How can i up grade my computer hard drive with out buying a new computer, and will it make a difference?

Question

I have a Dell computer it has a 40g hard drive i what a 120g if i can change it will it perform better and do i have to change anything else if so what do i change. And will it be cheaper than buying a new computer?

Answer 1

Changing hard disk will not make any difference. Harddisk is use to store data. It effect is negligible on overall computer performance. Speed i.e. 3600 rpm or 7200 rpm hard disk rotating speed differnce is so small that you will hardly notice it on average computer use. Size i.e. 40gb or 120 gb is just give you additional storage space.

Computer performance depends on processor,memory, motherboard chipset etc. These all have to be taken in consideration for making considerable difference.

Answer 2

First check which hard drives your motherboard supports. IDE, SATA etc. You can find them on the manual that came with your comp or if you're like everyone else and trashed them then you can just open up the cpu case and read the sticker on your 40gb hd.

Whichever one it is, go out and buy another one of the same type i.e IDE, SATA. Plug it in, set the master slave pin and you're done. Btw you can have both harddrives running at the same time.

The new harddisk won't make much of a speed difference on your computer but if you have less than 512mb ram consider upgrading it to 1gb. That surely will make things faster.

I think that 512mb ram should cost around $50 & the 160 gb or 200 GB another $ 50 to $75. $100 bucks and your computer will have 5 times more space to store stuff and will run 30 % faster.

hope that helps.

btw since your comp has a 40 gb hd it probabally is IDE.

Answer 3

You can replace the 40 GB with a 120 GB drive; you need to use the system restore disc to reinstall the operating system and you will need the driver disc to reinstall the device drivers.

It will provide you 80 GB more storage space. If your drive is now 80+ % full (over 26 GB used) it will make a minor difference. If you are now over 90% full (over 32 GB used) it will make some difference. If you are now over 95% full (over 36 GB used) it will make a major difference.

Another option is to install the new drive as a second drive (slave drive). This avoids loading the Operating system and device drivers. You then move the data over to the second drive - and perhaps some applications if needed.

You can check locally for the 120 GB drive costs vs. new pc cost. It will not make the old pc a new pc but if you have storage problems, this can help.

Answer 4

Yes, it will make a difference, as the swapfile will be larger and make things seem to run better.
Also, your 40gig is more then likely a 5400rpm drive as the 120gig drive should be a 7200 rpm drive making it seem faster as well.

As for anything else, maybe. If you want to use the 120 for your boot drive, you will need something like Symantic Ghost to copy your 40gig over to the 120gig

hope this helps