New Hard Drive Help

[plastikaa]

Currently I have an 80gb hard drive on my PC whihc is partioned into 3 parts (BOOT 39gb / BACKUP 31.5gb / RECOVER 4gb)

Boot contains all my main files and prograsm etc., backup contains backups to my important files and recover is well recovery :P

I wanted to know a couple of things:

I want to put another hard drive into my PC, but ive never done so before. I was thinking about getting a 160gb hard drive.

Firstly does it matter what type of hard drvie I get for my PC, and if it does is there anyway I can find out what type I need?

I was looking at this one: http://www.pcwcomponentcentre.co.uk/invt/st3160023as
is it any good?

Once I have a new hard drive in my PC how difficult is it to set up? Im running Windows XP home, will it just detect all the new hardware automatically and promt me if I need to do anything?

The new hard drive will be used for storing video files and editing them that have been recorded off a digital camera (they use a lot of room), and so I will move my current video files from my current hard drvie to my new one and leave my old hard drive as the main drive for storing programs etc. so this should free up my other hard drive considerably so I have the majority of it spare. So the new hard drvie will be effectively be just a storage for video files and no programs or anything else will be stored on it.

Can someone offer help and advice,

Thanks,

[plastikaa]

Also when installing a new hard drive is there any risk or loosing information on my old hard drive? or should my old drive be unaffected. Im just wondering whether to back up all my files or just the most important ones.

[LooseChippings]

Originally posted by plastikaa Im just wondering whether to back up all my files or just the most important ones.

Whenever you add any new Hardware or Software there is always the chance of something going wrong.

Do a backup and you will probably never need it.

Don't backup and Murphy's Law says something will go wrong.

[Moreno]

Its not at all difficult to put a new harddrive into your PC. So don't worry about that.

Seagate is praised as the most quiet HD, so thats good.

But there are some requirments you should be aware of. This version comes with Serial ATA (SATA) interface so in order to use it you need SATA connectors on your motherboard. Which begs the question: What's the brand and model of your motherboard?

I would recommend you to look for an IDE HD as they are usually a little bit cheaper, and all motherboards support at least four IDE drives (hardrives and CD/DVD-roms)

Note that XinXP requires SP1 to support drives bigger than 127GB.
Other than that you will need to partition the new drive and assign a drive letter to it, for windows to list it in 'My Computer'.

Good luck and have fun

[plastikaa]

Ive done a bit more research into my PC (using SiSoftware Sandra) and I don't think my motherboard supports SATA so I will be going for an IDE hard drive, and most likely this one:

http://www.pcwcomponentcentre.co.uk/invt/6y160p0

My motherboard is a MSI (Micro Star International) KT400-8235
I looked at my Port Connectors and it says both my primary and secondary IDE are none - ATA / None. Does this mean they are both empty? Any questions about anything on my pc just ask me and I will try to find it out. I'm appreciating this help a lot!

Also Im almost 100% sure I have SP1 installed, I have all the windows updates installed that I find when I visit Microsoft Windows Updates, but I still looked at my installation history. I have quite a few things that say Service Pack 1 or SP1 after them.

I have a DVDRW drive and another DVD player drive, and 1 hard drive already. So I should have room? - I also have a 9in1 card reader will this be using one of the IDE spaces?

Also you mentioned I will need to partion it for it to list in 'My Computer' once Ive put the hard drive in, will XP auto detect it and I will just have to partion it or what exactly?

[plastikaa]

I do have service pack 1 installed definitely

[Moreno]

Originally posted by plastikaa
[b]Ive done a bit more research into my PC (using SiSoftware Sandra) and I don't think my motherboard supports SATA so I will be going for an IDE hard drive, and most likely this one:

http://www.pcwcomponentcentre.co.uk/invt/6y160p0

I would recommend Seagate if you want af quiet HD or Hitachi if you are looking for performance Maxtor is neither very fast nor very quiet. Maxtor is ok but its sort of in the middle!

This is a very good HD (i've got one myself )
http://www.pcwcomponentcentre.co.uk/invt/dstar160pse

It is proberply one of the fastest IDE (Parrellel ATA) drives on the market, and it is not that noisy either.
Its also has 8MB of buffer which would make it a very good system drive, so I would recomend you to make a small partion on it circa 10-15Gigs and install windows there in stead of using you old drive for that. You would still get aprox 135-140 Gigs of storage.

I have a DVDRW drive and another DVD player drive, and 1 hard drive already. So I should have room? - I also have a 9in1 card reader will this be using one of the IDE spaces?

Well you would need to open up you computer case then... I don't know whether the card reader is taking up an IDE connection. If it does... Then you would have dump one of the drives or the card reader, or alternativly you could purchase a pci controller for SATA or PATA drives.

But first open up you PC case, and find the back of the card reader, if it is connected to the motherboard with the same kind of flat/wide cable as your harddrive/DVDs then its using the last IDE connection! If you're lucky it might use the USB connector on the motherboard or a floppy cable (which looks like HD/DVD cables except its narrower)

Also you mentioned I will need to partion it for it to list in 'My Computer' once Ive put the hard drive in, will XP auto detect it and I will just have to partion it or what exactly?

Yes, winXPs partion tool will automaticly detect the new HD. I guess that you know how to partition a harddrive within windows as I presume that you partioned you current HD yourself.

[plastikaa]

Yes, winXPs partion tool will automaticly detect the new HD. I guess that you know how to partition a harddrive within windows as I presume that you partioned you current HD yourself.

Nope... the last hard drive was already partioned when I got my PC. But I can figure most things out if someone points me in the right direction. That hard drive you pointed out is also slightly cheaper than the one I looked at and appears to be slightly quicker.

I think my card reader is using a USB on my motherboard. As my physical hard drive info is as follows:

Removeable Drive - Floppy Disk
Hard Disk - MMC/SD USB Device
Hard Disk - CF USB Device
Hard Disk - MS USB Device
Hard Disk - SM USB Device
Hard Disk - 74.5GB Hard drive
CD-ROM/DVD - DVD ROM
CD-ROM/DVD - DVD RW

My current hard drive an ATA-100 Seagate Barracuda and it doesnt even make a noise, or at least I cant hear it! But noise isnt a real problem/concern anyway to me as long as its not making too much.

[plastikaa]

Okay I got my case off today and had a look inside properly, I have a free slot to put the hard drive (its directly under my current one) and I looked at how my current drives including my Seagate barracuda ATA drive was connected.

My current Hard drive connects to my motherbaord via the same cable as my DVD RW drive, then my DVD ROM drive connects to my motherboard aswell but the IDE cable for my DVD ROM drive also has a free place to plug another drive in (im guessing this is for another hard drive), but... the IDE cable wont reach the place for the extra hard drive to go, does this mean I need to replace the IDE cable with a longer one?

I know I also need a powere cable, there was a free one hanging around, so Im assuming this is again incase I want to add another hard drive.

All the other places in my case are full and cant fit anything else this is why im guessing these 2 free cables (IDE and power) are for another hard drive can someone just support this or tell me I'm horribly wrong please.

Also as im adding the hard drive to my PC aswell as the current one I will need to set the new one to slave wont I? - as my current hard drvie will be set to slave. Will it tell me in the instructions that come with my hard drive how to do this?

Thanks everyone for the replys!

[Moreno]

Spot on...

Just use the same IDE cable for the two DVD drives (connected to the secondary IDE port on the motherboard) and the two harddrives on the their cable (to the primary IDE port, usually closest to the CPU)

Now there is one little hurdle to get over, and that is setting all the devices as master and slave. This is done on the rear of the drives by placing 1 or 2 jumpers to a specific location you can see this guide for Hitachi HD.

If you want to keep your OS on your old drive, this disc needs to be set as the same type as it is now, presumebly master. you will the need to set your new drive to slave by setting the jumbers in accordance with pictures on the above link. Should you want to install the OS on you new drive (recomended) then I would suggest setting that drive as the master drive.

Furthermore the master drive should be connected to the cable at the end of the IDE cable. So that one end is connected to the motherboard and in the middle there is the slave drive and in in the other end the master drive.

For the DVDs you should set the burner as master.

It really isn't as complex as it sounds. But if you do as I have desribed above you should be clear of trouble.


Concerning how to partition the HD... I suggest you type partition into the search field in the winXP help and support (from the start menu).

[plastikaa]

Um... will changing the way my cables are wired affect anything else or is will I just have to change the master/slave jumpers.

My current setup is like so:

Motherboard -> Empty (slave) -> DVD ROM (master)
Motherboard -> Hard Drive (slave) -> DVD RW (master)

So you are suggesting either doing...

Motherboard -> DVD ROM (slave) -> DVD RW (master)
Motherboard -> Current Hard Drive (slave) -> New Hard Drive (and move OS) (master)

Motherboard -> DVD ROM (slave) -> DVD RW (master)
Motherboard -> New Hard Drive (slave) -> Current Hard Drive (master)

Or would I be best just doing this?

Motherboard -> New Hard Drive (slave) -> DVD ROM (master)
Motherboard -> Current Hard Drive (slave) -> DVD RW (master)

[Gene K]

BEFORE you do anything else, find out what kind of hard drive interface your system is supporting [ATA, ULTRA-ATA, SATA]. The easy way is to install AIDA32 [free] which you can get from here:http://www.onlythebestfreeware.com/p...program_id=175 . When you get it, click Storage/Windows Storage and then select [highlight] your current Hard Drive and look down the list until you find "Interface". You will see something like ATA/100 or ATA/133 or ULTRA-ATA/133, etc,. You need to match the new drive to that interface UNLESS you are certain another interface will be supported. You will also see your present drive's manufacturers name and model number. Go there and look around for helpful information.
Gene K

[plastikaa]

Well Ive just put the new hard drive in, and XP recognised it (its an ULTRA ATA 100, 120gb Western Digital) its currenlty formatting the hard drive so it appears everything went smoothly.

Thankyou everyone for the help, and now my hardware knowledge has grown a litle more.

[Gene K]

Congratulations. You apparently got the thing installed without significant problems. You now [if my addition is correct, 200GB] have more storage than most will ever need.

[plastikaa]

Im now up to drive letter m:/ - just 3 questions:

Why cant I have a drive b:/ ?
What happens after you have all the drive letters (A-Z)?
And my friend wants to know is it possible to change the letter of a drive?