I need to add a hard-drive to my home computer. With our new video stuff it’s getting filled up FAST, and I’d like to add a 250GB hard drive to it, but I have no idea if I have the space for it or not. What exactly do I need to look for when I open up the case? :dunno:
IDE cables off your current drive and/ or cdrom… if you have an open connector, you’re golden.
ide’s are the ribbon cables that come off the board to the drives.
set new drive to slave with the jumper on the back and plug into IDE with a power plug as well.
Most PCs will have accomidations for up to 4 IDE drives, assuming you have the physical space inside. This will include CD drives, hard drives, and occasionally zip/tape drives. Do like Sonny says and worst case scenerio you can buy a controller card to add more IDE devices.
if the original drive is a WD you’ll probably have to find a jumper and set it to master WD’s are picky about that sometiems and they don’t tell you
there is also the option to leave both HD’s on cable select and place them on the IDE cable accordingly
i never like the CS option tho i prefered to have it set in stone in case i needed to switch somethign around in the bays and forgot it was on CS
I seriously doubt that Dell provided me with a Western Digital drive… I think they used Maxtor drives… :dunno:
It’s a Dell Dimension 8300 (pretty high-end) so I imagine that I have space for it. Is there anything I should know about what KIND of drive? I was going to go for a Western Digital 7200RPM, SATA 250GB drive, they only run about $120 I think.
So other than the drive, what do I need to buy? Or does the drive come with the rest of the hardware?
i forgot dell started using SATA in all their computers
nope… slave over rides a cable select setting, original cable select will still boot.
i’m saying if it’s not set for CS although the dells are…sometimes the WD drive needs a jumper for master single and sometimes it won’t boot unless there is no jumper
If your board has SATA on it (my dell dimension 4600 does) then you’re all set. Just plug it in… it will only fit in the proper spots. bing bam boom done. My SATA was enabled by default with no SATA drives installed, so I imagine yours would be too.
why am i in this thread?
ur not, I /'d j00!
Jenn, remember you always have the option to go external too. Look for firewire over USB 2.0 for data access speed reasons, other than that if you don’t feel like ripping apart your Dell the only downside is the slightly higher cost to compensate for the drive casing and electronics.
I don’t mind ripping it apart to get the internal drive, I just want to make sure I buy something that will work.
I’m pretty sure I currently have the 80GB Ultra ATA drive from Dell. It’s slower though, like 5400RPM. I’m sure I could pull out the invoice and look.
But basically what you guys are saying is:
- I should have plenty of space in the case to add a drive.
- An SATA drive should plug right in and work no-problem, comes with any hardware I would need.
Yes?
Anyone want to be my on-call helper in case I fuck shit up? :hs: I will try and buy the drive this week if it’s OK w/ Mike, should be here by the end of the week.
- fuck cable select, you make the decision on what drive boots !!!1
- Jenn make sure your board can accomodate SATA drives
I just want this one to be an additional storage drive. It won’t have anything on it but files, no software or anything…
Since my computer came with an “Ultra” ATA drive, I am assuming if I buy an SATA drive it will work fine.
Ultra ATA and SATA are different beasts. Although my Dell has both, I cannot say for sure yours does. Your SATA connection on your motherboard will look like this: 
If you have 1, 2 or 4 of those, you’re golden.
Ok cool. I’m off tonight so I’ll open it up and see. 
WOW this thread just proved to be very insightful and just what i needed…I got a second harddrive for my computer at home, and have been reluctant to install it on my own, I added a memory card and the wireless card myself but the harddrive is a difft story. Basically you can just plug it in an you are good to go? No programming anything, it will just be extra memory? That is all i need it for as well…Can I f*** something up if I do it wrong? I have a emachine and got the harddrive off of their website, it came w/ the ribbon cable…I appreciate the insight, and thanks Jenn for posting this…you rule! 