Have old tower with Celeron. Need Hard Drive IDE

[toolwoman]

Will a Hitachi 200GB 7200 RPM hard drive work with a Celeron processor? I am so very new at computer construction. I would like to make this old tower work again.

 

[o1die]

Windows xp should max out the partition; I use the vender software to prep the drive. Some versions will ask you what windows version and service pack you use to determine the maximum partition your board can use. Retail box hardrives come with a software cd or you can download it for free and burn a copy. I use maxblast 5 for maxtor and seagate drives. Older p3 boards use ata 33 or 66 speed ide interfaces with 40 pin cables; newer boards have ata 100 or 133 which runs the ide drive faster using 80 pin ports. It all depends on how old your motherboard is.

 

[toolwoman]

Windows xp should max out the partition; I use the vender software to prep the drive. Some versions will ask you what windows version and service pack you use to determine the maximum partition your board can use. Retail box hardrives come with a software cd or you can download it for free and burn a copy. I use maxblast 5 for maxtor and seagate drives. Older p3 boards use ata 33 or 66 speed ide interfaces with 40 pin cables; newer boards have ata 100 or 133 which runs the ide drive faster using 80 pin ports. It all depends on how old your motherboard is.

Thank you, Oldie.

How can I identify the motherboard's approximate age? Or the speed of the interface? Do I just count the pins on the IDE connection to tell the speed of the interface? Is this the "chipset" relationship that I have been hearing/reading about?

 

[jsc]

No. The IDE connector will always have 40 pins. The cables are different. Somehow, a modern or semi-modern motherboard can sense the difference. One thing you can do is use an 80 conductor cable all the time. If the motherboard can't use it for the extra speed, it won't make a difference.

http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/if/ide/confCable80-c.html

 

[o1die]

The last poster is correct. Do a search using yahoo or google for your board specs. If you don't know the model number, check for white id labeling on the board.

 

[4745454b]

Or run CPUz.

Edit: Forgot to mention. If this is a really older computer (Intel chipset 440 for example) then you can use the drive but not all of it. Odds are you won't be able to make a drive larger then 120GB, possibly less.

 

[toolwoman]

Or run CPUz.

Edit: Forgot to mention. If this is a really older computer (Intel chipset 440 for example) then you can use the drive but not all of it. Odds are you won't be able to make a drive larger then 120GB, possibly less.

Thanks for all your insight. Will CPUz run on Linux, Ubuntu 8.04 LTS?
I will also check the motherboard for identifying marks and do a search as Oldie suggested.

Will an old motherboard support a newer processor, say a dual core to replace the Celeron that is in there?

Thanks again,
toolwoman

 

[4745454b]

Old is relative. The Intel 440 has zero chance of supporting a modern CPU. A 945 chipset might.

 

[r_manic]

Best answer selected by r_manic.