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07-19-2006, 05:05 PM
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#1 |
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 15
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Adding USB hard drive to dinosaur ...
My mom has a Gateway P5-100 (pentium, 100 mhz) computer running Windows 98 (not SE), and the 1 GB hard drive is almost full. My thought is to add an external USB hard drive until she decides to upgrade (maybe a year or so).
Is it possible to add a USB 2.0 PCI card to this, or will it only be able to use USB 1.1 ? If it will only take USB 1.1, are new hard drives backwards compatible? Thanks. |
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07-19-2006, 05:08 PM
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#2 |
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Staff
Premium Member
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Cardiff, Wales. UK
Posts: 6,105
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Windows 98 and USB are not a very good mix, have you got anything running on usb at the moment?
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Niwa no niwa ni wa, niwa no niwatori wa niwaka ni wani o tabeta. |
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07-19-2006, 05:14 PM
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#3 |
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 15
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No USB on her machine at all, would have to add a card.
Would it be easier to just install a second internal hard drive? |
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07-19-2006, 05:32 PM
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#4 |
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Staff
Premium Member
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Cardiff, Wales. UK
Posts: 6,105
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It would be easier to install a second harddrive but again you will be limited in size by the BIOS, you could be limited to 8gig, 16gig or if you are very lucky 32gig.
Do you have all the original installation CD's for that machine? |
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07-20-2006, 08:55 AM
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#5 |
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Apr 2006
Posts: 15
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I'm sure she has the original CD and manuals somewhere .. I'll find them this weekend. The BIOS size limitation is OK - she won't fill it up before I can convice her to get a new computer!
I was thinking that the USB drive would be easier to move when she does get a new computer, but if it's too difficult to set up now, I'll put in the internal drive instead. Last edited by spuds22; 07-20-2006 at 08:58 AM. |
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07-20-2006, 04:58 PM
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#6 |
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Forum Administrator
Staff
Premium Member
Join Date: May 2000
Location: Joplin MO
Posts: 37,769
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The bios size limitation IS significant - if you try to put too big a drive in there, it will not even get past POST, it will just hang.
I would be very surprised if that bios can handle over 8 gigs. It may be even less - I've seen early Pentiums top out at 2 gigs. Convince her to pop for one of those $299 Dells - it will be worlds better than what she has. |
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