new hard drive in laptop - questions

[friesian]

I am considering a new hard drive for my laptop.

I have added extra hard drives to a desktop, but this is the first
time I would be replacing the main hard drive. I have heard there is
software to copy a hard drive, but I assume that you must need
something to connect them while you do that.

The other option is to reinstall the software. How easy is it to
install the operating service? I have an installation CD of windows XP
that came with my desktop. Would I just put in the new hard drive, put
the CD in the drive, and then boot the computer? Or is it pretty
complicated?


Also, would it be a lot faster to upload photos from a camera's memory
card to the internal hard drive as to an external hard drive? And
would it be a lot fast to burn a CD from files on the internal drive
as compared to an external drive?

I have an older laptop (Pentium 3, 800 GHz, maxed at 1GB ram). I
cannot afford to get a new laptop. I have been using an external hard
drive since the laptop is only 30GB. I have found a 160 GB hard drive
for $65, and I am hoping that this would speed up my computer work. I
have to upload files from the camera, edit them and save them, then
burn them to a CD. I usually do about 10GB worth in a weekend. And my
laptop currently doesn't have that much space to work with.

Would this improve my work flow, making file transfers a lot faster?

 

[Grinder]

I am considering a new hard drive for my laptop.

I have added extra hard drives to a desktop, but this is the first
time I would be replacing the main hard drive. I have heard there is
software to copy a hard drive, but I assume that you must need
something to connect them while you do that.

One way that I know works is to mount both hard drives into a desktop
computer in order to make the copy. You'll need two 2.5" to 3.5" EIDE
adapters to make the mechanical connection, but electrically they're
compatible. (This presumes that the desktop to be used as a PATA
connector free, and that the laptop is using PATA as well.) This is
fairly easy as long as you have all of the necessary parts.

Alternately, you might be able to connect both drives to the laptop, but
I'm not as sure about this method. It's entirely possible that your
laptop only has one PATA controller, for a maximum of two devices--your
existing hard drive and optical drive. I imagine that you might be able
to disconnect the optical drive to temporarily accommodate your new hard
drive, but there might some mechanical limit there as well.

It is also possible that you could hook up your new drive in an external
enclosure, and connect it via USB. Whatever software you use would have
to be able to recognize that drive, and I don't have any experience in
that regard. Sorry I can't be more certain here.

However you connect the drives to one PC, you will need some sort of
cloning software. In the past I've seen some freeware recommendations,
but I've only had experience with a couple of commercial packages: Ghost
and TrueImage. Both are adequate to the job. Oh, I guess there are
some drive setup utilities from some drive manufacturers that will do a
clone for you as well--perhaps others can make recommendations on that.

The other option is to reinstall the software. How easy is it to
install the operating service? I have an installation CD of windows XP
that came with my desktop. Would I just put in the new hard drive, put
the CD in the drive, and then boot the computer? Or is it pretty
complicated?

Reinstalling Windows XP, or really just installing it as you're going to
a clean drive, is generally not difficult. If everything goes well, and
it usually does, you can have your system up and running in an hour. It
may take a bit longer to make sure you have all the right drivers in
place. That will be greatly facilitated by having a drivers disc from
your laptop's manufacturer. I suspect that you do.

Potential complications can arise from restoring applications. You may
well have an applications cd as well from your laptop manufacturer, but
there will likely be some programs you've installed outside of the
factory set. If you don't have registration keys for those installers
that need them, you may lose some of those programs. Also, if you
install different versions of programs than you were previously using,
that can produce some unexpected changes in your system. That may or
may not be a good thing.

Finally, you have to be very careful to backup your *data*. A lot of it
is probably in various "My Document" folders, but some of it can creep
into other locations. Notoriously people that make a clean install
overlook their email and manage to lose those in the transition.

On balance, I think that a periodic clean installation is a good thing,
but only if you're prepared to do it.

Also, would it be a lot faster to upload photos from a camera's memory
card to the internal hard drive as to an external hard drive? And
would it be a lot fast to burn a CD from files on the internal drive
as compared to an external drive?

An internal drive will likely be considerably faster than an external,
USB drive.

I have an older laptop (Pentium 3, 800 GHz, maxed at 1GB ram). I
cannot afford to get a new laptop. I have been using an external hard
drive since the laptop is only 30GB. I have found a 160 GB hard drive
for $65, and I am hoping that this would speed up my computer work. I
have to upload files from the camera, edit them and save them, then
burn them to a CD. I usually do about 10GB worth in a weekend. And my
laptop currently doesn't have that much space to work with.

Would this improve my work flow, making file transfers a lot faster?

Probably.

One last thing to consider is that the larger hard drive may well run
hotter than your original one. That could present a problem.
Unfortunately, I can't really quantify the probability or detriment of
such an eventuality.

 

[philo]

One way that I know works is to mount both hard drives into a desktop
computer in order to make the copy. You'll need two 2.5" to 3.5" EIDE
adapters to make the mechanical connection, but electrically they're
compatible. (This presumes that the desktop to be used as a PATA
connector free, and that the laptop is using PATA as well.) This is
fairly easy as long as you have all of the necessary parts.

Alternately, you might be able to connect both drives to the laptop, but
I'm not as sure about this method. It's entirely possible that your
laptop only has one PATA controller, for a maximum of two devices--your
existing hard drive and optical drive. I imagine that you might be able
to disconnect the optical drive to temporarily accommodate your new hard
drive, but there might some mechanical limit there as well.

It is also possible that you could hook up your new drive in an external
enclosure, and connect it via USB. Whatever software you use would have
to be able to recognize that drive, and I don't have any experience in
that regard. Sorry I can't be more certain here.

However you connect the drives to one PC, you will need some sort of
cloning software. In the past I've seen some freeware recommendations,
but I've only had experience with a couple of commercial packages: Ghost
and TrueImage. Both are adequate to the job. Oh, I guess there are
some drive setup utilities from some drive manufacturers that will do a
clone for you as well--perhaps others can make recommendations on that.

<snip>

I suggest Acronis True Image...
it works very well

 

[friesian]

(e-mail address removed) wrote:

Reinstalling Windows XP, or really just installing it as you're going to
a clean drive, is generally not difficult. If everything goes well, and
it usually does, you can have your system up and running in an hour. It
may take a bit longer to make sure you have all the right drivers in
place. That will be greatly facilitated by having a drivers disc from
your laptop's manufacturer. I suspect that you do.

Thanks. I think I will try this method first. I think a clean install
would be good. I do have the original Dell CDs as well as the windows
XP CD from the desktop. I have installation CDs for most of my other
software as weel. The rest were free downloads like Eudora.

Finally, you have to be very careful to backup your *data*. A lot of it
is probably in various "My Document" folders, but some of it can creep
into other locations. Notoriously people that make a clean install
overlook their email and manage to lose those in the transition.

I'm pretty good at that. I got a new desktop last year and transferred
my old files easily. The laptop is only used for when I go to shows
(I'm a photographer), so I use photoshop, the word processor, and
some email and web browsing. Not a whole lot to save from there -
mainly bookmarks and a few emails. I've got an external hard drive
with more available space than the whole laptop hard drive, so other
than taking some time, it shouldn't be too bad.

Thanks again for your response. I should be able to get this new hard
drive and start tonight.

 

[kony]

I am considering a new hard drive for my laptop.

I have added extra hard drives to a desktop, but this is the first
time I would be replacing the main hard drive. I have heard there is
software to copy a hard drive, but I assume that you must need
something to connect them while you do that.

Yes, Grinder mentioned how to do that with a pair of laptop
drive adapters. They're about $3 each online.

The other option is to reinstall the software. How easy is it to
install the operating service? I have an installation CD of windows XP
that came with my desktop. Would I just put in the new hard drive, put
the CD in the drive, and then boot the computer? Or is it pretty
complicated?

Installing the OS is easy, the installer will guide you
through that, but you would need to find the drivers for all
of it. One reason to choose a fresh OS installation would
be if the present OS is really cluttered up with old
software remnants, infected by malware that you can't
remove, or the OEM made a lot of modifications to the
installation that you don't want and can't effectively get
rid of as fast as reinstalling (providing you have all the
drivers and software you need to reinstall).

I suppose it is somewhat complicated to do the clean
installation, not difficult per se but several steps if all
you have is a OS CD but not drivers and applications handy,
then presuming you'd let windows update itself with patches
over time, it'll have to do that all over again which IIRC,
was several hundred MB of downloads the last time I
reinstalled someone's XP w/SP2.

Also, would it be a lot faster to upload photos from a camera's memory
card to the internal hard drive as to an external hard drive? And
would it be a lot fast to burn a CD from files on the internal drive
as compared to an external drive?

The camera is probably slower than the drive so whether the
destination of the picture files is an internal or external
drive wouldn't matter.

Burning a CD might go a bit faster from an internal drive.

I have an older laptop (Pentium 3, 800 GHz, maxed at 1GB ram). I
cannot afford to get a new laptop. I have been using an external hard
drive since the laptop is only 30GB. I have found a 160 GB hard drive
for $65, and I am hoping that this would speed up my computer work. I
have to upload files from the camera, edit them and save them, then
burn them to a CD. I usually do about 10GB worth in a weekend. And my
laptop currently doesn't have that much space to work with.

Would this improve my work flow, making file transfers a lot faster?

Since your laptop is so old I wonder how you are getting the
files onto it? Presumably a USB1.1 data link?

If you use a flash card reader make sure it is USB2. Get a
USB2 (cardbus, assuming there is a free slot for it) card
for the laptop. Moving from USB1.1 to USB2 should greatly
speed up the transfers into the laptop.

Further, assuming still that your system has USB1.1 not
USB2, all external drives connecting over USB would use the
much slower USB1.1 data rate, unless it has firewire. This
is another case where installing a cardbus USB2 card would
speed up external drives, but the internal drive will still
be the faster in use.

By only installing the new hard drive you will have no
increase in transfer speed to the drive from the camera's
flash card, but editing and saving will be a bit faster.

 

[friesian]

Since your laptop is so old I wonder how you are getting the
files onto it? Presumably a USB1.1 data link?

If you use a flash card reader make sure it is USB2. Get a
USB2 (cardbus, assuming there is a free slot for it) card
for the laptop. Moving from USB1.1 to USB2 should greatly
speed up the transfers into the laptop.

I have a USB hub that plugs into the pcmia port and has 4 of the USB 2
ports. I plug my card reader and external drive into into that. It is
a ton faster than the older 1.1 usb connection.

Further, assuming still that your system has USB1.1 not
USB2, all external drives connecting over USB would use the
much slower USB1.1 data rate, unless it has firewire. This
is another case where installing a cardbus USB2 card would
speed up external drives, but the internal drive will still
be the faster in use.

It doesn't have firewire. I had considered getting a firewire card,
but with only one slot, I would need to find a card that offers
both.

By only installing the new hard drive you will have no
increase in transfer speed to the drive from the camera's
flash card, but editing and saving will be a bit faster.

That's where it should count most. I have to save all the files from
the camera to the hard drive. Then I go through and pricess the raw
files and save a new set of psd files. I often have to sit and wait as
I finish a group and 5-10 files are still processing before I can
start the next batch.

 

[kony]

That's where it should count most. I have to save all the files from
the camera to the hard drive. Then I go through and pricess the raw
files and save a new set of psd files. I often have to sit and wait as
I finish a group and 5-10 files are still processing before I can
start the next batch.

This could be a HDD limit but it might instead be a CPU
limit, or a little of both.

For ultimate performance doing something that is your
primary income, I suggest using a modern, at least median
performance desktop instead of an aging laptop. Even a 3
year old desktop system, properly tuned, will make most new
laptops seem sluggish.

 

[friesian]

For ultimate performance doing something that is your
primary income, I suggest using a modern, at least median
performance desktop instead of an aging laptop. Even a 3
year old desktop system, properly tuned, will make most new
laptops seem sluggish.

I agree, and I do as much as I can at home. But I travel to some of
the shows. My photos from Saturday have to be processed in the show
hall and at the hotel so that I can hand out proofs Sunday morning. If
I am not backed up with photo sessions, I will also do proofs for as
many Sunday customers as possible.

I'm hoping that I will be able to buy a newer laptop this summer. My
desktop has a 2.4 GHz processor and 2 GB ram. My laptop is only 800MHz
and 1GB ram. THere is definitely a huge difference in speed. When I am
processing the raw files and saving them as psd files, I rarely have
more than 1 waiting when I hit done, while it can be up to 9 when
using the laptop.

My budget is tight right now, especially as I have a a lot of vendor
fees to get in right now. But my last show was really good. If that
keeps up, I should be able to get a newer laptop in April or May.

At this point, I'm not able to do much. I was planning to get a larger
external drive since my old one is 80GB and starting to get full. So,
I think the 160GB laptop hard drive will be a better investment right
now, and I can always sell this off later when I get a newer laptop.

 

[kony]

I agree, and I do as much as I can at home. But I travel to some of
the shows. My photos from Saturday have to be processed in the show
hall and at the hotel so that I can hand out proofs Sunday morning. If
I am not backed up with photo sessions, I will also do proofs for as
many Sunday customers as possible.

I'm hoping that I will be able to buy a newer laptop this summer. My
desktop has a 2.4 GHz processor and 2 GB ram. My laptop is only 800MHz
and 1GB ram. THere is definitely a huge difference in speed. When I am
processing the raw files and saving them as psd files, I rarely have
more than 1 waiting when I hit done, while it can be up to 9 when
using the laptop.

My budget is tight right now, especially as I have a a lot of vendor
fees to get in right now. But my last show was really good. If that
keeps up, I should be able to get a newer laptop in April or May.

At this point, I'm not able to do much. I was planning to get a larger
external drive since my old one is 80GB and starting to get full. So,
I think the 160GB laptop hard drive will be a better investment right
now, and I can always sell this off later when I get a newer laptop.

I don't think you understand what I'm saying.

The answer is not a new laptop, nor a new desktop system.
The answer is a well performing desktop hard drive,
internally, not externally connected. The difference may be
about doubled performance.

 

[friesian]

I don't think you understand what I'm saying.

The answer is not a new laptop, nor a new desktop system.
The answer is a well performing desktop hard drive,
internally, not externally connected. The difference may be
about doubled performance.

Your post above says "I suggest using a modern, at least median
performance desktop instead of an aging laptop." No mention of
putting a desktop hard drive into a laptop.

Now that you mention, can you explain how that works? Are you
suggesting some kind of cable that converts the drive (and leaves it
external), or do newer har drives fit into laptops now?

 

[kony]

Your post above says "I suggest using a modern, at least median
performance desktop instead of an aging laptop." No mention of
putting a desktop hard drive into a laptop.

Now that you mention, can you explain how that works? Are you
suggesting some kind of cable that converts the drive (and leaves it
external), or do newer har drives fit into laptops now?

How what works? If you need the performance do not use a
laptop and do not use an external drive at all.

 

[friesian]

How what works? If you need the performance do not use a
laptop and do not use an external drive at all.

You said to put a desktop hard drive into a laptop. Are you trolling,
or are you serious?

And no, I can't a desktop around from show to show.

 

[kony]

You said to put a desktop hard drive into a laptop. Are you trolling,
or are you serious?

I did not mean to imply putting a desktop drive in a laptop.