getting the right hard disk

[jtay]

A newbie here, so sorry if this has been asked before. I want to change my hard disk. My PC is a few years old and, based on the hard disk already there, 150GB SAMSUNG SP1604N (as a second disk) I have UDMA 133. Was going to buy a 500GB SATA drive, till I thought more about it.

Need help with:

1. Can a SATA drive be used, if so, how would I connect it? adapters etc?
2. Would it be better going for another UDMA type?
3. I imagine the potential speed of a new SATA drive will be compromised by connecting to UDMA setup? or not?
4. I want 500GB, don't want to pay much, want the drive to be very reliable, live in UK. Any recommendations?
5. Anything else I should be careful with?

While I think about it. My PC is usb 1.1 (?). I tried to upgrade to USB 2 with a PCI card and couldn't get it to work. Is it that some older motherboards just won't allow USB 2, even with a suitable card?

Thanks

Chris

[pentachris]

Hi Chris, Chris here. :) Welcome to the forums!

1. You'll need an open PCI slot and a PCI SATA controller card to put in it. Your power supply probably doesn't have SATA power connections, so you'll probably also need a molex-to-SATA power adapter to power the drive.
2. Hard to say not knowing what your future upgrade plans are. A SATA drive will be better to take to your next system - probably worth it unless you plan on keeping this one going as is for several more years.
3. No, I don't think so. If I'm correct though, the speed that SATA300 is theoretically capable of is faster than the PCI bus can handle.
4. Seagate is top on my list right now, but they are a bit more expensive than other good brands, such as WD.
5. Putting two hard drives right next to each other can cause heat issues - make sure you've got adequate ventilation in your case.

As for the USB issue, as long as you're running XP I can't think of why it shouldn't be able to work. I know that 98 can't handle USB2 - not sure about ME or 2000.

[jtay]

Thanks for the reply Chris. For futureproofing will go the SATA route, then. Will cost up the other bits and pieces I'm going to need. I was looking at Seagate Barracuda 500GB drives for £80 at dabs.com, which seemed reasonable enough.

The USB problem left me completely confused. I won't go into detail, which would take too long, but I kept ending up with a device driver for USB 1 controller, not 2. I contacted the PCI card manufacturer, amongst others, who couldn't solve things for me. I just thought it was something motherboards specific perhaps.

Chris

[Sylvander]

I'm using a Hewlett Packard PC made in 1999.
Fitted a PCI to USB 2.0 Controller Card, which worked just fine.
The "Software Driver Disk" [CD] includes drivers for Win98/2000/ME.
I think I was running Win98 prior to this and had to upgrade to Win98SE in preparation to suit the drivers supplied for the external USB 2.0 IDE HDD enclosure to be installed after this.

See http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=36915

[pentachris]

I stand (somewhat) corrected, Sylvander - I searched around and 98 can handle USB2 with third party drivers. Later versions can use USB2 with drivers from MS.

[Sylvander]

We all live and learn eh? :)

But how does one remember all this stuff? :confused:

[Fruss Tray Ted]

But how does one remember all this stuff?

But, with more storage space! Of course!! :p

[pentachris]

But how does one remember all this stuff? :confused:

If I'm a representative sample, one obviously doesn't! :o