Can my computer take another hard drive?

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62304_312PM

Can I add another hard drive to my computer without
compromising its speed? Will the new hard drive slow
down my computer?

Thank you very much for your input.

Here are my computer's specifications:
- Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.80 GHz
2.39 GHz
- 512 MB of RAM
- 74.5 GB total space, less than 1 GB free space (that's
why I'm considering another hard drive)
- Windows XP Pro
 
Should not cause any problems as you can see from my PC spec.
If it is going to be setup as the secondary drive to C using the same IDE
cable and is a faster spec HD than C then it will tend to run at the same
speed as C ( so I've been told ). In my system I cannot say I noticed any
difference.

XP Home SP1, fully updated from Microsoft Update site.
Gigabyte GA-81DX Intel 845 AGPset
P4 1700Hz
1000 SDram
40 G Western Digital HD
120 G OEM Samsung HD


--
Paul Woodsford
Remove ****NOSPAMPLEASE**** to Reply
: Can I add another hard drive to my computer without
: compromising its speed? Will the new hard drive slow
: down my computer?
:
: Thank you very much for your input.
:
: Here are my computer's specifications:
: - Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1.80 GHz
: 2.39 GHz
: - 512 MB of RAM
: - 74.5 GB total space, less than 1 GB free space (that's
: why I'm considering another hard drive)
: - Windows XP Pro
 
62304_312PM said:
Can I add another hard drive to my computer without
compromising its speed? Will the new hard drive slow
down my computer?
Click to expand...

Certainly. Go ahead and plug one in. I'd suggest connecting it to the
motherboard's secondary connector with a new cable (make sure you get
one with 80 connector wires) as the master drive there, which usually
means no jumpers on it. Have any CD/DVD as slave drive on one or other
of the connectors.

Then boot up and make sure the BIOS detects it - you may need to hit the
hot key to enter BIOS setup and tell it to 'Auto detect IDE drives'.
Once done boot into XP and go to
Control Panel - Admin Tools - Computer Management, select Disk
Management and look lower right for the graphic of the drive. Right
click in the Unallocated space and 'create partition', going on to
format it. And admire it in My computer.

Only trouble might be if the drive were over 128GB size, where you need
to be sure the BIOS handles large drives using '48bit LBA' and would
also need XP SP1. I would go for another 80 or a 120 at the moment
 
62304_312PM said:
Can I add another hard drive to my computer without
compromising its speed? Will the new hard drive slow
down my computer?
Click to expand...

On modern systems there should be no speed hit.
 
Certainly. Go ahead and plug one in. I'd suggest connecting it to the
motherboard's secondary connector with a new cable (make sure you get
one with 80 connector wires) as the master drive there, which usually
means no jumpers on it. Have any CD/DVD as slave drive on one or other
of the connectors.

Then boot up and make sure the BIOS detects it - you may need to hit the
hot key to enter BIOS setup and tell it to 'Auto detect IDE drives'.
Once done boot into XP and go to
Control Panel - Admin Tools - Computer Management, select Disk
Management and look lower right for the graphic of the drive. Right
click in the Unallocated space and 'create partition', going on to
format it. And admire it in My computer.

Only trouble might be if the drive were over 128GB size, where you need
to be sure the BIOS handles large drives using '48bit LBA' and would
also need XP SP1. I would go for another 80 or a 120 at the moment
Click to expand...

Not so fast. Not all new computers have space for an additional hard
drive. I've seen many "mini-mini-towers" that you can't add anything
to. Yea, the folks who bought them saved money, but they also ruined
any chance they might have had at adding extra peripherals and drives.
 
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