How big a hard drive can I put in my box?

sceptre

Ooh er missus.

Looking for a hard drive upgrade - at the moment I've 2x10GB drives in and I'm rather short of space. Looking on komplett for ideally an 80GB drive or larger (80GB is within budget) and I've no idea what I can get away with putting in. Google's been no help but then again I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for. Let's assume that I don't want to upgrade the mainboard (to head those possible suggestions off at the pass).

Stuff from siSoft Sandra:

Mainboard
Manufacturer : Compaq
MP Support : No
Model : 041Ch
Serial Number : <snip>


Chipset 1
Model : Intel Corporation 82443BX/ZX 440BX/ZX CPU to PCI Bridge (AGP Implemented)
Bus(es) : ISA AGP PCI USB i2c/SMBus
Front Side Bus Speed : 1x 100MHz (100MHz data rate)
Maximum FSB Speed / Max Memory Speed : 1x 100MHz / 1x 100MHz
Width : 64-bit
IO Queue Depth : 4 request(s)

Any ideas folks?

(Thanks)

RicardoSmith

You'll have to get up some info on that bios. Its probably on the intel site. But in general up to to 80gb you should have no problems. 120gb should be ok as well, but I've had some older PC thats had problems with them. Bigger than that you are likely to have problems unless you have a fairly recent bios. Of course you can just buy a controller card, either ATA133 or SATA and then you shouldn't have any problems. No need to change the motherboard. I bought two external USB HD enclosures from Maplins and stuck two drives I had over from a desktop, an 80gb and 120gb. Speed Over USB2 is excellent and you can pick up a 4 port USB2 card very cheap, and its always handy to have more USB2 ports. I bought two enclosures as I use one as a main drive and the other as a back up of that. Saves me burning CD's and DVD's as backups.

Dempsey

Get a Samsung or Western Digital 120Gb with the 8Mb Cache. Either will work for ya without any problem

STaN

The newer versions of XBOX have no upper limit (beyond the theoretical limit of the ide bus, which is a few terrabytes)

I've a 200Gb 8Mb Cache WD drive in mine :cool:

Its a v1.5 xbox

Dempsey

Originally posted by STaN
The newer versions of XBOX have no upper limit (beyond the theoretical limit of the ide bus, which is a few terrabytes)

I've a 200Gb 8Mb Cache WD drive in mine :cool:

Its a v1.5 xbox

Who mentioned XBOX's?

subway_ie

I thought it said "xbox" too when i read the title the first time...

STaN

Originally posted by Dempsey
Who mentioned XBOX's?

LOL my bad

sceptre

Sorry about that (possibly misleading title) - I couldn't have gone fnarr fnarr without it though.

Going for a Samsung 120 drive then (about a tenner more expensive than the 80), thanks Dempsey. Any hassle and I'll just get a controller card, thanks Ricardo. Thanks to Stan for the humour factor:D

Dempsey

You'll have to disconnect one of the 10Gb drives. Only 2 IDE connections on the cable.

Since the Samsung will be the fastest drive consider installing the OS and all your programs onto it.

vibe666

Originally posted by Dempsey
Only 2 IDE connections on the cable.

but surely 2 cables? assuming he's only got a CDROM or DVD drive on the other cable he should still be able to use the other 10 gigger still, on the other channel. although if you can stretch, I'd get myself a cheap USB HD housing and use it for that, so you have some protable storage.

just an idea.

sceptre

I'd completely forgotten how helpful people around here can be.

I'll be disconnecting one of the 10giggers (I've a DVDrom and CD writer on the secondary IDE, the aim is to get a good dvd writer when I've some spare cash) but might well think about getting a case and having the spare as removable storage some time. The guts are going to have to be ripped out of the PC some time in the next year - the machine's been steady as a rock over the last few years but a nice upgrade kit from komplett might be nice at the end of the year. Months away though.

RicardoSmith

An external drive is so handy. Both for backing up and transporting data form one PC to another. Also if you don't have a decent online connection like me. You can bring you drive around to somewhere with board band, download everything you want to the external drive and bring it home. Also if you have an external enclosure once the 10gb becomes too small, you can throw in another drive.

Dempsey

Putting a drive onto the secondary ide is not a good permament solution cos the opical drives are ATA-33 or at most ATA-66 and the hard drives are ATA-100 and ATA-133. The hard drive would have to run at the slower speed so both devices can operate.

Also make sure that you have the correct ribbon cable needed for ATA-100 and ATA 133.

Externals are good and handy but people are put off by the additional cost over internals

RicardoSmith

Originally posted by Dempsey
Putting a drive onto the secondary ide is not a good permament solution cos the opical drives are ATA-33 or at most ATA-66 and the hard drives are ATA-100 and ATA-133. The hard drive would have to run at the slower speed so both devices can operate.

Also make sure that you have the correct ribbon cable needed for ATA-100 and ATA 133.

Externals are good and handy but people are put off by the additional cost over internals

I think its very likely that both of the 10GB drives are ATA33 or ATA66 no better.

Unless the motherboard is also ATA100/133 (unlikely the cable won't make a difference.

Dempsey

Id bet they are ATA-66.

You need the 80pin ribbon cable for ATA-100 and 133. Actually forgot all about the mobo controller speed. Check that please

sceptre

Originally posted by Dempsey
Actually forgot all about the mobo controller speed. Check that please

Hmm, slightly lost now. I assume that's different to the HD controller as that obviously isn't an issue.

Hope it's one of these:

System Memory Controller
Location : Mainboard
Error Correction Capability : ECC
Number of Memory Slots : 3
Maximum Installable Memory : 384MB
Bank 0:J1 - DIMM #1:J1 : DIMM Synchronous DRAM 128MB/64
Bank 1:J2 - DIMM #2:J2 : DIMM Synchronous DRAM 128MB/64
Bank 2:J3 - DIMM #3:J3 : Empty

FLASH Memory Controller
Location : Mainboard
Number of Memory Slots : 1
BIOS ROM - U35 : Chip FLASH 256kB/16

Chipset 1
Model : Intel Corporation 82443BX/ZX 440BX/ZX CPU to PCI Bridge (AGP Implemented)
Bus(es) : ISA AGP PCI USB i2c/SMBus
Front Side Bus Speed : 1x 100MHz (100MHz data rate)
Maximum FSB Speed / Max Memory Speed : 1x 100MHz / 1x 100MHz
Width : 64-bit
IO Queue Depth : 4 request(s)


LPC Hub Controller 1
Model : Intel Corporation 82371EB/MB PIIX4E/M ISA Bridge
ACPI Power Management Enabled : Yes
Multiplier : 1/4x
Speed : 8MHz
DMA Multiplier : 1/2x
DMA Speed : 4MHz


System SMBus Controller 1
Model : Intel PIIX4 SMBus / compatible
Slave Device Enabled : Yes
Speed : 16kHz

Dempsey

Originally posted by sceptre
Hmm, slightly lost now. I assume that's different to the HD controller as that obviously isn't an issue.

Sorry for throwing you off. I meant the IDE controller on the motherboard. That info doesnt mention it:(

Dont worry the hard drive will work, we are just trying to figure out what speed it will be running at

Lump

Originally posted by STaN

I've a 200Gb 8Mb Cache WD drive in mine :cool:

You must have a big penis too so? :P


John

Dempsey

Originally posted by Lump
You must have a big penis too so? :P


John

He must have:D