upgrade

[Glenn]

couple questions

Machine is 4 years old. Want to get a new hd, (in case). Mine is a 60g. The new ones are larger than that and cheap. Somewhere on this thing there is information about if it is 16, 32, etc. bit which seems to determine the hd makeup. Where is it hidden?

What else do I need to know?

Will probably just clone the old to the new and make it primary but I would consider starting it off clean with my original cd of XP Pro. How much crap does M$ give to activate it?

 

[Bob I]

Why not just use the cloning software that comes with most new hard drives?

 

[Glenn]

It does? OK [g]

Why not just use the cloning software that comes with
most new hard drives?

 

[Tim Slattery]

Machine is 4 years old. Want to get a new hd, (in case). Mine is a 60g. The
new ones are larger than that and cheap. Somewhere on this thing there is
information about if it is 16, 32, etc. bit which seems to determine the hd
makeup. Where is it hidden?

I don't know what you're talking about. Disks are not 16 or 32-bit.
Your hardware, operating system and applications are. Since you're
running WinXP, your hardware, OS, and apps are pretty surely all
32-bit. But that has no bearing on your disks.

Will probably just clone the old to the new and make it primary but I
would consider starting it off clean with my original cd of XP Pro.
How much crap does M$ give to activate it?

You probably won't have any trouble activating the system if you
install from scratch. A new disk does not constitute a "new computer"
so even an OEM system should work.

 

[Glenn]

I don't know what you're talking about. Disks are not
16 or 32-bit.
Your hardware, operating system and applications are.
Since you're
running WinXP, your hardware, OS, and apps are pretty
surely all
32-bit. But that has no bearing on your disks.

I read in the lit on one hd that it was 160g but if
some condition wasn't met, maybe 64 bit (?) it would
only put out 137 g. That is the reason for the
question.
Where is the bit info hidden?

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

couple questions

Machine is 4 years old. Want to get a new hd, (in case). Mine is a 60g.
The new ones are larger than that and cheap.

Somewhere on this thing
there is information about if it is 16, 32, etc. bit
which seems to determine the hd makeup. Where is it hidden?

I don't understand what you are asking. Disk drives don't come as
16-bit or 32-bit.

What else do I need to know?

Nothing. Just buy an IDE drive (assuming that that's the interface you
have) of the size you want. However, note that with an older computer
there's one issue to be aware of: to fully support a drive larger than
137GB, you need

1. A motherboard with a BIOS and controller that supports 48-bit LBA
(or alternatively, an add-in controller card that does).

2. At least SP1 of Windows XP.

Will probably just clone the old to the new and make it primary

Why not simply add it as a second drive? Assuming that there's room in
the case, and a sufficiently large power supply, that's both easier
and lets you end up with more disk space.

but I would consider starting it off clean with my original cd
of XP Pro. How much crap does M$ give to activate it?

None at all. It should activate over the internet just as it did the
first time.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I read in the lit on one hd that it was 160g but if
some condition wasn't met, maybe 64 bit (?) it would
only put out 137 g. That is the reason for the
question.

You read wrong. I explained the 137GB 48-bit LBA issue in my previous
message. Note that the 48-bits has to be supported on the motherboard
and on the operating system, *not* on the HD.

Where is the bit info hidden?

No such thing, as both Tim and I pointed out.

 

[Tim Slattery]

I read in the lit on one hd that it was 160g but if
some condition wasn't met, maybe 64 bit (?) it would
only put out 137 g. That is the reason for the
question.

OK, now I get it. If your BIOS doesn't support 48-bit LBA (Large Block
Addressing), then it won't be able to see more than 137GB of your
disk. 48-bit LBA has been the standard for quite a while now, any
computer that came with XP pretty surely supports it.

 

[Unknown]

Don't you mean Logical Block Addressing?

OK, now I get it. If your BIOS doesn't support 48-bit LBA (Large Block
Addressing), then it won't be able to see more than 137GB of your
disk. 48-bit LBA has been the standard for quite a while now, any
computer that came with XP pretty surely supports it.

--
Tim Slattery
MS MVP(DTS)
(e-mail address removed)
http://members.cox.net/slatteryt

 

[Glenn]

OK thanks everybody.

Installed a 160G IDE/PATA.

Downloaded a free clone, by the way none come with any
hd I looked at. and now have the full 160G with my OS
on it. I'll reverse the plugs and make it C drive and
and make the 60G my second. May even format it after
I'm SURE everything is on the 160 and have it for my
clean D drive.

 

[Tim Slattery]

Don't you mean Logical Block Addressing?

Yeah, I probably do.