Replacing a Hard Disc Drive

[AJC]

Hi,

Some threads ago, the symptoms I reported on my PC were diagnosed as my HDD as being on it's way out.

I now wish to replace my current Western Digital Enhanced IDE Hard Drive (8455.2MB). What size drive can I go up to without looking at 'partitioning' and am I looking for any type of IDE hard drive?

Current HDD is removed. Any pitfalls I should look out for when replacing?

Any recommendations for purchasing a new one?

All comments/advice will be gratefully received.

Cheers.

AJ

[jjsaul]

The max. size you can have depends on your OS, on winxp i think its 137Gb.

When you're looking, you want a 7200rpm drive, preferably with an 8mb Cache, this means that you'll get decent performance out of it.

From personal experience i would recommend Seagate drives.

As for buying a new one, the cheapest places are online. I use ebuyer.com and from them i got a 200Gb SATA seagate barracuda for £76 :)

[jjsaul]

Just had a quick glance and this is the sort of thing:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=52159

That drive has lots of 5 star reviews.

[AJC]

Cheers for the replies JJ.

My PC OS is Windows 98. I've only got a PII MMX processor on the PC so if I were to put Windows XP OS on it, I would no doubt have to upgrade the processor too which I don't want to do.

Any idea the max size I can go to with Windows 98?

Coincidence you were looking at that site: I was looking there but at an upgrade of my current HD - www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=6513236704&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=23275 (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?rb=6513236704&action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=23275)

Will that be compatable with Windows 98?

Cheers

AJ

[AJC]

Just flicked through the Windows 98 handbook and I read it that if you convert the File System to FAT32 it should be okay on a disc size between 2GB and 2TB (terabytes).

Can anyone confirm this please?

AJ

[jjsaul]

I don't know what size you can go up to with win98 without partitioning ( ihavnt used 98 for years :rolleyes: )

If you were thinking of upgrading the processor as well , the cheapest option IMHO is to buy a new system, and sell your old one.

On ebay now you can buy AMD 64bit 3Ghz systems for £375. Or alternatively build it yourself if you think you are capable.

[AJC]

I just knew someone would suggest that!!!:(

If I can repair the PC for £50 or so I'd rather do that. It is primitive but as it's the secondry unit for bank files and storing photographs I don't want to spend too much. If it was completely 'tits up' then I'd ditch it without replacing it and just use the lappy.

Cheers

AJ

[jjsaul]

I just knew someone would suggest that!!!:(

If I can repair the PC for £50 or so I'd rather do that. It is primitive but as it's the secondry unit for bank files and storing photographs I don't want to spend too much. If it was completely 'tits up' then I'd ditch it without replacing it and just use the lappy.

Cheers

AJ

oh right ok.

probably not worth upgrading the processor then for what you use it for.

if i were you, just stick a new HDD in.

[Bryan]

The size of hard drive your computer will recognise is determined by your motherboard BIOS not your Operating System. Your operating system will dictate how you must partition it.

You need to find the make and model of your motherboard and check which drives it will work with, if it's only a few years old then it will be quite a high capacity.

If it's an older board then there may also be BIOS updates for it to enable larger drives.

[AJC]

Cheers Bryan,

Back inside the box then. Unless I can find the original spec sheet.

AJ

[Gordon Steele]

If you are thinking of putting XP on your system they are several things to think about, one is the size of you hard drive. I have an idea that XP takes a huge 2GB of space on its own. you also have to think about your RAM (working memory), XP requires a minimum of 128mb.

I have until recently used windows 95 with no problems at all. I have only upgraded because my old system could not cope with printers and scanners that I wanted. So my son now uses the old win 95. So there is nothing wrong with using Windows 98. As far as I know, most win 98 came with a 2GB hard drive, which once again, there is nothing wrong with 2GB. I have a second hard drive as a back up, that is also 2GB If you intend just using the hard drive for files, I would say 2GB is more than big enough. You could, like me, put two drives in, that way, if one goes belly up, you still have the other.

I would say that you could pick up an old drive from a PC shop, not a big place like PC World as they would have no interest in things like that, but prehaps a smaller "back street" shop may be able to help you more.

Gordon

[AJC]

If you are thinking of putting XP on your system they are several things to think about, one is the size of you hard drive. I have an idea that XP takes a huge 2GB of space on its own. you also have to think about your RAM (working memory), XP requires a minimum of 128mb.

I have until recently used windows 95 with no problems at all. I have only upgraded because my old system could not cope with printers and scanners that I wanted. So my son now uses the old win 95. So there is nothing wrong with using Windows 98. As far as I know, most win 98 came with a 2GB hard drive, which once again, there is nothing wrong with 2GB. I have a second hard drive as a back up, that is also 2GB If you intend just using the hard drive for files, I would say 2GB is more than big enough. You could, like me, put two drives in, that way, if one goes belly up, you still have the other.

I would say that you could pick up an old drive from a PC shop, not a big place like PC World as they would have no interest in things like that, but prehaps a smaller "back street" shop may be able to help you more.

Gordon

Cheers for that Gordon.

I'm sticking with my Windoes 98 on the PC. I went out this afternoon and got hold of a 40GB hard drive. Apparently, '98' will only operate up to 32 MB and will not recognise the rest of the drive. It does however, require to be particioned. Only problem I have now is the PC recognising the new HDD. When I do to use FDISK at the DOS promp it won't recognise a HDD being there. Mucking around with the 'jumpers'.

Cheers

AJ

[dynamited]

If the harddisk is at the furthest side of the IDE cable, set it as Master.

When the system boots.. get into the bios, by hitting DEL ... and see that its beening seen in there.

Sure the cable is right way round? The pink stripe on the IDE cable has to be on Pin No1 on the hard disk... which should be closest to the Power cable if im not wrong.

Set it as autodetect.. and see if it finds the hard disk. Otherwise you might need to manually enter its cylinders, heads etc etc. It shouldnt be THAT old.

But find out the exact motherboard model and goto its manufacturers website... and google some forums.. you might find some incompatibilities documented, if any.

[AJC]

All sorted and back up and running with my new Samsung 40GB HDD from PC World. Aout £15 more than buying it online but it was there so I had it. COuld have fitted it in no time had there been an installation guide. It wasn't until I found one on line that I realised that there should have been two jumpers with the HDD not just one!!

Anyway, all sorted. Thanks for your help especially Bryan who saved me from buying an 80GB HDD that I could only have used half of.

AJ

[Bryan]

There is a patch for this on microsofts website so that you can use the whole 40gig :)


Cheers for that Gordon.

I'm sticking with my Windoes 98 on the PC. I went out this afternoon and got hold of a 40GB hard drive. Apparently, '98' will only operate up to 32 MB and will not recognise the rest of the drive. It does however, require to be particioned. Only problem I have now is the PC recognising the new HDD. When I do to use FDISK at the DOS promp it won't recognise a HDD being there. Mucking around with the 'jumpers'.

Cheers

AJ

[Bryan]

WIndows 98 supports way more than 32Gb drives and partitions, the information you have been given is wrong. However, scandisk plays up with more than a 32Gb partition in Windows 98 hence the need for the patch from microsoft to fix it.

[Bryan]

Presuming your drive, cable and jumper settings are all fine, the next thing you need to address if you still cannot register the drive in DOS is your BIOS. Your operating system might support it but this won't be any use to you unless DOS can at least see the presence of the drive.

[AJC]

******!

Two blokes in PC World had different opinions: One said 40GB max HDD and the other (more senior) said 32GB max HDD after I told them my Motherboard details.

Too late now, but do you reckon with the patch I could have had a HDD larger than the 40GB?

Cheers

AJ

[Bryan]

If you told him the motherboard details and he is familiar with the board (highly unlikely of a pc world tech but you may have one of those odd ones who knows stuff) then he may be correct but if you can't get DOS (fdisk) to detect it then your in a mess.

If they suggested that drive for that machine then take the base unit into the store and invite them to fit it for you :)

[Saratoga]

Cheers for the replies JJ.

My PC OS is Windows 98. I've only got a PII MMX processor on the PC so if I were to put Windows XP OS on it, I would no doubt have to upgrade the processor too which I don't want to do.

I have been through this with my machines as well :(

Basically it is all well and good getting a super duper hard drive, until you plug it in and the bios refuses to even look at you.

If your 8gb drive has failed then you know at least an 8gb will fit, and you can get them for stupidly cheap at the moment.

However, if you can get a 10gb in there then chances are you can get at least a 32gb in there....

Having not read the rest of the thread yet (which means I am probably already repeating someone else!) then if you find out your motherboard details and what date it is/was last updated and perhaps the firmware version, a trip to their (the motherboard/bios manufacturers) will give you the relevant details. Hopefully. If they're nice. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[Saratoga]

Cheers for that Gordon.

Apparently, '98' will only operate up to 32 MB and will not recognise the rest of the drive.

That is incorrect. Windows 98 and 98se will recognise up to 4 x 250gb Hdds. However, the bios is the bit that cannot.

As far as I am aware the 32gb limit is what the bios will recognise of the drive, not windows or anything. If you use a 30gb rather than 40 it should be ok. But you've bought it now.

You could try partitioning the drive using Fdisk... If you ask nicely I can trash a system here to make instructions for you, but.... Um, I take it the sick machine isn't your only PC then.....

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%2B32gb+%2Bhdd+%2Blimit&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

might help you for background :)

[AJC]

Cheers for that link Saratoga.

Since fitting the 40GB HDD and being limited to 32GB I've installed XP Pro and it works fine. The HDD still shows a space limit of 32GB. Although I am nowhere near utilising the whole HDD space, is there any way I could get the full 40GB of potential space back?

Correct, the PC in question is the secondry machine.

Cheers.

AJ

[jjsaul]

Cheers for that link Saratoga.

Since fitting the 40GB HDD and being limited to 32GB I've installed XP Pro and it works fine. The HDD still shows a space limit of 32GB. Although I am nowhere near utilising the whole HDD space, is there any way I could get the full 40GB of potential space back?

Correct, the PC in question is the secondry machine.

Cheers.

AJ

In my computer i have a 200Gb HDD, and the limit is 137Gb due to 32 bit LBA and not 48 bit or something like that i dunno..... need BIOS update methinks.... :rolleyes:

But anyway, i have partitioned the drive and within windows effectively use it as 2 drives of 100Gb each.

Hope that helps....

[Saratoga]

I suppose you could use some drive partitioning system like Partition Magic, and then make your initial partition about 20gb and the secondary 20gb...

But, as the bios won't recognise the whole drive this may not work. My father's machine is a P266mmx with a 14gb Hdd, and the only way then I could get it to recognise over 8gb was a drive memory manager.

However, the drawback with this is I cannot remove it :( Don't you go mentioning this and the other, I've tried it all already! The only result is to replace the machine, but when that happens (in 2 years time) it'll probably get used as a server anyway as its amazingly quiet!

I take it you've had a look around to see if you can update your Bios? Download Belarc Advisor (www.belarc.com I beleive) and it'll give you a report on your PC. You can then copy the relevant mainboard and bios information here and we can look into it for you :) :D :D

[AJC]

That Belarc Advisor is great. There's stuff on my Laptop I didn't even know I had! Cheers fro the link. I'll get the programme transferred up to the PC and see exactly what Mother Board I have and whether I can update the BIOS. If it looks too complicated I'll just stick to the 32MB of available space.

Cheers.

AJ