Installing Second Hard Drive

[dtp]

I have a computer about 4 yrs old with a pentium II processor,and have been upgrading a little at a time,more ram and a new video card so far. I want to put a bigger hard drive (Maxtor 30 0r 40 GB) will a 7200 rpm make that much of a difference over a 5400 rpm with the processor speed that I have? Also I"m running Windows 98 I read some where that that will only handle a hard drive that is so big.I plan on making the new drive the slave as I can not locate my windows 98 disc that come with the comp.With it in the slave position does it need an operating system installed on it,with out the operating system on it can I run programs like microsoft money and microsoft works on it? Or will it just be for new programs and games that I install on it.I currently only have a 6 GB hard drive (not sure what brand)will there be any conflicts if they are not the same brand hard drive.Any help will be greatly appreceated.Thanks

 

[pike]

Ok, my advise is preliminary, better advise is certanly to come later !

- No the drives do not have to be of same make
- The difference in price today does not warrant to drop
down to 5400 RPM go for 7200
- It would definatly be better to reinstall the OS on the
new drive, which you should put as Primary Master
- First impression is no problem with partion size in Win98
but it may be interesting to have 3 or 4 partitions on a
30/40 Gig drive
- You should REALLY try and get a copy of your OS

Danny

 

[camieabz]

I'm guessing your mobo is an LX chipset?

Drive speeds are ATA33 on this.

New drives are ATA66/100, so you may consider a mobo upgrade first.

<b><font color=blue>~scribble~</font color=blue></b> <A HREF="http://www.ud.com/" target="_new">Help cure cancer.</A>

 

[pike]

Easyest, most simple first
Hardest, most complex last

If your sys is fast enough, generally, and all you want is more DD space, than yes go for the 30/40 Gig 7200 DD and even put it as SLAVE. Yes, you all heard me, SLAVE. That is : easyest most simple. Check jumpers on DD, they usually ship with them in MASTER position. Not sure of your sys, but put both DD on same ribbon with MASTER at end. When you reboot BIOS should auto detect the NEW DD as SLAVE.

Your CD-ROM letter affectation will be booted up by one, possibly , depending again on your sys.

You must FDISK, then PARTITION (preferably, but not obligatory), then FORMAT D:

Hardest, more complex would be to use your new DD as MASTER. This has the advantage that your OS will be on a faster (7200 rpm) DD. However this can be a challendging prospect and can be done in more than one way. The best , i beleive, is : backup/save your data then hookeup new DD as MASTER (last on ribbon), reboot to your Win98 BootDisk, FDISK, PARTITION and FORMAT both DD. Optionnally leave d: as is (now slave) to recover your data files but delete all win directory.
In this second senario YOU WILL HAVE TO REINSTALL WINDOWS, that is wy you REEEEEEEEEALLY need a WIN98 CD.

Yes, switching mobos will give you the most performance bost of all !

RCF84, "come back !"

Danny

 

[dtp]

Hi thanks for the info,it will all help,one more ? to your reply.If my drive speed is ATA33 on this Motherboard will I have a problen with A new ATA66 or ATA100, or will I just not get the whole advantage of a Harddrive of ATA66 or ATA100?I really dont want to get into replacing the motherboard on this machine,costwise and maybe nore headachs.

 

[dtp]

Thanks for the reply all info. is welcome at this point,one more ? to your reply.How many partitions do you suggest on a 30 or 40 GB harddrive?also can I go back and repartition it if I should goof up the 1st time.Thanks again.

 

[pike]

Really now, does the performance difference between ATA 33 and 66 even 100 merit the: BIG SWITCH.
Ok ok for many switching mobos is something they can do while wathching tv and doing the dishes, but not all of us ! Not me, anyway ! Well maybe i can meditate at the same time, haven't tried yet though. hi hi

To consider in this case is the fact that, for now a new DD would give you more performance (get 7200rpm), more DD realeastate and if your new drive is ATA 100 will be right on when the time comes for YOU to do the BIG SWITCH.

Again: Yes changing mobos will always give you more performance.

Danny

If in doubt, reformat. If unsure swithch mobos for sure.