View Full Version : Need a new HDD
Daniel san
24-01-2003, 22:55
Anyone know which one is best buy at the moment. Guess I don't really need more than 20gb, as I don't do games on a PC. The 6gb one I've got now has lasted over 3 years so far but I've only got about 600meg left now, so it's time for a new bigger one. Don't know a huge amount about them these days but reckon it should have a decent speed, like 7200 (I think that's classed as quick enough these days innit?).
BTW, anyone offloading any chips, boards, cards etc ?
Cheers peeps:)
IBM ones are normally very good, and yeh 7200 is the new standard (as opposed to the 5400 ones).
For cheapness try www.ebuyer.co.uk
Dan
I normally get the Maxtor or Western Digital from ebuyer, not had any troubles yet. :D
Martin T
24-01-2003, 23:53
You're better getting a 40GB onwe as you cant get many 20GB 7200 RPM HD's these days and while a 20GB one will set you back about £50, a 40 GB one will set you back about £60.
I personally dont like the IBM ones puraly coz they've got more jumpers to set than the competition.
DO NOT get a Fujitsu drive. I have worked for Compaq and have seen what their drives do to businesses!
BTW, anyone offloading any chips, boards, cards etc ?
What do you want?
C.
SteveDunn
25-01-2003, 00:13
Seagate Barracuda for £50 (http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=32050)
I have the 80gb version of this, and its been faultless and is alot quieter than the other drives ive used :)
Got a Sparkle Geforce 3 64mb AGP card going spare, Upgraded to GF4 128mb 4400
sroberts
25-01-2003, 00:33
IBM????? I run two IBM 180GXP 80Gb 7200rpm ATA100 2mb Cache Hard Drives at home under hardware raid 5 and ACE !!!!!
SI :)
Who has the lowest spec/highest spec PC here? Mine's...
PII 350
192MB 100Mhz DIMM
8MB Matrox Millenium G200
1 x 8GB HD
1 x 28GB HD
Pretty low really, it was state of the art over four years ago when I built it!! My first PC was a 486DX4 120 with a mighty 8MB of EDO RAM!
Think I'm going get a replacement in the summer. :) Something faaaaaaast!
O yeh, and do I have the slowest CD writer here @ x4?
sroberts
25-01-2003, 00:48
Ant which one?
Well spose I don't count really as I have a home network for my out of hours work ;) ...
P3 700 NT Server 1024Mg Ram + 2x80G IBM Drives using Hardware Raid 5 (although this might have to be sold :( as I have no cash ), DLT drive
P4 2Ghz, 768MG PC2700 DDR, 60G IBM Drive 1 AGP 64Mg Geforce3 + 1 PCI 64Mg Geforce3 driving 19" + 17" monitors.
P3 933 Overclocked beast same spec as above. Can anyone guess what speed it's clocked to... oh hint the CPU core only runs at 14 degrees :cool:
Oh and there is the MAC... could well be faster than the others ;)
Thats it I think?????
Si :)
Blimey!!
It's got to a point now where PDAs' processors are quicker than mine!!
First real computer I ever had after the commadore16 & Spectrum zx81, was an IBM XT(286), them was the days 256kb ram and a whole Meg harddrive woohoo.
Athlon 1Gig
256Mb SDRAM
Pioneer DVD
Liteon 24x CDRW
2 x 10GB HDD's
64Mb GeForce 3
17" Monitor
Muse XL Game Surround Soundcard
Should be upgrading soon to a XP1800 or 2000 and a new HDD
Also running 98 at the mo so will change to 2000 as i use it at work too.
agree about the Fujitsu drives, had a 40gb only lasted a year
:mad:
Filmidget
25-01-2003, 11:49
Do I get prize for slowest in use? DX2-66 16mb HP Vectra
(broadband router/firewall/print server)
My quickest? 2000xp 512mb Ti4200 etc (games machine)
'Mrs' has a K6-2 400 (o/c to 500), but might upgrade soon
'cos need a lowish powered machine to run a PC-based security camera system... anybody on the board done this before?
EDIT: I could do with a few 'small' HDD if anybody is selling - 2 to 10gb sort of range...
Cheers, Phil
mattpayne
25-01-2003, 12:17
:) mines an odd collection... :)
Server
dual Pentiun PRO
512meg ram
6x 8GB SCSII hotswap drives, on a 8meg Mylec disk array running Raid 5 and Fault tolerent reduntant drive
HP DDS3 Tape
2x 100mbit Intel LAN cards
PC
Intel PIII 800
512meg ram
40gb ide100 7000rpm 4meg Hard drive
Radion 7000 32meg
Sony CD
Creative DVD
Sony CDRW
IOMEGA Ditto tape backup (unused)
Laptop
Tosh Satellite Pro 4300
PIII 700
128mb ram
DVD
lucent 10mbit wireless card
Xircom 100mbit LAN card
32mb networked Brother HL 1260e Laser
house is cabled for cat 5e with 100mbit switch and netgear 2mbit wireless access port
Cisco 1600 series router (not currently used)
:)
I can recommend Maxtor HDD's, I've got two 120GB in my system and they have been excellent. My mate has had IBM's in the past and had several replacements due to them dying on him, not a very good thing at all.
My system is:
XP2200
MSI KT3 Ultra
512MB Corsair
240GB HDD
19" Sony monitor
The one I use at work is a PII 233 with 64mb of RAM lol!!
BTW if any of you guys with networks need a KVM switch I'm selling my Belkin one.
Mine is:
P4 2.4
1Gb Mem
1 x 60Gb (Mirror)
2 x 60Gb
Matrox G550
Matrox RT2500 Video capture/edit
DVD+RW Burner
18.1" Flat panel
Hayley's got a Toshiba laptop:
P4 2200
512 Mb Mem
1 x 40Gb
15" TFT
Mine are:
Main Machine:
Dual PIII 1GHz
1024MB RAM
20GB IBM
2x 15GB IBM RAID
CD Writing box:
PII 300MHz
384MB RAM
2x IBM 15GB
Plextor SCSI CDROM
Plextor SCSI CD writer
Laptop:
Compaq Armada M700
PIII 600MHz
576MB RAM
20GB IBM
My recommendation for a new drive is a Western Digital 120GB with 8MB cache (120JB they're called I think, something like that).
Filmidget
25-01-2003, 18:08
Mad Max... you have pm
www.storagereview.com
Western Digital IDE hard disks are pretty much the fastest if you want performance.
Daniel san
25-01-2003, 21:58
Cheers all, I'm gonna go for a look around at those links now.:)
Daniel san
25-01-2003, 22:19
Originally posted by caleini_400
Got a Sparkle Geforce 3 64mb AGP card going spare, Upgraded to GF4 128mb 4400
Cheers dude, but got a 128 of some sort in here now. Anyone throwing away a 1ghz chip or something? :)
Daniel san
25-01-2003, 22:36
Ok, next question. Obviously I want to get the date off my HDD onto the new HDD. Can I just fit the new one and then copy over the bits I wanna keep? I remember hearing stuff about virus's etc when I was back at college and that it's not a good idea to do it???:confused:
Also, any probs with me running the 2 side by side? Obviously I know I'd have to congif them as C: & F: for example but I could then use one for all my programs etc and one for storing all the sxoc data!:eek:
Oh yeah, and how much difference is the Cache gonna make? Clearly I've done ok so far with whatever HDD came with my PC 4 years ago and I'm only just filling up 6gb now! But, now I'm gonna be dealing with something that holds much more data, should I be opting for one with 8mb cache, or will 2mb do, or what?
cheers again;)
I thought the lowest spec for raid 5 was three drives, or am I just stupid (as are compaq and ibm)?
Daniel san
25-01-2003, 22:45
Originally posted by Cookie
BTW, anyone offloading any chips, boards, cards etc ?
What do you want?
C.
Sorry mate, just clocked this in amongst the others. Didn't really have anything particular in mind, just thought someone might have some bits laying about they'd want to sell, or chuck at someone:)
Dan
I'm running two 10GB side by side, one with windows and all programs and the other with all my MP3's and other documents. not had any trouble yet but the drives are identical.
Daniel san
26-01-2003, 17:08
Right, any good? 40gb
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=40469
or, if the 8mb Cache isn't important:
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=19256
Or 60gb, no Cache
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=23276
or these?
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=32050
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=32043
I would get the western digital. :D
but thats just me :D
Daniel san
26-01-2003, 18:16
Sorry Mark, think it's gonna be this one
http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=32043
Has a good write up and has been recommended by a friend. Any comments from the IT boys?
Personally I think you'd be better off with a Western Digital with 8MB cache. Weren't those Seagate drives the ones that had really crap performance in RAID, or has that been fixed now?
Daniel san
26-01-2003, 18:22
How important is Cache on an HDD?
Daniel san
26-01-2003, 19:25
Ordered one of these: http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/products/index.html?action=c2hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=32043 with a flashy round yellow cable, that's not gonna be seen inside the box (Blue was more £££ though) and some funky 3 colling fans thingy too, never be too cool in there!
Now I'm told I need some program called Partition Magic??? and it would be good to partition it into 3..........Si. Then transfer all the data over from one to the other:confused: Cross that bridge when the things arrive I reckon:)
Cheers all so far so good. You'd never believe I used to build these things would you:) Bit outta touch nowdays.
Daniel san
30-01-2003, 22:00
Right, got the new HDD this morning. Finished backing up all my files, inc the all important sxoc folders of course;) and then spent ages trying to get it working. Cheers to Si and his work mate Paul for their efforts, cheers to my mate Keith for his help too but in the end it looks like I've got a lemon of an HDD. The system won't recognise it at all, Primary Master, Primary Slave, nothing! If I hook the old HDD (like I've done now) to the Master or Slave setting, with the new HDD as the opposite, it detects the old unit every time but not the new one!
Going back to ebuyer and have to wait for a new one! Arse:mad:
What size is your old drive and did you have cable select enabled on the new drive?
Daniel san
30-01-2003, 22:11
Old one is 6gb. New one was set to Master, slave, cable select and this was done and tried as Primary Master and slave just to be sure of covering all I could think of.
If anyone's got any pointers I could try, please go for it. Cheers.
Martin T
30-01-2003, 23:39
Originally posted by Dan_BlitzedS14
Old one is 6gb. New one was set to Master, slave, cable select and this was done and tried as Primary Master and slave just to be sure of covering all I could think of.
If anyone's got any pointers I could try, please go for it. Cheers.
First ignore the other drive - your new drive will probably also have a position for the Single drive. Plug it in the top of the cable on the primary and set it to single without the other one in th puter. If its one of those IBM drives then you'll need to set some spre jumpers depending on capacity.
If it works as a single, then you know it just dont like the other drive. If it dont, have a fiddle with your BIOS (PIO mode etc)
If I may ask, how old is your motherboard, and what is the BIOS date? I recently had a machine (which became my test machine) that wouldn't detect any drives over 10GB until I updated the BIOS on it. The BIOS was dated sometime in 2000. New BIOS dated 11/01 and it now detects any drive I attach to it. Just a thought.
Daniel san
31-01-2003, 08:54
Originally posted by Martin T
First ignore the other drive - your new drive will probably also have a position for the Single drive. Plug it in the top of the cable on the primary and set it to single without the other one in th puter. If its one of those IBM drives then you'll need to set some spre jumpers depending on capacity.
If it works as a single, then you know it just dont like the other drive. If it dont, have a fiddle with your BIOS (PIO mode etc)
Sorry, forgot to say that I've tried it in both positions and without the second (old) drive connected at all.
Daniel san
31-01-2003, 09:00
Originally posted by STiMPY
If I may ask, how old is your motherboard, and what is the BIOS date? I recently had a machine (which became my test machine) that wouldn't detect any drives over 10GB until I updated the BIOS on it. The BIOS was dated sometime in 2000. New BIOS dated 11/01 and it now detects any drive I attach to it. Just a thought.
Si's mate suggested this too, cos I told him the pc was about 4 yrs old. The Motherboard and processor aren't though, as I got them off a mate last year. They weren't new but it's a P3 450mhz (I know I know sloooooow:)).
Can someone give me a step by step on finding out the Bios date please. I'll take a look when I get in tonight. Dunno if it makes any diff, but the M/B has: Mesh 440BX / 9651631 on it.
Cheers all.
How about the cable? If your old drive is a UDMA66 and has the cable to match i'm not sure if it will work with a UDMA100 drive. Maybe someone can either confirm or dissmiss this as i'm not 100% :D
AshT_200
31-01-2003, 15:43
It should work, but will step down to the slower speed.
Dan is the cable plugged in the correct way? Reason I ask, is I had this prob once and it was because the cable was plugged in the wrong way. Does the drive power up? Most of them don't spin up if the cable is plugged in wrong.
Secondly as someone pointed out.... RAID 5 requires a minimum of 3 drives..... and you get the capacity of 2 with the other used by parity information to erbuild data if one drive dies.
2 drives, and it's RAID 0 or RAID 1.
3rdly, what the feck does a Gefoce card have to do with HDD? :confused: :D
Daniel san
31-01-2003, 19:02
Got a new cable too which is 133 so that should be ok.
Cable's in the right way round too.
What the hell is RAID?
It's not recognising the HDD at all, doesn't see it there.
AshT_200
01-02-2003, 17:15
Can you hear the drive spin up?
Daniel san
01-02-2003, 23:04
Cheers Ash, drive powers up (cos it gets warm), spins up (although it's bloody quiet, I can feel it's spinning) and I've come across andother development tonight too, while investigating the answer to your Q Ash:)
I've changed the jumper setting on the new HDD (at this point, I'm only connecting the new HDD, leaving the old one alone). The jumper options are:
Pins 1&2: Limit capacity to 32gb
Pins 7&8: Master or Single drive
none: Drive is a slave
5&6 + 7&8:Master with non-ATA compatible Slave
5&6: Enable cable select
Other than that, the only option that the system itself will recognise, is pins 1&2. BUT, no matter which position on the cable it is, the system sees it as a slave drive :confused:
Just realised I haven't tried the 5&6 + 7&8 config, but I haven't got another jumper spare, so I'll use the one from the old HDD and report back soon.
Daniel san
01-02-2003, 23:38
Right, tried 5&6 + 7&8 and no slave hooked up = Won't recognise the drive at all
Tried bridging the pins on the old drive to Slave, and Cable select, with the 5&6 + 7&8 on the new drive = same again
Whichever way I do it, it only sees the drive as a Slave, and only if the jumper settings say limit the new HDD to 32gb:confused: Starting to get a bit :mad: now
Daniel san
02-02-2003, 00:05
Could be...........Looking for a BIOS update that might do the trick first, if not.......
Originally posted by Dan_BlitzedS14
Could be...........Looking for a BIOS update that might do the trick first, if not.......
Does sound like the bios is unable to handle large capcity drives.
Daniel san
02-02-2003, 12:39
Right, taking it to me mate's later this arvo and gonna hook it up to his PC and see what happens. If it detects it ok, I need a new M/B, if it don't, I need another drive.
If I need another M/B, which I ain't got the cash for at the moment, I think I'll just format it as a 32gb drive for now and run it like that until I upgrade the M/B & processor.
If you find it works on your mate's PC but doesn't on yours, you can get away with not buying a new motherboard. Just buy an IDE controller card like a Promise Ultra133 TX2 card. It will run any size hard drive and cost you about £30.
Daniel san
02-02-2003, 14:02
Cheers Stimpy, point me in the direction of one please mate, can't find one on Ebuyer. Cheers for your help.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/drives.htm
In the IDE Controllers & Caddies section about half way down. £30.55 inc vat. Dabs want £57 for it the robbing gits!
Daniel san
02-02-2003, 14:12
Nice one mate, off to me mate's now so lets see.
Daniel san
02-02-2003, 20:02
Right, works fine on me mates PC, so looks like an upgrade is in order, as long it doesn't mean oodles of cash, cos I'd rather it went on the car!
Continues: http://www.sxoc.com/vbb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30640
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