Advice wanted on fitting a 2nd Hard Drive

[John Latter]

Hi,

Is it possible to 'mix & match" different makes/models of hard drives
(with different specifications) on the same system.

My current hard drive is a Seagate ST310211A which is briefly
deescribed as:

Capacity: 80.0 GB
Speed: 5400 rpm
Average Seek Time: 9.9 ms
Cylinders: 1023
Heads: 256
Sectors: 63

The above is taken from the drive's specification page at:

http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/specs/ata/st380020a.html

I want to add a 2nd drive (for backup & stuff) - can I add something
which whirls around at 7200rpm, has a different ATA number (whatever
that means), and has altogether quite different characteristics?

Be tolerant of any naivety in my question - please!

Also, any links to tutorials would be welcome too!

Regards,

--

John Latter

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism (based on an extension to homeostasis) linking Stationary-Phase Mutations to the Baldwin Effect.
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/TEM.html

'Where Darwin meets Lamarck?' Discussion Egroup
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evomech

 

[Sharon F]

Hi,

Is it possible to 'mix & match" different makes/models of hard drives
(with different specifications) on the same system.

My current hard drive is a Seagate ST310211A which is briefly
deescribed as:

Capacity: 80.0 GB
Speed: 5400 rpm
Average Seek Time: 9.9 ms
Cylinders: 1023
Heads: 256
Sectors: 63

The above is taken from the drive's specification page at:

http://www.seagate.com/support/disc/specs/ata/st380020a.html

I want to add a 2nd drive (for backup & stuff) - can I add something
which whirls around at 7200rpm, has a different ATA number (whatever
that means), and has altogether quite different characteristics?

Be tolerant of any naivety in my question - please!

Also, any links to tutorials would be welcome too!

Regards,

Maybe. How's that for an answer?

In the past some drives wouldn't work well (or at all) with drives that
were a different brand/type. This is not seen as often as it once was but
it still pops up once in a great while.

When first running XP, I had a 5400 Maxtor running with a 7200 Western
Digital and it worked. The motherboard was old enough that it was advisable
to keep each hard drive on a separate controller and use the faster one as
the workhorse drive. Newer system boards and controllers allow each drive
to operate at its own speed.

You may want to visit some forums dedicated to your system, system board or
drive controller card (if using one) for more exact details about what to
expect on your system. If you have any in depth manuals on your system
board handy, those should hold some answers as well.

 

[John Latter]

Maybe. How's that for an answer?

In the past some drives wouldn't work well (or at all) with drives that
were a different brand/type. This is not seen as often as it once was but
it still pops up once in a great while.

When first running XP, I had a 5400 Maxtor running with a 7200 Western
Digital and it worked. The motherboard was old enough that it was advisable
to keep each hard drive on a separate controller and use the faster one as
the workhorse drive. Newer system boards and controllers allow each drive
to operate at its own speed.

You may want to visit some forums dedicated to your system, system board or
drive controller card (if using one) for more exact details about what to
expect on your system. If you have any in depth manuals on your system
board handy, those should hold some answers as well.

Thankyou for the info Sharon

I'm having some difficulty finding out anything about my motherboard
(MS-6382) so I've emailed the manufacturers). In the meantime I'm
looking at eBay for secondhand Seagate HDDs.

Thanks again!

--

John Latter

Model of an Internal Evolutionary Mechanism (based on an extension to homeostasis) linking Stationary-Phase Mutations to the Baldwin Effect.
http://members.aol.com/jorolat/TEM.html

'Where Darwin meets Lamarck?' Discussion Egroup
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/evomech

 

[Kath Adams]

Thankyou for the info Sharon

I'm having some difficulty finding out anything about my motherboard
(MS-6382) so I've emailed the manufacturers). In the meantime I'm
looking at eBay for secondhand Seagate HDDs.

Thanks again!

I'm currently using two different drives without problems.

Maxtor 6Y080L0 [Hard drive] (81.96 GB)

QUANTUM FIREBALLlct20 40 [Hard drive] (40.02 GB)