General PC/Apple Hardware & Software Questions

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

Well I have a pretty simple question involving some hardware for my computer. I am sure others have or will have them as well so I just figured creating a general topic thread instead of creating a thread for one question would be much more sensible.

I am looking into getting a new HD for my computer. Nothing fancy, just so I can add more room. I don't mind external but it's just the price is a lot more than I want to pay and for much less storage room.

So if I buy an internal HD (looking at 200GB) if I already have a HD installed will I still be able to install another one? Or does it depend on what my tower can store? If I can, how difficult/easy will it be to do? Will I be able to extract it at a later date and use it on a different computer? If I can install it what will I have to do? Do I have to reformat my whole computer to run my current OS on it?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Malice]

Here is my question.
Are you more concerned with price or with the performance?

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

Here is my question.
Are you more concerned with price or with the performance?

Umm, well first could you answer mine? Is it even possible? Secondly both. But more so price rather than performance.

I just need to add some room. I have 40GB but it's partioned plus with the OS and other mandatory stuff it's more like 37GB.

I just wanted to add at least anotehr 100GB but I found a Maxtor 7200 RPM 200GB HD for $50. I don't think I can beat that. Unless you know where I can Malice?

 

[Malice]

Umm, well first could you answer mine? Is it even possible? Secondly both. But more so price rather than performance.

I just need to add some room. I have 40GB but it's partioned plus with the OS and other mandatory stuff it's more like 37GB.

I just wanted to add at least anotehr 100GB but I found a Maxtor 7200 RPM 200GB HD for $50. I don't think I can beat that. Unless you know where I can Malice?

200 HD for $50 is a great price...I say go with it.

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

200 HD for $50 is a great price...I say go with it.

Again though Malice, my other questions? Will I be able to install it and keep my current hard drive? I don't want to get rid of it or take it out if I don't have to. Can I have two HD at the same time?

 

[Malice]

Again though Malice, my other questions? Will I be able to install it and keep my current hard drive? I don't want to get rid of it or take it out if I don't have to. Can I have two HD at the same time?

You can do a few things really.

1 - Leave your original HD as the Master (with its two partitions) and add this new 200gb as a slave.
2 - Reformat the original HD as the Master and only have 1 partition on it, and add the new 200g as a slave
3 - Buy a new HardDrive USB external enclosure (20-40bucks) and use this harddrive via USB

Those are the three things I see offhand.

But YES, you can add this harddrive without affecting your PC pretty much at all.

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

You can do a few things really.

1 - Leave your original HD as the Master (with its two partitions) and add this new 200gb as a slave.
2 - Reformat the original HD as the Master and only have 1 partition on it, and add the new 200g as a slave
3 - Buy a new HardDrive USB external enclosure (20-40bucks) and use this harddrive via USB

Those are the three things I see offhand.

But YES, you can add this harddrive without affecting your PC pretty much at all.

Sweet thanks Malice. How complicated and worthwhile is step 3?

 

[Malice]

Sweet thanks Malice. How complicated and worthwhile is step 3?

That is actually the easiest...
Buy the enclosure, insert the drive in it...then basically plug it into the PC.

I assume you are running XP?

 

[jaguarr]

BAH, what model Mac do you have? I'm assuming it's a PowerMac, but which one? That will help me answer your question.

jag

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

I actually have a PC, running windows XP

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

That is actually the easiest...
Buy the enclosure, insert the drive in it...then basically plug it into the PC.

I assume you are running XP?

Where can these be found? Comp USA? Other?

 

[jaguarr]

I actually have a PC, running windows XP

Oh, I thought you were a Mac guy for some reason. At any rate, Malice's guidance is spot on since we're talking PC's.

jag

 

[black_dust]

Where can these be found? Comp USA? Other?

Any good computer reatiler will have External hard drives

 

[Malice]

Yeah
http://www.pricewatch.com/hard_drives/422389-1.htm
here is an example of hard drive enclosures...
I have one myself, just make sure you get one that fits a standard 3.5 inch drive if that is what you are going to get.

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

Thanks Malice and Jag, you probably thought I was a MAC guy from a previous thread I may have given the impression that I have a MAC, but I just want one

I just hooked up the HD as a slave as you suggested Malice and it works just fine. The only problem is that I can only access 127GB of the 200GB. But no big deal.

 

[jaguarr]

127 GB instead of 200? Hmmm....if you've got a copy of Partition Magic that might help you rescue the other 70GB's of missing space. The other thing to make sure of, is if you are running XP, make sure you have Service Pack 1 installed as there is a known issue with seeing more than 128GB of drive space on larger drives without it. I'd say it could also be a BIOS limitation, but I don't think XP is supposed to have that problem. You might check your BIOS settings, though, and make sure your BIOS doesn't have a setting that limits it from seeing more than 128 GB on hard drives, just in case. If it does have that limit, but won't let you change it, try upgrading your BIOS to the latest version.

But, yeah....get a Mac.

jag

 

[Malice]

What OS are you running HumBug?
It looks like the full drive is not being recognized...

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

I am running Windows XP Pro and I did recently upgrade to Service Pack 3. When I was reading the manual I came across everything Jag talked about in his above post. But I couldn't figure out where to find the BIOS upon booting the computer.

I noticed that the manual said if I wasn't running XP SP1 or higher that my computer may not recognize HD larger than 127/137GB.

But I did follow the steps to set up the upgrade...so...I don't know what the deal is?

 

[Malice]

Humm...I had the same problem with win 2000...I had to make a registry key entry to have it recognize large hard drives...lemme take a look at Microsoft.

 

[Malice]

When you boot your computer, to enter the BIOS, is usually ...F10, F8 or even F2...depends on the computer mother board manufacturer.

Shurt your computer down entirely then boot again, and look, you will see it popup in one of the corners...

You need to make sure first the BIOS recognizes the size...before the OS does.

 

[Kable24]

I'm running 2 hard drives in my computer right now. a 200GB partitioned at 10GB just for the OS and then the extra space for whatever I need. I then installed a second 300GB harddrive to install my programs on to run on the OS. So, if I have a windows problem, I won't have to reinstall all of those programs again. Humbug, it's very easy to install a second drive and they should have everything you need to install it in the new HD's box

 

[Malice]

Kable that is generally true...but there may be factors that are not working...BIOS may not be recognizing the full drive which may be fixed and then BAM, the problem can generally be resolved..

HUMBUG..
How old is the computer, or at least Motherboard to be more precise...

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

Kable that is generally true...but there may be factors that are not working...BIOS may not be recognizing the full drive which may be fixed and then BAM, the problem can generally be resolved..

HUMBUG..
How old is the computer, or at least Motherboard to be more precise...

Ooo, umm not sure exactly. It's an older Dell. A P3 1 MHZ. Not sure if that helps. Not sure what the mother board is.

 

[jaguarr]

When did you buy your computer? Did you get it directly from Dell? Do you know the model number? We might be able to find out what motherboard you have from Dell's support site and figure out how to get into your BIOS.

jag

 

[BAH HUMBBUG!]

Optiplex GX300

That help?