More storage space (hard drive)

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tim

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I need more storage space for my PC.

I see that I have two options - new internal hard drive or new external one.

How can I tell if there is room for an internal one?

Obviously there is a cost implication but am I better off going for internal or external?

Any brands to recommend or not?

Cheers

Tim
 
Tim,
You need to open the case and see if there is a spare drive bay. Some computers have only one, most will have a couple at least.

External drives are easy to use now. You need a "Drive Enclosure" and a standard disk drive - I like Seagate drives as they are quieter than most. The drive is placed inside the drive enclosure which then connects via USB to your computer. With XP there is no need for special configuration software but you will need to format the drive - drive enclosures usually come with instructions which are pretty simple.

Be careful to check that your drive enclosure can handle drives with more than 137GB if you plan to buy a bigger drive than this. Some enclosures don't handle larger drives (like Belkin for instance).

I like external drives because I can use them with any computer.
 
even if you do not have another space (which you almost deffineately have). It is easy enough to use Norton Ghost software to clone your existing drive onto a much bigger drive. HDD's are prety inexpesive nowdays.
 
In addition to checking if there is a suitable drive bay into which to mount the new internal drive, make sure that there's a spare power supply too (four leads, red, black, yellow and white, all terminating in a plastic plug with two rounded shoulders). Also check that on the current data cable (flat grey ribbon cable) leading to your existing hard drive, that there is another drive connector to plug into the new drive. The ribbon cable will have an identifying colour strip on one edge and this must be adjacent to the power cable. It should only fit one way, but could be forced in if you're not aware of the colour line.

The new drive will need to have the jumpers set to "Slave" on the rear of the drive - it will arrive set to "Master" and simply needs the small bridge removing and resetting over the two pins marked "S" - the jumper block will be alongside the slot for the data cable, as shown below:

harddisk.gif


After fitting, switch on, enter the BIOS screens (usually by pressing the "Delete" key during startup) and check that the new drive has been identified. If not, slect the appropriate option to perform disk identification, then save the changes to the BIOS and you should be done. Remember that the new drive will need formatting before it can be used.

HTH :)

Ray.
 
Thanks all - will venture into the machine shortly armed with the information provided -which is also my sum total of information on this subject :shock:

Cheers

Tim
 
Personally, i would go for an external drive. I use the lacie drives and you just have to plug them in (USB2) and use them straight out the box. They may be slightly more expensive than most but i have had them since day one and never had a problem

Andy
 
Downside of external drives are: Space/ugliness and if you need the space on you're C: drive then really you need to replace the Primary Drive.

What is the bulk of your files Tim? and what size is in there atm?
 
tim":2f8p6rt2 said:
Thanks all - will venture into the machine shortly armed with the information provided -which is also my sum total of information on this subject :shock:

Cheers

Tim

Make sure you earth yourself to get rid of any static before you go inside your PC. Fitting a second disk is dead easy once you know the few steps involved (i.e. as described above).
 
Stage 1 - go for an internal drive...then

Stage 2 - go for an external one that can act as a backup to the internal drive.

If you go down that route make sure (or try) and put all your data on the second internal drive.

Just a thought.

Internal drives usually much cheaper than external ones (no case/power supply/gubbins etc)
 
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