so se if you can get to the bad parts safely first - then buy the parts.

I have had my last laptop apart 4 different times and saved myself hundreds of dollars in repair costs and, as soon as I find an inexpensive screen, I'll be doing it again. Most of the stuff inside on of these things is not rocket science, it's just locate and replace the bad part. The only mildly difficult thing is being slow and gentle in the dissassembly and reassembly and knowing the idiosyncrosies of the particular machine. Things like exactly how to get that case apart easily - and that's where the internet come in so handily.

Good luck whatever you decide.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Dave,
we keep a lot of old laptops around for parts. PM me the model of your laptop and I'll see if we have one with a good screen.

is it the screen or the backlight that's out??

ken

DaveG55

Oh, it's the screen for sure. Looks like a broken mirror, kinda psychadelic really...
It's an HP 42xx something, I'll check the exact number and get you a pm off
Thanks

JB COMP

I don't really care to spend the money to have someone put a new drive in. I'll probably pick up another Flash drive and just run it off that, like I'm doing now. I found a 32gb flash drive for $20 and that's plenty big enough since I don't ever plan on storing anything on it.

Thanks for the info.

Jeckler

My Feedback: (2)

Do a Google search for your model of Aspire One and you'll probably find others who've done it and posted a tutorial. I did a general search and came up with all kinds of hits.

JB COMP

I did and found a few things, and even a video of how to take it apart, but all of them where for the SSD version.

JB COMP

I decided to take it apart and replace the the drive anyways. I figured worse case I toss it, and I'm only down whatever I spend on a drive which I could maybe use for something else.

Anyone know of a good place to by hard drives from?

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

www.newegg.com

Ken

JB COMP

The drive that came out is a Serial ATA-300 and 300 MBps. Will a SATA 150 drive work in it's place? I'm finding the 150's for quite a bit cheaper than the 300's.

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

it will work as long as it's a SATA drive. However, it's half the storage size of your existing drive and may be slower than the original drive.

Ken

JB COMP

Even if both say 120gb?

Just clarify, Serial ATA is the same as SATA, right?

RCKen

My Feedback: (9)

Sorry, missread your post. Yes, it will be fine. Serial ATA is SATA

Ken

JB COMP

Thanks for the help.