Hello,

I assembled an computer for my Mum based on an 1997 Gateway Pentium 166MMX
system, her hard drive is about to fail and I would like to replace it. The
original Hard disk was a 2.5GB one, I have a Spare 80GB UDMA 100 7200RPM
hard drive which I will give her if it will work.

The question I have is will it work, I know the motherboard will not
recognise a 80GB drive, do you think it would Work if I formatted the drive
with a small partition, say 5GB. Her current drive is a 200MB one which came
out of a skip, I had to compress it to get Win 98 installed. The PC is only
used for the word Processing so the size of the hard drive only needs to be
a Gig or 2.

Thanks for reading,

Marcus

"Marcus" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:402d7186$0$10335$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello,
>
> I assembled an computer for my Mum based on an 1997 Gateway Pentium 166MMX
> system, her hard drive is about to fail and I would like to replace it.
The
> original Hard disk was a 2.5GB one, I have a Spare 80GB UDMA 100 7200RPM
> hard drive which I will give her if it will work.
>
> The question I have is will it work, I know the motherboard will not
> recognise a 80GB drive, do you think it would Work if I formatted the
drive
> with a small partition, say 5GB. Her current drive is a 200MB one which
came
> out of a skip, I had to compress it to get Win 98 installed. The PC is
only
> used for the word Processing so the size of the hard drive only needs to
be
> a Gig or 2.
>
> Thanks for reading,
>
> Marcus
>

It might prove to be easiest to buy a cheap PCI disk controller card. That
should allow full access to the whole drive.
--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]

Return address will not work. Please
reply in group or through my website:
http://johnmcgaw.com

> Hello,
>
> I assembled an computer for my Mum based on an 1997 Gateway Pentium 166MMX
> system, her hard drive is about to fail and I would like to replace it.
The
> original Hard disk was a 2.5GB one, I have a Spare 80GB UDMA 100 7200RPM
> hard drive which I will give her if it will work.
>
> The question I have is will it work, I know the motherboard will not
> recognise a 80GB drive, do you think it would Work if I formatted the
drive
> with a small partition, say 5GB. Her current drive is a 200MB one which
came
> out of a skip, I had to compress it to get Win 98 installed. The PC is
only
> used for the word Processing so the size of the hard drive only needs to
be
> a Gig or 2.
>
> Thanks for reading,
>
> Marcus

You need an overlay program from whoever manufactured the hard drive.
Normally this would not be a good idea, but I believe this scenario is the
exception. Basically, download software from the hard drive manufacturer
that will partition and format a drive for you. For one example, look at
Data Lifeguard from WD. -Dave

http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp

"Marcus" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:402d7186$0$10335$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hello,
>
> I assembled an computer for my Mum based on an 1997 Gateway
Pentium 166MMX
> system, her hard drive is about to fail and I would like to
replace it. The
> original Hard disk was a 2.5GB one, I have a Spare 80GB UDMA 100
7200RPM
> hard drive which I will give her if it will work.
>
> The question I have is will it work, I know the motherboard will
not
> recognise a 80GB drive, do you think it would Work if I formatted
the drive
> with a small partition, say 5GB. Her current drive is a 200MB one
which came
> out of a skip, I had to compress it to get Win 98 installed. The
PC is only
> used for the word Processing so the size of the hard drive only
needs to be
> a Gig or 2.

Do some scrounging around for a "Promise" brand ATA66 or 100 HD
controller card; should handle the 80G drive even in the older
versions.

I'll admit that "scrounging" is different UK vs USA; but I've always
been able to find them used here in the USA for less than $10 USD;
and sometimes "new in box" for $5.

It's too bad "you ain't here"-- I'd swap you a Promise card and a
17G HD for your 80G drive and throw in cash and/or swap stuff.
"Cross the pond" shipping is a bitch!

Marcus wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I assembled an computer for my Mum based on an 1997 Gateway Pentium 166MMX
> system, her hard drive is about to fail and I would like to replace it. The
> original Hard disk was a 2.5GB one, I have a Spare 80GB UDMA 100 7200RPM
> hard drive which I will give her if it will work.
>
> The question I have is will it work, I know the motherboard will not
> recognise a 80GB drive, do you think it would Work if I formatted the drive
> with a small partition, say 5GB. Her current drive is a 200MB one which came
> out of a skip, I had to compress it to get Win 98 installed. The PC is only
> used for the word Processing so the size of the hard drive only needs to be
> a Gig or 2.
>
> Thanks for reading,
>
> Marcus
>
>
>

Go to ebay and buy a gig or 2 gig drive then, and save yourself a lot of
hassle with using drive overlay software and such...

You can also see if Gateway made a revised BIOS available for that
model, but I doubt it'll handle an 80 GB drive.

--
spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

Hello John,

I think you might be right, I can get a single controller card for £12 +
p&p.

Marcus


> It might prove to be easiest to buy a cheap PCI disk controller card. That
> should allow full access to the whole drive.
> --
> John McGaw
> [Knoxville, TN, USA]
>
> Return address will not work. Please
> reply in group or through my website:
> http://johnmcgaw.com
>

Thanks, I will download that and give it a try next week.

MArcus


> You need an overlay program from whoever manufactured the hard drive.
> Normally this would not be a good idea, but I believe this scenario is the
> exception. Basically, download software from the hard drive manufacturer
> that will partition and format a drive for you. For one example, look at
> Data Lifeguard from WD. -Dave
>
> http://support.wdc.com/download/index.asp
>
>

I think I'm going to get a controller card as there only about £12 for a
cheap one.

MArcus


"> Do some scrounging around for a "Promise" brand ATA66 or 100 HD
> controller card; should handle the 80G drive even in the older
> versions.
>
> I'll admit that "scrounging" is different UK vs USA; but I've always
> been able to find them used here in the USA for less than $10 USD;
> and sometimes "new in box" for $5.
>
> It's too bad "you ain't here"-- I'd swap you a Promise card and a
> 17G HD for your 80G drive and throw in cash and/or swap stuff.
> "Cross the pond" shipping is a bitch!
>
>

I'm bidding on one now, but as I can get a controller card for £12 it might
be cheaper to go down that route.

MArcus

> Go to ebay and buy a gig or 2 gig drive then, and save yourself a lot of
> hassle with using drive overlay software and such...
>
> You can also see if Gateway made a revised BIOS available for that
> model, but I doubt it'll handle an 80 GB drive.
>
> --
> spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo

Marcus wrote:
> I'm bidding on one now, but as I can get a controller card for £12 it might
> be cheaper to go down that route.

Certainly might. Some of those ATA66 and ATA100 cards are quite nice! It
all depends on whether you want that 80GB drive for yourself I guess :-)
hehe

>
> MArcus
>
>
>>Go to ebay and buy a gig or 2 gig drive then, and save yourself a lot of
>>hassle with using drive overlay software and such...
>>
>>You can also see if Gateway made a revised BIOS available for that
>>model, but I doubt it'll handle an 80 GB drive.
>>
>>--
>>spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo
>
>
>


--
spammage trappage: replace fishies_ with yahoo