He was telling me it is a seagate brand 1tb but this is the one they show for its replacement. I guess my dad upgraded it when he bought it online. What hard drive would be compatible?

I assume its a prebuilt Dell? What model is it? The only thing really limiting it is the input interface of the HDD. Just depends if its SATA 3GB/s, 6GB/s, IDE (lol), SAS, or SCSI. Its most likely SATA, but depending on how old the system is, it could still be an IDE drive.

That link you posted in the title doesn't work.

This post was edited by DeXaFiLaH on Oct 21 2014 03:22pm

It's not always the case that an unrecognized HDD is bad. Could be loose connection, a changed BIOS setting, sometimes just the MBR is messed up.

I can't tell from you title or your post if the HDD that isn't recognized is the one the Operating System is installed on.


Tell us if you can still boot into Windows. Some laptops and desktops have more than one drive. To help answer your questions we need to know this info.

Ok thanks guys I'll get the info asap.

Sara not sure on other

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-mainstream-1tb-internal-serial-ata-hard-drive-for-desktops/9312067.p?skuId=9312067&id=1219011388237#tabbed-customerreviews

I ended up getting that one. Could have got it like 10 bux cheaper on amazon with free shipping since I have prime. But I went ahead and picked it up there. We installed windows vista on it until we can find an upgrade disc. But we cant get it to connect to the internet. It said something about something being wrong with drivers or something for the internal wifi. I put a cord from the modem/wifi combo box (sudden link) to his computer and it still didn't recognize anything. So basically I can't get it to get on the internet. Anyone have any ideas?

Find out what model motherboard he has and download the ethernet driver from the manufacturer's website. Put it on a flash drive, an external HDD, or other media and put it on the computer and install it.

This post was edited by DeXaFiLaH on Oct 23 2014 07:28pm

thanks I passed the info to my dad. he said he downloaded some kind of driver and he can get it to go on the internet with the cord. still no wireless though.