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Hey tech people. If your 5 year old computer had an OS hard drive failure, would you just replace the drive or get a new computer?

Posted by sycor Apr 30 '20, 07:07

I'm on the fence since it's a 5 year old machine. Though I could do both and use this one just as a PLEX server.

Responses:

5 years? How nice was it? I'd likely get a new one, but then I usually buy cheap ones. - JaxSean Apr 30, 07:19
To me it depends on how good the PC was when you bought it 5 years ago. Primarily, what is the processor. Everything else is pretty generic. - oblique Apr 30, 07:18 5
- Good point. I think its an i5 4th gen. Any easy way to tell what the processor is since it won't boot? - sycor Apr 30, 07:27 4
  - Was this a name brand unit? If it is, you should be able to look it up based on the serial number/service tag on their support site. - oblique Apr 30, 07:29 2
    - Sorry my internet decided to go out for a bit. It was a Dell. I can't get logged in to Dell's site to check my info but pretty sure it was an i5 4th - sycor Apr 30, 08:23 1
      - That's pretty decent. I'd go the SSD route -- nm - oblique Apr 30, 08:36
  - That's the only way to know if it doesn't boot. If it has a name and model sticker you can google that to know. -- nm - bacon Apr 30, 07:28
The HD on my PC died a few months ago now. I opted to replace the HD, mostly because there were a couple 500gb drives laying around the office. - Shaun Apr 30, 07:17
Depends on many things. I assume that is a SATA drive at that age. You can get an SSD drive pretty cheap and speed that sucker up. - bacon Apr 30, 07:11 18
- This. Dropping an SSD into an older SATA computer seems like a huge performance boost because those spinning hard drives are so notoriously slow -- nm - oblique Apr 30, 07:18 1
  - so it makes things go Zoom Zoom? -- nm - tRuMaN Apr 30, 08:03
- Yeah I was thinking SSD. Just using onboard video, don't really game. 8G RAM I think, I honestly don't remember. - sycor Apr 30, 07:14 15
  - If you don't game, and don't use programs that are taxing (video editing, etc), SSD is a cheap way to go to get it up and running. - bacon Apr 30, 07:16
  - for now I would say consider buying an SSD (they can be pretty cheap, $50 ish, depending on the capacity) and then see if you can manage to rescue - tRuMaN Apr 30, 07:16 13
    - Hopefully all the data is backed up on my external drive. So not too worried about that. But it was a 1TB drive so going to a SSD is going to lose a - sycor Apr 30, 07:18 11
      - the other benefit of dropping an ssd in is that the system performance will increase a lot, so if it was fine for you before - tRuMaN Apr 30, 07:24
      - I just checked, a 1tb SSD drive is between $100 and $150 on Amazon. They really got cheep. A few years ago that would be over a thousand bucks -- nm - bacon Apr 30, 07:20 3
        
        This one gets an 83% 5 Star Rating. I used to worry about brand name but lately I don't if the reviews are tight. -- (link) - bacon Apr 30, 07:22 2
        
        Fakespot grade = D -- (link) - Shaun Apr 30, 07:23 1
        
        Ouchie! Crucial below should be higher. Check that one -- nm - bacon Apr 30, 07:24
      - 1TB SSDs aren't stupidly expensive, the last time I checked. -- nm - Shaun Apr 30, 07:19 5
        
        Crucial 1tb ssd $118. -- (link) - tRuMaN Apr 30, 07:23
        
        Samsung EVO 1TB SSD = $170 -- (link) - Shaun Apr 30, 07:21 2
        
        That's what I have now -- nm - bacon Apr 30, 07:22 1
        
        Oops I just checked. I went 2TB Samsung Evo, but I know it was under $200 when I got it. -- nm - bacon Apr 30, 07:24
        
        The prices fell drastically in the last 2 years -- nm - bacon Apr 30, 07:20
    - Also the good thing is, when you finally do get a new pc you can move the SSD over to that one as a backup drive. (so not wasting money) -- nm - bacon Apr 30, 07:17
With as cheap as computers are now if there's a major failure I replace. -- nm - Reagen Apr 30, 07:10 2
- The one I'm looking at is $600. No exactly cheap, but I guess I could go cheaper realistically. -- nm - sycor Apr 30, 07:12 1
  - Like to me, that's crazy cheap but I'm used to buying gaming rigs that are 1500+. -- nm - Reagen Apr 30, 07:14
5 years used to be a lot longer in tech than I think it is now. I’d weigh the costs, but still likely replace. -- nm - Qale Apr 30, 07:10 2
- In the old days 5 years old was a dinosaur. Right now I am using a computer I built 5+ years ago and it's still smoking fast. -- nm - bacon Apr 30, 07:11 1
  - Yeah the computer seemed to be fine other than the hard drive just suddenly dying. -- nm - sycor Apr 30, 07:14

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Hey tech people. If your 5 year old computer had an OS hard drive failure, would you just replace the drive or get a new computer?

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