Buying new hard drive

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gen3000

n00b
Joined
May 2, 2007
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61
Ok,
buying a new hard drive this weekend. First time I've ever upgraded my harddrive (!)
Just got a couple of quick questions...
What is the difference between these:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-030-HI&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=768
and
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-084-SE&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=768

Will all HDDs fit in any mobo or do I have to check for compatibility?
I will be using this as my main HD is it best to turn my old one (120gig) into an external or internal.
Also, is it easy to make an EXACT copy of my current hard drive onto this new one? Like I can just log on to windows and everything will be exactly the same?

Thanks.
 
The Seagate drive is superior, both due to a longer warranty (5 vs 3 years), and it's a faster drive.
Those are both SATA drives, so you're going to want to ensure that you have SATA ports on your motherboard. Hard drive manufacturers often include software to copy over to your new drive, and so yes, it would be exactly as before
 
Windows itself has a migration tool. I believe you install Windows on the new drive, then point it at the old one, and it imports your stuff or something like that...never used it. Not recommending it, just saying it's there. If one doesn't come with the hard drive, and you don't want to try the Windows Way, post back here and we'll help you find a program. Such programs are designed to be pretty easy to use.

An alternative...you can just install the new drive, without removing the 120. Then you have more storage space, and don't need to alter or move your current install.
 
Vertigo Acid said:
The Seagate drive is superior, both due to a longer warranty (5 vs 3 years), and it's a faster drive.
Click to expand...
Arguably, the T7K500 is faster in a single-user environment.

gen3000 said:
Anyway to find out if I got a spare sata port without opening it up?
Mobo is asus p4r800-vm
link: http://uk.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=12&l3=28&l4=0&model=169&modelmenu=1
Click to expand...

Yes: Your motherboard has zero SATA ports, so you have zero free ones. Sorry, mate :(

http://uk.asus.com/products4.aspx?modelmenu=2&model=169&l1=3&l2=12&l3=28&l4=0
 
damn :(
im upgrading to c2d soon so i will be getting a new mobo then
ahh well...
 
Might as well ask this while i got this thread going...
If I were to get a new mobo, I understand I would have to reinstall my OS. If Im gonna be buying this new hdd i wont wanna spend another lot of money on buying another hd just to back up the data on my current one. So whats the best option to go down to save all my datA? thanks
 
You could back up to DVD or CD, you could also partition your drive and save all the data to the second partition. Or if you have to option you could borrow a external HDD from a friend or work and move stuff to it temperaraly.

 
gen3000 said:
If I were to get a new mobo, I understand I would have to reinstall my OS.
Click to expand...

You don't have to. You'll need to do some jiggly pokely instead, but a reinstall is unnecessary.

You can also get an IDE hard drive, or a $20 PCI SATA controller card, depending on how soon your C2D upgrade is.
 
Nope, that's an eSATA card, for external drives.
There was nothing reasonably priced on that site at all for regular SATA controllers
 
gen3000 said:
Ok, could someone perhaps link me to a reasonably priced SATA controller?
Click to expand...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/New-4-Port-SA...8QQihZ011QQcategoryZ90715QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem



If you are willing to risk going with a VIA chipset:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-Port-SATA-S...1QQihZ018QQcategoryZ90715QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Vertigo Acid said:
:confused: 7200.10 != Barracuda ES
They're much slower as they're designed for high reliability
Click to expand...
I guess you are correct. I just haven't been able to find a comparison between the 7200.10 and the T7K500.
 
The item description says the card has 2 internal SATA ports (although the picture shows 1 + 1 eSATA). Yes, it will work.

Before you order, you may want to look inside your case and verify that you have 1) an available PCI slot and 2) an available place to mount the hard drive. While this is probably not a problem, some systems leave you stuck over a barrel on this one (especially OEM systems that were optimized for profit margin over upgradability).
 
I know I have 2 pci slots free but not sure about space to mount it, if there is no space an external enclosure will do?
 
That is a whole different ball game.

If your case has no available locations for a hard drive, do you have any available 5 1/2" bays? You can get an adapter to mount a hard drive in one of those if need be.
 
Had a look, got a bay spare right next to my current hard drive.
Any other problems I may encouter buying the two items I said I would? Just wanna make sure I have no problems when they arrive
 
Mounting screws? Hard drives aren't usually packed with screws as the assumption is that they come with the case (counterintuitive, but that's how they do it).
 
Ok, all ordered :)
Will this drive be considerably faster than my old ide one? They are both 7200rpm but surely the advances in technology would make this somehow faster?
If it is, would it be best to use this new one as my main drive (os etc)? Will the pci to sata adapter limit the speed of it a bit compared to a native sata solution?
 
gen3000 said:
Will this drive be considerably faster than my old ide one? They are both 7200rpm but surely the advances in technology would make this somehow faster?
If it is, would it be best to use this new one as my main drive (os etc)? Will the pci to sata adapter limit the speed of it a bit compared to a native sata solution?
Click to expand...

There won't really be a performance difference, most 7200 RPM drives are damn near identical as far as desktop users can see.

I'd just use your current drive as the main one to avoid having to reinstall everything and then spend months retweaking your programs the way you like.

The PCI bus has more bandwidth than any one hard drive is going to be able to saturate, and is faster than the hard drive because it is a physical medium.
 
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