I am quickly runnin' outta GB's on my HD. I want to install a new internal HD. I have a Dell pent 4 I am pretty clueless on what to get. Are their different speeds? They say like 8 MB as compared to 16 MB as well as 7200 rpm is this the fastest? What quality HD should I get? A good brand. As I want plenty of speed and good quality. Thanks guy's zen
Here's link to a recent roundup of 22 hard disk drives on tomshardware.com, you'll see that the 250mb Hitachi drive in my sig is one of the recommended disks, its good, fast and only about $100 or so at newegg.com http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/20050927/index.html You need to know what style of interface you have, IDE, the old style with really WIDE cables, like those that connect your optical drives, or SATA with narrow cables, an inch or less wide. Most of the models tested have both IDE and SATA varieties.
Thank you very much, I will look inside my pc and see what cables I need. I am pretty sure that they are the big IDE cables. ThAT site is a great place to start once again thank you.
I have read most of that article, I checked in my device manager and it seems that I Have ultra ata instead of SATA. Would it be ok to upgade the new HD to SATA?
You'd have to have a SATA controller, either on the motherboard or as an add in card. Since you didn't post your system specs., I'm guessing you don't have that. From what little information you've given me, I'm guessing that you have an IDE drive already connected and an IDE controller, so you need an IDE drive. You can upgrade to SATA with an add in controller card.
O.k. sir what spec's would help out here? Sorry I have a 2.4 Ghz pentium 4 dell 4550 right now the hd is a 80 GB. Now when I look in side my PC I have the alotted space with the ide cable ready to plug into another HD. I was hoping that's all I needed to do. Just like when I plugged in my new dvd burner. Let me know what more info you need thanks ---zen-->
The easiest thing to do is to BUY another IDE drive, likely the new drive will be faster than the old drive, so you MAY want to take the old drive out, set your new drives DIP switch (little plug on back) to make it MASTER, then reinstall windows, and then your programs that you want (I tend to collect "junk" that I don't want to reinstall). Then you can take your old hard drive and set it's DIP switch to SLAVE and reinstall in your computer. (DON'T leave the old drive plugged in while reinstalling windows, it might "confuse" windows install routine and you'll have a mess.) On an IDE cable the MASTER disk goes on the LAST or terminal connector on the cable, the slave should go on the connector closest to the motherboard. That 250gb Hitachi IDE hard drive reviewed on tomshardware.com is recommended and only $97.46 at newegg.com http://www.tomshardware.com/storage/20050927/hd_round_up-20.html http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16822145090 If you don't want to reinstall windows then you can just set the DIP/jumper on the new drive to slave and put it on the slave connector on your ide cable. Shouldn't take more than 10 minutes and your ready to go.
First of all there are no dipswitches on a hard drive, only jumpers. If you add a 2nd hard drive make sure you set the jumper to slave, before connecting it to the second cable connector, along with your existing (master) drive. You can hardly go wrong with any Hard Drive from the major manufacturers these days, whether you choose maxtor, WD, seagate, hitachi, or maybe even samsung. Just make sure you set the jumper to slave when connecting it together with your existing drive on the same IDE cable. 16 MB cache is usuallly only offered on 250GB and up drives so don't worry about that, a 200GB hard drive with 8MB of cache performs just as well.
Thanks guy's I think I will buy one now you have armed me with enough knowlegde. Thank you all ---zen-->
what a 56 inch dlp?a projector.would think a monitor is clearer.why take it to the geek squad,thats real easy to do,the pc sort of does it for you.if your using windows[format,plug and play,reboot] peace
well (no offense to the person who origionally asked the question)by the questions he was asking it seems like he has no clue whats goin on i was juss tryin to save him from possily screwin up his pc
no offense takin.i hope your not mad.the geek squard is faily new right?i just saw the commerical a week ago.that was a smart idea,at home pc service.whats a 56dlp?just wondered,sounds interesting.
a tv dlp is a new form of projection..1.lamp instead of 3.but you half to replace them eery year so iim gonna get rid of mine and get a plasma.or buy a multi monitor kit with 4 17" MONITORS...geek squads about a year or 2 old...
Here is a link to explain all about DLP (Digital light projection) http://www.dlp.com/Default.asp?bhcp=1 BTW, I saw a 54" 3 or 4 months ago, much better than plasma, in fact I want one!
