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SATA Hard Drive

2265 Views 27 Replies 3 Participants Last post by  Brum, 
S
Hi there

I am thinking of getting new HD as the one i have is getting filled up too quickly.

The drive i have at the moment is "WDC WD800AB-00CBA1" which is an IDE drive and was thinking of getting a SATA drive as was advised by someone.

my motherboard is:

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Support/Motherboard/Driver_Model.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=1881&ProductName=GA-K8NSC-939

and says is is ok for SATA connectors.

The connector for the power cable is differant on the SATA drive and looks like i will need an adapted which i have a link below.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=46763&DOY=search&C=SEO&U=Strat12

Is This correct?

I have a cable that i got with my motherboard which is red and has the following "Serial ATA 26AWG LIAN PENG" on the side which looks like the data cable for the SATA drive.

Also should i have any problems with the amount of HD space as some people can only see 137GB or less and if i get a bigger drive than that will i be able to see it all as i have Windows XP Pro with SP2 installed (or will install with the new drive alone)
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Thanks for the quick reply DustyJay.

I knew that i would not be able to see the full disc but the difference would not be all that great.

I am not sure how to change the jumpers on the back of the drive, is it easy?

I was thinking of getting an OEM drive from ebuyer which will not have any cables etc will i need to get something to change the jumpers or are they the same as on the DVD-ROMS when changing from MAster to slave?
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Just going to have a look at the drive, looks good.

The drive i was looking at is in the link below:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=24446733157&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X3NwZWNpZmljYXRpb25z&product_uid=95683

But still have not completely decided.

As long as i make sure it has the power cable that is like this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Molex_female_connector.jpg

then am i ok?

is it expensive for shipping to ship to the UK as most sites i buy from are UK based?
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Thanks for all the info which is great.

i presume i do not need to download the Raid drivers to use when installing XP pro when asked to press F6 as i am only having 1 drive.

But if i was to add my drive i have at the moment as a 2nd drive how would i go about doing this?
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Thanks for the reply BRUM

That is good info

Will maybe think about that but what i was really wanting was a fresh install on the new drive are these the correct instructions about doing:

1. replace the drive that is in the machine at the moment. If i was thinking of the drive i saw in a prev post (WD 400GB) then is should have the same data/power ports that i have at the moment.
2. turn on the machine at BIOS press del (i think) and change the bios to see the SATA drive and the boot order to boot from the CD.
3. restart with the winXP disc in the drive and install XP as normal (it should see the drive ok without any added drivers)

Does this seem ok!!!

If i wanted to add the IDE drive i have at moment as a backup drive just keep it in or will it need to be setup differently (I would likely wipe it and start a fresh).
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Thanks for the instructions Drum

They look very clear to me, I have formatted my machine and installed windows XP loads of times so i know what most of the screens are and the screen for partitioning and hopefully the PC will recognise the new drive..

I am not completely 100% on the BIOS side and will have a good look to check the next time i reboot.

If i install windows on the new drive (with windows still existing on the old one) will there be any conflict or asking to boot up with both windows?

Like the idea of the USB HDD but as you mentioned it has to be powered and probably cannot boot from it.

I will probably buy a drive that has the 12v power cable as i think that is what i use at the moment but could check that out when i open my machine again. but will not use both!!!!!!!!
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Thanks have just bought the WD4000KD drive and just had it delivered.

It is something to look forward to when i get home from work. Hopefully it will al go through smoothly and will follow the instructions that i was given on this forum.


PS.. I have just installed the drive but have no screws at the moment to secure it in. It is sitting on top of the Floppy drive but pushed in.

the bios recognised the drive and windows now does and am in the middle of formatting it. It started at 7:10pm and is now at 75% after 1 and a half hours of formatting. (I can only see 372.61Gb but expected to lose a little.

Thanks

Startreker
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It does seem a lot but am not sure whether to boot from the new drive or just keep the old drive booting. It works fine at the moment booting from the old drive so why change when things are ok.

It took about 2 hours to format the thing, but lucky i was able to use the machine at the same time as i was formatting in windows instead of using the Windows XP disk.

I moved the "My documents" over to the new drive but was not sure about the page file and how to do that.

Will it make a difference with using the computer if i move the page file to the new drive and how do i do that?
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Cheers Brum

I have not had a chance to check if my old HD is 7200RPM and will have to get some software to check that.

I changed the Pagefile and made the old drive have no Pagefile as you suggested.

I think i will keep the windows that i have instead of formatting unless i get a problem.

The system is running better but only 1 problem that is easily solved which is my 2nd DVD writer is asking to burn disks at 2x instead of 16x (which is what the disks and the writer are) they ask up to 16x on my other writer but can easily buy a new one to replace it if it gives any more problem.

It is not a hassle at all as i burn on the other drive anyway.

It is running the best for now (Until i fiddle with it again and do something i shouldn't, lol)

Startrekker
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