Okay....I want to REPLACE my existing old, small, outdated, hard drive. I have a Dell (bought in 2003) Dimension 4600. I haven't decided yet if I have the nerve to "do-it-myself"...but I want to go purchase a hard drive. I've found a Maxtor Ultra PATA 300GB for 89 bucks (with a special discount/rebate thing) at Staples.
1. Is that a good one?
2. Good price?
My MAIN concern is getting one that is COMPATIBLE with my pc. I get confused by all these Letters: EIDE SATA PATA Ultra-PATA...what the heck is all that noise about?
Are hard drives generally a "one size fits all" sort of thing?
HELP!
Thanks SOOOO much for any help on this.
2006-10-26 08:04:44 · 7 answers · asked by Gray Rock 3 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
PATA(Parallel ATA) and EIDE are the same interface. Which means that a drive with either designation will fit into your machine. If you want to go with a SATA (Serial ATA), you would have to buy a controller card and possible cable to go with it. $89 for a 300GB drive sounds pretty good. Check CompUSA for their specials. I got a 250 GB drive for $60, after rebate. Newegg.com or zipzoomfly.com generally have the best prices. I wold look there. If your system is from 2003, I would look on Dell's website for any BIOS updates. It may need one to be able to see a drive that large. As far as brands go, to me it seems a matter of personal experience. The last system I built had 2 Maxtor drives in it. My new systems has 2 Western Digital Drives. I personally have not had problems with either set.
2006-10-26 08:32:03 · answer #1 · answered by 00bear 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Assuming your Dell uses IDE interface for the hard drive the PATA drive will be fine. You can confirm that it is IDE by opening your case and looking to see if there is a ribbon cable attached to the hard drive. If there is, then it is IDE. SATA (the other type of hard drive) uses a small, thin cable that looks very different than IDE ribbon cables.
Also, don't forget that you could have the two hard drives connected at once (old one and new one) in a Master-Slave configuration so you can have even more space available to you. And if you just add the new hard drive instead of replacing your old one, you won't have to reinstall the operating system.
2006-10-26 08:38:49 · answer #2 · answered by riphamiltoncollector 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have the advice on the type of drive to buy presented above. A PATA drive or an EIDE.
I can and will recommend against buying Western Digital. I have had the same drive fail twice When they send out a warranty replacement drive they send one that has failed and been rebuilt, so if they didn't find out what caused it to fail in the first place it will most likely fail again. This is exactly what happened to mine.
In my opinion this is a very poor marketing practice since their reputation is damaged from such practices.
2006-10-26 09:33:34 · answer #3 · answered by The Eight Ball 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, The PATA drive is what you need.
Do NOT get a Serial ATA (SATA) drive. It will not work in your old Dell.
Just remember, if you are Not using Windows XP SP2 you will have to partition the drive to 137 meg partitions. The Max Blaster software that comes with the drive will do it for you automatically
2006-10-26 08:10:30 · answer #4 · answered by Gordon B 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sure alot of space is great but its no good if it spins it out very slow.
Some more things you need to look at is the rpm and the cache.
I wouldn't suggest anything under 5200 rpm and 8MB cache.
2006-10-26 08:12:25 · answer #5 · answered by Matt 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i might flow with a Western digital. in all risk above one hundred gigs. attempt to adhere with 7200rpm and you may get ones with an 8 meg buffer in extraordinarily much all sizes. which could handle something you like very right now.
2016-10-16 10:44:27 · answer #6 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
you could proboaly not too sure but do it your self but you might want to make syre there compatable.
get a external hard drive their portable.
2006-10-26 08:07:16 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋