After last weekend’s most inopportune system meltdown, I figured it would be close to two weeks before I could get a new drive, get everything reinstalled, and start using my notebook PC again. I had some good luck though and I’m well ahead of schedule.
About a year ago I had the opportunity to pick up a docking station that was otherwise destined for the scrap heap. The dock seems to be compatible with the notebook, and since my notebook PC doesn’t have a floppy drive I thought the removable one installed in the dock might come in handy at some point. Boy did it ever!
When I first realized I’d have to reinstall Windows, I started looking around for a floppy drive I could use with the XP boot floppies I made a while back. The floppy from another salvaged notebook didn’t have the right connectors (same manufacturer, but several years apart). Then I thought of trying out the drive from the docking station.
Once I popped the drive out of the dock, I realized it wasn’t a floppy after all. OK, that’s not a problem. It was the right form factor and connector, so at least I had a spare CD drive in the event that went South next. (My laptop also sees a fair amount of use playing DVDs, so I occasionally wonder what I’ll do if that drive fails.)
Then I realized the module I had popped out of the docking station wasn’t a CD drive either. It was a hard drive in a modular enclosure! Figuring it probably wasn’t the capacity I needed, I put it aside for a while with the idea that maybe one day I’d use it to back up essentials from the notebook.
In the meantime, I continued working to get the old drive back to a usable condition. Once I finally concluded it was physically no longer usable, I ordered a replacement and took another look at the removable one.
It turned out the removable drive was from a different manufacturer than the dead one (Fujitsu versus Seagate). But it was otherwise an exact match for the old one, including the same 40GB capacity. And from inspecting the drive (no sign anything was ever on it) and what I know of the history of those docking stations, I very sincerely doubt it was ever used. I’m not even convinced it was powered on more than one or two times to format it with NTFS.
So A few turns of the screwdriver and the salvaged drive is now installed as the laptop’s primary hard drive. I’ve already installed Windows and the essential pieces of the add-on software. (Adding applications such as Open Office is yet to come.)
The replacement drive is already on its way and there doesn’t appear to be a way to cancel the order. I have another salvage system I’ll try it out on. If that doesn’t work out, I’ll install it in the removable drive module and use it for backing up essential data. (The restocking fee is sufficient that unless it’s defective, I’m not inclined to return it.)
So thanks to a little luck, the notebook PC is back in working condition a few days sooner than expected. All that remains is reinstalling some software.
It’s still a nuisance, but I’m much further ahead than expected.