News3 mins ago
3 Hard drives?
I have 2X80 gig hard drives at present and they are both nearly full. Can I fit a third hard drive whilst still keeping my two CD Roms, if this is not possible on a standard mobo what mobo would I need. I'm running windows XP pro, 3.2 processor, Pentium 4 and 2 gig of DD ram? I am still in a quandary about Vista, I could put Vista on New hard drive and have dual boot option? Your advice would be appreciated, many thanks in advance!!
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Well you have 2 choices:
1) Replace one of the 80G hard drives with a larger one (200G or bigger). Very easy to do.
2) Start backing up what you have on your existing hard drives.
I see little reason to keep 160Gb of data on a hard drive if it does not need to be there.
Remember a hard disk can crash in seconds. The platters spin at thousands of revolutions a second, and the read heads hang over the platter with a gap thinner than a human hair.
You only need the read head to crash into the platter and you have lost EVERYTHING on that hard disk.
If you have a DVD writer start backing up everything to DVD and gradually delete it from the hard disk.
1) Replace one of the 80G hard drives with a larger one (200G or bigger). Very easy to do.
2) Start backing up what you have on your existing hard drives.
I see little reason to keep 160Gb of data on a hard drive if it does not need to be there.
Remember a hard disk can crash in seconds. The platters spin at thousands of revolutions a second, and the read heads hang over the platter with a gap thinner than a human hair.
You only need the read head to crash into the platter and you have lost EVERYTHING on that hard disk.
If you have a DVD writer start backing up everything to DVD and gradually delete it from the hard disk.
You have enough to worry about with your hard disks so DO NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT VISTA.
I have worked in software development and Vista was a classic example of releasing software before it was ready.
Microsoft senior management obviously put pressure on people in Microsoft to get it out, BUT IT ISNT FINISHED.
Why give Microsoft money for a product they have not finished yet.
Plus there are still hundreds of Vista drivers missing for all sorts of hardware.
There is still loads of software that does not have versions that run under Vista.
Give it six months or so, after they have relased a service pack perhaps, then think about it.
I have worked in software development and Vista was a classic example of releasing software before it was ready.
Microsoft senior management obviously put pressure on people in Microsoft to get it out, BUT IT ISNT FINISHED.
Why give Microsoft money for a product they have not finished yet.
Plus there are still hundreds of Vista drivers missing for all sorts of hardware.
There is still loads of software that does not have versions that run under Vista.
Give it six months or so, after they have relased a service pack perhaps, then think about it.
After vehelpfulguy's doom-laden explanation of the fragility of hard disk magnetic media for backup purposes, I do hope nobody scares you further with the projected shelf-life (real, not manufacturers figures) of some optical media (CDs, DVDs), especially those at the low end of the market.
As to the addition of another hard drive, it will depend on your mobo (does it support IDE, SATA, or both and does it have any unused drive connectors) or you could even install a controller card.
Which mobo do you have?
As to the addition of another hard drive, it will depend on your mobo (does it support IDE, SATA, or both and does it have any unused drive connectors) or you could even install a controller card.
Which mobo do you have?
This is my Mobo http://www.asrock.com.tw/manual/P4V88+.pdf however, I am quite happy to purchase a new Mobo if you can tell me which one is best suited.
Thanks!!
Thanks!!
The specs in that document indicate you have 2 IDE connectors, each with 2 channels (support for 4 PATA or equivalent drives), and 2 SATA connectors (support for 2 SATA drives).
Your 2 optical drives will be using 2 of the 4 IDE channels; presumably the hard disks you already have also use IDE (i.e. they are PATA drives) but you need to check this. A physical inspection of your mobo will show you which type of drive, SATA or PATA can be easily installed in your system.
Your 2 optical drives will be using 2 of the 4 IDE channels; presumably the hard disks you already have also use IDE (i.e. they are PATA drives) but you need to check this. A physical inspection of your mobo will show you which type of drive, SATA or PATA can be easily installed in your system.
Your board supports 6 drives in total.
You currently have 4 installed; it is possible for 2 more to be fitted. (Is there space inside the case to fit another disk drive?).
You need to physically look at the board and compare it to the diagram in the PDF guide, this will show you which connectors you have spare. The connectors are marked as IDE1, IDE2, SATA1 and SATA2.
There could be an issue with your power supply, although many years ago I had 5 drives running comfortably off a 200W PSU.
You currently have 4 installed; it is possible for 2 more to be fitted. (Is there space inside the case to fit another disk drive?).
You need to physically look at the board and compare it to the diagram in the PDF guide, this will show you which connectors you have spare. The connectors are marked as IDE1, IDE2, SATA1 and SATA2.
There could be an issue with your power supply, although many years ago I had 5 drives running comfortably off a 200W PSU.
Kempie, thanks for that useful advice, I have checked my Mobo and yes I do have 2 sata sockets spare, I also have a 400W PSU so that shouldn't be a problem.
Phantaxus, thanks for the advice but I am not a lover of external units, especially if I have room for it internally and very rarely would I need to use it on another PC, they are probably more expensive as well, for someone else I am sure it would be an ideal solution though.
Many thanks all for your great advice!!!
Phantaxus, thanks for the advice but I am not a lover of external units, especially if I have room for it internally and very rarely would I need to use it on another PC, they are probably more expensive as well, for someone else I am sure it would be an ideal solution though.
Many thanks all for your great advice!!!
you can either fit a usb hard drive externaly in a caddy or you can get an internal pci ide or sata card and install it internaly to that
personaly i would buy a couple of 250 gig drives and ghost(TM) (new to this bit of so put the tm in just in case) one 80 to one 250 and then ghost the other to the other. then you have 500 gig with only about 165 used
personaly i would buy a couple of 250 gig drives and ghost(TM) (new to this bit of so put the tm in just in case) one 80 to one 250 and then ghost the other to the other. then you have 500 gig with only about 165 used
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