Adding a Hard Drive

[Eric Scofield]

I would like to add a second hard drive onto my system. I have an older Gateway system from 1999 with a PIII 450 MHz processor. The hard drive I have now is a Quantum Fireball CX13.6A which spins at 5400 RPMs and has an Ultra ATA/66 Interface. I was wanted to know a couple of things:

1) What would be my upgrade uptions as far as hard drives go?

2) Is there any way to set up the hard drives so that at system start up I have an option of choosing which drive I
would like to boot from?

3) What is the best way to cool the hard drives if mounting a fan in drive bays of the Gateway case is not an option?

4) Are any particular hard drive brands that you reccomend?

Thanks in advance,

Eric

 

[John]

I would like to add a second hard drive onto my system. I have an older Gateway system from 1999 with a PIII 450 MHz processor. The hard drive I have now is a Quantum Fireball CX13.6A which spins at 5400 RPMs and has an Ultra ATA/66 Interface. I was wanted to know a couple of things:

1) What would be my upgrade uptions as far as hard drives go?

You have to think about the power supply and how big a hard disk your
MB can handle. Sometimes you can update the bios on the motherboard.

2) Is there any way to set up the hard drives so that at system start up I have an option of choosing which drive I
would like to boot from?

Sure with WIN XP. If you have two installations of an OS it creates an
optional boot menu when power on.

3) What is the best way to cool the hard drives if mounting a fan in drive bays of the Gateway case is not an option?

Those slim trays that fit on the bottom of the HDs should fit almost
anything. You can get them for around $14 at Compusa and cheaper
online byt then theres the shipping. Also cheap if you can find some
discount hole in the wall type small PC seller near you.

Keep a space between drives thats one way.

4) Are any particular hard drive brands that you reccomend?

Anything on sale.

Seagate $49 after rebate at Compusa 80 gig 7200 I think 100 ATA.

 

[John]

I would like to add a second hard drive onto my system. I have an older Gateway system from 1999 with a PIII 450 MHz processor. The hard drive I have now is a Quantum Fireball CX13.6A which spins at 5400 RPMs and has an Ultra ATA/66 Interface.

1) What would be my upgrade uptions as far as hard drives go?

The other possible problem is most boards can handle 4 IDE devices
(Burner, DVD rom, CDrom, Hard disks, Zip drives, etc.)
.. If youve maxed these out than you need to take off one device or add
a PCI card to add more IDE devices.

 

[Eric Scofield]

1) What would be my upgrade uptions as far as hard drives go?

You have to think about the power supply and how big a hard disk your
MB can handle. Sometimes you can update the bios on the motherboard.

How can you tell what interface your motherboard can handle? The one I have
now is Ultra ATA/66, but how would I check to see if it could handle 100 or
133? Also, is 7200 RPM a good speed to go with or are there faster drives
out there that will work with an older system?

I have an option of choosing which drive I would like to boot from?

Sure with WIN XP. If you have two installations of an OS it creates an
optional boot menu when power on.

So how exactly would I set my system up for this boot menu? Would I set
both the hard drives to Master? I have one spare spot left for an IDE
device. The first IDE controller has just a single hard drive on it. The
second has a CD-RW/DVD drive and a ZIP drive. Is it better to have the two
hard drives on the first IDE controller?


drive bays of the Gateway case is not an option?

Those slim trays that fit on the bottom of the HDs should fit almost
anything. You can get them for around $14 at Compusa and cheaper
online byt then theres the shipping. Also cheap if you can find some
discount hole in the wall type small PC seller near you.

Keep a space between drives thats one way.

The hard drive I have installed now is mounted on its side. Would it be
okay to mount a second, faster hard drive on its side in the same drive bay
(keep in mind there isn't really a place for a fan mount)?

 

[Boba & Ilinka]

Check the type of motherboard and try to find in manual on internet to see
what it support.

Boba Vancouver Canada

 

[John]

How can you tell what interface your motherboard can handle? The one I have
now is Ultra ATA/66, but how would I check to see if it could handle 100 or
133?

Anything is possible I suppose but Im pretty sure any HD will work on
your MB except for two things. One is theres a new type of HD with
SATA connectors vs. IDE . But those cost more and are relatively less
common. Almost all the HDs that are higely discounted are IDEs
still. SATA is still fairly new. Istead of the flat ribbon cables it
uses these really thin small looking cables.

Also, is 7200 RPM a good speed to go with or are there faster drives
out there that will work with an older system?

Sure , the mainstream speed for performance. Theres a 10,000 but thats
way less common.

The draw back for you is - it gets way hotter so if you have a really
old cramped case , its possible that may lead to problems down the
road.

So how exactly would I set my system up for this boot menu? Would I set
both the hard drives to Master? I have one spare spot left for an IDE
device. The first IDE controller has just a single hard drive on it. The
second has a CD-RW/DVD drive and a ZIP drive. Is it better to have the two
hard drives on the first IDE controller?

Doesnt matter if its master or whatever . It can even be in another
partition on the same drive.

Just having two or more OSes on your system - when you install WIN XP
and bootup it automatically detects it and then warns you about it and
then will install a multi boot menu system if you proceed.

You see a screen with two choices - it pauses and you can use the
arrow keys to highlight and then choose which you want to bootup with.

I always have a problem with editing the file to get rid of the multi
boot thing later though. Theres also this util thats included with win
but I forget what its called. Ive used it several times after I
butchered the multi boot menu file.

The hard drive I have installed now is mounted on its side. Would it be
okay to mount a second, faster hard drive on its side in the same drive bay
(keep in mind there isn't really a place for a fan mount)?

I guess if the other one is sideways. Have no idea how your case is.
If its really cramped - two HDs crammed next to each other and the
case is small and cramped with one fan then once again you might have
problems with HD failure from heat later on.

If its realy bad - maybe you should think about a cheapo case
There are alot of deals on line like Newegg.com with Power supply or
even Compusa if you get one without a Power Supply - $20-30 .

The problem of course is if your motherboard, pwoer supply and case
is a standard size so that whatever you use in a new case fits a
common problem with some proprietary designs from branded PCs.

 

[Eric Scofield]

For Ultra ATA drives, is the number that usually follows in reference to the
front speed bus of the motherboard? In other words my ATA/66 drive refers
to a 66 MHz FSB?

- Eric

 

[~misfit~]

For Ultra ATA drives, is the number that usually follows in reference
to the front speed bus of the motherboard? In other words my ATA/66
drive refers to a 66 MHz FSB?

No, it refers to the maximum theoretical throughput of the interface in
MB/sec.

 

[Eric Scofield]

No, it refers to the maximum theoretical throughput of the interface in

MB/sec.

So then how can you tell what is the appropriate value for your system when
you bought a pre-assembled system and you don't have a motherboard manual?

- Eric

 

[John]

So then how can you tell what is the appropriate value for your system when
you bought a pre-assembled system and you don't have a motherboard manual?

- Eric

Well it should work. I wouldnt worry about that aspect. I just said
anything is possible because you never knwo about some weird quirk but
I think it should work. Its backwards compatible. You wont find a 66
ATA hard disk selling new anyway.

Your main problem is your power supply if its some really old 150
watter or something. Or if you have a really cheapo cramped old case
from some other era or your motherboard cant handle the size of the
disk. I forget the size limits that some old motherbaords might have
problems with, Like people say you can get a bios update usually if
thats the case. Or you can use the software usually that comes with
the hard disk to get around it.

The other thing is if you decide to get a really big one - 200 gigs ,
theres a limit not that some MBs have but WIN XP has to be updated to
service pack 1 , they say or it has problems. The Maxtor 200 gig I
bought came with a free Promise card inside the box because of
possible problems.