My opinion??
Buy a new drive immediately. Setup the new drive as the slave. Use the drive
manufacturer's utility to image the old drive to the new one. Make the new
drive your master, and you're back in business. Don't waste any time though.
After you start getting the "imminent failure" smart error, the life
expectancy of the drive can sometimes be measured in minutes.
Jerome

>>>  -----Original Message-----
>>>
>>>  My hard disk has deteriorated to the point that it is about to fail.
>>>  The following error message now  appears: "1720 Smart Hard
>>>  Drive detects
>>>  imminent failure.  Your Hard Drive is detecting imminent failure.  To
>>>  ensure no data loss, back-up contents and replace this hard drive.
>>>  Attribute failed: #10"
>>>
>>>  The HDD is a 37.2 Gigabyte Maxtor 5T040H4 (with 32 Gigs used).  It is
>>>  running on a Compaq Deskpro with a 997 MHz, Intel Pentium III chip, and
>>>  190 MB of SDRAM.  My operating environment is Window 2000 Professional
>>>  5.00.2195 (Service Pack 4)
>>>
>>>  I have a lot of video and audio files on the  machine, in
>>>  addition to my
>>>  data files.  I also have a lot of one-off  programs and add-ons which I
>>>  want to save.  I therefore would like to know the following:
>>>      1.  Can I repair the HDD or must I replace it?
>>>      2.   Is there a program which will allow me literally to copy
>>>  everything on my hard drive                         altogether, as one
>>>  unit of data, and then copy it to a replacement drive, again in one
>>>  block of             data?
>>>      3.  What is the best way (i.e the procedure) for replacing the HDD
>>>  (e.g I am thinking of buying an             Iomega External Drive,
>>>  copying all items on my HDD onto this, replacing the internal HDD
>>>          in the Compaq, and then copying back from my External
>>>  HDD to the
>>>  new internal HDD)?
>>>      4.   Are there any particular issues or problems I need to guard
>>>  against when trying to replace                 my internal HDD and is
>>>  the Iomega the best External Drive to buy for the above task?
>>>
>>>  This is very urgent so I would appreciate a speedy reply

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