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Thread: New Hard Drive

  1. #1
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    New Hard Drive

    As you can see from the spec of my PC in my sig I've really lost touch with PCs over the past two years. My days of chasing the best hardware are well and truely over but I now have a major need for some storage as my 2 80 gig IDEs just aren't big enough. I've got some chrimbo money and I've decided to get a new HD.
    So here's what i'd like. Preferably over 300 gig and I would imagine I should be looking at SATA drives now as IDE just seem like old technology. I've been looking around and it seems SATA has now evolved into SATA II and I didn't even know it. There also seems to be a choice between 8meg and 16 meg buffers.
    Budget of £80 possibly a little more if its worth the extra. What makes should i be looking at? I think my motherboard supports SATA drives but I don't think my power supply has SATA plugs so should i buy converters? Do i need to install software onto my 80 gig master to be able to use SATA drives? and do SATA drives need F Disking like IDEs?
    Cheers in advance
    AMD Athlon XP 3200+(Coolermaster Aero 7+)
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    Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128(Arctic Cooling VGA)
    2 x Seagate Barracuda 80 GIG HD
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  2. #2
    Sexual Force johnny02004976's Avatar
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    hi mate,

    maybe this thread could be of interest

    http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=94801
    Contrary to the odd name and translucent-grey color, Pocari Sweat does not taste like sweat
    Hardware:

    Main PC
    - See 'My System'
    Server - Athlon XP 1700+, 1GB, 500GB HD
    Laptop - Compaq AMD Turion 64 X2, 60GB HD, 1GB
    Media Centre Shuttle - P4 3.0 Skt 775 Shuttle, 1GB, 120GB HD
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    Home Entertainment - Xbox 360 with 37" HD LCD TV, Acoustic Energy Aegis EVO A speakers (5,1), Yamaha RXV359 AV reciever
    Media Centre II - X2 4000+, 1GB, 400Gb Vista Ultimate


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    • Hasnath's system
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    Quote Originally Posted by johnny02004976 View Post
    hi mate,

    maybe this thread could be of interest

    http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=94801
    would say that fits the bill exactly, just wish the website would let me order them

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    Are Weston Digitals quite good drives I know they always used to be about the best. Also I'm not using this for OS just for storage. What do i need to do with the drive to get it working? Do i need to put the SATA controllers for my motherboard into a floppy drive?
    AMD Athlon XP 3200+(Coolermaster Aero 7+)
    ABIT NF7 - S Ver 2
    1024mb Crucial DDR3200
    Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128(Arctic Cooling VGA)
    2 x Seagate Barracuda 80 GIG HD
    Samsung Lightscribe SH - S183L DVD Writer
    Silent X PSU
    Windows XP SP 2

  5. #5
    Sexual Force johnny02004976's Avatar
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    yeh you'll need to install the SATA drivers for Windows to see the drive - the drivers usually come via floppy or CD, although you could always download them, which ever is easier

    WD drives have been awesome for me, along with Seagate & Samsung drives. I've had 2 failed Maxtor drives tho
    Contrary to the odd name and translucent-grey color, Pocari Sweat does not taste like sweat
    Hardware:

    Main PC
    - See 'My System'
    Server - Athlon XP 1700+, 1GB, 500GB HD
    Laptop - Compaq AMD Turion 64 X2, 60GB HD, 1GB
    Media Centre Shuttle - P4 3.0 Skt 775 Shuttle, 1GB, 120GB HD
    NAS - 400GB
    Home Entertainment - Xbox 360 with 37" HD LCD TV, Acoustic Energy Aegis EVO A speakers (5,1), Yamaha RXV359 AV reciever
    Media Centre II - X2 4000+, 1GB, 400Gb Vista Ultimate


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    I take it if i download them i can just install like a program I don't need to start messing with BIOS or anything like that? Also does my motherboard support SATA II? and will the drive need F Disking?
    AMD Athlon XP 3200+(Coolermaster Aero 7+)
    ABIT NF7 - S Ver 2
    1024mb Crucial DDR3200
    Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128(Arctic Cooling VGA)
    2 x Seagate Barracuda 80 GIG HD
    Samsung Lightscribe SH - S183L DVD Writer
    Silent X PSU
    Windows XP SP 2

  7. #7
    Sexual Force johnny02004976's Avatar
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    what model is your mobo mate and i'll check it
    Contrary to the odd name and translucent-grey color, Pocari Sweat does not taste like sweat
    Hardware:

    Main PC
    - See 'My System'
    Server - Athlon XP 1700+, 1GB, 500GB HD
    Laptop - Compaq AMD Turion 64 X2, 60GB HD, 1GB
    Media Centre Shuttle - P4 3.0 Skt 775 Shuttle, 1GB, 120GB HD
    NAS - 400GB
    Home Entertainment - Xbox 360 with 37" HD LCD TV, Acoustic Energy Aegis EVO A speakers (5,1), Yamaha RXV359 AV reciever
    Media Centre II - X2 4000+, 1GB, 400Gb Vista Ultimate


  8. #8
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    See my sig Abit NF7 - S version 2
    AMD Athlon XP 3200+(Coolermaster Aero 7+)
    ABIT NF7 - S Ver 2
    1024mb Crucial DDR3200
    Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128(Arctic Cooling VGA)
    2 x Seagate Barracuda 80 GIG HD
    Samsung Lightscribe SH - S183L DVD Writer
    Silent X PSU
    Windows XP SP 2

  9. #9
    Sexual Force johnny02004976's Avatar
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    according to this

    http://www.abit.com.tw/page/uk/mothe...MTYPE=Socket+A

    it should be fine - hopefully someone else will confirm this
    Contrary to the odd name and translucent-grey color, Pocari Sweat does not taste like sweat
    Hardware:

    Main PC
    - See 'My System'
    Server - Athlon XP 1700+, 1GB, 500GB HD
    Laptop - Compaq AMD Turion 64 X2, 60GB HD, 1GB
    Media Centre Shuttle - P4 3.0 Skt 775 Shuttle, 1GB, 120GB HD
    NAS - 400GB
    Home Entertainment - Xbox 360 with 37" HD LCD TV, Acoustic Energy Aegis EVO A speakers (5,1), Yamaha RXV359 AV reciever
    Media Centre II - X2 4000+, 1GB, 400Gb Vista Ultimate


  10. #10
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    OK i've read that and it supports SATA 150. Does this mean if i buy SATA II 300 drive it'll just run at 150 speed and when i upgrade the motherboard later on i'll be able to run at the full 300
    AMD Athlon XP 3200+(Coolermaster Aero 7+)
    ABIT NF7 - S Ver 2
    1024mb Crucial DDR3200
    Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128(Arctic Cooling VGA)
    2 x Seagate Barracuda 80 GIG HD
    Samsung Lightscribe SH - S183L DVD Writer
    Silent X PSU
    Windows XP SP 2

  11. #11
    Senior Member FatalSaviour's Avatar
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    If you're not using it for a boot drive, then you should be ok just plugging and playing. You only need to install drivers from a floppy usually when you're installing afresh from an old or non-slipstreamed XP CD. Windows may or may not already contain the necessary drivers for your SATA controller. If not, then you should be able to download them from Abit's site and install them while in windows.

    The drive will be unformatted, so right click 'My Computer'>Manage
    Go down to Disk Management, and setup your partitions as you would like. (This is pretty much the equivalent of F-disking)
    Quote Originally Posted by Noni
    What the hell does "WTH" mean


  12. #12
    Sexual Force johnny02004976's Avatar
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    yup thats right, always best to double check tho

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SATA
    Contrary to the odd name and translucent-grey color, Pocari Sweat does not taste like sweat
    Hardware:

    Main PC
    - See 'My System'
    Server - Athlon XP 1700+, 1GB, 500GB HD
    Laptop - Compaq AMD Turion 64 X2, 60GB HD, 1GB
    Media Centre Shuttle - P4 3.0 Skt 775 Shuttle, 1GB, 120GB HD
    NAS - 400GB
    Home Entertainment - Xbox 360 with 37" HD LCD TV, Acoustic Energy Aegis EVO A speakers (5,1), Yamaha RXV359 AV reciever
    Media Centre II - X2 4000+, 1GB, 400Gb Vista Ultimate


  13. #13
    Senior Member chrestomanci's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Plod2151 View Post
    OK i've read that and it supports SATA 150. Does this mean if i buy SATA II 300 drive it'll just run at 150 speed and when i upgrade the motherboard later on i'll be able to run at the full 300
    Yes

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    Senior Member FatalSaviour's Avatar
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    SATA 300 makes little to no difference to the speed of the drive. There are a few changes, which are usually insignificant to the average user (better latch system on connectors etc), but I wouldn't worry about this too much.

    SATA300 is backward compatible with SATA150
    Quote Originally Posted by Noni
    What the hell does "WTH" mean


  15. #15
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    Brilliant I've downloaded the SiliconImage 3112 SATA Driver from here http://www.abit.com.tw/page/uk/mothe...RODINFO=Driver I'm assuming i don't need the RAID software as i'm only using the one drive at the moment.
    So I should just buy the drive plug it in and use the disk management to sort the rest.
    Thanks chaps great help
    AMD Athlon XP 3200+(Coolermaster Aero 7+)
    ABIT NF7 - S Ver 2
    1024mb Crucial DDR3200
    Sapphire Radeon 9800 Pro 128(Arctic Cooling VGA)
    2 x Seagate Barracuda 80 GIG HD
    Samsung Lightscribe SH - S183L DVD Writer
    Silent X PSU
    Windows XP SP 2

  16. #16
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    • amjedm's system
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    That WD drive is a good one IMO.

    I installed the 250GB one in a relatives PC recently and it was quiet. Also saw some good user comments on SPCR about it.

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