Soo.. My machine is a Pentium2 350mhz with a 10 gig hard drive. Occasionally on boot up it just stalls and the HD never clicks over. I cold boot and its fine...sometimes it take a couple cold boots. I am running out of hard drive space anyway so I figure I'll buy a bigger drive. I would like something at least 40 gig and it has to be compatible with my system. Have hard drives changed much? I have been out of the hardware game for awhile so I am afraid of buying some ultra ada gizmo doohickey only to find out my IDE hookups don't work. So how about it? thoughts on which one? anyone know a reputable place with real good prices? :?:
where to get a good deal on a hard drive?
- Thread starter CraigLC
- Start date
Fushigi
Storage Is My Life
More than you need, but here's an 80GB drive for $60 after rebates. It should work in your machine without any particular problems.
You can get away with a smaller drive, like a 40GB unit. But finding one that'll be less expensive may take a little research.
You should also notice a small boost in speed from migrating to a new drive.
You can get away with a smaller drive, like a 40GB unit. But finding one that'll be less expensive may take a little research.
You should also notice a small boost in speed from migrating to a new drive.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
You motherboard probably won't be able to boot off a drive that big. You may want to buy a Promise IDE controller at the same time. That'll probably add $25 to purchase price.
Doh! now you tell me! :eekers: Well I bought the last one they had at the store since the store was close by to me and it says on the packaging that it has software to overcome the largeness. Not a quote but that was the idea it conveyed. I have never heard of a promise controller. Where are those available at? and how do they hook up? are they simply made for only this purpose? large HD on an older machine?
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
The software is icky. Don't use it.
Icky, I tell you.
That's a technical term.
You should be able to get a PCI IDE disk controller whereever you bought the hard disk. Promise is just a popular brand.
Icky, I tell you.
That's a technical term.
You should be able to get a PCI IDE disk controller whereever you bought the hard disk. Promise is just a popular brand.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
An 80 GB drive should probably work on a PII. IIRC, the 32 GB problem dated back to some old Pentium M/Bs with an Award 4.51PG BIOS. Anything newer should work up to 137 GB.
The purpose of a Promise controller is twofold. First, it lets you use drives larger than your M/B may be able to recognize. The newest controllers(Ultra133TX2) use 48-bit LBA, which for all intents and purposes is unlimited drive capacity(actually 144 PB). The second purpose is to give you transfer modes that your M/B may not be capable of. Your PII is probably capable of no more than UltraDMA33(33 MB/sec). This will bottleneck any new drive you buy since most are capable of maximum STRs in the 50 to 60 MB/sec range. With the Promise controller your drive will run at maximum speed.
The purpose of a Promise controller is twofold. First, it lets you use drives larger than your M/B may be able to recognize. The newest controllers(Ultra133TX2) use 48-bit LBA, which for all intents and purposes is unlimited drive capacity(actually 144 PB). The second purpose is to give you transfer modes that your M/B may not be capable of. Your PII is probably capable of no more than UltraDMA33(33 MB/sec). This will bottleneck any new drive you buy since most are capable of maximum STRs in the 50 to 60 MB/sec range. With the Promise controller your drive will run at maximum speed.
Hmm... I don't see "icky" in my listing of technical terms from Webster... :lol: regardless I will try and pick one of those PCI IDE controllers. even if the hard drive was recognized okay I am very interested in anything that makes my machine a little faster and therfore last a little longer. All my money is tied up in my cars..no extra to buy a new machine.
Buck
Storage? I am Storage!
I will have to include the word "icky" in my list of definitions on my website.
blakerwry
Storage? I am Storage!
JTR, i've seen 440BX boards only support 8GB drives.. all depends on the mobo maker and how good they are at BIOS updates.
Well I built this machine myself years ago... still runs pretty good. I have never once in its existance updated its BIOS. I am in the if its not borke don't fix it minority with this. It has developed a weird problem with Internet Explorer though...sometimes IE just throws an errors and shuts down all active IE windows. It also has a random unocumented feature where my hard drive doesn't seem to kick over...like turning the key on a car and finding a dead battery. This is most of the reason I plan on rebuilding it. Since I was wiping my hard drive and starting over I figured I should get myself a little more room anyway since my hard drive may be failing.
blakerwry
Storage? I am Storage!
i totally understand.
It's always a good idea to update your hardware if you're diing a clean install anyway... you don't want old device drivers clogging up your system or creating conflicts.
it also lets you get a chance to create backups, etc so that you are prepared incase things don't go 100% right.
An IDE controller from Promise or SIIG would be a good choice, and the hard drive you purchased should be much speedier than your old one.
It's always a good idea to update your hardware if you're diing a clean install anyway... you don't want old device drivers clogging up your system or creating conflicts.
it also lets you get a chance to create backups, etc so that you are prepared incase things don't go 100% right.
An IDE controller from Promise or SIIG would be a good choice, and the hard drive you purchased should be much speedier than your old one.
CougTek
Hairy Aussie
Are you Swede?CraigLC said:
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
Buck said:
Why isn't it there yet?
