Help finding a new hard drive

[jmiles301]

Hello all,

Right now, the main problem with my current system is that the hard drive is maxed out (2 16GB). Other than that and it seems to work pretty well. I thought that maybe I should simply buy a new system since the prices have come down so much, but the more I think about it, the more it seems I can save by simply upgrading to a better hard drive. So my question is: I'm not sure exactly what type of hard drive I need and/or what would work best for my system's performance. For instance, I know that there are only certain slots that computers have and that there are different types of cards that have different pros and cons and such. The problem is, I'm not exactly sure what I am looking for and what makes sense from an economical point of view (i.e. what cards are overpriced for certain 'extras' that probably wouldn't make much of a difference). So is there any insight that anyone can provide me with here? I'm kind of fishing in the dark and I don't want to purchase something that doesn't work and/or doesn't make sense.

Thanks so much and Merry Christmas!

- Jon

[not important]

We need some system specs. If it's a prebuilt computer: Brand and model number.
I'm confused about "(2 16GB)" do you mean you have 2 separate 16GB hard drives?
There are basically two types of hard drives: PATA (IDE) and SATA.
PATA uses a wide flat ribbon cable (about 2 1/2 " wide)and SATA uses a narrow cable (about 3/8" wide).

[mattaggie]

You need to provide more information about what you currently have. If it is a brand name PC, give the model number. What operating system do you have?

If you are happy with your PC other than Hard drive space, you could just install a new hard drive (a 160GB would cost you around $45).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136112

With hard drives that small, your PC must be around 8 years old and lack many up-to-date features like DVD usage, making CDs DVDs, USB, storage space for music/video. We typically recommend building your own system here, but if you wanted to upgrade everything (monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer) its hard to beat the prices that Dell and HP offer for average computer use.

[jmiles301]

Yeah, you beat me to it. My comp is a Dell Precision 530 workstation. And yes, I currently have 2 split 16 GB hard drives, but they are dangerously close to being maxed out.

Thanks for the reply..

- Jon

[mattaggie]

I think the rule is that when and HDD is 80% its full, meaning that you start to lose performance when you go above 80%. Google your model says that it has Windows 2000, is this what you have?

Personally, I would look to get a new computer. In 2001 your PC cost almost $4000. Today you can get new everything for around $600.

But if you just want to upgrade your Hard drive, you can do this. Just get one like the one I linked above.

[not important]

Here are some IDE drives from Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...Ultra%20ATA100

[jmiles301]

It is an older computer, but everything seems to work fine except that I am running out of hard drive space and it is clearly affecting performance. I've been looking around for a new system as well, but I figure if I can simply upgrade my hard drive for 100 bucks or so that I can effectively save myself a few hundred bucks.

My current OS is Windows XP. And I believe that my current hard drive config is 2, 16 GB RAID (but not the type that mirrors). Thanks again.

- Jon

[shadowpr]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148236

That hd should off you off for a while if the computer still works to your standards. If you do decide to price out a build, then just let us know. A basic build usually doesn't cost much. It's things like monitor, and OS that add to the cost significantly.

[glc]

Time out, folks - that model may have SCSI drives. Would you please post your service tag number?

[jmiles301]

I'm away from my comp right now, but I will post my service tag once I get home tomorrow. Thanks..

[jmiles301]

My service tag is c3z8321

And it looks like I am currently running the follow HD's:

FUJITSU MAM3184MP SCSI Disk Device 16.95Gb
FUJITSU MAM3184MP SCSI Disk Device 16.95Gb

And I have heard that upgrading these types of drives can be very expensive and maybe not worth it.... ?

[glc]

Yep, those are SCSI and large SCSI drives are very expensive. However, the board does have 2 IDE connectors, and you can add IDE drives to expand your storage. I do not know if it would support drives larger than 120gb though.

[jmiles301]

Curious, why would that be the case? And are there any specific IDE recommendations that you can make? Or are they all going to be pretty similiar?

[not important]

IDE drives are pretty similar. The link I provided in post #6 are what Newegg has available in IDE.

[glc]

That machine was from the time when bios support for drives larger than 137gb was just becoming common. This is a very reliable 80gb drive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148236

If you can find out from Dell if larger is supported (keyword is "48 bit LBA support"), throw one of these beasts in:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136111

[jmiles301]

I'm not sure how much merit there is to this, but I'm being told that the older systems can recognize these larger drives either through the install disk that comes with the drive or by doing a manual BIOS update. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

[glc]

A supporting BIOS or a PCI controller card would be the only way I'd trust it. Again, check with Dell, not all pre "48 bit LBA" bioses can be updated. There is actually an excellent chance yours will support it as is.

[jmiles301]

Well, for those that are curious, Dell just informed me that, due to the controller card, the system is not able to support a bigger drive than the aforementioned 137.

[glc]

It's almost impossible to find a 120gb IDE drive these days, but there are plenty of 80's available. Assuming your optical drive is IDE, and you only have one, you can install 3 IDE hard drives.

[jmiles301]

I think I'm leaning more towards either buying a pre-built system or attempting to build one myself at this point. Still not sure about the feasibility of the latter option, but I'm considering it...

Thanks for all your help.

[glc]

I'd be more concerned about ram upgrades on the old one than hard drive upgrades - that thing uses RDRAM.