My PC crashed tonight

[Sarra]

I've been having a long time problem with data corruption. Specifically, one of my SATA cables is not making a strong connection with the drive it's plugged into. I figured this out when I first installed an OS on this machine, and after install, I got a 'boot disc not found' error. Jiggling the cables fixed the error on reset, and on and off since then, I've had to go in and fiddle with my cables.

Tonight, I had a big problem with data corruption come up. Apparently, when Windows was updating itself last night, the SATA cable going to my OS drive wasn't making full contact, so I've got data issues all over Windows. This came to a head today when I rebooted my machine and I had no drivers, and Windows, even though it was running, didn't want to acknowledge that I have a video card, even though it was actually using said card.

So, I'm moving all of my data over to one of my 1TB drives, backing up my game saves that don't automatically backup to the cloud, and am preparing to remove all of my drives (I have a lot of drives, actually. Three 1TB, 500GB, 3SSD, and a 320 gb laptop drive) and start again from scratch. I'm going to clean off my 500 GB drive and format it, and use it as my boot and OS drive, and my SSD's will get plugged into my onboard SATA ports (I have two PCIE 1x controller cards for 4 extra ports), and the 1TB drives will get plugged into the ports in the controller cards. When I had installed, I meant to put OS and Boot on a single 1TB drive, but I jumped the gun and instead I have a boot drive on a 1TB drive, and my OS is on a partition on a second 1TB drive, meaning having one 1TB drive fail out of the two would screw my system, or cause data corruption when a cable failed.

I'm just glad my machine is running well enough right now to get my data moved and that 500 GB drive cleaned off. Maybe I should invest in some new SATA cables.

Only issue I foresee here is the OS. I have Win 10, and while I like it, I don't have a Win 10 install disc. I got a free upgrade from 8.1, which I legally have a copy of. I'm fine with Win 8.1, but is there a way to let Microsoft know that this copy of Win 10 is about to cease to exist, so I don't have activation issues on my new install?

[BUBBA069]

Step 1, but new cables.

While those are being shipped read this https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...0d6290a?auth=1

Always always do backups. 2 different types of media, keep a copy off site somewhere.

[Sarra]

Originally Posted by BUBBA069

Step 1, but new cables.

While those are being shipped read this https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...0d6290a?auth=1

Always always do backups. 2 different types of media, keep a copy off site somewhere.

Well, I'm posting from my phone. I decided to stick with 8.1 for the foreseeable future. I have a bunch of spare cables that I grabbed from my storage unit, and while I had my system down, I decided to rearrange my array of storage drives. I also did some cable management, and so far, so good. 8.1 is installed, activated, and updating right now. Greatful that I purchased 8.1. I have lost a few little things, like my KSP game save, but I'm okay with that. My critical data is encrypted and backed up on two drives and a thumb drive.

[BUBBA069]

At least you have the backups for the sensitive stuff, most dont.

[Sarra]

Well. Windows update is completely broken. Getting close to throwing this pc inthe driveway and running it over. So tired of broken security crap

[BDR]

New cables.....probably cooked the drive

Fresh install, windows should auto update to win10, if not give them a call, and get a manual key

Don't let shit like this go on for so long

[Sarra]

I seriously do not want windows 10 again. For real.

Drive is fine. I'm not even using it, actually, I had Win 10 on a 1TB drive, I'm currently running 8.1 on a 500GB drive.

I just want to update Win 8.1, but I'm stuck on the Checking for Updates screen, and have been so for the last 6 hours. No network activity, so it's not downloading stuff.

[The Violator]

Why would you not install the ssd as the primary with windows on it, then drop all those others in the trash and buy a 2tb and eliminate all your hassle. No way I ever own a PC that does not use a ssd for windows. That 10 second boot time is where its at.

[Sarra]

I have a 10 second boot time. I have two SSD's that I use in RAID 0 for games, and a third for older games that are less intensive on the drive, but all 3 are older now and getting up in write counts.

From pressing the power button to being on my desktop, I wait about 7 seconds, and most of that is BIOS crap and me putting my password in.

In Win 10, I was waiting 2-3 minutes to get into Windows after pressing the button, and then had to wait another 15-20 seconds for background crap to stop so I could actually do anything.

[Sarra]

Alrighty then... Updates installed, drivers installed, and it is smooth sailing. Whee.