protein_folder
05-07-2001, 03:30 PM
Hello, hardware newbie here. I know how to use the software pretty well when the computer's on and put together, but I've usually relied on other people to assemble the machines for me, so sorry if this question is redundant/obvious.
Anyway, my gf's hard drive on her machine has died, and she would like to get a new one. (she's going to get a new computer eventually, but she'd also like the old one to work--she's going to be away at school most of the week and come back on weekends, and rather than get an expensive laptop (which she'd rather not have anyway) she wants to fix this box and get a cheaper desktop box, and the whole deal ought to be less expensive than a good laptop).
Unfortunately, since I don't know that much about hard drives, I'm not exactly sure how this works. I do know that she had an ATA-3 drive (she has a 133 Mhz Pentium), but I don't know what type motherboard she has, or how to go about finding that out. We went to the computer store the other day and found a 30 GB hard disk (an Ultra ATA/66) for pretty cheap, but I need to know, can I just swap the drives out (if all the cables are there or whatever) or if I need to get a PCI card or something like that? If someone more knowledgeable than myself could please help me out this would be greatly appreciated.
Also, if I do get a drive, how difficult is it to install and configure, and how difficult is it to install an OS on it?
Anyway, my gf's hard drive on her machine has died, and she would like to get a new one. (she's going to get a new computer eventually, but she'd also like the old one to work--she's going to be away at school most of the week and come back on weekends, and rather than get an expensive laptop (which she'd rather not have anyway) she wants to fix this box and get a cheaper desktop box, and the whole deal ought to be less expensive than a good laptop).
Unfortunately, since I don't know that much about hard drives, I'm not exactly sure how this works. I do know that she had an ATA-3 drive (she has a 133 Mhz Pentium), but I don't know what type motherboard she has, or how to go about finding that out. We went to the computer store the other day and found a 30 GB hard disk (an Ultra ATA/66) for pretty cheap, but I need to know, can I just swap the drives out (if all the cables are there or whatever) or if I need to get a PCI card or something like that? If someone more knowledgeable than myself could please help me out this would be greatly appreciated.
Also, if I do get a drive, how difficult is it to install and configure, and how difficult is it to install an OS on it?