Hard Drive on Old computer

[Marcus]

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

 

[John McGaw]

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

 

[Dave C.]

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

 

[R. Asby Dragon]

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!

 

[Sooky Grumper]

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.

 

[Marcus]

Hello John,

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

Marcus

 

[Marcus]

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

MArcus

 

[Marcus]

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

 

[Marcus]

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

 

[Sooky Grumper]

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

 

[Gary Tait]

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 probably use up to an 8 GB drive.