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Harddrive Overworking?

  • 22-12-2007 1:09pm
    #1
    johnnyrotten
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,595 ✭✭✭


    I have a Dell 2400 Dimension Desktop ( 2nd PC for Kids mainly)
    It has a 40GB harddirve with 28 GB free running XP
    When using the PC the drive seems to be working overtime. the drive is constantly being accessed and this seems to slow the system down.
    Is it time to replace the drive?
    If so how much can I expect to pay for a new drive of say 80 - 120 GB and wheres the best place to buy one?
    Thanks


Comments

  • #2
    yoyo
    Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 11,017 Mod ✭✭✭✭yoyo


    johnnyrotten wrote: »
    I have a Dell 2400 Dimension Desktop ( 2nd PC for Kids mainly)
    It has a 40GB harddirve with 28 GB free running XP
    When using the PC the drive seems to be working overtime. the drive is constantly being accessed and this seems to slow the system down.
    Is it time to replace the drive?
    If so how much can I expect to pay for a new drive of say 80 - 120 GB and wheres the best place to buy one?
    Thanks
    What anti virus program are you using?

    Nick

    My Beer Glass collection site 🍺

    My Irish Callcards site



  • #3
    Ghost Train
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 30,467 ✭✭✭✭Ghost Train


    If you don't have enough ram you could get this type of behaviour, or like yoyo says it could be a program running in the background like a virus scanner. If the drive is formatted with fat32 it might need to be defragmented (right click on c drive goto properties, tools).


  • #4
    johnnyrotten
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,595 ✭✭✭johnnyrotten


    Just checked the Ram using System info : it says Physical memory = 256MB (small I know)

    I am using AVG free anti virus

    I defragged recently


  • #5
    Ghost Train
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 30,467 ✭✭✭✭Ghost Train


    Well if you were planning on getting a new drive, were you going to start fresh with a fresh install of xp? It sounds like you have plenty free space on the drive so do you need more capacity?

    If you were planning a fresh install, you could try this first on your current drive (just backup important data and drivers, make sure you have everything for the re-install). A fresh install should run faster. Or if the dell has a recovery partition, all you'd have to do is backup your files and then f11 at start up and restore(http://support.euro.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/dsn/en/document?c=ie&dl=false&l=en&s=gen&docid=3BC546F237205EE7E040A68F5B280175&doclang=en&cs=).

    Upgrading the ram (even to 524mb) should help performance a good bit and might be a better option than a new drive (might let you avoid doing any fresh install which is a lot of work).


  • #6
    johnnyrotten
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,595 ✭✭✭johnnyrotten


    Right, how much does ram cost nowadays?


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  • #7
    Ghost Train
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 30,467 ✭✭✭✭Ghost Train


    http://shop4memory.com/products/ddr-ram.asp

    you'll have to open the pc case to see if you have free memory slot and work out what you need to get (probably a 512mb module for about 30euro)

    dell used to be a bit fussy about the type of ram they worked with, maybe somebody here could tell you what would work.

    this thread would be worth reading http://hardware.mcse.ms/archive84-2005-12-269155.html


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